The venue: Singapore Indoor Stadium. The occasion: The grand season finale of Singapore Idol 2. The people: An estimated 8000 cuddly fan folks bopping and hopping to two incredible talents contending to be the next Singapore Idol. Here’s our breakdown of what happened on the fired-up stage, minute down to the last minute.

8.00pm Gurmit Singh starts the show off. He looks a little tired. Maybe it’s the unforgiving lights. We think the hardworking host’s been keeping night-watch with the two finalists.

8.02pm The Top 10 appear to sing a Christmas carol-ry kind of song. Gasp, Rahimah looks fatter. Paul wiggles in a manner that says he still can’t get enough of partying.

8.03pm Stars of the show Jon and Hady take the magical tunnel ride up on stage, looking really excited. Spiffy! You scream, I scream, everyone screams. The fans are pretty happy with their baton balloons. “Hey, Idol there!” says Gurmit to them both, giving Hady a playful punch. Jon’s colour coordination with his ash yellow jacket and red-navy blue shirt is a little off-tune, but oh, never mind.

8.06pm Hady attempts to out-scream the fans, but the fans won’t be defied. Everyone says hello to President Nathan!

8.07pm The judges are introduced. A close-up on Ken Lim, who’s broken out into a sweat (it’s hot!).

8.08pm Flashbacks of the season play. We can picture aunties at home hoping to strike it big at 4-D prepare to buy 2680 and 3846 as Hady’s and Jon’s queue numbers flash onscreen in the footage for the first auditions in February this year.

8.11pm “I hope Jonathan will do his best and do Singapore proud!”, says Jon’s pop, who’s already seeing greater things ahead for his son. Likewise, Hady’s parents are so proud of their songster son, they can’t stop grinning their white teeth out. Hearts warm.

8.16pm Jon is slated to perform first. His banshee hair makes him look like he wants to go ‘‘Flyaway hair?’ as a poster boy for hair spray. Oh, we can see it all so clearly now. We are also tempted to give the musical note on his black jacket (yes, the first wardrobe change of the evening has just taken place) a push and hear a squiggly sound. Jon gives us a report card of what he’s been busy with and sincerely gives his thanks to the fans.

8.19pm Jon croons Snow Patrol’s slow-burner ballad Chasing Cars, the same song the judges chose for him in the spectaculars three weeks ago. For some reason, he starts off tenderly, but shakily. Don’t beat us, but his black-and-white outfit makes him look a bit like a singing bartender. He’s nervous. Go on Jon, you can do it! Thankfully, the chorus comes and he starts to get into the sync of things.

8.23pm Performance ends. Dick Lee gazes at him cheerily and says he is now convinced he was right all along. Jon has clearly made his day. Ja praises him as “subtle, groovy and won our hearts” while Ken says he looks and sounds like a star. Jon says he feels good.

8.26pm Hady delivers his report card on what he’s busy with too, and goes one up on Jon by thanking everyone he’s met along the course of his Idol journey. He’s up next.

8.27pm Wow, bet you never knew that Hady looked this good in a trench coat. He does his first song of the evening, George Michael’s Freedom and sounds smooth like butter! The backdrop rages behind him in shades of passionate red. When he peers into the camera with that piercing look and sings, “I won’t let you down/ So please don’t give me up”, we believe him. He’s having a good time. So’s everyone at the stadium. He’s a singing matador, this Hady. But you know what we said about Jon not being able to dance? Neither can Hady.

8.31pm Performance ends. Dick says he had a vision of Hady singing this song in the stadium back at the fourth Brit Invasion spectaculars, when Hady first performed this song on the show — spiritual stuff. Ja loves him. Hady loves Ja back.

8.32pm Hady says he felt great. Gurmit’s official theme for the night is ‘Soak It In’. We vaguely felt like plants.

8.39pm Specially written as the first single for the Singapore Idol, the original composition You Give Me Wings gets its first airing with Jon’s husky vocals. Was it written for the fans? They seem to think so. In fact, we can hear them thinking of the last time they bought Jonathan a plate of chicken wings. Ok, cheap jokes aside, Jon is really taking off with this song.

8.43pm Performance ends. Dick now predicts Jon could easily be a regional star. Ken applauds him for the good work.

8.46pm Hady sings Through the Fire by Chaka Khan. We suddenly have a fleeting sensation that this is National Day. Who says that Hady doesn’t move us? He does, and ends the song on a perfect lingering oomph. He is steady, rock steady.

8.50pm Performance ends. Florence Lian says he can’t get any cooler. It’s a tad disturbing that Ken is exhorting Hady to match up to Jon with his vocals. Hey, Hady’s looking pretty darn good too!

8.52pm Daniel Ong asks the crowd how they’re doing. They scream back in approval. Call us mean, but somehow we can’t help but feel it would have been fun if one of them had fallen over for want of more attention.

8.56pm Moving swiftly along, Jon shows his support for local music with Dreamz FM’s Should I Stay. First he rages across the stage with his mike stand, then he sings/asks the crowd “Should I stay or should I go?” Taken out of context, it must mean “Should I go be the Singapore Idol or should I stay and be the Singapore Idol?” Hmmmm…

9.01pm Performance ends. Ja is affirmative that he is the Idol all right. Ken reiterates, backing up both of them as winners. A-ha, Ken, but there can only be one winner. Vote, people!

9.04pm Hady stumbles over a few words when Dan chats with him. We hope the judges’ raving comments for Jon aren’t getting to him. But we shouldn’t have worried. Next he delivers the last competitive performance of the evening, of the season, with You Give Me Wings. He’s not skimping on the inspirational seh. So inspirational, in fact, that youths in black start to strut out from behind him, snapping their fingers to his performance. And gosh, all that sweat on his forehead is testimony to his fiery passion for music.

9.08pm Performance ends. The fans won’t stop screaming. Dick calls Hady’s ending performance sensational and that he gave the Indoor Stadium wings. Very poetic. Ken says he’s in a different league altogether, which is great news.

9.13pm Commercial break. We wanna drink JiaJia LiangTeh.

9.18pm Recaps roll for the evening’s performances.

9.20pm Fans give it their all with extra-loud cheers. The star sons thank their parents: Jon thanks them for looking after him since he was a young crybaby; Hady reciprocates his father’s shout of love with a shout from the bottom of his heart.

9.23pm Dan gives Jon’s fans a final break for their cheers. Did we mishear something, or did they really cheer “Wanna win a fish to eat!”? Hady’s fans do the classic Ole Ole soccer cheer for their football-crazy hero, Hady.

9.24pm Waves and air-kisses from the key people who worked their hearts out for this successful season.

9.26pm The show ends four minutes ahead of the slated 9.30 closing time. But hey, the show must go on. Correction: the show of support must go on! Don’t forget to vote!

So, who will the next Singapore Idol be? Vote now and watch later!
Don't miss the Results Show ‘LIVE' on Mon, Sept 26@ 8pm.