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!

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!

The Soo's Got Talent 2023 Finals Review (Part 2!!)

Let's pick up where we left off yesterday by continuing our extended review of the finals of The Soo's Got Talent at Soo Blaster on Saturday night! Check the post below this one or click here for my initial thoughts on what I saw of the first round of finals performances, Mike Haggith's intermission set, and finalist Greg McLeod's "judge's choice" song in round 2. Before we get too far ahead, just a couple of clarifications about what I missed from round 1 on Saturday (I didn't get there until the tail end of Elly McWatters' first song). Unlike last year, when Handsome Sandwich only played one song each with the finalists, they do appear to at least have been given the option to do both songs with Mike & crew, as Storm Rausch also performed with the full band in their first song (also, I apologize for any misgendering in prior coverage of Storm's on the SMS, I didn't know that they were non-binary until the finals.)

I cannot immediately confirm if Greg or Xavier's first song was with Mike's band or not. Elly's opening song was a cover of "Mexico" by Carrie Underwood (complete with a blonde wig to start, though it didn't stay on for the duration). A personal Facebook video of it is floating around, which I did watch, and Elly's vocal performance was predictably strong, as fans of her band work with Re:Born and her karaoke performances will attest! As for Storm, their original song with the full band was named "Anxiety", and video of that was uploaded to The Soo's Got Talent's Facebook page yesterday (hopefully they post more from rounds 2 and onward!) Unlike when Colin Gasparelli kept his guitar for his full band song last year, Storm opted not to play guitar at all with the full band present. Good melodic vocals & solid songwriting were on display here, and "Anxiety" works well in a rock context, so give it a watch below!

Jumping back to the second round of "judge's choice" songs, the second finalist up was Xavier Pelletier LeBeouf, who was previously in the finals last year and also competed in 2019. Xavier was tasked with covering "We Are The Others" by the Dutch symphonic metal band Delain, which just gives me shades of Within Temptation (whose keyboardist formed Delain) being a judge's choice song last year! Also, a far cry from covering Pink in lAst year's finals! No jacket was safe for this cover, which was enthusiastically covered and showed Xavier's growth as a singer, but things could still be a little raw vocally, but given Xavier's age, the sky's the limit. Check out this cover for yourselves below!

Lastly for this post, the third finalist in the running order was the aforementioned Storm Rausch, whose "judge's choice" song was "Make You A Believer" by hard rock singer and former Canadian Idol judge Sass Jordan. Storm ditched their black dress for a sleeker, more rock-inspired getup for this song, which also impressed fans by showcasing their vocal range and ability to adapt to new styles of music beyond acoustic singer/songwriter material. I will definitely agree that Storm had one of the strongest sets of the "judge's choice" round, but not having seen Greg's and Xavier's first round performances, I hesitate to say who I would have definitively voted for. Check out Storm's Sass Jordan cover below!

We'll wrap up our extended Soo's Got Talent finals coverage with Elly, Demoy, and Jophin's second songs, plus a guest performance, and the reveal of the winners of this year's competition, so look for all of that tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

The Soo's Got Talent 2023 Finals Review (Part 1!!)

Here's a surprise two-part concert review on the SMS, namely of the finals of The Soo's Got Talent last night! This wasn't planned in advance, but my friend wanted to come down after dinner, so we headed to Soo Blaster late, and I do apologize for missing the first four songs in round 1 as well as judge Valerie Powley's guest song at the start of the event. Similarly, I apologize for the lack of photos last night, but when everyone only performs two songs, and you miss the first four of them, time is limited when you plan to shoot videos. This is the first time that I've attended any round of T.S.G.T. in person, so if you've never been, it is set up similarly to concerts there, if with more tables and less of a floor for standing attendees, plus a table for Valerie and fellow judges Darren Robertson and Mike Severin (advertised guest judge Tim Murphy was not present, and if they announced why, I wasn't there yet).

