Welcome to Pure America's Got Talent

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I really enjoyed the performance of Il Divo on America’s Got Talent. It was a full scale production with some great singers. I loved it. In case you missed it, there’s the video below.

Il Divo Performs!

Turns out, some viewers didn’t agree with me and hated their performance. However, their response says it all. Here’s one example (although there were others that said something similar).

I thought it was America got Talent Not Mexico got talent, hated the group that sang the mexican song!!!! was not a good pick for the show that is titled America!!!!

Really? Did they say Il Divo sang a Mexican song? Really? First, that was Italian, not Mexican. Second, the idea that American’s don’t enjoy and don’t represent other cultures is just silly. America is the melting pot of cultures. I like to describe America as taking the best from every culture and enjoying all the best parts of the other cultures. One of those is Italian music. To say singing something in Italian isn’t American is just stupid. Hopefully this person is in the minority.

Even more viewers complained about Howie Mandel being naked on the show with many remarking that America’s Got Talent is a family show. I actually agree with them wholeheartedly. It was poor taste on the producers part and should have never happened. They could have made the joke with just the door shot. The naked Howie Mandel was inappropriate, unnecessary and terrible TV. Seems in line with the theme throughout this AGT season of the judges being terrible.

Honestly, did anyone really like the performance of Susan Boyle on America’s Got Talent? Sure, I get how we fell in love with Susan Boyle when she sang the first time. It was shocking that her voice was coming out of that image and that story. Her idiosyncrasies were interesting and made us laugh. They even made her endearing. However, her performance on America’s Got Talent last night was boring. She’s not a bad singer, but she’d never have been invited to the AGT stage if she hadn’t gotten so big on the stage before.

Maybe I’m wrong and there are a ton of Susan Boyle fans out there that loved her performance. If there are, more power to you. For me personally, it was terrible. I literally turned the channel. In case you missed it, you can see the video below. Am I way off base?

Susan Boyle Performs!

I thought that many of you that missed the AGT 2011 semi final performances might enjoy watching the video of the acts that made it to the finals. So, enjoy:
West Springfield Dance Team Takes the Stage

Team iLuminate Takes the Stage

Miami All Stars Take the Stage

Lys Agnes Takes the Stage

POPLYFE Take the Stage

So we are all pretty much annoyed by the interaction between Howie and Piers. Sharon even got in on the annoying action last night. However, I don’t see what Piers is doing is bullying of Howie. I guess this video is part of Howie’s comedy act.

Howie’s Public Service Announcement – rant against bullying – and Piers Morgan.

This is a great video where the judges and Nick Cannon talk about people showing them their talent in public. I can only imagine. I bet they’ve seen some pretty hilarious things.

I must admit that I thought this was some of the best guest performers we’ve seen on America’s Got Talent. I of course might be a bit bias since I love Colbie Caillat. I sent the following tweet about Colbie:

Oh how I love Colbie Caillat. Not my favorite song of hers, but I’ve loved her ever since she sang that anthem to average guys!

August 17, 2011 8:45 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@pureagt

Pure AGT

Colbie Caillat Performs!
Watch her take the AGT stage!

The performance by Les Miserables was awesome! It made me want to go and see it again. Sadly the Les Miserables tour isn’t stopping in Las Vegas.

Les Miserables on AGT!
Watch the legendary cast perform here!

In case you missed last night’s America’s Got Talent wild card show or want to rewatch some of the acts, the following are the videos from the AGT wild car acts. Which one was your favorite? Who else was sad to see the sword fall?

The Kinetic King Takes the Stage

Watch The Kinetic King’s performance here!

Those Funny Little People Take the Stage

Watch Those Funny Little People perform!

Avery and the Calico Hearts Take the Stage

Watch Avery and the Calico Hearts perform!

Seth Grabel Takes the Stage

Watch Seth’s performance here!

Shevonne Takes the Stage

Watch Shevonne’s performance here!

West Springfield Dance Team Takes the Stage

Watch the performance here!

J. Chris Newberg Takes the Stage

Watch his performance here!

Yellow Designs Stunt Team Takes the Stage

Watch the performance here!

Charles Peachock Takes the Stage

Watch his performance here!

The Fiddleheads Take the Stage

Watch their performance here!

Summerwind Skippers Take the Stage

Watch their performance here!

Landon Swank Takes the Stage

Watch Landon’s performance here!

I love the idea of Wild Card acts. It makes the show a lot more fair for acts that were just stuck on a hard night and didn’t get a chance to make it through. Plus, other than an act or two, I’m excited to see all the AGT wild card acts that they put through.

Here’s the video of them announcing the latest Wild Card Acts:

Here’s the list of AGT Wild Card acts and which judge brought them back.
Mandel – The Fiddleheads Bluegrass Band

Morgan – Landon Swank Magician/Illusionist

Osbourne – Seth Grabel Magician

Morgan – Summerwind Skippers Jump Rope Acrobatic Troupe

Morgan – Charles Peachock Juggler

Morgan – Yellow Designs Stunt Team Stunt Bikers

Osbourne – West Springfield Dance Team Dance Troupe

Osbourne – The Kinetic King Trick Designer

Osbourne – Avery and the Calico Hearts Singers

Mandel – J. Chris Newberg Comedian/Guitarist

Mandel – Those Funny Little People Novelty Dancers/Performers
Las Vegas

Mandel – Shevonne Singer

Ok, I had to use that special title with the word “opera” since I know long time reader Kitty will love it. I’ll start out by saying that Cindy Chang is not an opera singer. Plus, I don’t know why they were acting like they were blown away. Seriously? I thought she was one of the worst “operatic” sounding voices that I’ve heard on the show. At least ones that they put through to Vegas. Was I missing something? In case you didn’t catch it, her audition video is below.

Cindy Chang’s Operatic Audition

Turns out she’s also a bit of a fake. AGT News wrote an article talking about Cindy Chang’s real background. Turns out there might be more to Cindy Chang’s story than what she let on. She’s been singing for quite a while and has an agent.

Of course, this isn’t really news for anyone that’s been reading this site for a while. Many past contestants had stories told for them (I give the producers credit for not telling the full story) on America’s Got Talent that weren’t completely true. It’s not really that big of a deal to me. Although, some people won’t like the fakeness of it all.

Either way, I didn’t like Cindy Chang’s singing before I knew that she had more experience than she let on, so I don’t like her any more or less now. Although, her random laughing was pretty funny to watch.

You can probably tell that I’ve stopped covering all of the people on America’s Got Talent. I’m only going to cover the ones that I think are stars. Maybe that will change over time, but I think this is the best path forward for now. This one was a hard one to judge for sure since they didn’t show his full America’s Got Talent audition. However, I think that Taylor Davis is going to be awesome in Las Vegas. Plus, he’s got the look of an underdog story. America loves underdogs.

A Singer with Soul Auditions
Check out why Sharon’s a big fan of Taylor’s voice.

This year has been a bit of a disappointment for me. The show has been entertaining. The acts have been eclectic and provided a good laugh here and there, but I really haven’t seen many (if any) stars go across the stage yet. Think back on the past episodes and think if there are any acts that you just absolutely can’t wait to see again. I really don’t have that many.

Although last night’s Anna Graceman Audition might be the exception. When I saw the early clip of her, I was thinking I wouldn’t like her that much. She didn’t seem to have as good of a voice as say a Bianca Ryan who was also a BIG voice in a little body. However, Anna Graceman had a great performance and her personality on stage matched her performance. To me, she’s likely one of the only acts I can’t wait to see again on AGT 2011 Vegas Week.

Here’s a video of Anna Graceman’s audition in case you missed it: