Showcall Showcase 2007 - Thursday, Afternoon Session

Published Friday 9 November 2007 at 12:45 by Mark Ritchie

With the girls from the Funki Feathers dance troupe meeting and greeting on stilts in the foyer, our showbusiness scene was set in the most eye-catching way imaginable for the final afternoon session. The Showcall band whooped it up with a bit of Fulsom Prison Blues, before compere Steve Walls warmed up the early arrivals.

On a squally and showery day, we were soon basking in the reggae rhythms of a quite outstanding seven-piece Bob Marley tribute band called Legend. Soon everyone in the room, including the Stagecore crew, were bobbing away as these top drawer musicians woke everyone with a quite brilliantly delivered medley-style set. Legend are the best Bob Marley tribute band I have seen and they really should have done enormous business on this showing.

Well dressed singer Lisa Martin is the type of professional entertainer who pops up periodically, just to remind bookers of what she can do on a cabaret stage. An interesting choice of songs, including a version of the Gloria Gaynor hit I Will Survive, which provided her with the opportunity to reveal an additional skill as a flautist.

“Do you like my jacket?” asked personality vocalist Danny Tetley. “It’s nice and bright.” This Yorkshire lad reached the final of Pop Idol not too long ago and he is the kind of cheeky chappie-style entertainer who scores so heavily in the northern clubs. Some great comedy patter also from a Showcall first timer who told us during the interview that, like so many others, he is coming along to see what is out there outside of the clubs.

Three-girl act Indigo had the look of a holiday centre-style act, who had put together a rather special showcase set for us. Stairway to Heaven was probably the last song any of us expected from three girls, all dressed in white, who moved well and produced one or two nice harmonies during an enjoyable and well delivered set.

Next up, Puppet Party were introduced and were well worth the wait. Here we have a large puppet show on stage, which is augmented by animal skin characters, who operate just in front of the portable stage structure. Some humorous live patter, including a bit of mum and dad appeal, and the impressive tone was reinforced with some great ideas set to music and the introduction of characters like Scruffy Colin and Britney Cheese. Huge holiday centre earning potential here.

Solo female singer Sharna entered, wearing a kind of gold toga-like garment and singing a version of the old Lulu hit Shout. Here we have a club/holiday park-type act, who seemed to be talking down the applause which followed her songs, which normally indicates either nerves or someone from a club background. To her credit, Sharna was bright and breezy and, although she didn’t appear all that comfortable with the Showcall band, she looked like the type of natural entertainer who loves her time on stage.

Phil Collins tribute singer Andrew James has a curmudgeonly face and seems to have cloned all the mannerisms of the former Genesis drummer. The texture and timbre of his voice also lends itself to a great vocal impression too and a selection of Collins songs, in medley form, followed very quickly. James is new on the tribute scene and I expect the business to follow very quickly after this impressive outing.

Smart, suited and booted, three-piece, all-male band Bang! were next and were soon into their stride with a version of the Daryl Hall and John Oates song Maneater. Three guys as smart and professional as these are always liable to be in demand on the club and holiday centre scene, and Bang! gave a great account of themselves here with a set which was full of youthful zest and verve.

Linzie Wishart’s 2-Faced Tour is an unusual vocal impressions-based act who made her entrance through a fluorescent cabinet, which reveals her chosen subjects in silhouette form before she starts the vocal impression. Played partly for laughs, Wishart finished strongly by playing both Abba Girls, turning in profile to reveal that one half of her head has the blonde hairstyle, while the other side of the wig is brunette. In short, a cabaret artist with ideas and the will to put them into practice live on stage.

X-Cite is the collective name of a two-boy, holiday centre-style vocal duo. Reasonable singing quality, but perhaps a more distinctive form of stage wear may have helped their cause. Soon the lads from X-Cite were trawling the audience with radio microphones and rather optimistically encouraging a mid-afternoon trade audience to smile, whilst singing the recent Take That hit, Shine.

Singer Dawn Alacey has come up with a novel idea for a tribute as she performs the songs from the James Bond films. This elegant chanteuse-style singer arrived armed with a golden gun and can be found performing up and down the country with two dancers and assorted Bond props, scenery and paraphernalia. It’s certainly a nice idea for hotel and casino venues, who may be looking for mini production shows.

Scottish singer Tom Collins spent much of his Showcall appearance claiming that Elvis was in fact a Scot. To emphasise his point, this bespectacled and silver-suited showman was soon showing us what Elvis songs may sound like when performed with a Caledonian twist. Collins is a fun entertainer, who probably does his best work in hotel cabaret and in more intimate cabaret rooms.

Many will remember singer Melissa Bell from her days in the hit band of the late eighties Soul 2 Soul. Unfortunately, on her big Showcall outing, the sound engineer appeared to be having a technological tussle with an uncooperative backing track. He ultimately triumphed and the set finished strongly enough, while the tuneful Bell kept her composure and continued to delivered the kind of soulful power vocals which made her famous.

That’s Life is the rather clever collective name for four guys who perform a Take That or Westlife tribute show. Not the best live vocal here and, as ever with acts of this type, there is often an ambiguity regarding the true source of all the vocals which the audience can hear. However, these very bonny lads threw in some acrobatics and a rather overblown recorded introduction in order to set the boy band scene.

Exibit are a three-handed, all-girl vocal and dance act, who introduced their girly feel with a version of the disco hit Ladies Night. Some fairly standard choreography, which was well thought out nonetheless, and one or two decent harmonies from a attractively presented act with lots of holiday centre appeal.

All you really need for a successful Madness tribute band is a saxophone player with a fez, a Suggs lookalike, complete with shades and a bowler hat, and a scattering of fellow musical nutty boys. Ultimate Madness was the name of the tribute band who closed the Thursday afternoon session and House of Fun and Embarrassment were just two of the songs included in a rousing set. We were told that Ultimate Madness are now claiming a prominent spot within the higher reaches of the tribute band trinity and at Showcall they were in fine, nutty fettle.

EXPERT CHOICE

John Stvan (Angle Entertainments) chose Legend and Tom Collins