Programs and ballots for the fan portion of the final tally were given upon entry. The MCs for most of the night were Corey Marques and Alandra Brooks (the latter replacing Mike Haggith, but he was definitely present), while Darren took the lead when it came to the final announcements. The first three performers last night were singers Greg McLeod and Xavier Pelletier Lebeouf and singer/guitarist Storm Rausch, while we arrived at the tail end of Elly McWatters' first song, a Carrie Underwood cover that was oddly performed with Mike Haggith & his band. I briefly worried that they switched the order for the full band performances and the standard ones, but it turns out that Elly got permission to sing with Mike's band twice. What little I heard sounded good, but I can't fairly judge. Fifth was Demoy MacSamuels singing an original R&B song that seemed to go over well and show off his talents!

The final performer in round 1 (and 2) was dancer Jophin Shaju, who changed it up from his usual Indian pop/rap songs by dancing to Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice". He did a fine job with good energy and moves as you'd expect if you attended prior rounds or saw the audition/round 1 videos, but opting to dance on the floor rather than the stage was not super optimal for fans (granted, he would have less space on the stage).

Like at the semifinals, local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and his all-local solo band took the stage for an intermission set where they tackled a mix of his own established solo songs like "I've Seen It Before" and a pair of covers, from his and drummer Brandan Glew's old band The Din and of Bruce Springsteen ("Atlantic City"). This was my first time seeing Mike in person since Dislocated Kneegate at Rotaryfest in July, and clearly the rehab and recovery from the injury has paid off, as nothing looked amiss from his on-stage presence whatsoever, and he was visibly in great spirits to be rocking out on this big stage! Chris Nielsen laid down some strong lead guitar in a change of pace from his usual punk work, and returning bassist Jacob "J.Q." Quarrell (who missed the semifinals) was solid on bass, while Brandan's drumming and backing vocal work were a nicely familiar presence for Din fans! Check out their rendition of "Hot & Cold" below!

We'll continue our coverage of the finals in our next recap post tomorrow, but we'll wrap things up for this post with the opening song from round 2, which was the "judge's choice" round, where Mike Severin, Darren, and Valerie picked a song for the finalists to tackle alongside Mike Haggith's band. This is more or less what happened last year, albeit with Mike & crew in place of Handsome Sandwich, and given that Mike lives in Barrie, kudos to him to agreeing to the challenge of learning these songs and working with the finalists! As the performance order from round #1 was unchanged, the first finalist in round #2 was singer Greg McLeod, who was advanced automatically to the finals after missing the semifinals due to the death of his mother that same day. The judges picked INXS' "Never Tear Us Apart" for Greg to cover, and while he nailed it, I will note that this really isn't a challenging song vocally.

Michael Hutchence kinda talked his way through it in the first place, so as a judge's pick, I would have went with a classic rock song that had rangier singing to it. From what I have seen of Greg both last year and this year, he definitely seemed more at home singing with a band than to a karaoke track, and based solely on this song and nothing else, I think he was underrated in the final tally to an extent. It'd be neat to see him front a permanent band, but give him & Mike Haggith's band a watch below!

That's all for now, but we'll resume our The Soo's Got Talent review next with most of the remaining finalists' second songs! Thanks everyone!

More Weekend Concert Previews, Plus A New Live Video!!

As promised, let's wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews today, in a surprisingly busy post-Halloween weekend! Due to the amount, previously announced shows taking place wholly or in part on Saturday were pushed to this post, so here's what you should know, including a new video from one of the performing acts!

