Live Music Showcase at Cardiff Regional final – Feedback
The Regional Final live music showcase in Cardiff, took place as Coal Exchange welcomed the best unsigned talent for the latest round of the Live and Unsigned Competition. Cardiff’s Coal Exchange provided a great atmosphere for the live shows on the 20thMarch, with guest acts Sandi Thom and Flow Dem headlining the showcases.
Judges presiding over the Cardiff Regional Final included Stuart Slater Rock School examiner and owner of Slater Drum School, Schwarz Bless and Jane Morris from Radio Cardiff, David Stone from Total Star, Exposure Music Awards’ Dean Hill, Mark Woodruff of Broken Toys and vocalist Lucie Jones.
Well done to all the acts for putting on a great show! Credit goes especially the few who made it through to the Live London & South West Area Final; Sunday 15th May 2011 Beck Theatre, London.
Find below feedback for the day. Please be aware views expressed by Judges are opinions and subjective to that particular Judge panel. These views in no way reflect the views of Live and Unsigned, but are published with a view to being beneficial to the performing bands and singers who performed. So please take the feedback onboard with a view to helping.
Final 1
Asha Faria-Vare – A little nervous at first, but good standard of guitar playing. Needs a little work on stage presence. Really interesting voice, maybe worth thinking about a band so there is less reliance on the guitar
Debut – Overall good performance, but need to master your timing. A little more consistency with the image would be good, and stage energy could be higher, guitarist was rooted to the spot
Bonnie Baddoo – Quirky, confident performance. Need to work on stage image. Good use of stage and interesting arrangement, but lacked a little momentum
Bethan Horton – Needed more performance and audience engagement. Think more about image. Keep working at it!
Helena Softley – The guitar part was stronger than the acapella part. Image could be better. The ability is there, keep practising
James Davies – Good cover and good vocal tone, but really needs to work on an image! Vocal occasionally wavered in places, so could build strength slightly, but overall very good
Omniabsence - Different. Loved the cover song, it was unexpected! Singer should try to relax and not look angry throughout performance
Nicky Partridge – Nice cover and good acoustic originality. Work on image and dynamics and try to create more contrast in the performance
Synthetica – Well delivered and entertaining. Work on your overall performance together as a band
Joe Kelly – Pleasant performance, but needs an edge. Doesn’t have an image and needs more energy in the performance
So Am I – Obviously an established band. Musically outstanding. Maybe work on vocalists image and portray more confidence in the chorus
John Godwin – Great performance and originality. Nice cover choice! Concentrate on image
The Echo – Good performance, but not quite ready unfortunately. Need to tidy up material and re-think image to step up. Work on musicianship, as a few mistakes stood out from the performance. Some very promising aspects, so keep it up!
Jeff Carpenter – Has ability, but needs to show a little more confidence on stage. Needs to think about image. Would be great in musical theatre
Blue Gillespie – Singer has a great voice. Not sure about the bass players shorts and white socks, but the vocalist’s image is spot on. Overall good level of originality
C.R.A.M. – Looked like they belonged on the stage! Great performance, although could be a little more original
Final 2
ALG- Good chemistry between them, but seriously guys sort the image out. You all need to look the biz
Anti-podes- Immediate impact, good uniform image, nice guitar riff led work, lost the timing a little but even though early doors they have set the standard for the final
Ellie James-Confident performance with a good image but a few timing issues
Devil’s Answer-Drummer sets the standard, really set the pace, which the others need to follow
Frontline Fire- Overall solid band and a good image but just lack an edge somewhere, but great guitar riff and skillful playing whilst singing
B-dee- Interesting cover with a good look
Lights & Clockwork-Good old fashioned rock band, very passionate remember to smile though. Guitar solo wasn’t really needed in spaceman
Christian Sayers- Not a great opening and lost timing, perhaps nerves, those vocal embellishments initially really need to work otherwise don’t risk it. Keep practicing!
Jayo- Take care with popping the mic and suffered with timing issues. Not sure the American accent is really happening? Good cover
Shadowlight- Took a little while before the percussion rhythms fully aligned, then did not quite stay there to be truthfully honest, good image
Tequila Dealer-With a few tweaks and ironing out these guys have the potential to step up to the next level. Great image, enthusiasm and tight sound!
Shirin- Unique, engaging and knows where she is going! Watch out those in the acoustic category
The Street Orphans-These guys really went up the gears after a shaky start. Definite student appeal and a well thought out unexpected cover, which worked great
Mark Stone-Needs to work on the vocals to progress they need to stand out more and make an impression with the image
Witness to the Reform- No time spent on image and lacked any performance the bass player didn’t seem like he wanted to be there!
Bass 6-Shows how far a big smile will go, great happy vibe, make a great festival band with nice framing by the bass and rhythm guitar
Drafts-Energetic performance, work on original song
Final 3
Ashanti-Image was great, but watch key and pitch
Jasmine Rodgers-After a nervous opening you picked up some fluency and delivered with passion. Keep things simple, which will help settle the nerves rather than thinking about a thousand things. Try not to apologise during a performance keep going as have great potential
Jordan Tyler-Lovely voice, need to bring the performance home to match the silky vocals
Twice My Size-Raw energy here, not bad at all, lacks an edge though something original. Singer needs to be in the middle and the rest of them need to perform
Nexus- Worked really well very musical and interesting! Don’t need all the movement and attitude comes across trying too hard let the music talk and develop the smiley image
Jay Worley-Nice voice, learn the piano part so you can do it with your eyes shut. With more experience definitely a future star
The End Effect- Great voice and lovely song, just remember to engage with audience more
Hounds of Justice-Interesting performance and tight, but played well over allotted time and lost Judges’ marks for this
The New Root-Great band, just make sure there is a consistency throughout the band and drive through the dynamics not just with the music but performance as well
Ross Gurney-Great voice, don’t look at the mic as it appears you are cross eyed. Great cover
The Venture-The drummer’s energy and performance was great, rest of the band need to match this
Purple Spiral Project- Every member played a great part in pulling off a real performance. Your energy was contagious and enjoyable
Joe Housley & Tom Bailey-This act got better and better! Try and perform with more confidence
cLuMsY- Original and engaging but in such a strong final just missed out
For those acts who didn’t get through the Regional Finals, don’t forget to use your Wildcard! All acts have been given a Wildcard in the form of a national public vote. There are two places up for grabs and just two weeks to make your mark, so keep an eye out on the website and get voting for one of those last Area Final spots!
If you’d like to come along to see some of the bands and acts that made it through to London & South West Area Final; Sunday 15th May 2011 Beck Theatre, London go to the Live and Unsigned website to purchase tickets with the following link;
Industry Judges
Jimi Savage
Guitar Mogul
