Last Choir Standing

26th July 2008

This was the second round of heat shows, where five choirs again faced the judges to see who would join Sense of Sound and Ysgol Glanaethwy in the knockouts stages. The show opened with a fantastic performance of “Can You Feel It” by The Jacksons. Each choir then performed two songs in front of the judges and the studio audience. In the first show, one choir would be put through to the knockouts and one choir would be sent home. And if the opening performance was anything to go by, it was obvious all choirs were desperate to win.

First up were Only Men Aloud! Unfortunately, MD Tim couldn’t be with them tonight, but the choir were hoping not to let him down. Their first song was a Tom Jones Medley, ‘It’s Not Unusual’ and ‘Delilah’. Suzi thought they were an “incredible group of performers”, and you would “not find better quality singing in this competition as individuals”. However, she did think that they missed Tim and that the tuning wasn’t perfect. Sharon agreed with Suzi feeling that there wasn’t anyone there “shaping of the dynamics”. In their second song Suzi wanted better tuning and light and shade, and she felt that even though Tim wasn’t there, the tuning was better, with their performance of ‘Danny Boy’.

The second choir to take the stage was Revelation. Sharon described their performance of ‘Shackles’ by Mary Mary as “uplifting, joyful, full of emotion”, and thought that the “crescendo coming out was just stupendous”. Suzi had butterflies and thought it was “very clever the way they integrated the solo singers with the small groups”. However, it was their second performance which really moved the judges, a song that had been eagerly awaited by the website audience. Their performance of Take That’s ‘Rule The World’, left Sharon in tears, saying that they “took the whole song to an emotional level”. Russell felt it was “stunning singing right from the heart”.

Next up were Last Minute singing the theme from ‘Spiderman’. Russell felt that they, “dispelled the myth of traditional choirs”, with Suzi saying it was “breathtaking”. Their second song was an a cappella version of ‘It’s My Life’ by Bon Jovi. Sharon was looking for all the parts to come shining through, and she wasn’t disappointed, and wanted people at home to “appreciate the complexity of the arrangement”.

Fourth to sing were The Common Room Choir – the youngest of all the choirs left in the competition. They sang ‘Crazy’ by Gnarls Barkley, and Suzi felt that MD Tim had “chosen very intelligently”. However, Sharon wanted more of the “sound”. Russell wanted them to watch their tuning with the second song (‘Take A Little Piece Of My Heart’), and thought that they did deliver and “pulled it together at the crucial moment”. However, Suzi did feel that there were still “some flaws” that she was concerned about.

Following the youngest choir, were the oldest choir in the competition, The Hereford Police Male Choir, with an average age of 67. They took centre stage and sang a Perry Como Medley of ‘Magic Moments/ Catch A Falling Star’. Both Suzi and Sharon felt that “the control as you get small and quiet” was music to their ears and Suzi went further by saying that MD Alison “shaped the words better than anyone else in the competition”. The second song was ‘The Rose’ by Bette Midler/Westlife. For the first time in the competition, Suzi was left with a lump in her throat feeling that “it was so moving and so beautiful”.

The panel of judges then had to decide who was going through as the ‘stand out’ choir of the evening and who was going home. ‘Stand out’ choir went to Revelation, joining Sense of Sound and Ysgol Glanaethwy in the knockouts. And unfortunately, it was The Common Room Choir who were sent home.

In the second 'results' show, Revelation opened with a 'winners' performance of 'Amazing Grace', while the remaining choirs waited anxiously to perform their 'Last Chance Songs', all hoping to take that final spot in the knockouts. Hereford Police Male Choir performed 'All I Ask of You', this was followed by Last Minute singing 'Wonderful Tonight', and finally Only Men Aloud! sang 'Kiss From a Rose'.

After much deliberation the judges made, as Suzi put it, "an excruciatingly difficult decision", and put Only Men Aloud! through to the knockout stages, sending both Last Minute and Hereford Police Male Choir home.

You can watch the show again on BBC iPlayer, and you can find out more about the choirs in our Choir Section. You can also get a full track listing of all the songs performed in the show.

Next week the following five choirs will be performing in Heat 3