Canadian Idol 6, September 8: The Final Performances

As I’m here at the final performance episode of Canadian Idol 6, it’s obvious that this is the loudest, most raucous audience of the season, despite a rather small rush line. In fact, most of the spoken words are inaudible to me, and to write this article I have to play the entire show back when I get home. It looks like the hard core fans have finally shown up!

There’s one fun aspect of The Sue Brophy Show (the name they’ve put on the pre-show shtick) that I want to tell you about. As each person is brought on stage, they have theme music. It’s not always the same song every week, but this week they go back to the traditional entries. Here’s what Orin and the band play as each person enters:

Tonight, the show opens with clips from earlier this season, including Theo and Mitch’s initial auditions.

Series host Ben Mulroney opens the show by telling us a wee bit about Wednesday’s finale. I’ll have all the low-down on that topic later. Ben tells us will be three songs performed tonight – a judges’ choice, their own choice, and the single they get to release if they win.

Ben next introduces the judges and poses BPRQs (Boring Predictable Response Questions) to each. Jake Gold is first asked to advise the Idols, and he says the Idols should look at this like a mini-concert, by first opening big, keep the audience warm in the middle song, and then close like it’s the last song they’ll ever sing.

Dodging Ben’s mixed sports metaphors, Farley Flex says the Idols know the right strategy to follow, based on how they got here and what they’ve been told all season. He adds that they should sing all three like it’s the last time they’ll ever sing.

Ben asks Sass Jordan what the Idols need to know. She says, “They need to know that tonight is probably the beginning of the most intense fever-pitched excitement. And it doesn’t stop.” Zack Werner sidesteps his question to say, “I’m ready for this. It’s what we spend the whole year getting ready for. So, let’s make some noise!”

Ben brings out the Idols and asks them similar questions. They’re glad to be here. Let’s move along.

Ben announces that this week, the idols flew to New York to meet with guest coach John Legend. There’s something Ben’s not telling us, but I’ll save that for later. Video tells us that after success as a session musician, John launched his solo career in 2004 and has now won five Grammy awards singing “neo-soul.” And he has a new CD coming out! Who knew?

Ben says there was a coin toss, and Mitch chose to go first. Why he chose incorrectly, I cannot say.

Mitch MacDonald – Age 22 - Port Hope, Cape Breton, NS

John Legend tells Mitch he needs to work to control his tone, to round it out a little. Looking ahead to the future, he says that Mitch should remain willing to take advice, and to work with people who can stretch him in new directions he might not take himself.

Mitch’s choice to open the show is “Paris,” by fellow Cape Bretoner Gordie Sampson. Ben tells us “Paris” was written after he was mugged there, but Faith Hill turned it into a love song. There’s a string quartet and a two-man brass section. I think he does fine, but it’s rather similar to many other Mitch numbers.

Judge Jake says that what he likes about that performance is the dynamics of how he changes the volume. Sass agrees, saying it also applies to “the dynamics of the emotion.” She continues, “There was a world-weariness in it that I found really touching.” Farley also likes what he saw. He likes how Mitch makes it seem like he wrote the songs he sings himself. Zack says Mitch has remained consistent to who he is, but, “On the other hand, some of you signature scoops were a bit obnoxious around the edges. He says the parts in italics imitating the way Mitch slides up to a note.

Theo Tams – Age 22 - Lethbridge, AB

Theo confesses to John Legend that he’s still struggling to define the kind of CD he wants to make. John suggests that he decide, “What's my sweet spot and who is going to love this?” and build around that.

The song Theo’s chosen is Jann Arden’s “Good Mother,” a Canadian Idol favourite since Theresa Sokyrka sang it back in Season 2. The stage is empty except for Theo at his piano. It’s a number that lets him show great sensitivity and control over his voice.

Sass thinks the performance was beautiful. Farley feels, “That song and the way you’ve sung it is a really brave choice, because it exposes any flaws you might have. But fortunately, you don’t have many flaws. You did a really good job with that.”

Zack suspects Theo only played the piano about half as much as he had intended to. He is surprised by what Theo said about not knowing the kind of CD he wants to make, because, “I think you may be the most clearly defined artist that we’ve ever had on this show.” Jake is intrigued by Zack’s first comment because he feels it would have sounded great a cappella.

Round one clearly goes to Theo, but Mitch is not dead yet. Round two presents the song to be released by the winner.

Mitch MacDonald

Mitch performs “Where We Begin,” which is a great song for his vocal range. On my TV, it comes across rather tame, so some of the judges’ comments may confuse viewers. Live, it rocks a lot more than we are used to from Mitch, which is nice. He doesn’t seem to get into it right off the top, but he soon settles into a comfy spot. Alas, traditional Idol lyrics such as “I can see my whole life in front of me” cannot be escaped.

Farley says it was refreshing to hear Mitch sing loud, and he enjoyed the dynamic. Zack says he actually likes his voice when he sings loud, and feels Mitch’s tone is consistent when he changes volume. He says it’s “definably you, and you represent a Mitch style” that he admires. Jake tells Mitch, “It doesn’t sound that you’re wedded to that song yet.” Sass says, “I think everyone here might agree, but how can you not love you?” Mitch looks embarrassed.