Sunday, December 1, 2024

The Soo's Got Talent Finals Recap (Part 2!!)

For our first news post of December 2024, let's finish our recap of the finals of The Soo's Got Talent at Soo Blaster on November 22nd! This post will feature the remaining videos of the finalists' second songs with Mike Haggith & The Big Finish Band from the T.S.G.T. Facebook page, and to see what winner Madii Schomogyi, runner-up Demoy MacSamuels, third place finisher Nicolette Rebello, and fellow finalist Robert Nevitt did with Mike's band, click here. We'll go in upload order here for the other three finalists, starting with Kristina Sagrak, who covered No Doubt's "Don't Speak" for her full band song. Like on Madii's Cher cover that night, the full Big Finish Band played here while Mike himself played tambourine (though he didn't do backing vocals this time). Good rendition that was a solid enough choice for Kristina's range, and everyone handles this early No Doubt ballad well, so check it out below!

Next up, golden buzzer recipient Chloe Tessier was filmed at the finals covering Joan Jett & The Blackhearts' "I Love Rock N' Roll" with The Big Finish Band (accurate description, as Mike didn't play here at all, not even on tambourine). Honestly, I don't think Joan Jett was the best choice to showcase Chloe's vocal range, but she does what she can with this classic rock staple, and the band is solid as you'd expect, so give this performance a watch for yourselves below!

Finally from the finalists this year was Celeste Burton, who put down her guitar to cover Pink's "Sober" for her last song. The band here saw Mike playing bass with Matt Fronzi sitting out (similarly to the Savage Garden cover with Demoy), though in this case, Elly McWatters provided backing vocals and didn't play guitar, like on Nicolette's Halestorm cover. Celeste seemed a little unsteady on stage just singing, but the song suited her vocal abilities well, and the pared down Big Finish Band worked fine on a song like this, so give her full-ish band cover a watch below!

Lastly, videos weren't publically posted from potential guest spots by 2023 champion Storm (Rausch) Dowding or judge Valerie Powley, but Mike Haggith & The Big Finish Band's intermission set was filmed for a 2 minute live-stream clip of most of their opening song "Carousel". It's short and vertical, but it's not a bad watch! Embedded below though is Mike & crew's full set, as live-streamed onto Mike's own YouTube channel! In the 24 minute video, they're seen playing "Carousel" as well as "I Really Hope This Gets To You", "No Love", "Hot & Cold", "All The Best", and "Twist Of Fate". Everyone's instrument roles are largely the same as seen at Northern Vibe, with Mike just singing and not playing guitar, though Elly just does backing vocals on "Twist Of Fate". Filmed from a front row vantage point from slightly below, the live-stream looks better than it sounds, with muffled audio and a slight hiss.

Despite that, Mike, Chris, Elly, Matt, and Brandan have a lively and strong mini-set here that helped set the tone for the competition songs ahead that night, so fans of Mike's will definitely want to check their Soo's Got Talent intermission set out below, and stay tuned for their Toystock set's live-stream from two days later in an upcoming post!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thanks everyone!

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