The Soo's Got Talent 2023 Finals Review (Part 3!!)

We have some big concerts to touch on here very shortly, so let's wrap up our The Soo's Got Talent finals coverage with the rest of what went down at Soo Blaster on Saturday! For the first round (as far as I saw and can confirm after the fact), Mike Haggith's intermission set, and the first half of the second "judge's choice" round, click here or visit the two posts below this one. Fourth up for the "judge's choice" songs was former Re:Born singer and Shooters' Talent Quest champion Elly McWatters, who got dressed up in a hippie/flower child costume for her second song. Any assumptions that she'd be doing a late 1960s song were off by four decades, as her judge's pick was Florence & The Machine's "Dog Days Are Over". Definitely a change of pace from her usual rock and country covers, but Elly did a really good job as you'd expect given her vocal pedigree! Give her second song a watch below!

Elly's song was actually the last of the evening to feature Mike Haggith's full band, with Chris and Jacob sitting out Demoy MacSamuels' judge's pick song. Mike and drummer Brandan Glew backed him up here on an acoustic cover of Seal's "Kiss From A Rose", and it was neat hearing him tackle a cover for a change, but given his vocal range and tone, I don't think Seal was the best choice for him. Demoy's voice is higher, and as far as 1990s R&B covers go, my first thought would be to hear him cover something like Mark Morrison's "Return Of The Mack", both for vocal style and for its loose, upbeat nature. Still, he adapted well on a song he wasn't familiar with, so give Demoy's second song a watch below!

The last finals performer was dancer Jophin Shaju, and as it turns out, his opening dance to Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" was actually the judge's pick, not what he did second (regardless, neither had Mike's band backing him up, but I'd be curious to hear Mike tackle Indian pop/rap music!) It looks Jophin asked to swap the two dances because of what he had planned for dance #2, as his twin brother Joel joined in for the first half of his dance. The two dressed as Pennywise and Georgie Denbrough from the 2017 It remake, for a dance set to Benjamin Wallfisch's "Every 27 Years" from the It soundtrack, before going solo and more familiar for the second half, dancing to Aditya Gadhvi & Achint's "Khalasi". As it turns out, Jophin had wanted to dance with Joel earlier in the competition, if not from the start as a dual act, but Joel had personal commitments until the finals.

Like in the first round on Saturday, it was hard to fully see the Shaju brothers' routine from the floor (again, they had more space there), but both have clear dancing and choreography talent, and having them in T.S.G.T. and making it this far was great for variety! It's hard for me to say how I'd compare Jophin against five singers, especially when I haven't seen the first two opening performances live or after the fact, but hopefully he left a strong impression. Give his & Joel's dance a watch below!

Like when Daniella Brewer and Adrian Sullivan were invited back for the T.S.G.T. finals in 2019 and 2022 (this wasn't held in 2020 or 2021 for obvious reasons), the reigning champion of the event returned for a guest performance in this year's finals, namely singer Amanda Phillips, who covered Journey's "Lights". No word (at least live at Soo Blaster) as to what she's been up to musically, but Amanda put her voice to work with a well sung cover that showed why she came out on top last fall, and give her song a watch below!

After lengthy deliberations from the judges (and I mean lengthy), judge Darren Robertson took to the stage to announce the 50/50 draw and door prize winners, thank all of the staff, volunteers, and performers, and announce the complete running order for the finalists, while also giving positive feedback and suggestions in case non-winners decide to try out again next year (a common suggestion to the singers: learn an instrument). The winner of the fourth annual The Soo's Got Talent was.... Storm Rausch, with Elly McWatters finishing in second place and Demoy MacSamuels rounding out the podium in third place! Xavier Pelletier LeBeouf improved to fourth place this year, with Jophin Shaju finishing in fifth place and Greg McLeod coming in sixth place. Prizes were not announced live at Soo Blaster, but Storm won $1,000 for their victory, and is invited back as a guest performer next year (winners can't compete again). Mike Haggith & his band were also invited back as the house band, and they seemed receptive to the idea!

Overall, it was fun seeing (most of) the finals in person, and congratulations to Storm and the rest of the finalists on a job well done! I opted not to vote in the fan ballot as I didn't see most of the first round on Saturday, but it was clear from Darren's remarks and the final running order that judges' scores were based on the entire competition, not just the finals, and showing a dual talent was important (i.e. don't just sing, but write original songs and/or play an instrument too). I will say that, based solely on the "judge's pick" songs, Storm & Elly had the strongest performances, but again, that's not enough for me to have fairly voted. Click here or visit our Facebook page for photos of Mike Haggith's intermission set and of each finalist where possible, as well as all eight videos that I shot on Saturday, plus photos where possible, and stay tuned for a packed news post full of big holiday season concerts tomorrow! Thanks everyone!