Last night Carfax rocked with a top line-up of South Africa’s favourite bands, including the Dirty Skirts, 340ml, Zebra & Giraffe and the Road to V top five unsigned bands. From the top five bands, three had to be chosen to go into the next level of the competition.

The Road to V judges had a hard time picking the top three out of the five, but at the end of it, the top three to make it to the next musical stage are:
Third World Spectator
Captain Stu
Gonzo Republic

All three bands will go on to be the support acts for One Republic, Maroon 5, Goldfish and The Parlotones at the Dome on 13 December, 14 December at the ICC in Durban and in Cape Town on 17 December at the Grand Arena at Grand West.

Then at the end of all that it'll be known which Number 1 unsigned band will get to be on stage at next year's Virgin Festival.

Captain Stu are a six-piece band based in Cape Town. Their sound is described as a mix of African, ska, funk, and reggae with pop influences. Captain Stu began in 2002 with founding members Nick Key and Ryan McArthur. While forming they went through various members and sounds and it wasn’t until 2004 they started to gig as a seven-piece ensemble. At the time most of the members were just 17. They played throughout Cape Town and as gig offers increased their reputation amplified.

The idea of 3rd World Spectator has been lying dormant for the past several years; the music has been around for a while, only coming to true fruition at the beginning of 2008 with the correct line-up of musicians being assembled: Peter Crafford on vocals, lead guitarist Justin Versfeld, Geran Steyn on bass and drummer André Wentzel.

From Durban, Gonzo Republic — Clayton Human, Jonothan Cumming, Steven Du Plessis and Joshua Beechey — are "a hybrid version of all the dirty rocking groove bands you can think of". Their EP is available for download from Myspace and at shows.