We'll pick things back up in Sault Michigan, where Traverse City metal trio Scarkazm will return to the E.U.P. for concerts TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT at The Rapids Lounge at the Soo's Kewadin Casino branch!  Be advised that Scarkazm hasn't plugged these shows on their Facebook page in recent days, which is odd for them, but Kewadin's entertainment page still has them playing here this weekend, so we'll treat them normally unless otherwise stated. Believe it or not, these will be Scarkazm's first stops north of the Mackinac Bridge in over six months, though their sister band Peril have been seen up here multiple times since. Assuming that all is well in Scarkazm's very similar camp, hopefully Adam, Dave, and Jeff's hard hitting covers find a solid audience once again this weekend! Tonight & tomorrow's shows have 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 21+ age limits. Get more details above, and here's Scarkazm live!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario, where the finals of The Soo's Got Talent take place TOMORROW NIGHT at Soo Blaster! After three prior rounds, the competitors have been whittled down to six competing for the $1,000 cash prize (no word on recording time like last year), and this year, your finalists are singers Xavier Pelletier LeBouef, Demoy MacSamuels, Greg McLeod, and Elly McWatters, plus singer/guitarist Storm Rausch and dancer Jophin Saju. Of course, Xavier was a finalist last year too, while Greg (who was gifted a finals spot after missing the semifinals due to a death in his family) has bettered his semifinal finish last year. In terms of SMS relevance, Xavier and Greg have both covered heavier songs in prior videos, while Elly (the winner of Shooters' Talent Quest this summer) was the frontwoman of Re:Born, but everyone will fit the SMS for the night, as like last year, a live band will perform with the finalists!

All six will perform twice, but one will feature local/Barrie alternative hard rock musician Mike Haggith & his all-local band playing their choice of song, and given that Jophin is a dancer, Demoy primarily sings original songs, and Storm plays guitar herself, it'll be interesting to see how Mike and crew fit in across the board! Mike & the band (including returning bassist Jacob Quarrell) will also play an intermission set of their own material, as they did at the semifinals two weeks ago. No word on possible guest performers, but judge Valerie Powley (who sings with Generations at Jay's later tomorrow night) has sung a cover at the finals in the past, while the most recent champion (singer Amanda Phillips in this case) has often been brought back to perform the following year. Valerie, Darren Robertson, Mike Severin, and guest finals judge Tim Murphy will be on hand to name the winners, so come on out to see what happens!

Like prior rounds, the finals take place tomorrow at 6:30 PM with an admission fee of $22 for adults and $12 for children. Proceeds this year will go to the Child & Adolescent Psychiatric unit at Sault Area Hospital, as part of their annual mission to donate to a different local cause. Hopefully everything goes smoothly for the finals tomorrow (and that someone's filming most acts, unlike the last two rounds), so best of luck to everyone competing for the top prize! See above for details, and for a preview, here's Mike & his band's entire T.S.G.T. semifinal intermission set!

Finally for this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, we'll return to The Water Tower Pub, where local southern hard rock cover trio Bone Yard will take the stage for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! A one-nighter as is standard for this venue (Silent 9 are playing there tonight), tomorrow's show will be Bone Yard's first there since mid-September, and like their recent gigs there and at Gateway Casino, this will be an acoustic gig, not unlike what the dormant and Warren-less Bearded Lounge played. Bone Yard can handle an unplugged set nicely and still retain their grit and chemistry, and you can see proof by heading to this Great Northern Road staple tomorrow! If you'd prefer to see them plugged in, they'll be at The Esquire Club in two weeks. Tomorrow's concert has an 8:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. See above for more details, and here's a brand new video of Bone Yard live!

While not representative of their unplugged show tomorrow, this comes from their Halloween party at Jay's Piston Broke Pub this past Saturday, as live-streamed to their Facebook page, and and features the guys covering a song that would translate very well to acoustic, namely Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues". Frontman Greg Simpson & guitarist Alex D'Ettore share lead vocals here. Unfortunately, this was shot vertically, and Bone Yard opted not to wear Halloween costumes for the occasion, but it's a fine country cover for genre fans, and it looks like attendees had a good time! Check it out below, and don't miss them tomorrow night!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!

The Soo's Got Talent Semifinals Results, Plus A Live-Streamed Video!!

