‘Britain’s Got Talent’ review: Wayne Woodward, Rachael Wooding, the Garnett Family, more in live show #2
The second live show for “Britain’s Got Talent” is here, and there are some antics to come! We’ve got silly acts, serious acts, and someone potentially killing themselves by swallowing a sword. What’s not to like? We’ll be here LIVE to cover all of the antics, so be sure to refresh this page throughout for updates and our take on all of the acts. At the end of the show, we’ll have these sorted in order from worst to best.
9. Vitaly Voronko – We’ll give Vitaly credit for at least finding a target audience for his accordion shenanigans: Children. We do actually think that there’s an audience for him there, but let’s face it: He needs to be in a studio with some production behind him. He’s not a good enough singer to be doing that in front of a live audience, and he’s really not even that amazing of an accordion player. This was just a mess, and he stands no chance of getting through.
8. Mythical PSM – We’re all down for funny dance, but the problem with Mythical is that it just wasn’t funny enough, and it’s not strong enough technically to be worth watching. Maybe it was the choreography or the song choice, but we got bored about 45 seconds in and never really got back into it. Maybe we’re especially cynical about dance acts after seeing so many of them over the years, but this just isn’t our act. The judges certainly disagreed with our choice.
7. Ian & Anne Marshall – It may be a surprising hot take, but does anyone else think that these two hit a surprising amount of notes in this? These two are pure camp, and there’s something about watching them that is pure fun. Sure, they don’t have much of a chance of advancing, but we enjoyed it for what it was. The one thing that they probably needed a little more of is energy moving about the stage and doing some crazy things. They left that more for the dancers around them and the staging.
Now comes the point where we call out Simon Cowell for his hypocrisy. This was neither better or worse than the audition; yet, he gushed all over them there, and then blasted them here. We have no problem with him saying they are a “nightmare,” but at least be consistent with it!
6. Wayne Woodward – No doubt that Wayne is a really good Frank Sinatra soundalike. Here’s what we worry about with him: Is he a competent solo artist in his own right, or a Frank Sinatra impersonator? We would’ve probably used this performance to do something a little more contemporary like a Michael Buble cover, at least to show some element of versatility in his genre. Still, there was nary a bum note in here, and we like the suit-and-tie combo as opposed to his more casual audition outfit. Ol’ Blue Eyes would approve.
For those wondering what Amanda Holden was talking about, Wayne was quoted by the British press saying that he wanted to take the judge to bed — he later claimed he was partially misquoted, but certainly does find her attractive.
5. Rachael Wooding – Unlike Simon, we love the song choice in Sara Bareilles’ “Gravity.” We also love the staging, as well. Was this the show’s chance to try to bury a singer who could’ve been a lock for the final? It’s hard to say, but it is curious (not that we’re a conspiracy freak or anything) that they highlighted multiple times her West End experience, while touting the Garnett Family as “amateur singers” who have other jobs. We really thought this was a fairly stunning vocal from start to finish.
4. The Garnett Family – In all honesty, we really didn’t want to like this as much as we did. It was another family band, and another singing act when we’ve already got two in the final. Yet, this legitimately worked! All of the vocalists were really strong in here, there were some nice harmonies, and the mother of the group may actually be the strongest one of all. That’s especially interesting since the parent is usually the person in these acts that Simon Cowell wants to send through a trap door in the stage.
3. Another Kind of Blue – It’s weird that we rank this so high given that we actually think that the routine could’ve been even better than it was. Great song choice in “7 Years,” and that added a lot to the story and the technology used tonight. We give it major kudos for being more original than most of everything else we on the show. Our note for the future remains to simply come up with a more cohesive theme; this felt almost like the group knew that they had a good shot of advancing if they chose this song, and tried to shoehorn a routine around it that at times didn’t take full advantage of the technology. Still, it made more of an impact than many other acts tonight.
2. Shannon & Peter – While not as innovative in terms of technology, we do think that these two did more with their material and with their talent than Another Kind of Blue did tonight. We love that these two are a note of inspiration to older dancers to keep it at; for those of you who are missing “So You Think You Can Dance” in the UK, this was an act of that caliber and then some. They closed the show, and that in itself is lovely and rare for “BGT” to do.
1. Alex Magala – There are very few people in this world who does what this guy does, and we routinely say that these sort of performers are incredibly underrated on this show. His acrobatics alone were impressive, but then add to that some of his death-defying sword stunts and what he did with the drill bits at the end. We really want him in the final, since this is exactly what separates this show from all of the other singing shows we see time and time again in Britain.
Results – Be sure to check back over here at the end of the night for the results of what happens!
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