Alamak... tak ramai orang lak. Ni baru sampai kat PICC surprised tengok kosong sikit. Erm... oh well, sebab jumlah yang bertanding so obviously ler kureng gak.

Malam ni semifinals mana yang solo dan jugak yang berkumpulan akan square off.

Keputusan dari undian juri yang berjumlah 70% dan kiraan SMS penonton yang total 30% show malam ni yang menentukan wakil Ikon Malaysia akan diketahui on 11 July,

Dalam nak nunggu the show start, gelak memacam ler perangai dan gelagat peminat yang mai.

Tanak la cakap sapa ek...tapi ada ler beberapa yang kelakar lak tengok.

When the show kick off, memang gelak. first sebab lawak tol tengok intro Citrawarna. Erm... oh well.

Tapi pastu gelak ngan lawak Sarimah yang memang nampak semakin getting more comfortable ngan hosting. Masuk masuk je miming lagu Snap, The Power, siap nari ok. syukur nya hari ni dia tak jerit seperti minggu lepas. Bingit woo... tapi today ok la. Guess it's just a question of easing in slowly.

Now on with the show.. by the way semua peserta kali ni diberikan lapan minit tuk total performance. So jangan terkejut kalao majoriti wat ala ala konsert medle tak abih or yang takde lagu lain nak perjuangkan remix satu lagu sampai extended abih..

Gerhana Ska Cinta
Tetris (Intro)/Is There Any Soul In Your Music/Things Of The Past/Senyum Ragamu
Gerhana Ska Cinta C kicked off the show ngan setiap anggota pakai t shirt yang ada abjad. Nice... cute take . Kinda reminds me of those little buttons with alphabets.
They started off quite well, proving their tight sound was an admirable representation of the underground scene they originated from.

Intro Tetris kelakar... and a nice touch to kick off the show.Their laid back sound was a breath of fresh air,

IN There Any Soul In Your Music and Things Of The Past were a little too laid back, and I think in terms of competition salah lagu sebab while musically proven they're up to it, wish they'd stress a little more on the vocal performance aspect to make it more powerful.

Deserving winners for the band category...that's for sure. just perhaps... it wasn't enough.
They just better find a wat to make their performance sizzle a little more so that it'll be able to match up with some butt kicking acts from the other countries, especially Indonesia.

After all, credibility is fine and all, but they seriously have to think of things in a more competitive level.

Farah
Tak Pernah Ada/Gembira Hidup Ini
Erm... seriously I love Farah. Tapi aku nih dilema sikit bila tengok persembahan dia. Bukan apa... naik pentas je pening aku. Imej dia... erm... burok.

With a glittery top, couple with a short dress yang ruffles and all yang nampak tak siap with gaudy heels, it was just tack-o-rama.

Cuma nasib baik, first song, masa Tak Pernah Ada, aku impress gila. She dd better than last week, and it's quite an inspiring show by her in comparison to previous performances I've seen.

Makes you almost forget her baju buruk... notice I said ALMOST!

Masuk lagu kedua, Gembira Hidup Ini, ketara yang Farah ni sebenarnya quite hardworking and quite impressive actually.

Cuma aku rasa nak bunuh stylist dia jer sebab tak kuasa tol tengok minggu demi minggu keburukan pakaian dan imej dia yang pesen asik tak jadik.

Oh well...

Here's hoping they realise that image tuh adalah penting bagi seseorang artis dan Farah sendiri amik berat isu pakaian dan imej.

Not quite the umpphh yang diperlukan tuk wakili Malaysia.

Flop Poppy
Sewaktu Dulu/Keliru
Starting out quite well, ni one of the things aku nak puji pasal Flop Poppy. They don't take things for granted.

All dressed to the theme of a marching band, with five members of an actual marching band, yang midway through the first song, battle with the drummer in a clash of percussions, it was quite interesting.

Nevermind kat instrument memasing ada tampal kertas ngan logo Bentley Music.

Andy and the boys in kilts, proved clothes make the man... siap pakai kilt lagik.

Musically they were quite impressive, and they provided a punch to things where others failed.

Sewaktu Dulu and Keliru itself was a pleasure to listen to as it displayed a band where all members were in synch with each other, and yes, they did sound like they were indeed having fun.

Of the eight minutes time frame, they didn't waste a second to amaze.

I don't know how it'll sound on TV but in the venue there was some problem in terms of miking up the percussions.

Not that original... but in a night where things were run of the mill and biasa biasa, they stood out as the best.

