PureAGT Season 8 Audition Round Rundown #5 – Chicago/San Antonio Auditions

I apologize for the tardiness of this rundown – the Midwest has been pummeled by rain and storms the past few weeks, and last night was no exception…consequently, my internet and cable were down for about an hour and 15 minutes of last night’s broadcast.  Woke up this morning to a functioning internet, but my DVR had only managed to capture about the last 45 minutes of the show.  Booooo! I took the afternoon off from work to start prepping food for my family’s annual 4th of July BBQ, and of course catch up on last night’s show on good ol’ Hulu 🙂 Since I managed to actually see all of the San Antonio auditions from my DVR recording, I’m going to start off with those – even though they were in the 2nd half of the show.  I’ll come back and do the Chicago half later 😉

Chicago:

Kelsey & Bailey – age 17 (Kelsey)
The act: Kelsey & her dog Bailey performed a series of tricks and dance moves to “We Go Together” from Grease.
The verdict: Judges all thought the act was adorable and said yes to Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: This was a cute act for sure, and Bailey the dog seemed to love performing.  However, I’m left feeling a little bit let down, just given the fact that last year’s winners, the Olate Dogs, had such an amazing act.  I’m afraid Kelsey & Bailey kind of pale in comparison, but I could see them sticking around for awhile – America seems to love animal acts, and they’re really the only animal act we’ve seen in this year’s auditions.  

Spintacular
The act: A family of 17 that performs tricks with basketballs.  
The verdict: Judges said yes to Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: My first thought was “They had HOW MANY kids??!!!”, followed shortly thereafter by “And they actually can get everyone focused for long enough to create their own version of the Harlem Globetrotters???!!!” Very cute act, with everyone from dad down to the little twin girls performing tricks. My one complaint is that there seemed to be a lot going on at one time – likely one drawback of having such a large family! – and it was hard to really appreciate everything they were doing when there was so much to pay attention to.  Maybe scale it back a bit and work on some synchronization for Vegas?  

Cami Bradley
The act: Cami sang “Over the Rainbow” a cappella.
The verdict: She’ll be in Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: *sigh* Maybe I’m being cynical, but I doubt the female vocalists are going to be reppin’ particularly hard in Vegas this season.  Cami was pleasant to listen to, but I didn’t find anything truly special about her voice – plus I thought she tried too hard to do a lot of those Christina Aguilera-esque riffs.  I wish some of these female vocalists would stop trying to put on these over-the-top, vocal acrobatics-heavy performances and just focus on really sounding good and doing their songs justice.

Tellavision
The act: A group of teenage boys and girls doing a modern/ballet-type dance to “What a Wonderful World” while holding LED screens that incorporated into their performance.
The verdict: Judges liked it, we’ll see them in Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: This is probably going to catch me some hell, but I thought this was the cheesiest, tackiest performance we’ve seen all season – and remember, we had JC Starbright in episode 2 😛 I just found the whole thing a bit too cutesy – that overused, schmaltzy song; the cutesy movements with LED screens; the cheesy stuff on the screens…I think I would have rather just seen a really good, garden-variety modern dance routine and scrapped the screens altogether.  I think they’re going to look pretty amateurish next to some of the other dance groups in Vegas.

David Ferman – age 18, from Jacksonville, FL
The act: David did some juggling, then balanced a Molotov cocktail on a balloon he held in his mouth.
The verdict: Judges were impressed with the level of danger and said yes to Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: Anyone remember Charles Peachock, the crazy guy that juggled the tasers back in season 6? I think we just found his successor 🙂 Loved the creativity of the Molotov cocktail, although I thought David may have come across a bit nervous and kind of rushed his delivery.  Hopefully he can shake the nerves and Vegas and give a bit more finesse in his delivery.

Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Team – ages 9-23, from Chicago, IL
The act: The do all sorts of flips and tumbling, and incoporate jump ropes into their act.
The verdict: Judges loved it and praised their energy.  We’ll see them in Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: Probably my favorite from the Chicago auditions – I think what struck me at first was just how happy and enthusiastic all of these guys are about what they do.  Everyone from the coach down to the youngest kid on the team just seemed to love what they’re doing – and that’s a kind of passion you can’t fake.  I was pretty impressed by some of the stunts they were doing too – tumbling runs, standing back tucks, jumping pushups…and using the little guy as a human jump rope was just genius.  I think these guys will breeze through Vegas and go straight to the live shows. 

