Rockstar: INXS

I have a tradition.  Whenever I go on vacation to Colorado, I watch  Rockstar: INXS.  This was a show on CBS that originally aired back in 2005.  This show was a reality singing competition show where the band INXS was looking for a new lead singer to replace the deceased Michael Hutchence.  There were 15 contestants that made the cut and were put on the air.  Brooke Burke was the host and Dave Navarro (how hot is he anyway?!?!?) was the liason to the band. 
Each week there would be a night of performances and then a night of elimination where one of the contestants would of course go home.  There was also a special mini episode which showed what Dave called Clinics.  The clinics gave the contestants some lessons in being a lead singer for a huge band.  These clinics ranged from Fashion to Vocal Coaching and several others.  Elimination was based on voter returns.  The three contestants who received the least amount of votes were then asked to sing an INXS song.  After those performances the band chose who was safe and who would be eliminated that night.  Most of the time you could kind of tell who had a bad night and could guess who would be bottom three and then who would be eliminated by their performances.  There were some shockers but not many.
From the beginning of the show there was a group of contestants that you could tell had the vocal chops to make it to the end.  For the most part they did.  There were some early departures that I to this day think: "How did they even make the show?" There were other eliminations that I thought were totally erroneous.  I hold most of these views even after re-watching the entire season for the umpteenth time.

 

There were several memorable performances.  There were those that were memorable for a good reason and others for bad "Stop Go" anyone?  Who would think of listening to a song called "Stop Go"?  Every week on elimination night someone got to choose a performer to do an encore performance.  Sometimes it was INXS, sometimes others chose like Dave or the audience.  Some of the best performances of the entire show were Mig Ayesa singing Baby, I love your way by Peter Frampton,  Marty Casey's original song Trees and my all time fave Suzie McNeil and her version of Queens Bohemian Rhapsody.  Heck, I loved Marty singing "Hit Me One More Time" by Britney Spears.  I have all of these on my iPod to this day and if I hit random and get Suzie it is inevitable that I get goosebumps. 
I love this show.  I love the music, the performers and the house band lead by Paul Mirkovich.  I love Dave and Brooke.  It is great to see INXS too but it is more of the music that I love.  

I will not go on to say who won for those who have not seen the show or who are familiar with recent INXS albums but I will say I think that if INXS would have chosen Suzie they would have been able to bring in a whole new generation of INXS fans. 

Here are a list of my favorite performances in no particular order:

Performed by Jordis Unga
The Man Who Sold the World by David Bowie 
Imagine by John Lennon

Performed by Brandon Calhoon
Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Performed by Mig Ayesa
Baby I Love Your Way by Peter Frampton

Performed by Ty Taylor
Everybody Hurts by R.E.M.

Performed by JD Fortune
California Dreamin by The Mamas and The Papas
As Tears Go By by The Rolling Stones
Money by Pink Floyd

Performed by Marty Casey
Lithium by Nirvana
Mr Brightside by the Killers
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd
Trees by Marty Casey

Performed by Suzie McNeil
Losing My Religion by R.E.M.
I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen