The Voice Of Ireland: Season 1: Top 16 - Part 2 - Perform!
08 April, 2012 12:48 PM
Last week saw the exit of two great contestants in Kellie and Graham whilst Liam and Kevin who I wasn't as keen on stuck around. So with just one more show after this one before the semi-finals, it's still all to play for on each of the teams. Tonight, the eight remaining contestants from Team Kian and Team Sharon will perform for the third time and again, one contestant from each team of four will be sent home by their mentor. I just sincerely hope the right people go home for once. Let's see what happens.
Recap and videos after the JUMP ...
Liam Geddes
'Flying Without Wings' (Westlife) - 5/10 - Really Kian? Are we measuring your ego on the Richter scale or something? The song is very old fashioned, very standard adult contemporary but apart from that, sorry but Liam's voice is not at its' best tonight, he really seems to struggle with the vocals especially on the high notes, he does a big note at the end and his falsetto is really good then does a low note which is completely off but overall, a disappointing performance. At the start, it sounds like a complete carbon copy but then he goes out of tune on the higher notes and does some unnecessary wailing and then he seems to do the same throughout the performance, it's not bad but he does tend to shout and his vocal control is still quite poor. Also, I tend to judge it purely on the voice (poor pun) but I do find Liam slightly off putting, I don't know why but I get the impression that he's quite overconfident.
Jim Devine
'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' (Judy Garland) - 7.5/10 - I was sort of expecting this to be a train wreck because every other week has been pretty boring and forgettable but this was okay actually. He got into his falsetto well, he handled the big notes pretty brilliantly and overall, it wasn't amazing but it was so much better than I thought it was going to be. The last note was excellent, why did I mark it down? Well, I agree with the judges in that vocally, it was fine but he may as well have been singing the alphabet because there was no emotional connection, it was like a very impressive vocal by a brick wall, technically great but there was no hidden layers there, it was all a bit one dimensional for my liking.
Elliot Canavan Doyle
'Iris' (The Goo Goo Dolls) - 8/10 - This is really cool and quirky, he reminds me of The Smiths a bit, that sort of unusual vocal tone but it is perfect for this song, I sort of liked him doing a really quirky song last week but this is also brilliant, there's no real worries for me vocally, it all slots into place quite well and I think like Conor Quinn, he has his own style that people need to just accept. Quite a marmite vocalist probably and the voting so far doesn't seem to bode well considering that my favourites always seem to go. Emotionally, it was really rich and fulfilling, vocally it was great although his breathing on the big note was flawed. However, I so hope he makes it through.
Sharon Gaynor
Queen Of The Night (Whitney Houston) - 7/10 - Why do judges always seem to try and do something to make an artist different which never works? Like Sinead last week, this song is a poor choice for Sharon, it's a bit shouty and screechy but more than anything, it really lacks the backing vocalists in the original, it needs a second vocalist for this song to work. Vocally, it is her weakest performance, it may have proven that she can do uptempo too and it's probably because of her blind audition which was Chain Of Fools by Aretha but I still don't love this. She still deserves to get through however.
Kim Hayden
Johnny Got A Boom Boom (Imelda May) - 7.5/10 - I love this song, it's one of my favourite songs by an Irish artist but it requires an awful lot of vocal control, attitude and a special performance skill, I like that Sharon is going down a retro sounding modern route with Kim and it's pretty brilliant for her voice but considering how well suited last week was to her and how she lacks vocal control during the lower notes of songs, it wasn't quite as good. I love that she has turned it all around since her horrible vocal in Live Show 1 and although she was the weakest that night, this was enough to show why it's good that she got a second chance. A solid if not amazing performance but a lovely way to open the show, great choice for Kim's voice, very good indeed.
Vanessa Whelan
'My Heart Will Go On' (Celine Dion) - 9.5/10 - Wait, she's singing a song that isn't traditionally an opera song? Get in there! I detest the way the band opens this song instrumentally, it's just not right for the song but wow, she is absolutely smashing the song, it is a bit of a marmite one here as people either love the song or hate it but Sharon chose well for her, she can show off her operatic tone beautifully without alienating non classical fans like myself. The reason it didn't get a 10 is because I felt like at times, the song didn't translate just perfectly to opera but all the same, it's as near to amazing as possible, whilst I do prefer Nollaig, I think that Vanessa will be the last remaining in Sharon's team come the Final and could possibly win although Conor Quinn remains my tip for the top with regards to that. Oh by the way, stop the press, Kian said basically the same as how I felt with regards to it but a little bit harsher!
Nollaig O'Connor
Addicted To Love (Robert Palmer) - 7/10 - Okay, what in under god possessed whoever chose this song to go for this for Nollaig? The start of it was amazing, perhaps quite similar to the Florence version but as the song sped up, the band completely drowned her voice out, a bit like Janet Devlin to start with but like Sinead's song last week, it was completely bizarre. I'd have loved for her to sing a little bit of Laura Marling or even some Alanis Morisette, something that allows her to show the real Nollaig to us. Anyway, the judges comments are pretty negative for the most part but Brian goes off on a tangent talking to Nollaig in terms of Sinead Fox and then bizarrely finishing by seemingly giving advice to Sinead and Nollaig both, Brian, Sinead went out last week after you were silly and gave her a poor song then sent her home (I'm not bitter). Anyway, I have to admit, I don't rate Nollaig's chances but then again Kim was far worse in her first show and still got through so miracles can happen.
Kevin Keeley
What Hurts The Most (Mark Wills/Rascal Flatts) - 5/10 - What in under god happened there at the star? His breathing is all over the place, his pace is dreadful, the song is really pitchy, it's of a similar standard to Kim's 'Fix You' and Gari's 'Tracks Of My Tears', the opening verse takes a while to get going and is a bit slow, vocally it's on and off but not dreadful. However, getting onto the chorus, he completely goes off the song, he's off key, very pitchy and it just feels like he's completely giving up. He sort of redeems himself in the big notes and the second rendition of the chorus then goes off it during the 'Being so close' part. Overall, it's not as bad near the end but it just felt very disappointing especially as I was hoping he would really come out of his shell in the country song. I don't think that was enough sadly.
Results
Eliminated Contestants:
Nollaig O'Connor
Elliot Canavan-Doyle
Nollaig wasn't given a great song tonight but I was still hoping that she would get through as she was better than Kevin tonight and Elliot didn't deserve to go either, he was great although I think Sharon has been more consistent. The public haven't made great decisions so far and now the judges are being odd in their decisions too.
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