As you may know, the semifinals of this year's The Soo's Got Talent took place at Soo Blaster on Saturday, and while videos are not (yet?) out for the competitors, we now know the six finalists moving forward to the finals on November 4th! In alphabetical order by last name, the finalists are singers Xavier Pelletier LeBouef, Demoy MacSamuels, Greg McLeod, and Elly McWatters, plus singer/guitarist Storm Rausch and dancer Jophin Saju. The four eliminated competitors (all singers) are Arin Karki, Raedyn Matechuck Levesque, Celeste Rector, and Kristina Sagrak, with Kristina being the only Golden Buzzer recipient to not make the finals. Xavier and Greg were competitors in last year's T.S.G.T., with Xavier now making the finals in back-to-back years, while Greg has bettered his placement from 2022. From what I was told, Greg didn't actually perform on Saturday, so how did he advance?

Reportedly, Greg had to miss the semifinals due to a death in his family, so he was given a spot in the finals as a result (this was announced live at the event, but as I wasn't there, I'll refrain from going into extra details just in case). It's impossible to say if he'd have qualified the normal way, but he's a talented singer, and hopefully he has a strong showing next month! Assuming a similar format to 2022, the six finalists will have two performances on November 4th, one standard and one alongside Mike Haggith & his solo band, which poses some interesting challenges. For one, Jophin Saju is a dancer, not a singer, and his T.S.G.T. videos have him dancing to Indian pop/rap songs. Will Mike & crew learn something along these lines, or will Jophin dance to something more rock-based? Also, will Demoy MacSamuels (whose filmed videos have all been of original songs) get the full band treatment for one, or will he try a cover?

It also remains to be seen how they'll handle guitars with Storm Rausch also playing guitar (note that, when singer/guitarist Colin Gasparelli took part in last year's finals, Handsome Sandwich guitarist Jesse Cook sat out the group's song with him). I will note that finalist Elly McWatters is well acquainted with Mike Haggith & his band, having guested on vocals with them live, let alone being a bandmate of drummer Brandan Glew's in Re:Born, but as far as I can tell, Mike signed on to perform at The Soo's Got Talent well before Elly decided to audition. Will that familiarity give her a leg up on the 4th? Come to Soo Blaster that day to find out! As per event advertising, admission for the finals will still be $22 for adults and $12 for kids, and a start time is to be announced (the semifinals began at 6:30 PM but last year's finals were earlier in the day due to Soo Blaster double booking Afroman that night.)

Between Elly's Re:Born work, Greg's classic rock base, and Xavier's past metal/rock covers in this event, there will be performers who fit Mike Haggith & his band better on paper, but how about them on their own? While the wait continues for official video from The Soo's Got Talent post-round 1, Mike live-streamed his half-hour long set (which was an intermission set between the semifinalists) to his YouTube channel. Oddly, he hasn't posted a description there, and this is regrettably shot vertically, but it's nice to see any video from the last two rounds! On Saturday, Mike's usual local bassist Jacob Quarrell was booked for a separate event, so he was replaced by Far From Fine bassist Matt Fronzi for the evening. In order, their set included "Hot & Cold", "If Ever Comes The Day", "MorningStar", "I've Seen It Before", a cover of Matt's old band Gnaeus' song "Lovers", and "Twist Of Fate".

Part of why only six songs were played is that Mike broke out his storytellers hat to promote his albums, explain his freak knee dislocation at Rotaryfest & recovery from it, and introduce the band/credit Matt & Gnaeus (this was apparently the first time Matt has played "Lovers" on stage in seven years!). Everyone performed strongly, and Mike was more animated than he was at the Northern Vibe Festival in August, including his intense vocals-only work on the closer! I do wish that this video was filmed horizontally, if not closer to the stage, but kudos to Mike for getting this at all, so check it out for yourselves below!

That's all for today, but look for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

The Soo's Got Talent Round #1 Recap & Results!!

