Category: america’s got talent

Murray, Taylor Mathews, Prince Poppycock, and ArcAttack advanced in America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 20. Tonight the Youtube acts perform. Apparently this year they realized that Myspace is passe.

PLUtonic is a group of student a cappella singers from Tacoma, Washington. Dressed in bow ties and sweater vests, they realize they’re geeks. Piers found that to be like being hit over the head with a big slab of cheddar, but he liked it. Sharon thought their performance was very good and confident, although she hates a cappella groups.

Dylan Plummer jumps rope, which is actually a sport and does not involve any singing in rhymes. Howie believes that was really good, but it needs time to be perfected. Piers was surprised that was entertaining.

Pup is an accordian playing dog. I hope this goes over better than Laika, the dog from Britain’s Got Talent who “played” the guitar, although that was amusing to watch. No. It doesn’t. It’s also not as funny without Simon. Piers buzzes. Howie gives a standing ovation. Piers claims that he saw Pup playing at a high level for about 10 seconds. Really? Sharon blames technical hitches.

Cam Hodges is a guitar playing singer who initially wanted to hide his talent. Piers was reminded, in parts, of James Blunt (from his home country). Howie thinks he made that unique, and he’s got a real shot considering how well he did on his first time out.

Ryan Rodriguez is a dancing plumber. Tonight he will opt to do the dance, rather than to install a tub. Piers buzzes. I don’t get it. There’s probably some talent in there somewhere, but it’s all quite chaotic. After telling Piers to shut up, Sharon tells Ryan he needs to get a group of others to put together an act. Howie doesn’t know what that was. Piers doesn’t get it either. He just knows that wasn’t dancing.

Austin Anderson is an auto mechanic comedian. Piers quickly buzzes him. He becomes mildly funny after a rough start. Howie wanted something more relateable than jokes about Facebook, which only has half a billion users (albeit mostly there to play Farmville).

Booker Forte is a hip hop dancer. Piers buzzes again because it was just nice, and his backing dancers were better than he is. Sharon’s seen it all before.

Pizza Patt tosses pizzas whereever he goes. Piers hates him just based on the video, and he buzzes. This hapens before Patt takes some flaming pizza dough. Sharon enjoyed the new form of juggling. Howie sees this all the time in pizzeria windows.

Kristina Young is a singer from South Dakota. She sings Carrie Underwood’s Before He Cheats, which for some reason requires dancers to be on stage with her. Howie thought that was good, although he doesn’t know if it was good enough. Piers goes one step further: it was not good enough, although it was not bad. At least he didn’t buzz her.

Maestro Alexander Bui is a 16 year old piano player, who practices 6-8 hours a day. Any time left to be a kid? We hear an X, and for a change it comes from Sharon. Magnificent… but boring. Piers says he’s the most naturally talented person all year. He tells him to ignore Sharon, but she’s not wrong. Something more relateable than classical music would give him a better shot.

Dan Sperry wants to show us the dark side of magic. He says he’s against things that are mainstream, which we can tell by the piercings/tattoos/assorted gothicness. He takes a mint and chews it. Hopefully there’s a point to all this. Then he gets out some floss. Wait. What? The floss is for his neck, and he pulls out a full mint. Howie runs away in terror, causing Sharon to laugh uncontrollably.

Jackie Evancho is the final contestant of the night. This 10 year old singer was chosen by Youtube audience votes. Wow. Is that voice really coming from that little girl? The rest of the night may have been a bust, but here’s someone who came out of nowhere to potentially give everybody else a run for their money. Howie says this is the moment they were hoping for with this show. Piers calls that one of the most extraordinary performances ever on this show.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 22, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on NBC.

12 more acts performed in America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 19. Tonight 4 more will advance.

The first trio is Doogie Horner, Mary Ellen, and Murray. Without question, Murray’s the one advancing here. And we are done with Mary Ellen.

Taylor Mathews, Da Maniacs, and Lindsey Stirling are next. Obviously, Taylor advances to the next round.

Strikers All Stars, Prince Poppycock, and Nu Covenant are the next group. Prince Poppycock is the one to advance. I still say he’d be better off dropping this lame persona.

The final group is Rudi Macaggi, Anna & Patryk, and ArcAttack. All good acts. Rudi is leaving the competition. Anna & Patryk and ArcAttack placed fourth and fifth, and the judges will make the decision who should stick around. Piers votes for Anna & Patryk because he thinks we can see more growth from them. Howie goes with ArcAttack because he felt the electricity and is not sure kid dancers are right for Vegas. Sharon has the deciding vote, and she sides with ArcAttack

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 21, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on NBC.

