As usual at this stage, the judges watched again the auditions of the acts they sent through to Vegas in order to decide who would perform in Vegas and who would not. As it was the case in most previous seasons, I expected them to send a bunch of acts packing without giving them a second chance. I was pleasantly surprised that this year, the acts sent packing without a second chance were 10 acts that the judges decided to sent straight through to Hollywood (aka the Top 48).
I always found it a bit cruel that some acts were sent to Vegas but not offered a fair chance to make a second impression. Let’s hope that all performers that got to stayed in Vegas will get the chance to perform again … something that is not 100% certain considering that Day 2 of Vegas is “standby” day, meaning that they may not perform … If I were in charge of the show, I would have all acts sent to Vegas perform once more so to treat everyone equally.
Some of the 10 acts sent straight through to Hollywood: Fearless Flores Family, Team iLuminate, Lys Agnes, and Professor Splash.
And then it was time for the judges’ favorites to perform on Day 1 of Vegas Week by categories. This ensures that a wider variety of acts will be included in the Top 48.
Some of the acts that didn’t do well were:
- Kevin Shelley broke bricks set on fire but his assistant failed to break a concrete block, which will surely play against him.
- The 4Play ladies followed Piers advice and dressed up a bit. Most of their vocal performance was really good but, sadly, one of them messed up near the end (it sounded pitchy and off key) which threw the other singers off. They were not happy with how it turned out and told the judges that this wasn’t what they had prepared. The judges decided to send 4Play back home.
- 76-year-old Fantastic Fig performed with his cat Neuton and his backup dancers. Once again, the ladies served no purpose but make the background pretty. Fantastic Fig didn’t show us new tricks as he, again, performed close-up magic where he asked the judges to choose a card and he would make it appear.
- Having had the chance to watch the performances from Necessary D and Landau surely put too much pressure as Cindy Chang as she was pitchy and off key throughout her performance. The constant heavy tremolo when she sings made the notes sound even worse. The judges decided to let Cindy go right after her audition.
- J. Chris Newberg failed to be funny with his song about strippers.
- Hershae Chocolatea was far from being “Simply the Best” during her performance of a Tina Turner song. She was off key and had no energy. Piers told the other judges that it was a terrible audition.
- The three animal acts didn’t go according to plan. The psychic bird from Vegas Birds was far from impressive. Luckily for these acts, the judges decided to also consider their first audition when deciding if one (or more) of them would be part of the Top 48.
Some of the acts that did so-so were:
- Having watched Steve Retchless perform minutes before she did, Soleil had extra pressure added on to her stress. Howie added even more pressure by asking her, prior to her performance, what was going through her mind. This got Soleil to tear up and talk about her parents not fully supporting her in this. She was more gracious in this performance than in her audition but she didn’t really raise the bar.
- I had high hopes for Michael Turco. Sadly, he once again performed a box trick. It could have been somewhat impressive if he hadn’t had issues with one of the box panels.
- Band The BGP offered a great performance but they are still lacking stage presence and some wow factor. Howie said that they are almost there, but not.
- Dani Shay made a risky move by singing an original song and it didn’t pay off as she got so nervous that she had to stop in the middle of her performance. Luckily for her, the judges gave her a second chance and demanded that she sings a cover so that they can properly judge her. She came back and did good with her second performance even if still extremely stressed out. The judges did allow other singers and bands to perform their own songs in the past seasons so why not allow Dani to do so too? Piers was right when, after the second performance, he said that Dani’s performance was more “us” (the judges) than “her”.
- Geechy Guy’s jokes were so-so but his stage presence and interaction with the judges helped him score some important points.
Some of the acts that were impressive were:
- Frank, the daring juggler, didn’t juggle this time but did a sort of magic trick with a sharp knife hidden in Styrofoam coolers. This was a sick and crazy trick that was jaw-dropping at the same time.
- Zuma Zuma dancers were once again quite impressive thanks to some unique moves that got Howie to say “They have no bones!”
- Steve Retchless was quite nervous before his audition. He opted not to wear heels this time or silver body painting; this helped make his performance a tad more masculine. He also decided to do a different style of dancing. I must admit that I didn’t see the difference. Nonetheless, his moves were impressive and gracious – even though pole dancer Soleil claimed Steve was not — especially when he did horizontal movements.
- Scott amazed everyone once again with his nifty and mind-bending appearing-disappearing magic tricks with boxes that allow us to see silhouettes and shadows.
- I don’t get why AGT put Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. was put in the classical singers category. When I hear “classical,” I think of opera-ish singing not Frank Sinatra! Anyway, Landau impressed the judges once again with his rich and deep voice.
- After their audition, Piers told the female singer of PopLyfe to ditch the band and be a solo act. She said no and claimed that they sounded even more of a band when in an electric setting (remember that they played in an acoustic setting during their audition). She was right. During their Vegas performance, PopLyfe rocked the house with fantastic music playing and great singing from the lead singer. It was energetic and entertaining, thanks to their geeky costumes.
Some of the Vegas Week – Day 1 acts that were sent home: Necessary D, Fantastic Fig, Michael Turco, Soleil.
Some of the Vegas Week – Day 1 acts going through to the next round: Geechy Guy, J. Chris Newberg, magician Scott, Fiddleheads, PopLyfe, the gnomes act, Echo the parrot, Dezmond Meeks, Snap Boogie, Steve Retchless, Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., Zuma Zuma, and Dani Shay.
Photo Credit: NBC
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