LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Soo's Got Talent Round 2) & First Round Footage!!

As promised, here's our second weekend concert preview post for this week, and it is 100% devoted to a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT concerning an ongoing local talent competition's next installment, and fallout from the opening night! Here's what you should know!

Local rap metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty have advanced to the second round of this year's Soo's Got Talent competition, and thusly will return to The Grand Gardens Verdi Ballroom at 455 Queen Street West TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the one week-turnaround left me opting to hold our night #1 results for this weekend's previews. Last Friday's opening round saw the first cuts, with Des & M.J. Barry, Tyson Bastos & Jordan Palahnuk, Debbie Graham, Serge LeBlanc, and Leila Rabanez all not moving on to TOMORROW'S second round action, but The Apocalypse Afterparty will join the other 14 surviving acts as they continue their quest to win this city-wide contest, and 10 semifinalists will be chosen to return next Friday. Come on down to The Verdi Hall to see all of TOMORROW'S action from this talented roster of artists! Like last week, this is an ALL AGES event at 8:00 PM with a $10 cover charge for adults, $5 for kids 16 and under. With all of that said, what can we show you from last week's performances?

Unlike last year, The Soo's Got Talent has a television outlet, courtesy of ONNtv, SaultOnline's over-the-top subscription TV service, which is worth considering if you miss MCTV-era local television, and they aired night #1 of the competition on tape delay on Monday night, with future rounds scheduled for the following Monday at 6:30 PM save for a Wednesday, October 9th episode. This intentionally glitchy commercial hyped the ONNtv airings as well, but if you aren't an ONNtv subscriber, you're not left in the dark, as the 2+ hours long video was posted to SaultOnline's YouTube channel on Tuesday! Each performer is featured here and linked below, complete with judges remarks afterward, and all have singers doing a cover unless otherwise stated. In chronological order, we have Andrea Dantzer (the title track from "The Sound of Music"), Coulson Perri (Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love With You"), Des & M.J. Barry (PowerSource's "Dear Mr. Jesus")...

...Serge LeBlanc (Metallica's "Motorbreath"), Colin Gasparelli (Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue"), The Dancing Divas (Katy Perry's "California Gurls"), Tyson Bastos & Jordan Palahnuk (an instrumental cover of The Beatles' "Come Together"), Lauren Kroll (Alanis Morrissette's "Hand In My Pocket"), Leila Rabanez (the hymn "Amazing Grace"), Juliana Regan (Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind"), Madison Blair (Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus' "Nothing Breaks Like A Heart"), Marilena Blair (Trisha Yearwood's "The Song Remembers When"), Cameron Oliver (Morgan Wallen's "Whiskey Glasses"), Ciara Pelletier LeBeouf (Rachel Platten's "Fight Song"), Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf (Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On"), Debbie Graham (Jo Stafford's "Make Love To Me"), Killabeatz doing an original beatboxing performance, Adrian Sullivan (The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood"), Greg McLeod (Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars"), and lastly, The Apocalypse Afterparty playing their inactive sister band The Noochin' Lanterns' song "Drop the Gloves".

Note that advertised performances by Madi Schomogyi, Michaela Skagen, and Marcie Tremblay are not featured here for unannounced reasons, but hopefully nothing bad happened with them to force their withdrawal! Regarding the two metal performances, I will say that I think Serge would be better accentuated with a live band and a stage setup more used to metal acts, but it's neat to see him bring that style to the table! As you can see at video's end, The Apocalypse Afterparty appear to have dropped wearing masks on stage for their return, and as such, I think it's safe to finally say that X and z are indeed "songwriters" Paul Stanghetta on vocals/bass and his wife Amanda (née Brown) on drums rather than the MPC, while Paul's ex-Keep It Lit bandmate Alice Rose (in full Tune Squad gear) has joined on the second bass.

I'll remain impartial regarding the competition here, but if you love Paul's old work as a frontman in The Fury, not to mention The A.A. and Noochin' Lanterns past runs, this should be right up your alley, and the judges give interesting feedback! Don't miss all of the action TOMORROW NIGHT at The Verdi Hall, and here's all 20 of last week's acts in action! Good luck!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site soon! Thanks everyone!