LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Soo's Got Talent Round 3) & Second Round Footage!!

As promised, let's close out this weekend's hard rock concert previews with a full extended look at an ongoing talent competition, and like last week, this is a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT. Here's what you should know!

After two weeks of competition, local rap metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty have advanced to the semifinals in The Soo's Got Talent, which goes down TOMORROW NIGHT at Soo Blaster! Apologies for the short notice, we again held our coverage of the following round due to the short turnaround time, though followers of the event knew that the third round was the week afterwards. Last week's action at The Verdi Hall saw the remaining 14 acts perform for the judges, with Marilena Blair, Andrea Dantzer, Ciara Pelletier LeBeouf, and Greg McLeod all not advancing to the final 10, so The Apocalypse Afterparty will continue flying the metal/alternative flag, even if they hate genres! However, "an issue beyond our control" forced organizers to postpone the semifinals from today to TOMORROW, and while it's not clear how related it is, the location has indeed shifted to Soo Blaster, which is a bigger venue fitting the increasing stakes, so keep the changes in mind!

Despite the changes, admission details remain similar from last week, including an 8:00 PM start time (doors at 7:00 PM), and a $10 cover charge for adults, $5 for kids 16 and under. Visit the above links for more information on what to expect at Soo Blaster TOMORROW, and for a preview, here's the second episode of The Soo's Got Talent's televised airing from SaultOnline's YouTube channel! As ONNtv subscribers may already have seen on Monday, this captures all 14 second round performers, though despite the six eliminations since week 1, they still got a 2+ hour video out of the footage shot last week. Better camera usage this time, including multiple angles and a closer primary camera, so that helps accentuate the contest progression! Remember, these performances all feature a singer covering an existing song unless otherwise stated. In performance order, we have The Apocalypse Afterparty (Lorde's "Tennis Courts", surprisingly), ...

...Madison Blair (Rihanna's "Stay"), Marilena Blair ("Amazing Grace", which was performed by Leila Rabanez on night #1), Andrea Dantzer ("A Change In Me" from Beauty & The Beast), The Dancing Divas (Taylor Swift's "Welcome to New York" with locally relevant lyric changes), Killabeatz doing another original beatboxing performance, Colin Gasparelli (a medley of the jazz standard "Summertime" & a-Ha's "Take On Me"), Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf (Avril Lavigne's "Head Above Water"), Ciara Pelletier LeBeouf (Meghan Trainor's "Me Too"), Greg McLeod (George Strait's "Write This Down"), Cameron Oliver (Ozzy Osbourne's "Mama, I'm Coming Home"), Coulson Perri (Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up"), Juliana Regan (Donny Hathaway's "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know"), and Adrian Sullivan playing an original song, before ending with an improvised bonus Killabeatz performance with a guest rapper, followed by the announcement of who advanced to the semifinals.

Note that singer/guitarist Lauren Kroll is not featured in the week 2 performances, apparently signalling her withdrawal from The Soo's Got Talent after the opening round for unannounced reasons. Hopefully nothing bad happened, she sounded good! Regarding the metal-spectrum covers, Cameron effectively handles Ozzy's classic ballad in more of a folksy acoustic format, and while I don't assume this is indicative of his complete repertoire, he seems like he can do a wide range of material. As for The Apocalypse Afterparty, the drum beat first had me thinking they were covering Death From Above, but they effectively rocked up Lorde here, and the eclectic costumes continued to surprise in their post-mask era. Barring any more unforeseen exits, they will be back TOMORROW for the semifinals along with the other 8 remaining acts, and with a bigger venue and production quality, hopefully this is another hit! Give the video a look below, and stay tuned for fallout next week!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and this month's CD review in the coming days! Thanks everyone!