Australian Idol: 4th Finals Week

Australian Idol always had a Beatles night until last year, when the 20-something "music fanatics" that qualified for the show complained that their songs meant nothing to them, which to me is like a dramatist saying they don't care about Shakespeare or a film-maker not knowing who Kubrick was. Nevertheless, this year the specialist artist night honour fell to ABBA, who were the Beatles of Europop, really. To be honest, it's been a very long time since I've heard either group's music though it does seem like ABBA turns up a lot more on soundtracks and the likes of late, so it does seem more reasonable to assume that people under 30 might have actually heard some of their stuff.

Either way, I thought it was going to be a hurdle for almost everyone, and I was right.

First up was Chrislynn, approaching "Mama Mia" as a bit of a pisstake. The intent was fine but it rang a bit hollow and ended up a little underdone and Dicko was spot on (as usual) with his comments about her choice of wardrobe.

Obviously an ABBA fan, Thanh outdid himself with "The Winner Takes It All", easily his best effort yet. He didn't sound quite so much like a tryhard Farnham tonight, although he did do a song I could hear The Voice singing.

Sophie took "Gimme Gimme Gimme" and Tricky-ed it up. This is the style she's been trying to pull off ever since she entered the show and tonight it actually worked. Good for her.

Wes was a real surprise, not because he did a top-notch job but because he sang "Fernando". For a bloke who obviously isn't gay, this was rather bizarre but he's so good it just doesn't matter.

Roshani came out looking like she had a steel rod up her arse for a cabaret version of "Money Money Money". The corset was probably a bad move, even though she looked as hot as, because her performance suffered a bit from her not being able to move very much.

Mark admittedly hated the whole concept of doing an ABBA song, but nevertheless came out and rocked it up with a version of "Waterlood" that actually sounded a bit Noiseworks. Never a bad thing. Dicko ripped him apart which was vastly unfair because he really wasn't that bad.

Madam Parker is the only contestant who has actually been getting worse and worse each week, and the trend continued tonight. Another one who was admittedly spooked by doing ABBA, she tried a showtune-crossed-with-hip-hop-diva style on "Dancing Queen" and screwed it up royally. Time for her to depart, methinks.

The only other entrant who actually seemed to dig the whole ABBA concept, Teale is nonetheless still "just there" for me, and probably always will be. He was a bit better tonight, doing "Thank You For the Music" as an acoustic pop-rock thing.

Finally, as the most unlikeliest singer of an ABBA song ever, Shearer Luke knew he had something to prove tonight, but even though he flubbed the words halfway through, his raspy-voiced rock take on "Knowing Me, Knowing You" wasn't bad at all.

Despite most of them being a bit uncomfortable with the whole idea, Madam was clearly the worst tonight. From one of the best to undeniably the worst, if she manages to hang on again tomorrow it won't be for much longer.