Over 6000 bands sent in audition tapes. 60 bands from around the country were chosen to participate in a judging session that took place at the Montelago Resort in
Lake Las Vegas, Nevada on August 19–25, 2007. While most of these 60 bands were flown straight to
Las Vegas as 'gimmick' acts, the ones being seriously considered for the show participated in a round of regional auditions and then auditions in
Los Angeles before advancing to Las Vegas. Twelve of these forty acts were chosen by show producers and judges to become semifinalist acts to compete against each other in the main season of the show beginning October 19. Again, the show resembled
Idol at this point, with
telephone and
text message votes deciding the winner. There was no results show after the live performance. In each episode, the results were shown in the green room. The two bands (one in later episodes) with the lowest votes were forced to perform in the green room via the internet. Unlike
American Idol, however, the final episode was a winner-takes-all showdown between the top
three bands, not two. The results were shown live in the grand finale and the host only presented the winner to the viewing audience right after the final commercial break. The audition rounds of the show were kept very secretive by the producers, and thus caused some controversy between bands who had sent in audition tapes. Many
online forums and
chat rooms were full of bands falsely stating they had been selected to appear on the show, and further confused hopefuls by posting several versions of the rules, contracts, and audition details. ==Top 12==