Let's continue our belated coverage of The Soo's Got Talent today, especially as the second round is tonight at Soo Blaster and I don't want to fall any further behind! After the auditions at the Great Northern Road Wacky Wings over the weekend of September 9th, sixteen qualifiers were sent through to the first round at Soo Blaster on the 15th to battle for one of twelve spots in round 2 taking place tonight, and while not everyone was filmed for the T.S.G.T. Facebook page, what can you see from round #1? All are singers unless otherwise stated. The first video sees dancer Jophin Saju performing to multiple Indian pop/rap songs, followed by 2022 finalist Xavier Pelletier LeBouef covering Adele's "Rolling In The Deep", in Xavier's first video appearance of this year's cycle after not being filmed at the auditions despite getting one of the four Golden Buzzers allocated for this year to guarantee a spot in the semifinals.

Also not filmed at the auditions was Elizabeth Budge, who covered David Guetta & Sia's "Titanium" in round #1. A different filmer (or at least in a different locale) filmed the next videos, all mercifully horizontal, and this time grouping competitors together rather than individual uploads. The first of these videos features three more performers who didn't get audition videos, namely Stan Fera (George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today"), Celeste Rector (Everyone Loves An Outlaw's "I See Red"), and Greg McLeod (The Greg Kihn Band's "The Break-Up Song"). The next video features Demoy MacSamuels performing another original song (possibly named "Welcome To The Dark Side"), ex-Re:Born frontwoman & Golden Buzzer recipient Elly McWatters (Journey's "Separate Ways [World's Apart]), and Jophin Shaju dancing to more upbeat Indian artists. 

While Journey proper aren't a full hard rock band, "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" is a hard rock song, so we can embed that one here while staying on topic, and Elly's performance there was predictably strong given her established vocal abilities! Of course, as a Golden Buzzer winner, she was not at danger of elimination on the 15th, but she still proved herself worthy of the second round, as did Demoy and Jophin. Check everything out below!

The next three-act video features a reprise of drummer Teagan Krauter Maki covering Hoobastank's "The Reason". I can't speak for all acts, as not everyone was filmed at the audition level, but Teagan was, and to me, repeating the same song feels like a misstep despite his obvious drumming talent. If I was judging, I'd have encouraged him to play something more rocking/up tempo in round #1 anyway, as ballads usually aren't drummer showcases. Hopefully he keeps at it, good drummers are always in demand! This video also features Storm Rausch (who was also filmed at audition level and got the Golden Buzzer for her efforts) playing an original song named "Reminder" on vocals & guitar, and Arin Karki (not filmed for the auditions) covering Billy Joel's "Vienna". Good stuff all around, and Arin caught me off guard in a good way with his voice, so check these out at this link! Sadly, I can't embed it here, as copyrighted audio (likely "The Reason") was flagged by Facebook.

All remaining first round acts except Brooklyn Coghill were featured in the last round #1 video, and I have no clue why footage of Brooklyn's performance never made their way to The Soo's Got Talent's Facebook page. The video features Golden Buzzer recipient Kristina Sagrak (Loren Allred's "Never Enough"), Steven Jensen (John Fogerty's "Centerfield"), Raedyn Matechuck Levesque (Bruno Mars' "When I Was Your Man"), and Christopher Halliday (Cyndi Lauper's "True Colours"). When it came to announce the round #2 qualifiers, judges Darren MacDonald, Mike Severin, and Valerie Powley sent all acts through to tonight's event except Brooklyn, Elizabeth, Steven, and Teagan, so if you liked what you saw from the other twelve acts, come to Soo Blaster tonight for all of the action! Everything takes place tonight at 6:30 PM, where we will learn the eight competitors that will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, October 21st.

The four Golden Buzzer recipients (Elly, Kristina, Storm, and Xavier) are all guaranteed semifinal spots, and are exempt from elimination no matter what tonight, so only half of Arin, Celeste, Christopher, Demoy, Greg, Jophin, Raedyn, and Stan will join them next month. Come on out to find out what happens! Admission is $22 aside from kids 12 and under ($12). Visit the above links for more on The Soo's Got Talent so far, and we'll hopefully dive into the second round action in a more timely fashion! Thanks everyone, and good luck tonight!

The Soo's Got Talent 2023 Auditions Recap!!