Oh they brought the house down...that's for sure... again and again.

A potential to represent Malaysia.

Dayang Nurfaizah
Seandainya Masih Ada Cinta/Ingin Ku Miliki/Dayang Sayang Kamu
Lama tak dengar dia nyanyi Seandainya Masih Ada Cinta. Rindu tol. And in a simple black outfit with a diamante studded belt buckle and matching heels, she look classy!!!

Elegance in all simplicity which contrast with her occasionally overdose punya soul. Still, kekuatan lagu tuh itself was enough to get the message across if she didn't stretch it sampai meleret sangat.

Most good singers tend to forget when they sing, it's for the people, not for themselves. And there has to be a balance between artistry and acceptance. Kalau da goreng sampai hangus nak makan apa? Erm... when it comes to pop appeal there has to be the proper placement to achieve that climax, cause at the end of the day, it is about the pop appeal of the performance.

Between a mass appeal stage and a blues club, you just have to know the difference.

She redeemed herself in Ingin Ku Miliki, which I thought wasn't the best song choice, but ended on a high with Dayang Sayang Kamu.

Nicely done though, and definite one of the top candidates to represent Malaysia.

By the way terkejut Dayang kurang lak accessories berketul seperti biasa. Heh... still she looked sweet.

Reshmonu
Walk Away (Slow Jam)/Where There Is Love There Is You/Hey Walley/Understand
Ni satu agik kes tergoreng lebih. One thing for sure pasal Reshmonu, show dia mesti entertaining. Kali ni not any different. In fact meriah abih... tapi konsep pesta bhangra sikit ler.

A little bit too much if you ask me, but what to do, some artistes like I said kurang faham ngan competition level performances and still more often that not come across as overdose and self indulgent.

Nak wat camna... erm... goyang pala leh, tapi darpada segi leh tak dia wakili Malaysia... memang boleh. Cuma not in this competition.

So... kira filler ler nih. janji enjoy, tapi ala ala interlude ler ler sparuh jalan among the more performances yang sizzled.

Still good and admirable effort.

Just again, wrong place at the wrong time.

OAG
Slumber
The only act to perform only one song selain Jinbara, OAG however is undoubtedly on that level where bukan sebab takde lagu lain ke tak mampu nak buat performance yang lain... sebab their performance was still enjoyable withut all the pizzazz.

Biar simple janji bagus.

Walaupon bersilih ganti anggota OAG nih, still, I'm amazed at how tight they kept their set. With OAG, there was no need for gimmicks and such nak wow the crowd.

Ok... baju Radhi yang kuning, merah and black ala tartan tuh could be considered a gimmick, but let's face it, Radhi is one colourful character camna pon.

Besides their quirk mage nak bersongkok dan berbaju Melayu is an admirable effort and being themselves and bridging the gap of being cool and still appreciating the finer points of our culture.

Radhi throughout the song, wat cam konsert lak, throwing caution to the wind, and buat memang slumber jer...siap mintak crowd nyanyi sekali and made sure everyone had fun. Siap pusing pusing la... baring kat lantai la... lompat lompat la... dan sebagainya.

Erm... cuma apa tuh Radhi conteng muka tuh.

THE BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGHT FROM A BAND!

No gimmicks, no pressure... just tons of fun!

Leh masuk tak? I hope so!

Good choice of their sing-a-long hit yang pleasant, and yet still leh despite it being a tad mild, cukup nak induced a little head banging. Please oh please everone vote for them!

Mawi
Demi Dia/Yasallam
Lagu dah sedap... erm.. botak pun nampak semangat. Tapi for some reason, it didn't work. Takde lah buruk, just not his best dan sayang la sebab ramai masih mempertikaikan kebolehan dia.

Daripada mula, da mula sumbang sana sini. Intro shaky gila. The chorus was much better, tapi still, sayang seribu sayang.

Still, despite that, I put Mawi on the level of Dayang dan Jac, my original three.

The next song Yasallam aku nak gelak sikit. Ngan intro Aduh Saliha, burok siot backing dia!

Rasa cam tengok video clip lie dari filem Diva. Very the Citrawarna yang erm...azab sebenarnya. Vocally, I think ni lagu salah ler. Sebab takde punch.

Cam tak pikir lak ramai malam ni pasal pilihan lagu yang mampu tonjolkan the best of their singing and performing abilities.

Erm... not the best, and based on performance, aku rasa Mawi lum brsedia nak jadik ikon dari segi competition.

Takper la botak... ko pun da jadik salah seorang ikon for Malaysian music with or without this competition.

Masa kau kan sampai gak kang... apapon... I still feel it's such a waste.

I think so far only Flop Poppy dan OAG jer ang betul betul paham what it takes dari segi nak menghiburkan audience.

May
Cintamu Mekar Di Hati/Dari Kaca Mata
Erm.... what do I say. I love lagu Cintamu Mekar Di Hati dari kecik. Memag rempit dan very the rock tak cuci rambut seluar ketat dan busuk lar kalau ikutkan ngan evolusi rock skang.

But who cares!!!! I love them. Heh...walaopon Ikon zaman 80an.... leh la...janji head banging. Great show and definitely enjoy abih!!!!

Cuma... nak kata meka nak menang dan wakili Malaysia, aku rasa tak perlu la. Kang orang ingat muzik Malaysia ni masih time warp.

I mean honestly the sound is so dated.

The second song proved me right. A throwback to the 80s rock yang memang all about wailing guitar and screaming with lots of unwashed hair flying about.

Erm... fun.. but no thank you.

Nice to watch... but that's about it. Time to move on and come back to the 2000s.

Jaclyn Victor
Tiada Lagi Indah/Inilah Masanya
The favourite for the solo representative tfor Malaysia to the regional Ikon, Jac memang tak dapat dinafikan has the perfect package nak buktikan Malaysia da sampai tahap untuk digeruni kat peringkat dunia.

Her vocals are amazing... and masa dia tarik, maunya tercabut anak tekak kita semua sekumpulan yang hadir event ni bersama menjerit tuk dia.

Sayang baju dia kali ni busuk... yerla...selepas kena tegur seksi....

That golden off-white outfit is just plain UGLY!!! No I take that back... it's not ugly...it's FUGLY!
And that shawl is so salah. Takper...burok mana baju dia, suara dia tetap the best! Oh my God. Does she ever fail?

Erk...masuk Inilah Masanya, she tears off the humongoues misshapened skirt to reveal a little tutu in side with leggings and matching boots. If you took that shawl away, she would look cute, cause I think the outfit then became quite nice.

But that shawl just made it a little fugly.

Urm.. ni mesti kes seksi yang timbul terus takleh dedah ni. Akibatnya camni la. Dedah sikit lantak la.. hish...

Tapi bestnya time ni sebab biasa Jac amazing time ballads, ngan lagu berentak upbeat pun, Jac buktikan she is versatile.Yeap kebolehan vokal dia tak leh dipertikaikan lagi, thugh I would love to see her dance a little more, even though kali ni dia bop around and looked like she was having massive fun... walaopon ada ketika dia nampak cam kurang biasa.

The best soloist of the night.

Need I say any more?

Mungkin ada yang tak suka... but she is the best we have, and we need the best to represent us so that kami leh bangga kat peringkat lebih tinggi dan industri kami leh digeruni orang luar. It's a matter of pride.

Jinbara
Farhana
Korang penah tengok filem Garasi tak? The ending scene mana band bak traditional instruments and all sebab nak wat fusion rock dan traditional?

Yes, Jinbara ciplak the idea and came across as a weak-assed rip off yang didn't make it. And what's wrong with their hair. My God!!!!

It's so uncool...it could never be in.

Oh well... it's a miracle some people even enjoy the song. I mean Farhana isn't all that bad,...tapi erm... maybe some people just like ppping in a time machine to be reminded of how things were 20 years ago.

Dressing a lot better than May la... and their musicianship is a lot more polished walaupon they may not have the same amount of years behind them like May. But May unlike them... are legends.

The hair... what's with their hair????

Anyways...gemersik gesekan biola (heh...tol ke ayat tuh) memang besh... but still reminded me too much of Garasi visually).

Rock rempit yang decent tapi aku tak bayangkan meka in the context of this competition. I mean... bandingkan contohnya ngan Samsons? Personal preference for me sebab aku rasa meka busuk, tapi aku akui meka memang ok lar dari banyak segi. Just not something I think people regionally will appreciate.

But...erm...very masses if you ask me. Pandai pandai paham...

Well... at least they weren't boring...

Erm... enough said.

My vote for bands remain either OAG or Flop Poppy. Solo?? Jac. Tatau ler jadik ke tak. Not sure bila meka akan tayang kat Astro... but korang nilai sendiri ler ek and make your own choices.