Auditions – Week 2 – Judges sing, tempers flare and Sass keeps smiling – could this be our own dysfunctional family?
Last night on Candadian Idol the judges travelled to Montreal, Regina, St. Johns & Toronto.
Highlights from the Montreal auditions were Anna-belle Olivia who’s touching story of the death of her brother inspired her idol perfomance. Alissa White a heavy-metal singer sang Bohemian Rhapsody (like many of the contestants)Â also received her gold ticket to Toronto. Low points – Jake freaking out at Zack over George Bekiaris’ audition.
Five gold tickets were awarded during the Regina auditions. Dusty Hunter a hockey player/farmer young heart-throb  sings well. Jake loved him but Zack thought he had “real singing problems”.
St. John’s audition highlighted Brandon Jones who say’s he plays a nerd in the school play back home. Brandon sings Hemorrhage (Fuel) wow – great voice and was a welcome relief after some of the previous contestants. Jennifer Purchas’ audition of “Alive” was frightening.
Over 3,000 hopefuls show up for Idol in Toronto. The judges are very frustrated with the calibre of the contestants and finally Zack throws a garbage can at Dave Speut. This didn’t look childish Zack! Later Jake walks out swearing with Farley shouting at him. The day is saved when Amanda McKenzie a country crooner gets a gold ticket. Johnny Nite gets a gold ticket too but for the life of me I can’t imagine why.
We also get an ode to Ben Mulroney – yikes the girls love his hair. This can’t be right. Then he sings (in french of course) and you can shoot me now. This could be the low point of the season and it’s only June.
Ben explains the family of judges has had a rough time and they end up singing “That’s What Friend’s are For”. This so called “drama” has been hyped all week on CTV and sorry it just doesn’t work. Sass is no Paula (thank goodness) and just sits back laughing at this nonsense. In fact, Sass has hardly said a thing in the first two episodes. The producers were obviously trying to imitate Simon’s infamous tantrums during the auditions and it just came off as fake and unprofessional.
Next week – The Idol judges visit Ottawa, Winnipeg and Halifax in the last of the audition tour.
New this year for Canadian Idol is the age limit from 16-28. Nigel Lythgoe, producer for American Idol, has announced his show is considering raising the age limit to 30.
Remember Top 10 Idol Aaron Walpole – from St. Thomas? He just signed with Sony/BMG and his self-titled CD will be released July 18th. Other Top 10 idols from last year are also in the studio.
RCA Records is rumoured to be close to signing Katharine McPhee and Chris Daughtry. Apparently they had no interest in Elliot Yamin. Clive Davis made that quite apparent when he handed him Journey’s “Open Arms” during the Top 3 perfomance evening.
Katharine McPhee will also appear with Andrea Bocelli for three California concerts this month.