Four more acts advanced in America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 18: Haspop, Studio One Young Beast Society, Debra Romer, and Jeremy Vanschoonhoevn. Tonight 12 more acts perform: Da Maniacs, Nu Covenant, Anna and Patryk, Lindsey Stirling, Doogie Horner, Rudi Macaggi, Taylor Mathews, Mary Ellen, ArcAttack, Prince Poppycock, Murray, and Strikers All Stars.

Da Maniacs are presumably planning to spend a chunk of their winnings at KFC/Taco Bell. Memo to fat men: midriff shirts don’t work for you. Piers buzzes them when they start dancing to MC Hammer. He suggests a TV show competition for them: The Biggest Loser. Howie doesn’t think they can with this. It’s in the middle.

Nu Covenant is a group of four church singers. They sing Apologize by OneRepublic feat. Timberland. Piers buzzes. Sharon follows suit. Howie’s gonna let them finish, but they’re pretty well sunk. Sharon buzzed for the weak harmonies. Howie says that the weight of how important this is really showed. Piers would have preferred a gospel song instead.

Anna and Patryk are young ballroom dancers. Howie’s not sure they fit the goal of the show, but they are world class in what they do. Piers could see them in Vegas. Sharon agrees with Piers, and she likes to see them smiling for a change.

Lindsey Stirling is a Mormon hip hop violinist. Apparently. Piers buzzes. Her violin playing just doesn’t cut it for him, even though everything else was great. Sharon tells her to find a group. Howie hates to say that Piers is right.

Doogie Horner is the comic who got booed by an angry mob in his first audition. Unlike cockroaches, he can survive being smacked by a shoe. He concludes his routine with dancing pig ladies. Sharon says that Piers laughed, or at least he smiled. Howie thinks he owned it. Piers has to admit he’s wrong.

Most people run away to join the cirucs. Rudi Macaggi, however, ran away from the circus, although it didn’t take. His act this evening is to plunge toward the circular saw… of death. Don’t try this at home. Piers calls that the most extraordinary, dangerous, exciting thing on this show.

Taylor Mathews sings The Man Who Can’t Be Moved by The Script. Piers thought there were a few shaky bits, but there were moments of real potential. Sharon can’t wait to see him again to see the continued growth. Howie bets he makes it to the finals.

Mary Ellen is back. Why? Just why? This will serve as tonight’s completely pointless waste of time. Piers buzzes, but the other judges are enjoying the trainwreck. Nick has to pull the plug to stop her.

ArcAttack has to take their act outside in order to avoid blowing every circuit in the building and/or causing the theater to travel through time. Well then. I hope you have an outdoor venue lined up for them in Vegas. Howie doesn’t think TV does them justice, and it’s the most exciting live show, for which he would buy tickets.

Prince Poppycock is a good singer with a distracting and unnecessary gimmick. This is Piers’ new guilty pleasure, and he could see him on Broadway. Sharon appreciates the lack of fatness and sweatiness. Howie’s not sure middle America would respond to this. Hard to say, but he’d get a lot more votes if he’d just sing.

Murray is what you would think, a magician. The trick he is performing tonight will be a first for him. He brings Howie and Piers a girl in a box. He borrows Piers’ jacket. Well, he’d better get it back. After he unveils the cage, the girl is now a tiger. Good news for Howie once he recovers from his heart attack, though. The girl is standing right behind him. Sharon tells him he belongs in Vegas.

Strikers All Stars is a stepping crew. Howie didn’t find that as good as it was last time or as other groups have been. Piers calls it a pretty solid performance, although he does agree with Howie that they stepped it down.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 20, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on NBC.

12 more acts performed in America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 17, and tonight four more will advance.

The South Philly Vikings, CJ Dippa, and Haspop are the first group. I like CJ Dippa, but Haspop is the clear favorite here. Haspop does advance to the next round. Howie thinks this is the right decision. He’s raw, great talent.

Chipps Cooney, Studio One Young Beast Society, and Polina Volchek. Not even any question here. Chipps was a disaster, and Polina was just confusing. Studio One advances.

The Strange Familiar, Debra Romer, and Luigi are next. The Strange Familiar and Luigi blew their chance with bad song choices. Debra Romer, meanwhile, may not be the best singer, but she had a good performance. That said, Debra advances to the next round.

The final three acts of the evening are Kaya & Sadie, Jeremy Vanschoonhoven, and Harmonica Pierre. I’d say the belly dancing duo’s gotta go first, but the harmonica just is not mainstream enough for people to keep around. Harmonica Pierre has been eliminated. The two remaining acts placed fourth and fifth in the audience vote, and the judges will decide who goes to the next round. Sharon votes for Jeremy. Piers agrees. Jeremy Vanschoonhoven proceeds to the semifinals.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 19, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on NBC.

Four more acts advanced in America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 16: Michael Grimm, AscenDance, Alice Tan Ridley, and Antonio Restivo. Tonight 12 more acts perform: Harmonica Pierre, The South Philly Vikings, CJ Dippa, Polina Volchek, The Strange Familiar, Haspop, Luigi, Chipps Cooney, Kaya and Sadie, Jeremy Vanschoonhoven, Debra Romer, and Studio One Young Beast Society.

The South Philly Vikings usually perform in a parade. Piers gets in there with his first buzzer of the evening, calling them overgrown schoolchildren in robot costumes. Sharon apologizes for him. Howie’s confused what category they’re supposed to be in. They don’t seem to know either.

CJ Dippa is a good young rapper with a lot of confidence, although he’s not a dancer even if he’s convinced himself otherwise. He hopes to show people that he can write about what he feels. Piers couldn’t understand a word he said, but he can’t understand any rap songs anyway.

Harmonica Pierre owns more than 150 harmonicas, but he can’t play five of them at the same time. Rather than his usual classical music, he plays Hey, Soul Sister by Train. Howie felt like he was in his doctor’s office. Piers calls him one of the best harmonica players.

Polina Volchek is a hula hooper who started gymnastics at age 7. Well, at least I thought we’d see some hoops anyway. Rather, she’s got a rope. Piers buzzes. He was bored. Sharon appreciates the movement and could watch that for hours.

I had assumed that The Strange Familiar was just a band that unfortunately selected the same name as an existing band that has already released an album, but it seems that it is indeed the same group that had a song featured in The Biggest Loser and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. They’re talented enough that I’d say one of their originals beats this cover of Time after Time. Sharon’s not sure. Bad song choice, in spite of the voice, and they seem confused about their direction. Howie says that, strangely, this was just so familiar. Piers wants her to dump the band, including her husband.

Haspop left his family in France to pursue this dream. That is wow. Piers thinks it’s worth the sacrifice, and that was the performance of the night.

Luigi is back with his guitar singing This Love by Maroon 5. Not quite what I remember his audition being. Piers buzzes. Good but not good enough.

Chipps Cooney is tonight’s waste of time, a “magician” with very lame tricks. It gets worse. This time he starts stripping. That’s worth three X’s. Piers calls him the greatest trainwreck in the history of the show.

Kaya and Sadie are The Belly Dancing Duo. Howie doesn’t know. He was just watching.

Jeremy Vanschoonhoven is doing some more bike riding. For part of the routine, he will be blindfolded. This is not Piers’ cup of tea, but he’s slowly making it his cup of tea. Sharon calls him the new Evil Knievel. Howie thinks this would be a great live show in Vegas.

Debra Romer sings Dreams by Fleetwood Mac. Not as good a singer as Kira Leyden of The Strange Familiar, but the performance goes over much better. Howie’s not so sure about her vulnerability being a good thing, which Piers calls a load of something British, saying she’s a star.

Studio One Young Beast Society wins the competition of coming up with the longest name. Howie calls that the best dance group so far. Piers says the show has ended on a brilliant note.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 18, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on NBC.

12 more acts performed in America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 15, and tonight four more will advance.

AscenDance, Ronith, and Mona Sampath Dance Company step forward first. The choice here is clear. At least Ronith finally will not be back. AscenDance is going to the semifinals. Sharon says that America got it right, and this is a new art form.

Cheer SF, Iron Horse, and Alice Tan Ridley are up next. Another no brainer. Alice Tan Ridley advances. Howie is not surprised.

Michael Grimm, Lil Chris, and The Strong Man are the third group. Again pretty obvious. Even Ozzy knows what’s going to happen. Michael’s got arguably the best voice in the competition, and he will be going forward. The lack of a Justin Bieber haircut may be his shortcoming, though.

The final group of the evening is Hannibal Means, Antonio Restivo, and Wreckless. I don’t know here. Nothing overly appealing for me. Hannibal’s the best talent, but the lack of an answer to what planet he’s from is not boding well for him. The first act to be dismissed by America’s vote is Hannibal Means. That leaves it up to the judges to choose between the two remaining acts, who placed fourth and fifth in the voting. Hopefully Howie can spit it out this time before Tivo runs out. Taking last week into account, Howie goes first. He chooses Antonio. Going with his heart rather than his head, Piers votes for Wreckless. Sharon’s deciding vote is for Antonio Restivo.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 17, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on NBC.

