Let's rock!

Last night was the third week of the X Factor live shows and it was rock night.  Yet somehow Tulisa managed to misread the in house memo, interpreting it as 'do whatever you like as long as you add rock riffs, electric guitar and get your acts to jump up and down' night.  She seemed really unhappy that she was the only one who hadn't quite got it right.  Has she never watched X Factor before?  Every year they have rock night and every time the acts perform well known rock songs in the best way they know how.

The groups

I didn't like the song that was chosen for the Rythmix, no amount of lead guitar can make Kesha's 'Tik Tock' sound like a rock song.  Also, at no point ever, should there be any rap in a rock song.  Some of the harmonies were great but aside from that?  It was sloppy and normally I think they are pretty good even if their music style doesn't do it for me personally.  Also the look was wrong this week, previously it's worked well but this time they looked like a bunch of teenie-boppers (am I showing my age?).

The Risk had a far better song choice, still not rock but far closer in style with Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy'.  I didn't feel that the solo sections of their performance were very good but they did pull together well in the chorus and as the song went on they seemed to warm up, improving no end.  However slow starting perfomances would not be acceptable from a professional group and it didn't come close in quality to the original.  All in all, these guys were the stronger of Tulisa's groups this week and that's with Ashley being ill.  Another far from great week for Tulisa, in my opinion, although the other judges seemed fairly impressed by what they saw.

Louis Walsh was being even more annoying than normal last night, constantly droning on about whether the acts were in their comfort zone or not.  I think it has been safely established over the years that all acts will, at some point or other and usually more than once, be out of their comfort zone during the span of the competition.  He also seems to have a developed a new habit of almost climbing over the judging desk when he's excited.  Seriously, this year Louis is doing his 'smug little leprechaun' impression far too well.

The over twenty fives's

This week it was poor Sami that he really let down.  Despite the feed back from the other judges last week and Sami's own, huge reservations about the song he'd chosen this week, he decided to ignore everyone and still give her Cher's 'If I could turn back time'.  Last week she was classed as a cruise ship singer by Mr Barlow which I felt was a little unfair, this week though thanks to Louis' eccentricities, that would have been an understatement.  At best she was the queen of karaoke as both Mr B and Tulisa pointed out.  It's such a shame and totally unfair.  Sami has got a great voice but Louis is stopping her from shining.

For Kitty and Johnny however he got things just right.

I reckon Louis is in his element with Kitty, she's a born entertainer and for once she is an act that can actually out perform Louis' penchant for gimmicky props & stage directions.  Her song this week was just perfect for her; Paul McCartney & the Wings 'Live and let die'.  I absolutely loved it, she really did rock it.  Even Mr B was supportive, completely back tracking on what he'd said earlier about Louis only getting rubbish acts and making them worse.  Kelly seemed to think Kitty was 'forcing' her talent rather than being natural.  What cutesy Kelly fails to see is that an intense person like Kitty is not going to sound natural in that way she would expect.  She's going to sound, well, intense.

Johnny did himself proud.   I'm so happy that Louis left the gimmicks alone and let us listen to him sing last night.  An utterly excellent song choice, 'I believe in a thing called love' by The Darkness.  Perfectly set to enable him to make use of his unusual but fantastic voice and he carried it off with ease.  Did you hear the audience cheer?  He must be over the moon, even Mr B enjoyed it.

I'm beginning to think Mr B's extremely harsh comments to Sami were intended to minimise the damage this category could potentially do to his own.  I think this is the strongest hand Louis has had to play with this category ever.  No wonder he's so chipper!

Kelly was being  as cartoon like as ever yesterday and I've noticed that this year she is the judge that is mostly playing it safe.  No really harsh comments, sticking up for others when comments are made.  Will this continue or will she wheel out the big guns as the competition hots up?  I love the way she tells the act's that 'they killed it' as far as I am aware, over here that still means you ruined something.  Makes me laugh every time.

The girls

Sophie has made some improvements from last week.  She sang Bonjovi's 'Living on a Prayer' turning it into a gorgeous ballad.  The arrangement was good and she paced herself well but she was a little shaky at the start, whether this was down to nerves or bad technique, I don't know.  I agree with Mr B that her emotional connection with the song was far better this week, that you could feel it far more but I still think she could have given it a lot more oomph at the end. All in all, it was an OK performance but I know that Sophie can do better.

Misha was as polished as ever.  A born show woman who totally rocked her song, which was 'Purple Rain' by Prince.  She is extremely talented and is performing at a standard you'd expect at the end, not the beginning of the competition.  However I stand by what I said last week, that we already have so many acts out there with a similar vibe or sound for me to get excited about her.  She might as well be a shorter, less skinny clone of Grace Jones.  As for the judges I wasn't impressed by the way they ganged up against her, live in front of millions of people.  I suspect she probably is a bit of a bully, but let's remember she's young and she's had to fight harder than most to feel like she has a place in the world, so have those types of confrontations away from the cameras and teach, rather than tell her that there are better ways to be.

This leaves Janet.  This lovely girl is still my favourite to win.  I admired the way she spoke to the journalists in her VT about not being willing to change who she is to win supporters, and why should she?  She's sweet, yet feisty with a stunningly beautiful voice that somehow adapts to everything she sings.  She could, as was suggested, have rocked her song 'Sweet Child of Mine' by Guns & Roses, more than she did but it wouldn't have been Janet.  As for Tulisa's criticisms both of Misha and Janet, I believe she's afraid of the competition they bring in force to her own acts. 

Now, Mr Barlow seemed rather confused last night.  Firstly he pretty much told Louis and his acts that they are all awful and a bunch of losers, then he praised and supported the same acts.  I suspect someone may have slipped something into one of the numerous cups of tea that he drinks.  This may also explain why he admitted to 'telling a lie' for Frankie and praising a rubbish performance last week.  He didn't lie, it's just in hindsight he's afraid he'll look bad for not seeing it was bloody awful and is covering himself.

The boys

Talking of Frankie he was marginally better this week.  He did try and modulate his voice, I didn't fall asleep and I recognised the song so he clearly worked hard this week.  Also 'Rocks' by Primal scream is a song that suits Frankie's persona well but I am still totally unimpressed.  What was Kelly thinking when she said she thought it was too rebellious for him, that there is an innocence to him?  The lad has the names of his sexual conquests tattooed on his back-side.  What on earth is innocent about that?  I would like to quote the wonderful Dom Joly on this, who on twitter last night wrote: 

No Dom you are not.  Unfortunately however, there are many people out there (mostly girls) who are just hoping Frankie has an enormous cock.

Marcus I was a little disappointed with, although his rendition of  'Are you gonna go my way' by Lenny Kravitz  improved with a second listening and I do consider it a good song choice for him.  I think that Marcus needs to relax, more than he did last night.  He needs to let go because at the moment you can hear the strain his inner tension is putting on his voice.  Hopefully Mr B is right and once he starts to believe in himself we will start to see what Marcus is really made of.

At last we come to Craig, my cheeky chappy.  An absolutely fantastic song choice here by Mr B with 'Stop crying your heart out' by Oasis.  Craig's rendition was so personal and perfect, a fabulous adaptation.  He started out soft, then built up the volume and passion with just the right timing.  Craig made this song sound even more incredible than the original and I was very impressed by the flexibility of his voice.  Brilliant.  Craig is now officially my number two to win.

So that's the end of week three.  Later tonight we will get to see the results and this week I'm not sure I can call the two weakest acts although my gut feeling tells me the bottom two will be Sami and either Marcus or Rhythmix but I'm guessing here.  We'll find out in a few hours time.