Keeping it Live!

Jack Danson opened the afternoon session with his live band. Dressed as Rod Stewart, not vocally sounding exactly like Rod at this point he soon progressed into an amazing Rod Stewart sound and lookalike complete with all the mannerisms. An amazing live band with one of the best musicians I have heard in a long time. Sheer magic!

Chrissy Brown is an artist who hails from Blackpool and she opened her showcase set with a classic of Dusty Springfield “I Only Wanna Be With You”. Chrissy has a very bubbly personality and an uncanny look of Jane McDonald. With a rustic sound to her vocals I would have like to have heard Chrissy sing something by Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holliday but however this was a pleasing performance well delivered.

I have had the pleasure of seeing guitar vocalist Danny King on many occasions and unfortunately the sound gremlins put in an appearance for the majority of his first song. Technical problems sometimes cannot be helped but after managing to get the problem solved, Danny went into the usual dance party feel including the popular song sang at Keeping It Live!, “Valerie”. Well done Danny.

This 15 years young lady is just starting out in the business and Keeping It Live! is a big showcase to take on but Little Kat came on stage full of confidence. A need for vocal coaching is required at this moment in time otherwise the longevity of her vocals will be damaged. If Kat takes this advice and spends sometime really putting the act together then I am sure she will progress into a very confident and mature performer. Well done anyway Kat - the cute factor always wins a crowd, but for serious bookers in a couple of years she will be great.

One of the hardest shows to comment on is a puppet show, but all I can say is that as a mother of five children they would absolutely love Palma Nova Puppets. Great for private functions or theatres etc. Great background music to go with everything shown and well thought out routines. Well done puppeteers.

A line up of 4 young men makes up the all male group, Envy. With great young dress sense and a make up of great vocals and fab harmonies they opened their set with great professionalism. Very enjoyable and would be loved by all age groups and could be put into any type of venue Excellent show but maybe smile a little more.

Laura Jenkins is a young lady at the tender age of 17. As compere Steve Walls pointed out, Laura was one the of Children's Stars in Your Eyes heat winners. Laura had a lovely voice but sometimes it seemed she didn’t connect the vocals to get the best out of them With further tuition and shifting from mid range into head notation Laura will have a bigger voice than she has now. Well done Laura - keep up the good work.

In tux and dickey bows Justified featuring Justin Aston opened with a fantastic song by Mika, not what you would expect from four guys dressed as they where - and what they were was superb! The best was to come when they ripped of the fronts of their shirts to reveal rocker T-shirts. They went into “Grace Kelly” but the loss of breath from the lead singer resulted in the song being lost somewhat, however, they seems to grasp the audience with their last song, a “That's they Way I like it” medley. Again loss of breath seemed to affect some of the performance of the lead singer but probably less energetic jumping around would help! But I have to say that the Michael Jackson dance routine was just brilliant! A well delivered set.

Siobhan Phillips is a lovely lady with a powerful vocal who reminds me of the vocal talents of the great Alison Moyet. High-energy sounding and full of rich depth. A very extremely accomplished artist. Siobhan is also a very funny lady, great to see and hear a lady taking the mickey out of the men. Not too sure whether you would class this lady as a comedienne or a female vocal entertainer, but whatever you wish to label this lady the label contains the word “excellent”.

I cannot count the times that I have seen David Kidd work, but having worked recently with Tom Jones in person I have to say that I was slightly disappointed with David's tribute to Tom Jones. Having seen him do other artistes, I felt that this was not his best. David has a strong vocal ability and feel there is no reason why he could not be taken as a serious vocalist without being a tribute act - let’s hear the real David Kidd please!

I am not too sure what Nicky Flash is but he is very funny. I can’t make my mind up whether he deliberately stupid but I have to say that he had everyone rolling around laughing. A must-book act for a great laugh, you never know what he is going to do next and that is the most exciting bit, he reminds me of Tommy Cooper. I have not laughed so much for ages. When I first saw this guy a couple of years ago I thought he was off his rocker, but I have say that he has thought this out very cleverly. Well done - brilliant.

Charli goes out as a female vocalist. I get the feeling that Charli has not been around as long as some of the acts that have been on the show today, or it could be that she was nervous, so the first song was a little shaky. She soon settled down and the feeling is that she is more comfortable with more upbeat songs. Great act for the working men's clubs.

Classy looking vocalist Yasmin Virdee opened her set with a song that has again been very popular at Keeping It Live! this year “Bleeding Love”. Great vocal range and great transition between voices. It would be nice to hear songs delivered in the style of themselves rather than the original artist. It seems to be a must that everyone sings as the original artist, which is not showing the true talents of someone with a great vocal ability. It would have been nice to hear an upbeat number from this young lady, but instead we got yet another rendition of a copycat vocal performance. However, the vocals are great and Yasmin is very vocally talented.

The Pheromones are a male duo who possess great vocals and harmonies, but I’m not too sure why one of them would not have their shoes on and would be wearing odd coloured socks! They came across a little like Cannon & Ball but with vocals! One of the guys can’t keep still to the point I was not too sure if he was drunk (only kidding!). A little mishmash for me on his showing but if they really put their minds to it they could be a very polished, classy act hitting a higher market. Try it lads - you might like it!

Personal favourite of the afternoon - Siobhan Phillips.