The first four acts advanced in America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 14: Nathaniel Kenyon, Fighting Gravity, Christina & Ali, and Future Funk. Tonight 12 more acts perform: Cheer SF, Alice Tan Ridley, Mona Sampath Dance Company, Iron Horse, The Strong Man, Ronith, Hannibal Means, Wreckless, Lil Chris, AscenDance, Antonio Restivo, and Michael Grimm.

Cheer San Francisco are a group of people from all walks of life and different ages. Piers would rather see more girls in skimpy outfits, instead of a bunch of blokes with a few girls thrown in for good measure. He’s also the first to buzz them. Then comes Sharon. Howie declines to make it three. Piers found that all quite boring. Sharon expected it to go to the next level, which it didn’t.

Alice Tan Ridley has a famous daughter, and now she’s trying to make it on her own. She sings Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight & The Pips, which results in a standing ovation. Sharon calls her the embodiment of soul. Howie tells her she deserves to be above ground, and her daughter would be proud.

Mona Sampath Dance Company has brought Bollywood to Hollywood, hoping to not be just guys and girls running around a tree. Their goal is to mix their style with more Americanized dance. Howie gets what they’re trying to do, but he wasn’t as impressed as last time. Piers disagrees because Howie doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Sharon loved it, although she’d like to see more traditional dance next time.

Iron Horse is a band, or at least that’s how it appears. Piers buzzes them for being a good bar band. He blames the singing. The judges would rather see more playing and less working the stage.

The Strong Man is from a town of 700. He’s a nurse, but don’t let him catch you making fun of him for that. He’s got some lessons for how to improve parking problems. Unfortunately, these methods require the ability to lift motorcycles and cars. Not enough to stop Piers from buzzing him again. Sharon could see him doing well with a huge production in Vegas. Howie’s not sure whether it’s a show yet. Piers finds him to be dull.

Ronith keeps threatening us that he’ll be back. Not after tonight. Piers buzzes him very quickly. Sharon joins him. Sadly, Howie wants to see more. Despite the buzzing, they’re both still laughing, but they’re not laughing with him.

Hannibal means is a creepy singer who scares Howie. No denying his talent, though. Piers enjoyed his brilliant singing, in spite of all of the craziness on the stage.

Wreckless is a dance group from violent neighborhoods in Florida. They practice in the street. Howie didn’t see any edge in this street dance group. Piers likes how they filled the stage, which is what he’s looking for.

Lil Chris is a 12 year old singer. His plan for the night is to dance and sing at the same time. Howie finds him really talented for his age. He could tell that this was hard for him, though. Piers says it’s a bit too soon for him, but he’s an exciting prospect.

AscenDance is the wall climbing/dancing duo that has somehow made this odd combination work. They’ve brought two new dancers into this act, although I’m not sure I get the point of that. Piers could see this in Vegas on a larger stage. The poetry is beautiful to watch.

Antonio Restivo is our danger act for the evening. He’s obsessed with fire. Sharon liked all the action. Howie thinks that act is consumate Las Vegas. Piers could see him headlining.

Signer Michael Grimm is the final contestant of the night. No question this guy’s going far. He’s Howie’s favorite singer in this competition. Piers wants him to believe himself more, but he’s got an incredible talent.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 16, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on NBC.

The first 12 acts performed in America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 13. Tonight the first 4 will advance based on America’s vote. Hopefully this means the elimination of some of the ridiculous acts that should not be anywhere near the stage.

Nathaniel Kenyon, Airpocalypse, and Sally Cohn are up first. This one’s obvious since there are two acts that should not be here going up against one of the early favorites. Nate Kenyon moves into the semifinals.

Nick Pike, Kung Fu Heroes, and Fighting Gravity are the next trio. Another clear outcome. Fighting Gravity advances.

Christina & Ali, Maricar, and the Hot Shot Tap Dancers are the third group. Tough call. None of these acts really seem to be that big of a threat. The third act advancing is Christina & Ali.

Future Funk, RNG, and Paul Safy Jr. are the final three. Based on the audience’s (over)reaction last night, I’d assume it’s the boys. The judges will be deciding who the final act will be. America has eliminated Paul Safy Jr. Piers thinks the girls are better technical dancers, whereas the boys are funny and entertaining. He votes for Future Funk. Sharon votes for RNG based on technical ability. Howie casts the deciding vote for Future Funk.

Thanks for stalling just long enough so that the final result was missed by those Tivoing the show. Get it together next time.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 5 Episode 15, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on NBC.