TNL Onstage 2012 Preliminary 1 - Highlights

A few miracles were bound to happen when SRI LANKANS COME ON TIME!! Except for some important people being late, everyone was on time, and that in itself would have caused the Galadari Hotel to crumble over everyone's heads. A few wonders did happen...wonders to ponder about...like a guy with glittered hair.


First up was a Disclaimer; a band who had a mainly male cheerleading squad from the far left corner of the room. And yes, I do consider them lucky! [The first band on stage, is always the first to breathe easy I believe!] The challenge for each band/soloist is to perform a song of their choice, and a song from either the AT40 charts, or from Nikki Sixx! Disclaimer performed the first version of Live To Rise [by Soundgarden] for the night. In my opinion, the band had a shaky start with a few notes out of place,[ I don't blame them at all! That Cornell dude has a knack of showing off his octaves] but picked it up later on during the song. Their second song choice was an original, Pain Still Remains, which I thought was an interesting tune. Disclaimer, was there a woman behind that particular success? I'd Love to know! Over all...fingers crossed Disclaimer!


Lo and behold, first soloist for the night wore shades! Many people questioned this choice of accessory, but sometimes not seeing the crowd is a good thing! And it takes great talent to walk down the stairs in the dark! And with glitter glittering away on his hair, he started off the soloist category with a hit by One Direction, What Makes You Beautiful, and moved on to American Idiot by Green Day.


Next band to be shot on stage with my lovely lens is Flight of Bullets! [Pun attempted] I must commend this band for being brave and choosing to cover a song that involves Amy Lee from Evanescence! [Covering Amy Lee is as scary as covering Maraiah Carey & her screaming, and Whitney Houston in my opinion] Their next song choice had only 3 members on stage with the acoustic version of Switchfoot's Afterlife. There were moments where a few notes did slip, but I did enjoy their performance overall.

The power house of the night was of course Melissa Perera! The ONLY girl [seriously???] act for TNL Onstage 2012. And all hope was laid on her by all woman kind in that room. Aaaaaaaaand...She did not disappoint! At all! She started off with a song by Gavin DeGraw, Not Over You. But what stole the night was her cover of Fun's, We Are Young! People, including myself, couldn't help but simply sing along to "toniiiiiiight..we are youuuuuuung!" And yes, the audience loved her! You go girl!!


Harvest was the 5th act of the night, and the second band to perform Live To Rise by Soundgarden! Before I say anything more about the music, I loved the vocalist's tee! So, that off my chest, I do believe they did a good job with their first song as well as their second. Their second song choice happened to be an original called "Dream Walking", which was pretty good!


Next was a guy who bobbed to stage with a skull tie! Chalitha Weerakkody seemed to be quite a popular chap. Random conversations with people outside onstage would bring up his name, and spoke of his potential. And yes, he did impress. His first song is an Onstage favorite, but is usually performed more in the band category. Touche by Godsmack! This song never fails to create a stir, no matter the many number of times it has been sung! The second song choice is a current hit by Gotye, "Somebody That I Used To Know". And chalitha couldn't help but bob in tune during his performance.


And yet another t-shirt I was eyeing during the show belonged to none other than the lead vocalist of Renunciation. [It had a zombie ice cream print] The last band to perform for the night treated us to a second cover of Switchfoot's Afterlife for the night. How could anyone get over such a guitar riff anyway? For the acoustic round they chose BFMV's Tears Don't Fall.


Last, but definitely not the least, the winner of the Encore Round, and the last Soloist & performance of the night, is Prabhodya Fernando! He did a good job in covering Bon Jovi's Always and Without You by David Guetta ft, Usher. And there was a huge roar for him from the right hand corner of the room that won him the Encore Round. So great was his cheering squad that one guy was left screaming rather femininely after losing his voice in near completion!


It was a great start to w a whole new year of TNL Onstage. You just can't help but wonder, did I just see the winning act of TNL Onstage 2012? Perhaps. Only time will tell!

With love [just 20%], Stivi (TNL team)