Stardust 2011 - Band Category

After the intermission ended, the tension begin building up again because the band category was slated to proceed next. Clearly, the idea of playing in a band is way much more perplexing than having to do the job alone. Dynamics, coordination, concept of space, showmanship on top of the strength of the vocals being able to carry off the band as well as stage presence are all factors that were going to come into play.

This was also when the competition level started to diversify a little, with bands displaying more personality finding more favour with the audience. 4 Avenues, with a line-up of teens barely over 16 won the hearts of many despite not placing in the top 3. For a moment there, their rendition of Taylor Swift's Love Story brought back smiles to faces and memories of high school talentime for many. One of the judges also commented about how he had seen 4 Avenues' previous performances before and their ability to constantly engage the audience. You can check out the performance here:

There were the Shockers that left quite an impression in the semi-finals for the wrong reasons, and the contestants' display picture is all you need to get the full picture. There were several bands that opted for the medley route - mashup of several songs of their own choice and to be honest, it was going to be difficult to do justice to all the songs in the medley. Expectations for the different songs in the medley added up and it was the Shockers that did the best job out of the bands who opted to do medley. Watch them kick off with Nirvana's classic "Smells Like Teen Spirit" here:

Though there were bands that didn't end up placing in top 3, they definitely could be proud of their on-day performances, there was Audio Kream. Judges complimented on strong personality as well as X-factor of lead vocalist to be able to carry the band. Should my memory serve me right, they were also leading in terms of the number of the audiences' votes halfway through the band category. These weren't slouches for sure, do keep an eye for them!

The metal-heads arrived in the form of St Helens and were the much needed wisp of fresh air in the competition. You might have mis-read the former as wisp of fresh hair as indeed, there was a dedicated post-performance interview with the hosts on how lead vocalist managed to keep his hair outrageously long and shiny for a guy!

And finally, the band that captivated the imaginations of both the judges as well as the audience. Performing to the classic "Time After Time", Freedom emerged victorious in this band category. There just wasn't many faults to be had with them - the rhythm section held up well, the guitar effects and keyboards didn't miss a note and there was just nothing more to ask for from the band for a top 3 worthy performance.

You can check out rest of bands' pictures below:

As well as the prize ceremony, congratulations to the all the bands!

Stardust 2011 - Solo Category

Stardust 2011, lovechild of the lovely folks from the NUS Student Business, finally concluded over the weekend. To be honest, the somewhat modest turnout at Stardust threatened to dampen and hamper the spirits of those who worked hard behind the scenes but before the night was even over, you can safely say the performances redeemed them back! I was there in advance of time and was back-stage, you could see how the backstage crew were hurriedly scurrying along to their destinations, sticking to their duties to ensure the show gets running on time. Hosted by 98.7 DJs who managed to prep the crowd with their humor, sometimes at the expense themselves or co-host, the event was also boosted alongside judges like Inch Chua, Don Richmond and Amanda Ling.

The solo category contestants graced the field first and it was always difficult for Mhd Faizal being the first in line to come out with a bang. With a backing rhythm track that he designed of his own, I felt that it kinda backfired on his performance than actually helped to elevate the performance. It was confirmed by the judges later on. As the solo category progressed on, some of the contestants were starting to find their strides while the better ones were able to work the stage a little better and in general, impress the judges somewhat bit better.

Performances like Sufie who chose to perform a classic from Nina Simone captured the imaginations of the audience on that night. His performance would have done Adam Lambert proud if he were sitting in the crowd that night as his well-worked performance coupled with good dynamics onstage landed him second place afterwards. Laterwards I did manage to find out that Sufie is no stranger to such competitions as he has netted several top place finishings in other singing competitions so personally I'll be keeping a lookout for him in the namelist if I ever choose to take part in future singing competitions.

There were other contestants who also left us walking away with deep impressions - of course notably, Carmen Ang who eventually walked with the top prize. Music can mean very different things to different people, it can just be a leisure way of passing time or it can simply be merely confined to American Idol on Thursday or Friday nights. For Carmen Ang, it was quite a different story - it was her source of strength. Amongst the few originals that debuted on stage that night, Carmen's had an extra unfortunate twist to hers - recent passing of her mother. She delivered in an earnest and heartwarming manner - there were no questions about it, the lyrics said it all. This connection struck a chord with many in the audience and perhaps more in the front row where the judges were as Carmen walked away with the first place finish in Stardust 2011 in the solo open category.

The format that worked was that performances were scheduled to perform one after another smoothly. At the end of the 5th contestant's performance, the hosts would gather all the contestants who had performed and lined them up in front of the judges American-Idol style. You can check out their jittery faces below: (as well as shots of other contestants, credits to Joycelyn Ng)

Congratulations to Farah Erfina with her 3rd place finish, who surprised herself more than anyone else during the prize presentation ceremony. You can check out her performance alongside some of the other contestants which I managed to get footage of below: