Your views/comments live show 14/10/06 - The X Factor

Innocent_fairy · 14-10-2006, 19:27

Not sure if this warrants a new thread, but I'll start one anyway.

Please post your views and comments on this weeks, live show. Here's mine, act by act, in order of who I liked best (based on tonights performances), please follow suit!

1) Eton Road.
They were absolutely excellent tonight, they all harmonised perfectly, and Anthony gave a great lead vocal, as the judges said. They also proved they had lovely personalities (again, especially Anthony!) in there interview with Kate. "Odd"

. Eton at their very best definetly.

2) Ashley.
Although I was not a fan of this guys voice originally, tonight performance has possibly swayed me. He gave a great performance, very finely tuned save a couple of notes, and he made it look effortless. What a great lad.

3) Leona
Again, not an original fan, but thought she was the best girl tonight by a long shot. Lovely performance, but I kind of agree with Sharon when she said Leona needed to "grow up a bit" (but not in as many words) as she doesn't, to me, seem to act her age of 21, but that may just be her personality, which she can't help. Also agreed with Louis when he said "Don't try and put a Mariah spin" (again, not quoted correctly), as although the girl was good, she was undoubtedly was a tad reminscent of Mariah.

4) Ray
Hmmm.....although I'm supposed to be 'rooting' for this guy, tonight I found his performance a tad boring, and it did make me want to drift off.

. That could just be the song choice though, which we can at least blame Simon for (hehe) because as soon as his performance was over, I was entertained once again by his 'cheeky chappy' confident act, and infectious smile. Let's hope his personality carries him through this week.

5) 4sure
Not too boybandy, which pleasantly suprised me, seeing as they have Louis for their mentor. Again, good harmonising, especially at the end. The poor guy doing the lead looked, not terrified, but in pain! He grimaced as he sang every word!

6) Nikitta
Great performance, the girl looked terrific. The only complaints I have is the dodgy sound level (backing track over mic? I mean, what's going on there?!?) and the fact that the song's a little forgettable. But hey, you can't have everything. Here's hoping that she'll sail through.

7) The Unconventionals
I hated them to start with, but tonight's performance really did shock me, even if it was a little messy. IMO they got the best motown song, and they did it justice. The little blonde one was brilliant, she really held it together for me. And is it me, or is that Drew guy (the usual lead singer) as camp as a row of tents?!?

8) Dionne
I was, as a self-confessed Dionne hater, suprised by her tonight. Her performance was pretty good, and her image seemed better, it seemed to suit her "new" personality more. The only part I didn't like was the speaky bit of the song after the first chorus, but if that's what the song calls for.....Yes, there were people better than her tonight, but she definetly wasn't one of the worst.

9) Robert
Awww, poor little emotional Robert. He's actually quite annoying isn't he? I felt sorry for him as he had the cursed first position, and in a show that's almost two hours long, that can be a death sentence. He did really well though, a fairly good performance. I do wish he wouldn't try and gee the crowd on though like he's in an arena. He's not.

10) The Macdonald brothers

OK, perhaps I'm being a little harsh

It was a nice mumsy performance, although as the judges said, it wasn't really their best efforts at interacting was it? Not their best harmonisation either. I'm worried about their fate. If we're going on tonight's performance, they are not the next JS, although I'm sure many of us could have told you that already.

11) Kerry
I was glad she only had a 30 second clip before her performance, the less time she has to repeat "I want people to see past the chair....." the better. Her performance was nice (

), reminded me of Bill Withers' 'Lovely Day' for some reason. I did, however, like how she is lying down on that couchy thing for her picture (the one that is projected onto the doors), I thought that was quite a nice twist, for her at least.

12) Ben
I cannot, for the life of me understand why he is the current bookies favourite

. Yeah, yeah, nice bloke and everything, but he killed a perfectly good song tonight in my eyes. No doubt the rest of the public loved it

So, in theory, Ben and Kerry should be in the bottom two, but I actually think it will be The Macdonald brothers and Robert.

Overall verdict:
I felt at points, the (almost) 2 hour long show dragged on a bit, as some of the performances just didn't keep me entertained.
Re: The whole theme thing.
Why don't they just rename the show 'Pop Idol' and be done with it?!?

len112 · 14-10-2006, 19:35

I think I need to upgrade my TV as they seemed to range from bad to reasonably good through my speakers , but generally pretty poor !

quackaquacka · 14-10-2006, 19:56

Dionne was much better than I thought she'd be, but the performance was still a little iffy. Leona...well, I don't see what all the fuss is about, but to each his own.
The Unconventionals - wow, was that the wrong song. Louis messed with a good thing, and I hope that they get through and can do something better next week.
Eaton Road - I liked them, but it wasn't their best.
Ben was much better than I thought he'd be, too.
Ashley was good.
Ray was okay.
Kerry was alright, but not that good.
Nikitta - I don't like the tone of her voice, but I guess she's okay.
4Sure were good.
Ray wasn't great, but wasn't bad either.
The Macdonald Brothers - wrong song completely. Hope they'll be better with something else.

norm101 · 14-10-2006, 19:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Innocent_fairy

Not sure if this warrants a new thread, but I'll start one anyway.

Please post your views and comments on this weeks, live show. Here's mine, act by act, in order of who I liked best (based on tonights performances), please follow suit!

1) Eton Road.
They were absolutely excellent tonight, they all harmonised perfectly, and Anthony gave a great lead vocal, as the judges said. They also proved they had lovely personalities (again, especially Anthony!) in there interview with Kate. "Odd"

. Eton at their very best definetly.

2) Ashley.
Although I was not a fan of this guys voice originally, tonight performance has possibly swayed me. He gave a great performance, very finely tuned save a couple of notes, and he made it look effortless. What a great lad.

3) Leona
Again, not an original fan, but thought she was the best girl tonight by a long shot. Lovely performance, but I kind of agree with Sharon when she said Leona needed to "grow up a bit" (but not in as many words) as she doesn't, to me, seem to act her age of 21, but that may just be her personality, which she can't help. Also agreed with Louis when he said "Don't try and put a Mariah spin" (again, not quoted correctly), as although the girl was good, she was undoubtedly was a tad reminscent of Mariah.

4) Ray
Hmmm.....although I'm supposed to be 'rooting' for this guy, tonight I found his performance a tad boring, and it did make me want to drift off.

. That could just be the song choice though, which we can at least blame Simon for (hehe) because as soon as his performance was over, I was entertained once again by his 'cheeky chappy' confident act, and infectious smile. Let's hope his personality carries him through this week.

5) 4sure
Not too boybandy, which pleasantly suprised me, seeing as they have Louis for their mentor. Again, good harmonising, especially at the end. The poor guy doing the lead looked, not terrified, but in pain! He grimaced as he sang every word!

6) Nikitta
Great performance, the girl looked terrific. The only complaints I have is the dodgy sound level (backing track over mic? I mean, what's going on there?!?) and the fact that the song's a little forgettable. But hey, you can't have everything. Here's hoping that she'll sail through.

7) The Unconventionals
I hated them to start with, but tonight's performance really did shock me, even if it was a little messy. IMO they got the best motown song, and they did it justice. The little blonde one was brilliant, she really held it together for me. And is it me, or is that Drew guy (the usual lead singer) as camp as a row of tents?!?

8) Dionne
I was, as a self-confessed Dionne hater, suprised by her tonight. Her performance was pretty good, and her image seemed better, it seemed to suit her "new" personality more. The only part I didn't like was the speaky bit of the song after the first chorus, but if that's what the song calls for.....Yes, there were people better than her tonight, but she definetly wasn't one of the worst.

9) Robert
Awww, poor little emotional Robert. He's actually quite annoying isn't he? I felt sorry for him as he had the cursed first position, and in a show that's almost two hours long, that can be a death sentence. He did really well though, a fairly good performance. I do wish he wouldn't try and gee the crowd on though like he's in an arena. He's not.

10) The Macdonald brothers

OK, perhaps I'm being a little harsh

It was a nice mumsy performance, although as the judges said, it wasn't really their best efforts at interacting was it? Not their best harmonisation either. I'm worried about their fate. If we're going on tonight's performance, they are not the next JS, although I'm sure many of us could have told you that already.

11) Kerry
I was glad she only had a 30 second clip before her performance, the less time she has to repeat "I want people to see past the chair....." the better. Her performance was nice (

), reminded me of Bill Withers' 'Lovely Day' for some reason. I did, however, like how she is lying down on that couchy thing for her picture (the one that is projected onto the doors), I thought that was quite a nice twist, for her at least.

12) Ben
I cannot, for the life of me understand why he is the current bookies favourite

. Yeah, yeah, nice bloke and everything, but he killed a perfectly good song tonight in my eyes. No doubt the rest of the public loved it

So, in theory, Ben and Kerry should be in the bottom two, but I actually think it will be The Macdonald brothers and Robert.

Overall verdict:
I felt at points, the (almost) 2 hour long show dragged on a bit, as some of the performances just didn't keep me entertained.
Re: The whole theme thing.
Why don't they just rename the show 'Pop Idol' and be done with it?!?

EDIT DUPLICATE

Wilbur75 · 14-10-2006, 19:59

i dont understand Leona, just don't really get her, but nevermind. i LOVED Eton Road and thought they all looked rather lovely this evening! and the same gors for 4sure. And Ashley as well, was suprised nt sure why just felt a bit like oh! when he was singing!

norm101 · 14-10-2006, 19:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Innocent_fairy

Not sure if this warrants a new thread, but I'll start one anyway.

Please post your views and comments on this weeks, live show. Here's mine, act by act, in order of who I liked best (based on tonights performances), please follow suit!

1) Eton Road.
They were absolutely excellent tonight, they all harmonised perfectly, and Anthony gave a great lead vocal, as the judges said. They also proved they had lovely personalities (again, especially Anthony!) in there interview with Kate. "Odd"

. Eton at their very best definetly.

2) Ashley.
Although I was not a fan of this guys voice originally, tonight performance has possibly swayed me. He gave a great performance, very finely tuned save a couple of notes, and he made it look effortless. What a great lad.

3) Leona
Again, not an original fan, but thought she was the best girl tonight by a long shot. Lovely performance, but I kind of agree with Sharon when she said Leona needed to "grow up a bit" (but not in as many words) as she doesn't, to me, seem to act her age of 21, but that may just be her personality, which she can't help. Also agreed with Louis when he said "Don't try and put a Mariah spin" (again, not quoted correctly), as although the girl was good, she was undoubtedly was a tad reminscent of Mariah.

4) Ray
Hmmm.....although I'm supposed to be 'rooting' for this guy, tonight I found his performance a tad boring, and it did make me want to drift off.

. That could just be the song choice though, which we can at least blame Simon for (hehe) because as soon as his performance was over, I was entertained once again by his 'cheeky chappy' confident act, and infectious smile. Let's hope his personality carries him through this week.

5) 4sure
Not too boybandy, which pleasantly suprised me, seeing as they have Louis for their mentor. Again, good harmonising, especially at the end. The poor guy doing the lead looked, not terrified, but in pain! He grimaced as he sang every word!

6) Nikitta
Great performance, the girl looked terrific. The only complaints I have is the dodgy sound level (backing track over mic? I mean, what's going on there?!?) and the fact that the song's a little forgettable. But hey, you can't have everything. Here's hoping that she'll sail through.

7) The Unconventionals
I hated them to start with, but tonight's performance really did shock me, even if it was a little messy. IMO they got the best motown song, and they did it justice. The little blonde one was brilliant, she really held it together for me. And is it me, or is that Drew guy (the usual lead singer) as camp as a row of tents?!?

8) Dionne
I was, as a self-confessed Dionne hater, suprised by her tonight. Her performance was pretty good, and her image seemed better, it seemed to suit her "new" personality more. The only part I didn't like was the speaky bit of the song after the first chorus, but if that's what the song calls for.....Yes, there were people better than her tonight, but she definetly wasn't one of the worst.

9) Robert
Awww, poor little emotional Robert. He's actually quite annoying isn't he? I felt sorry for him as he had the cursed first position, and in a show that's almost two hours long, that can be a death sentence. He did really well though, a fairly good performance. I do wish he wouldn't try and gee the crowd on though like he's in an arena. He's not.

10) The Macdonald brothers

OK, perhaps I'm being a little harsh

It was a nice mumsy performance, although as the judges said, it wasn't really their best efforts at interacting was it? Not their best harmonisation either. I'm worried about their fate. If we're going on tonight's performance, they are not the next JS, although I'm sure many of us could have told you that already.

11) Kerry
I was glad she only had a 30 second clip before her performance, the less time she has to repeat "I want people to see past the chair....." the better. Her performance was nice (

), reminded me of Bill Withers' 'Lovely Day' for some reason. I did, however, like how she is lying down on that couchy thing for her picture (the one that is projected onto the doors), I thought that was quite a nice twist, for her at least.

12) Ben
I cannot, for the life of me understand why he is the current bookies favourite

. Yeah, yeah, nice bloke and everything, but he killed a perfectly good song tonight in my eyes. No doubt the rest of the public loved it

So, in theory, Ben and Kerry should be in the bottom two, but I actually think it will be The Macdonald brothers and Robert.

Overall verdict:
I felt at points, the (almost) 2 hour long show dragged on a bit, as some of the performances just didn't keep me entertained.
Re: The whole theme thing.
Why don't they just rename the show 'Pop Idol' and be done with it?!?

Because it's NOT Pop Idol, it's even more skewed in favour of who Cowell wants to win ie he makes sure they get saved.

Pretty mediocre I think apart from Robert.

I didn't buy the saviours of music speeches.

Why would Dionne have a ready made career in the US?
Many far better singers than her have been on and lost in American Idol.

steg1988 · 14-10-2006, 20:05

Okay, here's my review of tonight's show:

First of all I have to say I was VERY disappointed with the majority of the acts tonight, in fact, only one person impressed me!

1. Robert - Excellent stage performance but his voice let him down for the most part. His blubbering at the end made me cringe. 6.5/10

2. Eton Road - Really safe song choice, but Anthony sang lead vocals really well. May have the risk of being forgotten with the voters. 7/10

3. Nikita - I thought Simon chose quite a poor song for her. She sang it quite well but the backing track drowned her voice out. Really disappointing performance. Louis was too harsh on her though. 6.5/10

4. Ben - He was good, but I thought the way he sang that song ruined it. It's not a song where you can shout the lyrics. 7/10

5. The MacDonald Brothers - Boring song, average vocals, boring stage performance. I didn't like it at all. 5/10

6. Ray - Weak vocals, boring stage performance and bad song choice for him. He needed something he could be cheeky with, but got a really emotive song. He did not deliver. 5/10

7. Dionne - WOW Girl!! Dionne had it going on tonight. She came out looking completely different and performed like a star. Loved her!! Great song choice too! 8.5/10

8. The Unconventionals - OMG! What a mess they were. Had all of them singing lead vocals. It just did not work at all. On their own, they don't really have strong voices, except Drew. 6/10

9. Ashley - Next up was the Sideshow Bob lookalike with the Kermit the Frog voice. I have to give him credit, he did do better than I thought he would, but I still don't like him! 7/10

10. Kerry - Really safe song choice and her vocals were average. Really can't say anything else. 6/10

11. 4Sure - They were great. The guy they chose as the lead singer actually has the weakest voice, so when he sang it didn't sound too good. 8/10

12. Leona - Being my favourite, I had high expectations for Leona, and unfortunately, she didn't really live up to them. She did sing the song really well, but I would've preferred it if she had just stood there and sung instead of going all about the stage. Again, like Nikita, the backing music kind of drowned her voice out. However, compared to the rest of them, she was one of the best tonight! 8/10

Rankings:

1. Dionne
2. Leona
3. 4Sure
4. Eton Road
5. Ashley
6. Ben
7. Robert
8. Nikita
9. Kerry
10. The Unconventionals
11. Ray
12. The MacDonald Brothers

Predictions:

Bottom 2 - The MacDonald Brothers and Nikita (I think she will suffer from performing early on).

Eliminated - The MacDonald Brothers.

To be honest, it could be be any of them in the bottom 2. The only ones that I think are safe are Ben, Ashley, Kerry, 4Sure and Leona due to where they performed/getting good judges comments.

What I want:

Bottom 2 - The MacDonald Brothers and Ray.

Eliminated - The MacDonald Brothers.

SULLA · 14-10-2006, 20:10

Robert 6 ( benchmark)
Eaton Road 8
Nikkita 5
Ben 9
McDonalds 8
Ray 3
Dionne 7
Unconventionals 7
Ashley 7
Kerry 8
Sure 7
Leona 7

Sharon...30 Louis.....30 Cowell....22

It was very unfair to some of them that the first show was a theme night.

JamFam · 14-10-2006, 20:18

Am I the only person that doesn't really like the new look of the studio? I preferred it last year, to be honest. *shrugs shoulders*

I think the bottom two may be Robert and the McDonald brothers.

quackaquacka · 14-10-2006, 20:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by xXxJoJoxXx

Am I the only person that doesn't really like the new look of the studio? I preferred it last year, to be honest. *shrugs shoulders*

I think the bottom two may be Robert and the McDonald brothers.

I don't like it either. Last year's was the best out of the three.

Kayess · 14-10-2006, 20:24

It would be great to see Ben and Ray in the bottom 2, can't bear either of them

Innocent_fairy · 15-10-2006, 10:27

As I am out on Saturday night next week, you're going to have to wait till Sunday for Innocent_Fairys infamous show write up

lady-muck · 15-10-2006, 11:38

Just a few worth mentioning...

Eton Road were the outstanding act, thanks mainly to Anthony's vocals. He gave me my one "wow" moment of the show. Do wish Cowell would stop calling the poor guy "odd"

Ben's vocal was OK, though his performance was a bit cringey.

I couldn't understand the fuss about Robert. He sounded off-key to me.

Leona was fine, if a little warbly (that whole Mariah thing, urgh). Is it just me who needed a cold shower after Cowell's embarrassing leering over her? She's not that good, for crying out loud! She's not even as good as Javine. Or Maria from last year. Seven times out of 10, Cowell's judgement is spot on. But put a tall dusky chick in front of him, and he does go a little OTT. (What a surprise, a man's judgement warped by his pants...)

My least fav is Kerry. Sorry. As mentioned on another thread, I feel absurdly guilty criticising her, because of the chair. But her vocal delivery makes me think of Vic Reeves' pub singer - certainly NOT Karen Carpenter, FFS! Sorry sorry sorry sorry (etc)

*Eileen* · 15-10-2006, 11:39

Robert - Disappointing - I wanted to like him but it was a weak performance and flat at times, I was surprised by how much Lionel Richie raved about him.

Eaton Road - really, really liked this, Anthony has a lovely voice and I thought they gave an excellent performance.

Nikkita - Disappointed as I like her a lot but I don't think she was that good last night - not completely her fault though as the backing drowned her out.

Ben - Really liked this, brilliant. really good song for him.

MacDonalds Bros - didn't hear them properly cos of a phone call, but the clip at the end of the show wasn't very good.

Ray - flat, poor, not good song.

Dionne - not too bad but not blowing me away. Weak in parts and the backing was too loud again but overall I think she pulled it of.

The Unconventionals - I have missed a lot of the earlier shows this year and had not reallyheard much of these guys before last night, and I wasn't very impressed. Have heard lots of people saying how good they are etc but thought this was a messy performance that didn't do much for me - the song is probably partly to blame for this, along with the ever-present overly loud backing track.

Ashley - I like Ashley and I thought he did reasonably well last night. Not the best performance of the evening but I think he sang well and pulled it off

Kerry - Not impressed, weak start. Don't think shes got a good enough voice, and as Simon said it was very bland last night. Mediocre.

4sure - not bad but Eaton Road knock the socks off them.

Leona - From what I had seen of her before I expected to like Leona's performance but I thought it was awful.

My bottom two would have been Ray and TheUnconventionals (possibly the MacDonald Brothers if I had heard them properly). Best performances for me this week were Eaton Road and Ben by a mile

DivaLoca · 15-10-2006, 12:06

Hmmm....this week was interesting although not particularly enlightening: I'm very disappointed that they chose a themed week for the first show, after all with all that carefully manipulative editing of the audition/boot camp shows we've hardly had a chance to hear any of the finalists sing more than a few phrases thus far.

Could they not have allowed them a free choice of song in the first week so we could have a chance to hear each of them singing in their preferred genre/style and gain some personal opinion about their potential before TPTB started them jumping through hoops just so some has-been could self-promote?

That aside, my first impressions are as follows:

Robert - nice bloke, bit excitable, sings OK (tough to have to open the show). Should be safe for a couple of weeks on the "imminent baby" scenario until the over emotional/grateful to be here thing gets wearing.

Eton Road - pleasantly impressed by these guys. Anthony has a great voice and is different enough to make an impact. Simon calling him "odd" is irritating and a bit patronising. Should be safe until they have an off-week and SC sees a chance to get rid of them because they're too big a threat to his chosen winner.

Nikita - swamped by the backing (and the appalling work of the ITV sound men) so it's a bit hard to tell at this stage. But she smiled, looked like she was enjoying herself and, having one of the better sob stories, should be safe for the first few weeks.

Ben - did better with the song than I thought he might, interesting voice and distinctive enough to make you remember who he is. Will be interesting to see what happens when he gets an entirely unsuitable theme.

McDonalds - think I fell asleep here, nice blokes who were set up to be tonight's fall guys (Louis' look of shock when they went through was the most entertaining thing about them)

Ray - didn't hear the whole thing but I loathe the song and find him irritating, the bit of the recap later sounded pretty awful so I don't think I missed much. Has the benefit of being one of the chosen ones for this show so will probably get endless bolstering from the judges to ensure the teen vote.

Dionne - decent enough vocal if a bit shouty. Needs to wear longer skirts (or preferably trousers) if she's going to stand like that whilst singing. Something unlikeable about her, she lacks warmth for me and for that reason I wasn't entirely surprised she was in the bottom two.

Unconventionals - a real shame this, I don't think they were ever really cut out for this competition but I would have liked to see them have a chance to show us what they could really do singing in their preferred style. Of the bottom two they were the right ones to go based on performance but the snippets we'd seen of them thus far were promising and interesting and I think their lack of votes was entirely down to a sense of disappointment from the viewing public.

Ashley - this year's chosen one without a shadow of a doubt. Personally I find him arrogant and not a fraction as good as he clearly thinks he is. Needless to say, the viewing public will be told repeatedly how "special" he is until they start believing SC rather than the evidence of their own ears!

Kerry - not very good. Awful song didn't help. I admire her determination not to allow her disability to rule her life but by that token she should also be judged fairly and not milk the sympathy vote - her voice simply isn't strong enough. Also, shouldn't they have put some stairs alongside that ramp for the able-bodied in her group? Dionne and Sharon looked extremely dodgy having to walk down it in heels.

4 Sure - really liked these guys last night despite the fact that the wrong singer was leading (guy on the far right clearly has all the charisma in that group - and a better voice). The genre suited them well, will be interesting to see how they develop but I suspect they'll be just one of the middle week also-rans, insufficient sob-story to single them out as special.

Leona - hated what they did to her hair, she looked so much better (and younger) before. Good performance, probably this year's Maria Lawson.

All-in-all, the egos of the judges are front and centre again this year, closely followed by voting revenues and self-promoting celebrities; a few ordinary-Joes (and Josephines) will have their 15 minutes of fame and some poor sap will be led to believe their life has changed forever only to spend most of next year trying to convince everyone they're actually famous.

So business as usual at XF - saddest thing is you still can't help watching it.

14-10-2006, 19:27	#1
Innocent_fairy Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Elusive Posts: 5,408	Your views/comments live show 14/10/06 Not sure if this warrants a new thread, but I'll start one anyway. Please post your views and comments on this weeks, live show. Here's mine, act by act, in order of who I liked best (based on tonights performances), please follow suit! 1) Eton Road. They were absolutely excellent tonight, they all harmonised perfectly, and Anthony gave a great lead vocal, as the judges said. They also proved they had lovely personalities (again, especially Anthony!) in there interview with Kate. "Odd" . Eton at their very best definetly. 2) Ashley. Although I was not a fan of this guys voice originally, tonight performance has possibly swayed me. He gave a great performance, very finely tuned save a couple of notes, and he made it look effortless. What a great lad. 3) Leona Again, not an original fan, but thought she was the best girl tonight by a long shot. Lovely performance, but I kind of agree with Sharon when she said Leona needed to "grow up a bit" (but not in as many words) as she doesn't, to me, seem to act her age of 21, but that may just be her personality, which she can't help. Also agreed with Louis when he said "Don't try and put a Mariah spin" (again, not quoted correctly), as although the girl was good, she was undoubtedly was a tad reminscent of Mariah. 4) Ray Hmmm.....although I'm supposed to be 'rooting' for this guy, tonight I found his performance a tad boring, and it did make me want to drift off. . That could just be the song choice though, which we can at least blame Simon for (hehe) because as soon as his performance was over, I was entertained once again by his 'cheeky chappy' confident act, and infectious smile. Let's hope his personality carries him through this week. 5) 4sure Not too boybandy, which pleasantly suprised me, seeing as they have Louis for their mentor. Again, good harmonising, especially at the end. The poor guy doing the lead looked, not terrified, but in pain! He grimaced as he sang every word! 6) Nikitta Great performance, the girl looked terrific. The only complaints I have is the dodgy sound level (backing track over mic? I mean, what's going on there?!?) and the fact that the song's a little forgettable. But hey, you can't have everything. Here's hoping that she'll sail through. 7) The Unconventionals I hated them to start with, but tonight's performance really did shock me, even if it was a little messy. IMO they got the best motown song, and they did it justice. The little blonde one was brilliant, she really held it together for me. And is it me, or is that Drew guy (the usual lead singer) as camp as a row of tents?!? 8) Dionne I was, as a self-confessed Dionne hater, suprised by her tonight. Her performance was pretty good, and her image seemed better, it seemed to suit her "new" personality more. The only part I didn't like was the speaky bit of the song after the first chorus, but if that's what the song calls for.....Yes, there were people better than her tonight, but she definetly wasn't one of the worst. 9) Robert Awww, poor little emotional Robert. He's actually quite annoying isn't he? I felt sorry for him as he had the cursed first position, and in a show that's almost two hours long, that can be a death sentence. He did really well though, a fairly good performance. I do wish he wouldn't try and gee the crowd on though like he's in an arena. He's not. 10) The Macdonald brothers OK, perhaps I'm being a little harsh It was a nice mumsy performance, although as the judges said, it wasn't really their best efforts at interacting was it? Not their best harmonisation either. I'm worried about their fate. If we're going on tonight's performance, they are not the next JS, although I'm sure many of us could have told you that already. 11) Kerry I was glad she only had a 30 second clip before her performance, the less time she has to repeat "I want people to see past the chair....." the better. Her performance was nice ( ), reminded me of Bill Withers' 'Lovely Day' for some reason. I did, however, like how she is lying down on that couchy thing for her picture (the one that is projected onto the doors), I thought that was quite a nice twist, for her at least. 12) Ben I cannot, for the life of me understand why he is the current bookies favourite . Yeah, yeah, nice bloke and everything, but he killed a perfectly good song tonight in my eyes. No doubt the rest of the public loved it So, in theory, Ben and Kerry should be in the bottom two, but I actually think it will be The Macdonald brothers and Robert. Overall verdict: I felt at points, the (almost) 2 hour long show dragged on a bit, as some of the performances just didn't keep me entertained. Re: The whole theme thing. Why don't they just rename the show 'Pop Idol' and be done with it?!?

14-10-2006, 20:10	#8
SULLA Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: The Black Country Services: Thinks he's an expert Posts: 54,885	Robert 6 ( benchmark) Eaton Road 8 Nikkita 5 Ben 9 McDonalds 8 Ray 3 Dionne 7 Unconventionals 7 Ashley 7 Kerry 8 Sure 7 Leona 7 Sharon...30 Louis.....30 Cowell....22 It was very unfair to some of them that the first show was a theme night. Last edited by SULLA : 14-10-2006 at 20:13.

15-10-2006, 11:39	#14
Eileen Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Living in the 80's Posts: 7,128	Robert - Disappointing - I wanted to like him but it was a weak performance and flat at times, I was surprised by how much Lionel Richie raved about him. Eaton Road - really, really liked this, Anthony has a lovely voice and I thought they gave an excellent performance. Nikkita - Disappointed as I like her a lot but I don't think she was that good last night - not completely her fault though as the backing drowned her out. Ben - Really liked this, brilliant. really good song for him. MacDonalds Bros - didn't hear them properly cos of a phone call, but the clip at the end of the show wasn't very good. Ray - flat, poor, not good song. Dionne - not too bad but not blowing me away. Weak in parts and the backing was too loud again but overall I think she pulled it of. The Unconventionals - I have missed a lot of the earlier shows this year and had not reallyheard much of these guys before last night, and I wasn't very impressed. Have heard lots of people saying how good they are etc but thought this was a messy performance that didn't do much for me - the song is probably partly to blame for this, along with the ever-present overly loud backing track. Ashley - I like Ashley and I thought he did reasonably well last night. Not the best performance of the evening but I think he sang well and pulled it off Kerry - Not impressed, weak start. Don't think shes got a good enough voice, and as Simon said it was very bland last night. Mediocre. 4sure - not bad but Eaton Road knock the socks off them. Leona - From what I had seen of her before I expected to like Leona's performance but I thought it was awful. My bottom two would have been Ray and TheUnconventionals (possibly the MacDonald Brothers if I had heard them properly). Best performances for me this week were Eaton Road and Ben by a mile Last edited by Eileen* : 15-10-2006 at 11:46.*

14-10-2006, 19:35	#2
len112 Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 1,896	I think I need to upgrade my TV as they seemed to range from bad to reasonably good through my speakers , but generally pretty poor !

14-10-2006, 19:56	#3
quackaquacka Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Preparing for The Fishcake War Services: Shoelace tying, meditation, following SatNav instructions and Going West Posts: 9,169	Dionne was much better than I thought she'd be, but the performance was still a little iffy. Leona...well, I don't see what all the fuss is about, but to each his own. The Unconventionals - wow, was that the wrong song. Louis messed with a good thing, and I hope that they get through and can do something better next week. Eaton Road - I liked them, but it wasn't their best. Ben was much better than I thought he'd be, too. Ashley was good. Ray was okay. Kerry was alright, but not that good. Nikitta - I don't like the tone of her voice, but I guess she's okay. 4Sure were good. Ray wasn't great, but wasn't bad either. The Macdonald Brothers - wrong song completely. Hope they'll be better with something else.

14-10-2006, 19:59	#5
Wilbur75 Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Cumbria! Services: Sky Posts: 219	i dont understand Leona, just don't really get her, but nevermind. i LOVED Eton Road and thought they all looked rather lovely this evening! and the same gors for 4sure. And Ashley as well, was suprised nt sure why just felt a bit like oh! when he was singing!

14-10-2006, 20:05	#7
steg1988 Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Merseyside Posts: 8,353	Okay, here's my review of tonight's show: First of all I have to say I was VERY disappointed with the majority of the acts tonight, in fact, only one person impressed me! 1. Robert - Excellent stage performance but his voice let him down for the most part. His blubbering at the end made me cringe. 6.5/10 2. Eton Road - Really safe song choice, but Anthony sang lead vocals really well. May have the risk of being forgotten with the voters. 7/10 3. Nikita - I thought Simon chose quite a poor song for her. She sang it quite well but the backing track drowned her voice out. Really disappointing performance. Louis was too harsh on her though. 6.5/10 4. Ben - He was good, but I thought the way he sang that song ruined it. It's not a song where you can shout the lyrics. 7/10 5. The MacDonald Brothers - Boring song, average vocals, boring stage performance. I didn't like it at all. 5/10 6. Ray - Weak vocals, boring stage performance and bad song choice for him. He needed something he could be cheeky with, but got a really emotive song. He did not deliver. 5/10 7. Dionne - WOW Girl!! Dionne had it going on tonight. She came out looking completely different and performed like a star. Loved her!! Great song choice too! 8.5/10 8. The Unconventionals - OMG! What a mess they were. Had all of them singing lead vocals. It just did not work at all. On their own, they don't really have strong voices, except Drew. 6/10 9. Ashley - Next up was the Sideshow Bob lookalike with the Kermit the Frog voice. I have to give him credit, he did do better than I thought he would, but I still don't like him! 7/10 10. Kerry - Really safe song choice and her vocals were average. Really can't say anything else. 6/10 11. 4Sure - They were great. The guy they chose as the lead singer actually has the weakest voice, so when he sang it didn't sound too good. 8/10 12. Leona - Being my favourite, I had high expectations for Leona, and unfortunately, she didn't really live up to them. She did sing the song really well, but I would've preferred it if she had just stood there and sung instead of going all about the stage. Again, like Nikita, the backing music kind of drowned her voice out. However, compared to the rest of them, she was one of the best tonight! 8/10 Rankings: 1. Dionne 2. Leona 3. 4Sure 4. Eton Road 5. Ashley 6. Ben 7. Robert 8. Nikita 9. Kerry 10. The Unconventionals 11. Ray 12. The MacDonald Brothers Predictions: Bottom 2 - The MacDonald Brothers and Nikita (I think she will suffer from performing early on). Eliminated - The MacDonald Brothers. To be honest, it could be be any of them in the bottom 2. The only ones that I think are safe are Ben, Ashley, Kerry, 4Sure and Leona due to where they performed/getting good judges comments. What I want: Bottom 2 - The MacDonald Brothers and Ray. Eliminated - The MacDonald Brothers.

14-10-2006, 20:18	#9
JamFam Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: East London Posts: 2,986	Am I the only person that doesn't really like the new look of the studio? I preferred it last year, to be honest. shrugs shoulders I think the bottom two may be Robert and the McDonald brothers.

14-10-2006, 20:24	#11
Kayess Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 1,420	It would be great to see Ben and Ray in the bottom 2, can't bear either of them

15-10-2006, 10:27	#12
Innocent_fairy Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Elusive Posts: 5,408	As I am out on Saturday night next week, you're going to have to wait till Sunday for Innocent_Fairys infamous show write up

15-10-2006, 11:38	#13
lady-muck Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: London Services: Are you asking? Posts: 1,090	Just a few worth mentioning... Eton Road were the outstanding act, thanks mainly to Anthony's vocals. He gave me my one "wow" moment of the show. Do wish Cowell would stop calling the poor guy "odd" Ben's vocal was OK, though his performance was a bit cringey. I couldn't understand the fuss about Robert. He sounded off-key to me. Leona was fine, if a little warbly (that whole Mariah thing, urgh). Is it just me who needed a cold shower after Cowell's embarrassing leering over her? She's not that good, for crying out loud! She's not even as good as Javine. Or Maria from last year. Seven times out of 10, Cowell's judgement is spot on. But put a tall dusky chick in front of him, and he does go a little OTT. (What a surprise, a man's judgement warped by his pants...) My least fav is Kerry. Sorry. As mentioned on another thread, I feel absurdly guilty criticising her, because of the chair. But her vocal delivery makes me think of Vic Reeves' pub singer - certainly NOT Karen Carpenter, FFS! Sorry sorry sorry sorry (etc)

15-10-2006, 12:06	#15
DivaLoca Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,949	Hmmm....this week was interesting although not particularly enlightening: I'm very disappointed that they chose a themed week for the first show, after all with all that carefully manipulative editing of the audition/boot camp shows we've hardly had a chance to hear any of the finalists sing more than a few phrases thus far. Could they not have allowed them a free choice of song in the first week so we could have a chance to hear each of them singing in their preferred genre/style and gain some personal opinion about their potential before TPTB started them jumping through hoops just so some has-been could self-promote? That aside, my first impressions are as follows: Robert - nice bloke, bit excitable, sings OK (tough to have to open the show). Should be safe for a couple of weeks on the "imminent baby" scenario until the over emotional/grateful to be here thing gets wearing. Eton Road - pleasantly impressed by these guys. Anthony has a great voice and is different enough to make an impact. Simon calling him "odd" is irritating and a bit patronising. Should be safe until they have an off-week and SC sees a chance to get rid of them because they're too big a threat to his chosen winner. Nikita - swamped by the backing (and the appalling work of the ITV sound men) so it's a bit hard to tell at this stage. But she smiled, looked like she was enjoying herself and, having one of the better sob stories, should be safe for the first few weeks. Ben - did better with the song than I thought he might, interesting voice and distinctive enough to make you remember who he is. Will be interesting to see what happens when he gets an entirely unsuitable theme. McDonalds - think I fell asleep here, nice blokes who were set up to be tonight's fall guys (Louis' look of shock when they went through was the most entertaining thing about them) Ray - didn't hear the whole thing but I loathe the song and find him irritating, the bit of the recap later sounded pretty awful so I don't think I missed much. Has the benefit of being one of the chosen ones for this show so will probably get endless bolstering from the judges to ensure the teen vote. Dionne - decent enough vocal if a bit shouty. Needs to wear longer skirts (or preferably trousers) if she's going to stand like that whilst singing. Something unlikeable about her, she lacks warmth for me and for that reason I wasn't entirely surprised she was in the bottom two. Unconventionals - a real shame this, I don't think they were ever really cut out for this competition but I would have liked to see them have a chance to show us what they could really do singing in their preferred style. Of the bottom two they were the right ones to go based on performance but the snippets we'd seen of them thus far were promising and interesting and I think their lack of votes was entirely down to a sense of disappointment from the viewing public. Ashley - this year's chosen one without a shadow of a doubt. Personally I find him arrogant and not a fraction as good as he clearly thinks he is. Needless to say, the viewing public will be told repeatedly how "special" he is until they start believing SC rather than the evidence of their own ears! Kerry - not very good. Awful song didn't help. I admire her determination not to allow her disability to rule her life but by that token she should also be judged fairly and not milk the sympathy vote - her voice simply isn't strong enough. Also, shouldn't they have put some stairs alongside that ramp for the able-bodied in her group? Dionne and Sharon looked extremely dodgy having to walk down it in heels. 4 Sure - really liked these guys last night despite the fact that the wrong singer was leading (guy on the far right clearly has all the charisma in that group - and a better voice). The genre suited them well, will be interesting to see how they develop but I suspect they'll be just one of the middle week also-rans, insufficient sob-story to single them out as special. Leona - hated what they did to her hair, she looked so much better (and younger) before. Good performance, probably this year's Maria Lawson. All-in-all, the egos of the judges are front and centre again this year, closely followed by voting revenues and self-promoting celebrities; a few ordinary-Joes (and Josephines) will have their 15 minutes of fame and some poor sap will be led to believe their life has changed forever only to spend most of next year trying to convince everyone they're actually famous. So business as usual at XF - saddest thing is you still can't help watching it.