America’s Got Talent Live Round Week 1 Live Blog (VIDEO)
After 6 weeks of auditions, 4 weeks of mid rounds, we are finally at the best part, the “meat” of the competition. Tonight, the live shows kick off. 12 acts will take the stage vying to advance to the semi-finals. The live shows are known as being the best part of America’s Got Talent, and I am super excited that we have finally made it to this stage of the competition.
Hey guys, it’s Adam, your host here for the evening. I have already made my pre-show predictions for the night, but what do you think? Who is your personal favorite going into this live show?
Here we go guys, the first live show of AGT starts….. NOW!!!!
After a quick, but super cool, intro from the Nick Cannon, the judges and the Rockettes, the competition has officially started.
Siro-A is kicking off the show first… wait…. first!? The first spot is usually reserved for fodder that gets bussed, so right away I’m feeling worried for these guys. Scratch that, my worrying was for nothing, WOW THIS WAS INCREDIBLE! I think they really stepped it up from last time, but that was hype! They filled their 90 seconds with everything, and man, they really delivered. The judges give them a standing ovation, and across the board give them strong praise. Well done guys!
We’re back from commercials, and Nick confirms that 7 acts will be advancing from tonight’s 12. Hoping for one of those spots is Alondra Santos, who is one of tonight’s wildcard. She starts off her spanish song acapella, then the music kicks in for the rest of the performance. I liked the acapella part the most, I didn’t love it nearly as much when the band kicked in. At one point she breaks into a spanish rap, but the whole thing is giving me fodder vibes. When Samantha takes the stage I feel people will forget about her. There are some major pitch issues going on there, so I have a feeling we will be losing Alondra tomorrow. The judges give her strong remarks, but point out how nice the acapella part was.
Vita Radionova is up next. Originally from Ukraine, Vita joined the circus at a young age, and since then has been working as a contortionist. She described contortion as a “poetry of the body”, which I think is a really cool way of seeing it. I find Vita’s talent super cool and fascinating, but as I have said in the past, I worry not many people will be able to get behind her and vote for her. Tonight, she does some moves to the song Bang Bang, by Cher and I find her super talented, but again, I doubt her act will bring in lots of votes. Howard calls her wonderful. Mel B says she loves her dress…. AKA she didn’t like it. Mel goes on to say the act had no wow factor, but she says that she did the most she could. Howie refuses to say anything because he says he doesn’t want to sound “pervy”. I like Howie best when he isn’t talking. Anyway, I think Vita is most likely going home tomorrow.
Triple Threat is up next. Tonight they are performing Say My Name, by Destiny’s Child and right away I can tell something is off. I can’t put my finger on it, but then it hits me, they just lost their charisma…. oh, that and they are singing consistently flat. Howard, Mel and Howie hit their buzzer halfway through. Mel says they murdered it, and not in a good way. That was cringeworthy, to be honest. Whelp, they had a good run until tonight, at least they can be used as fodder now.
Time for another fodder act! The Gentlemen are the youngest contestants tonight. Today, I must say, I was actually kinda impressed, but still, they were fodder before they even performed. The judges call them out on using the same moves. Howard doesn’t think they delivered and didn’t do enough to advance. Bye Gentlemen, at least you guys gave it a good shot.
After the break is Piff The Magic Dragon!!! So much hype!
Tonight Piff The Magic Dragon goes Game Of Thrones. He hides Mr. Piffles in one of 4 boxes then dramatically destroys the other 3 picked by Howie. This trick was kind of a disappointment. The banter was the main draw of his act, but Piff’s magic hasn’t lived up to his personality. The judges give him some criticism, basically saying his trick needed to be better. I have to agree with the judges, but with 7 acts moving on, it will be a travesty if Piff still doesn’t move on.
Benton Blount is next, and he is taking on Say Something, by A Great Big World. Great performance. I liked that he picked a simple song so that he wasn’t swallowed by something big and uptempo. It got a little pitchy at parts, but I feel like I can excuse that because I felt him meaning those lyrics. Mel calls him out on his nerves, but felt like it didn’t matter. Howard says he felt his heart. Benton is sailing on.
Next is Craig and Micheline, another wildcard act. They perform some strength and dance moves, and overall they come across as very gracefully. I am dumbfounded; my favorite acts are crumbling and acts like C&M are rising up and delivering. These guys definitely delivered tonight. The judges remark on Craig’s strength and commend the two for their performance. On a night like tonight where so few acts are delivering, I think these guys did just fine in comparison.
Drew Lynch is tonight’s sob story; he is the comedian with a stutter who got the first golden buzzer of the season. Tonight he makes some jokes about a service dog and makes self deprecating jokes about himself. His jokes are funny, and besides for him laughing at his own jokes getting on my nerves, I think he is definitely a highlight of the night. I really enjoyed him tonight, so congratulations Drew, you made me a fan. Well done. The judges give him a standing ovation and the crowd goes crazy for him. Yep, Drew is going to sail right on through.
Showproject is up next! They are strong acrobatic performers and tonight they swing from poles and do cool stunts while flipping and tumbling. I thought that were super impressive, if a little out of synch in parts. Mel calls them out on having timing issues. Howie liked their last act better. These guys I feel are going to be in trouble tomorrow.
Paul Zerdin is tonight’s ventriloquist. I have to say, all season I have been trashing on Paul, but after tonight, I have totally turned my opinion around! Tonight Paul absolutely killed it! He walks offstage at one point leaving the puppet alone, then suddenly it comes to life without Paul controlling himself. I almost had a heart attack when the puppet came to life, but I was loving it the entire time! Well done Paul, you made me a fan! His jokes were fantastic and had a little magic to it even. With a standing ovation the judges agree with me. Best act of the night so far!
Closing off the night is Samantha Johnson, a young singer. She is taking on California Dreamin, and right from the first note she controls the song and wrings it out, pulling off a solid performance in the process. With a pimp spot to boot, I think not only is she moving on, but I think she also just sent home Alondra Santos. The judges give her a standing ovation and commend her for her vocals, calling her a star.
So that about wraps up tonight, thanks for joining me! I’ll be back tomorrow first with a predictions article and then the results recap. I hope you come back and check out both. Thanks again for joining me, and if you liked what you read you can follow me on twitter at @adamhsamuel.
This is AdamSLM signing off…