2Unique – age 10
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Innovative Force
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Ciana Pelekani – age 12
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Mitsi Dancing School
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Pat McKillen
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Sully Dunn – age 18
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Branden James – age 34
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Trevor Stone (“Spontaneous Art”) – age 38
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Squared Circus Review
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Chris the Wedding DJ
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Enrique Reyes – age 34, from Mexico
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San Antonio:

David Fenley – 34, from Texas
The act: Dave sang and played an acoustic cover of Alex Clare’s “Too Close”.
The verdict: He got 4 yes’s, and Mel got “what she really, really wanted”. 🙂
Court’s thoughts: I found this guy really, really likeable – like a good-natured combination of Dom Deluise and John Popper from Blues Traveler.  Loved the gravelly sound of his voice, and his unique take on that song.  I’m guessing they’ll probably pit him against Paul Thomas Mitchell & Marty Brow in Vegas…all three are great, so it should be interesting to see how things pan out.

“Dancin'” Dylan Wilson – 17, from Huntington, Indiana
The act: Dylan did an animation hip-hop routine to “Cinema” by Skrillex.
The verdict: He made it to Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: INDIANA REPRESENT!!! Of course I’m going to root for this kid, as a fellow Hoosier 🙂 I thought he was fun to watch and has obviously worked hard to hone his craft – but maybe I’ve been a bit spoiled by SYTYCD, because I found his animating a bit amateurish next to likes of Cyrus, Blueprint, and some of the other animators from SYTYCD.  Unfortunately for Hunter, I’m guessing they’re going to compare him to Kenichi, who is also an animator…a REALLY, really good animator.  I like Dylan, but I doubt he’ll be able to make it past Vegas 🙁

Hunk-O-Mania’s International Men of Steel
The act: Four beefcakes in gladiator costumes, dancing to “Sexy & I Know It”.
The verdict: Heidi & Mel were all about it – but Howard & Howie said “no”.
Court’s thoughts: Ugh. I just do not get the appeal of male revue acts – I got to see Thunder from Down Under in Vegas last year for a bachelorette weekend, and I just didn’t “get” it: a bunch of unrealistically-muscled, oily guys doing basic boyband choreography with some hip thrusts and butt wiggles peppered in. Am I supposed to swoon? Cause I didn’t.

Lil Mike & Funny Bone, aka “Mike Bone” – 32 & 27, from Oklahoma
The act: Two Native American brothers of short stature, performing an original song called “Do the Rain Dance”.
The verdict: Judges were pleasantly surprised and put them through to Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: Ok, this might have been my favorite act of the night 🙂 Loved the charisma these two had, and how they didn’t let the fact that they stood only 4’4″ stop them from doing what they loved. And “Do the Rain Dance” is incredibly catchy – but so is “B-O-O-T-Y”. Anyone want to place any bets that we see these two up against Tone the Chiefrocca in Vegas for a spot in the live shows? We’ve got two rapping acts with original songs and big personalities. Who do you guys think has the juice to move on?

The American Hit Men – 28-34, from Salt Lake City, Utah
The act: They’re a rock band that performed a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man”.
The verdict: Judges loved them – Howard in particular was very excited about having a good rock band this season. They got 4 yes’s.
Court’s thoughts: While I think this show should really be about the talent (and not so much focus placed on a schmaltzy backstory), I do commend these gentleman for their service to our country – and the fact that it was the music they made that kept their spirits up when they were Marines stationed in Fallujah. The lead singer had one of those gravelly, cool-sounding rock voices that only a few people seem to pull off, and I loved they way it sounded with this song. I’m hoping they can take some more current songs and put their own spin on them.

Stay tuned for my rundown of the Chicago acts – when I get done with Hulu 🙂 What did you guys think of the San Antonio acts?