Wednesday, October 30, 2024

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Mike Haggith) & The Soo's Got Talent Rounds #1 & 2 Recap!!

After first looking at the audition level of the fifth annual The Soo's Got Talent on Saturday, let's continue recapping what went down at Soo Blaster in this post, as the 23 acts who passed muster with the judges in September returned for the first elimination round on Wednesday, October 11th! On that night, six acts were eliminated either due to the judges' scores or not appearing for that day's competition, those being singers Elena Fera, Abiguale Lacroix, Elizabeth Budge, Sheena Matchett, and Abigail Joseph, plus "read rapper" Corey Marques. Sixteen other acts who performed that day moved on, though it was clarified on T.S.G.T.'s Facebook page that singer Chloe Tessier was the only "golden buzzer" recipient of the entire audition level, meaning that she was directly byed to the second elimination round on Friday, October 25th. First round action was highlighted in two recap videos posted to Facebook, so what can you see there?

All performers are singers doing covers unless otherwise stated. In order, the first video features Rebekah Moran ("In My Dreams" from the Anastasia musical), singer/guitarist Jennifer Joseph (Little Big Town's "Girl Crush"), Owen "MK" Kjiersdam doing an apparent original song, Andrea Dantzer ("Wishing You Were Somewhere Here" from The Phantom Of The Opera), Madii Schomogyi (Hozier's "It Will Come Back"), singer/guitarist Arin Karki (Eric Clapton's unplugged version of "Layla"), and Kristina Sagrak (Abba's "Dancing Queen"). Nothing heavier in there for song choices, but there is definitely some clear talent to check out! The second video has some hard rock content and is thusly embedded below. It features Demoy MacSamuels singing an original song possibly named "No Regrets", Ricky Roy (The Killers' "Mr. Brightside"), Haley Alopaeus (Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life"), Robert Nevitt (AC/DC's "Ride On")...

...singer/guitarist Nicolette Rebello (The 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up?"), Rebecca Wabigwan (Adele's "Make You Feel My Love"), and singer/guitarist Celeste Burton playing an original song. Two advancing performers (magic act Mxsterious and singer Theo Ravihansa) went unfilmed for The Soo's Got Talent, and while reasons for their omissions weren't announced, remember that a couple of audition videos had to be uploaded in excerpts due to copyright flags. Good stuff in video #2 as well, with Robert delivering some sold pitched-down AC/DC in his clip, and Haley showed off a good voice doing Evanescence in hers, so give most of the round 2 qualifiers a watch for yourselves above & below!


As mentioned above, the second elimination round took place this past Friday, where we learned which twelve of the seventeen remaining contestants would be moving on. Owen MK, Rebecca Wabigwan, and Mxsterious were eliminated at this stage, while Andrea Dantzer and Theo Ravihansa were unable to attend on Friday and are now out of the competition. As of this writing, videos from the second round have not been posted on The Soo's Got Talent's Facebook page, but photos of all fifteen competing acts can be seen at this link. If you want to see how the final twelve performers do in the semifinals, you can find out on Friday, November 8th, but here's where the LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS come in, as Mike Haggith and his Big Finish Band will return as the house band for the semifinals and finals this year! This was hinted at during the finals last year, but Mike and crew will be back next Friday and two weeks later on November 22nd!

Like last year, the semifinals will feature Mike and crew (now including T.S.G.T. MC and 2023 runner-up Elly McWatters on rhythm guitar) as the halftime band in between the competitors, but on the 22nd, they will again provide backing instrumentation in some form or fashion for the remaining finalists on one or both of their songs. Everyone left in the field is a singer of some description, so things should fit cleanly next month, especially with Robert, Arin, and Haley all doing hard rock songs already, so they could fit extra well if they make the finals! It is also implied in the write-up for the above poster that there will be an audience save for a contestant eliminated by the judges next week, and you will get entries for a door prize if you vote thusly. The semifinals begin next Friday at 6:30 PM, and admission is $15 for adults and $10 for children. As best as I can tell, it will be more of the same for the finals on the 22nd.

If past years are any indication, 2023 T.S.G.T. winner Storm Rausch should get an invite to perform a guest song on the 22nd too, but their involvement has not been publically confirmed by organizers. Of course, best of luck to all twelve remaining competitiors next week, and hopefully they impress the judges (and audience) to stamp their finals tickets over the last weekend of November!  See above for more on what went down in the first two knockout rounds of The Soo's Got Talent V, and Halloween concert previews are on the way next! Thanks everyone!

No comments: