Live Music Showcase South Yorkshire Regional Final- Sheffield Feedback

The Regional final live music showcase in South Yorkshire took place as Sheffield City Hall welcomed the best unsigned talent for the latest MusicRadar Live and Unsigned Regional Final of this year’s competition.  The City Hall provided a good venue for the regional finals, with guest act Joe Karchud, who treated the crowd to his unique brand of acoustic material and showed exactly why he made the finals of Live and Unsigned in 2010.

Judges presiding over the Sheffield Regional Final included The Smiths drummer and musical legend Mike Joyce, Benjamin Price from High Peak Radio, Professional Singer Bob Young and Chris Grayston of Future Music Management.

Well done to all the acts for putting on a great show! Credit goes especially the few who made it through to the Live Area Final shows and the North West England final on Sunday 8^th May 2011 at the Willows, Manchester www.thewillowsonline.co.uk

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

Abby Leigh Rowan- Glamorous, confident and performed well. Not doing an original song was a disadvantage so lost some marks for that, as we couldn’t see her originality

Scoundrel- Wow second gig, really? Good rhythm - just a little more unified performance needs to be worked into the set

Dan Clayton- Music was really good, singer’s vocal needed to be stronger and there were pitch problems. There were timing issues as a whole. There is potential, but really need to work on energy in the performance!

Messengers- Couldn’t always hear the diction and needed more energy in the performance

 Victoria Hogg- Really felt a connection with singer and music. Watch guitar tuning, as sounded a little out of tune. Original was really engaging, the cover lacked the same intensity as the original

Ashleigh Holmes- Would have picked a less obvious cover, always going to be compared to the original. Original strong has potential but needs to developed a little, with the dynamics and more movement

Everything Can Wait- Obviously going to be compared to Paramore who set the standard for female fronted rock at the moment. Did the vocalist fully warm up? As she seemed to struggle towards the latter part of the song, needs to be stronger vocally and physically. Band need to make sure they play as one

Farenheit- Great singing, well performed and harmonies really worked well to give a full vocal sound. Acapella at its best, Be great if they could develop an original song though?

Act of Defiance- Cover was performed better than the original. Be more insane! Add more energy to your performance, as band was very tight

Grins- Great idea for a mash up, synth sounds were great and really cut through on both cover and original. Main riff of the cover wasn’t as tight as it could be- and at times the performance came across a little lack lustre

Hitomi- Original was catchy and has obvious potential. Band backed each other up vocally and musically to give a full bodied and developed sound, great energy!

Lucy Marshall- Bit cheesy with the T-shirt, unless you are endorsed by them? Nice song and well portrayed, drive through a hook. Add more of your personality into the performance

Jukebox Memory Loss-Good transition from original to cover, cover could have been better, too many performers just looking at their guitars and not performing...think collective performance! Put fun into the performance. Front man has a good image

Upside- Musically one of the strongest, but the performance would benefit from more dynamics giving the track some places to breathe then attacking the hooks with vigour.

Blind Obedience- Good image, front girl looks the part, would benefit from vocal training – need to ensure you hit all of the notes. Star potential

China Town- Got the audience going straight away. Full sound, perhaps some vocal support from somewhere else in the band would give greater vocal depth  

Final 2

Dave Simpson Trio- Drummer was crazy and fab! Musically really good with a theatrical wall of sound. but would have liked more vocals and hooks

Hero of the Day- Quite undisciplined - look up guys, engage and perform

Indulgence- Good presence and moves. Watch tuning as essential for a vocal group to be water -tight throughout the performance, work on harmonies. Cover was well thought out

Optimists- Musically loved the groove, vocals suffered from nerves. Get tight and could be awesome as lots of raw potential!

Scrim- Cover was strong and great dynamics, well delivered and performed. Liked the energy on stage

James Cornell- Quality of backing track used detracted from the vocals. Good original song- nice lyrics

Cat Solarium- Need to portray more passion and energy. Needs more movement in the music too

Damien Ryan- Needs to engage more to captivate audience; guitar playing is strong but needs to be more interesting

Screaming Maldini- Very entertaining, funky and vibrant. ORIGINAL, nice choice of instruments. Mike Joyce “very impressive, best drummer on show today”

Daniel E Taylor- Solid with a strong voice, but needs something more with his songs and act to stand out

Anytime Forever- Strong and enthusiastic personalities, which shine through. Perhaps a bit more rehearsal as lost the timing a few times, but good energy

Tash Bird- Song has real potential and chemistry, but stick to the main hook lines, as changed the hook line mid way through. She should have kept driving through the initial hooks. Cover could have had more personality

Shamble street- Good dynamics to the song and good musicianship. Original was good, front man seems to be the most energetic- the whole band needs to be this enthusiastic and not rely on one member to do this

Final 3

Ashes- Very smooth well rehearsed set, good vocals. Good ad-libs making the cover their own. Another band name not so hot for searching on the internet (SEO)

A Multitude of Sins- Front man is insane, what a performance! Other band members could backup vocals, not just lead guitarist, bass and drummer - get involved

Resonance- Good connection within the band, but perhaps could connect with the audience more. Musically tight and enjoyable performance. Careful with timings – remember 3 minutes thirty!

Michael Mulholland- Guitar playing was strong, but struggled to keep the audience’s attention, was a bit of a sleepy performance.

The Spector Effect- Strong original and a good front man, cover didn’t hit the heights of the original track. Good performance

The Drug- Little or no performance let this act down. Watch mic control - try to be a consistent distance from the mic, the nearer the better

Red Light City- Bass player needs to come to the party, he looked down at his own playing the whole performance. Good choice of cover and energy given to that

Undercurrent- Cover was made their own, but could have had a fuller sound and had more dynamics. Original was much better but did drift at times. Watch vocal tuning

X-POS3- Less movement on the well rehearsed routine would not take away from the energy and impact of the vocals, which is more important. Strong finish to what was a well thought through image and polished routine

The 48Ks- The gap between the higher scoring bands and the others is due to the onstage performance. A tight band but just lacked performance - need to show more personality on stage

Believe In F.A.T.E.-They looked like they were loving it and all performing. Very good choice of cover full of adrenaline - be careful to not go too shouty! Watch sync between vocalists

Forlorn Hope- Worked well as a band, good full sound, but lead vocal needs to let go even more and perform throughout the set. Nice instrumental solos

Rok.ink- Instruments sounded sweet, work more on original material

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 the North West England final it’s on Sunday 8^th May 2011 at the Willows, Manchester go to the Live and Unsigned website to purchase tickets with the following link; http://www.liveandunsigned.uk.com/live_shows