As you may know, The Soo's Got Talent has returned for its fourth annual installment, and like in past years, there are aspects of this local talent competition that cross our metal/hard rock/punk radar! Just as a note of clarification, whereas the recent Talent Quest competition at Shooters Downstairs Lounge was 100% karaoke (thusly why we didn't cover it here), The Soo's Got Talent is open to all kinds of artistic performers. The late stages of last year's competition did only have singers (albeit with one also playing guitar), but that's just how the judging went for the performers who passed the auditions. Speaking of which, auditions for this year's T.S.G.T. took place at Wacky Wings on Great Northern Road from September 8th-10th, and videos from that weekend were shared to the competition's Facebook page, so what can you see there? As it turns out, the first audition video posted there is both hard rock and not a singer!

This has young local drummer Teagan Krauter Maki covering Hoobastank's "The Reason" on September 9th, and while I don't think a ballad is the best choice of song for a drummer to show his stuff with, perhaps this is just the warm-up before he headed to Soo Blaster for round #1 this past weekend? I'm curious to hear more from him, especially as drummers are not common on their own at The Soo's Got Talent! The 30 second video isn't ideally shot, with the vertical angle, accidental shot of a woman's face, and seeing more of the backs of the judges' heads than Teagan, but kinks will be ironed out as the month rolls along. Check it out below!

Follow-up videos from the auditions include three singers, including Celeste Rector covering Jo Dee Messina's "Bring On The Rain", an uncredited singer covering Olivia Rodrigo's "Vampire", and Demoy MacSamuels doing an original song (possibly named "Pray No More"?), before we see a familiar face around these parts, namely ex-Re:Born singer Elly McWatters, who actually won the aforementioned Talent Quest at Shooters last month! If you know her well, you'll know that heavy music isn't her thing first & foremost, so keep that in mind when checking out her audition cover of Reba McEntire's "Turn On The Radio". Now, for this year's T.S.G.T., organizers took a page from America's Got Talent by introducing "golden buzzers" that will allow judges to automatically send select auditioning contestants straight through to the semifinals, and they did just that for Elly!

Post-performance remarks are included after some of the uploaded audition videos, for the record, with Elly noting that she just got back from Sudbury the day prior and wasn't as dressed up as she would have liked. Given that, extra kudos for impressing the judges this much! While not live-streamed, two more audition videos were posted after the fact, including this one of dancer Jophin Shaju performing to Imagine Dragons and Jibbs songs, and Clusterfolk Music Festival performer Storm Rausch covering Billie Eilish's "No Time To Die" (and getting the golden buzzer for it!). That's it for the audition videos, with this year's event not having the same level of video coverage that last year's got, but the other first round qualifiers include Arin Karki, Brooklyn Coghill, Christopher Halliday, Elizabeth Budge, Greg McLeod, Raedyn Matechuck Levesque, Stan Fera, and Steven Jensen.

Of them, you may recognize Christopher, Elizabeth, Greg, Stan, and Steven as competitors in The Soo's Got Talent last year. Two more golden buzzers were given out to Kristina Sagrak and 2022 finalist Xavier Pelletier LeBoeuf, so they'll 100% join Elly and Storm in the semifinals, and all can perform in the prior rounds without fear of elimination. In terms of scheduling, round #1 took place at Soo Blaster this past Friday, with the sixteen qualified contestants competing and being reduced down to twelve, who return to Soo Blaster on Friday the 29th. The semifinals and finals take place on Saturdays (October 21st & November 4th) with a special guest who will definitely intrigue many, but we'll leave things to the audition level for this post. However, I'd be remiss if I didn't note that proceeds of this year's T.S.G.T. will go to the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit at Sault Area Hospital.

Each installment of The Soo's Got Talent has benefited a different local charity, and hopefully this means of spreading the wealth proves advantageous for the C.A.P. unit! If you want to attend round #2 next week (or beyond), admission is $22 for adults or $12 for children, and each show starts at 6:00 PM. We'll have more from The Soo's Got Talent (including round #1) in the near future, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!