The fifth annual The Soo's Got Talent is ongoing at Soo Blaster, and just completed its second elimination round at Soo Blaster last night! Alas, it also seems like an annual occurrence that our coverage of it is delayed, so I do apologize for not covering anything from this year's festivities until now. Once again, T.S.G.T. is benefiting a deserving local charity, and this time, it's the Second Chances Animal Rescue, which only launched in Sault Ste. Marie last summer. An animal shelter is a wonderful cause, and hopefully this year's talent competition goes a long way towards helping Second Chances out! Remember, while we don't cover karaoke and singing-only competitions on the SMS, The Soo's Got Talent is open to musicians, bands, and other artistic performers, but who all advanced into October 11th's first round action this year? The auditions were also held at Soo Blaster, with night #1 taking place on Friday, September 20th.
On that day, judges sent six performers to the first round, and all were filmed for The Soo's Got Talent's Facebook page, with videos uploaded in a batch post four days later! The six advancing contestants are all singers only who performed cover songs, and they included 2019 competitor Andrea Dantzer (Thomas Aquinas' "Panis Angelicus"), Nicolette Rebello (Joy Woods' "My Days"), Rebekah Moran (Barbra Streisand's "I'm The Greatest Star"), 2023 semifinalist Kristina Sagrak (Ariana Grande's "Almost Is Never Enough"), and local electro-synth musician Owen MK (Radiohead's "Creep"), though Owen's video is only shown in excerpts due to a copyright flag. Yes, he will be opening for Skoff at The Eagles Club's Halloween concert tonight, but expect Owen to be playing more of his usual repertoire there. Embedded below is the sixth advancing contestant on the 20th, so who is that?
None other than former Re:Born singer Robert Nevitt, who covered Seven Mary Three's "Cumbersome" as his audition song. Good to see him back out there beyond karaoke nights, and he sings this 1990s hard rock cover well with good energy, so it's obvious why he was sent through! Not a lot of heavier content from audition night #1, but there's a lot of clear talent on display, so check these videos out above and below!
Day #2 of the auditions was on Saturday, September 21st, where judges sent four performers to the competition level, and if you're seeking something beyond borderline karaoke, you'll like that three of the four to advance here played an instrument too! That day's contestants moving on included singer/guitarist Celeste Burton (her own original song "Live Like Nobody's Watching"), Rebecca Wabigwan (the hymn "Amazing Grace" while playing a hand drum), and singer Elena Fera (Olivia Newton-John's "Let Me Be There"), though like with Owen-MK, be advised that Elena's video was only uploaded in excerpts due to Facebook content matching the song. Embedded below is 2023 semifinalist Arin Karki, who was only filmed once officially for T.S.G.T. last year doing a Billy Joel vocal cover. Here, he's adding to his repertoire by playing acoustic guitar, and SMS readers will like that he covered Motley Crue!
This unplugged rendition of "Home Sweet Home" isn't badly handled, and Arin shows off a solid hard rock voice that suits him better than how he did "Vienna" last year, and I know from experience that judges will like that he's playing an instrument this year after just singing previously! Daring choice to wear white after Labour Day too (I'm joking!). Nice to see a more diverse array of talent advancing for the second day of auditions, so give these videos a watch above & below as well!
The third day of auditions was on Friday, September 27th, with six contestants stamping their ticket to the first round here, and all here are singers doing covers. Moving on that night were Abiguale Lacroix (Andra Day's "Rise Up"), a singer monomyously credited just as Theo (Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud") Lime frontwoman/2018 T.S.G.T. finalist Madii Schomogyi (Fiona Apple's "Paper Bag"), 2023 finalist and reigning Shooters Talent Quest champion Demoy MacSamuels (his own original song "Heart Cry"), Haley Alopaeus (Bishop Briggs' "River"), and 2022 contestant Ricky Roy (Mike Posner's "I Took A Pill In Ibiza"). Nothing too hard rock-friendly there, but the talent is very clear, and Demoy will instantly be a favourite this year! I will note that I am surprised that Madii didn't do any of her original songs that she unveiled in her "Miss Madii" set at Rotaryfest Stage 2 this year, but she could be saving those for later.
Finally, seven acts were sent through during the last round of auditions on Saturday, September 28th, starting with Chloe Tessier covering Morgan Wallen's "Sand In My Boots". The next three were lumped together as excerpts in the same video, including two returning first round qualifiers from last year, including Elizabeth Budge covering Christina Perri's "Jar Of Hearts" and magic act Mxsterious (Brooklyn Coghill alongside Nicholas Gingras) doing a trick with help from the judges. The third act in that clip is singer Sheena Matchett covering Mindy McCready's "Maybe He'll Notice Me Now". Another combined video sees successful auditions from Jennifer & Abigail Joseph (clearly family), with Jennifer playing acoustic guitar while singing Little Big Town's "Sober", then playing guitar for Abigail's cover of Lady Gaga's "Look What I Found". Last up was Corey Marques, who was actually a co-MC of the finals last year!
This is a bit of a hybrid performance here, as Corey (known locally as a poet and publisher with AwakenInk) was performing a "read rap", which basically amounted to inspirational and motivational beat poetry over a musical beat. Definitely a change of pace, but a unique original performance will play well with judges! No word on if any of the audition level contestants got a "golden buzzer" this year, for the record. We'll pick things back up from The Soo's Got Talent V soon when we look at what happened in rounds 1 & 2, but there's a lot of promising talent on display, so don't bypass the audition videos above! Thanks everyone!
