X Magazine

Twenty one year old Nicolo Festa who sung his version of Lady GaGa’s Lets Dance on the live broadcast of X Factor on Saturday night says that while he never expected to win, he thought he would last for longer than just one week.

In an exclusive interview with X Magazine Nicolo revealed the hurt at being sent home so early in the show;

“I felt humiliated and like I wanted to die, every second I was mortified. I wasn’t sad, I just wanted to disappear. I don’t like to feel embarrassed. I always thought I wasn’t going to win, but I never thought I would be the first to go.
Even though this show is quirky this year, at the end, it’s always the nation’s sweetheart who’s going to win, not the one who stands out, which is why I didn’t have high expectations.”

Italian born Nicolo added that even his mentor Simon Cowell was surprised and shocked at the decision, “He’s very annoyed about it. He said he didn’t expect it at all and that it happens. But he made it clear to me that he believed in me.”

Issue 5 of X Magazine is available to buy from outlets nationwide from Wednesday and features interviews with Louis Walsh, Cher Lloyd and Katie Waissel. It also includes exclusive interviews with Robbie Williams and Charlotte Church.

jls

With the disappointment of losing out to Alexandra Burke in the X Factor final of 2008 clearly well behind them, JLS have defied all odds and made last year (2009) their own, releasing their self titled debut album and the single Beat Again, both topping the respective charts in the UK.

Most recently JLS picked up two awards at the Brits for the Best British Breakthrough Artists and Best British Single for Beat Again.

JLS are currently on an extensive tour of the UK that runs into the summer of 2010 with further Arena dates announced for the end of the year in December.

Buying concert tickets online can be a minefield  and recently on UK TV it was reported that some JLS fans had fallen victim to a ticket scam after their parents had paid for tickets through a bogus website that promptly disappeared from the net with the money and of course without supplying tickets.

Viagogo are one of the major ticket exchanges for music concerts, sports, theatre and arts tickets, they are currently offering tickets for all of the JLS shows and offer a 100% guarantee with online tracking to customers buying tickets.

Don’t be caught out by the fraudsters who are using the internet in an attempt to defraud and ensure that you only buy tickets from a reliable source.

It is worth saying that the band themselves are in no way responsible for what happened or may happen with bogus websites.

JLS fans are promised a slick but fun show from the band throughout the tour. Check this link for a full list of upcoming JLS concerts and secure JLS ticket buying information.

And for those who are already missing the TV hit show, X Factor Live 2010 is coming to an arena near you.

The series of pop concert dates for X Factor Live 2010 tour begins in Liverpool on Monday 15th February  in February before visiting Birmingham, London, Cardiff, Brighton, Nottingham, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Newcastle, Belfast, Sheffield, Manchester and finishing at SECC in Glasgow on Sunday 4th April.

The X Factor Live 2010 Tour Dates

February 2010
Mon 15th Liverpool Arena
Tue 16th  Liverpool Arena
Wed 17th Birmingham Arena
Thur 18th Birmingham Arena
Fri 19th  Birmingham Arena
Sat 20th London Wembley Arena
Sat 20th London Wembley Arena
Sun 21st  London Wembley Arena
Tue 23rd  Cardiff International Arena
Wed 24th Cardiff International Arena
Thu 25th Cardiff International Arena
Fri 26th Cardiff International Arena
Sat 27th  Brighton Centre
Sun 28th  Brighton Centre

March 2010
Mon 1st Nottingham Arena
Tue 2nd Nottingham Arena
Thu 4th Aberdeen ECC
Fri 5th  Aberdeen ECC
Sat 6th  Aberdeen ECC
Sun 7th Aberdeen ECC
Sun 7th Aberdeen ECC
Mon 8th Glasgow SECC
Tue 9th Glasgow SECC
Wed 10th  Newcastle Arena
Thu 11th  Sheffield Arena
Fri 12th Sheffield Arena
Sat 13th Manchester Arena
Sat 13th Manchester Arena
Sun 14th  Manchester Arena
Tue 16th  Dublin The 02
Wed 17th  Belfast Odyssey Arena
Thu 18th  Belfast Odyssey Arena
Sat 20th  London The 02
Sun 21st London The O2
Sun 21st London The O2
Mon 22nd Cardiff International Arena
Tue 23rd Cardiff International Arena
Wed 24th Cardiff International Arena
Thur 25th Cardiff International Arena
Fri 26th Newcastle Arena
Sat 27th Newcastle Arena – 2:30pm
Sat 27th Newcastle Arena
Mon 29th Belfast Odyssey Arena
Tue 30th Dublin The 02
Wed 31st Dublin The O2
Wed 31st Dublin The O2

April 2010
Thu 1st Belfast Odyssey Arena
Sat 3rd Glasgow SECC
Sat 3rd Glasgow SECC
Sun 4th Glasgow SECC

All date start times: 7.30pm
Except: 2.30pm & 7.30pm London, Brighton, Aberdeen, Glasgow & Manchester

X Factor Live Tickets
At viagogo, every X Factor 2010 live transaction is 100% guaranteed to be safe and secure. As well as making it easy and simple to buy X Factor Live tickets or sell X Factor Live tickets, viagogo ensure their safe and prompt delivery with online tracking.

X Factor

After several complaints were received about the results of Sunday evenings X Factor, an investigation was expected to take place by the media watchdog Ofcom.

It has now been announced that this will not take place as Ofcom does not investigate the outcome of programmes, their job is too consider complaints about flawed voting processes and the treatment of contestants, however a representative of Ofcom said that every complaint is considered.

It was only two-weeks ago that Simon Cowell stated that for his act Danyl Johnson to be one of the bottom two contestants when the  twins were still in the competition was “a total joke”, before voting off Lucie Jones in favour of John and Edward.  Is Mr Cowell playing a game of tactics, I think so!  Who is more of a threat to his acts?

X Factor 2009 - want boyzone

Simon Cowell could not hide his disbelief when his protege Danyl Johnson ended up in one of the two bottom contestants in Saturday’s show following the public vote, he called the incident ‘a total joke’ and added ‘I have never been so surprised in my life.’

Johnson and Louis Walsh’s girl group Miss Frank faced a ’sing off’ to decide who would leave and who would stay, but with Cowell and Walsh backing their own acts it was down to DanniiMinogue and Cheryl Cole to make the casting vote.

While Minogue decided to vote for Johnson, Cole could not face being Mrs Nasty and chose to abstain, leaving it up to the public vote to be counted, resulting in the win for prep school dance teacher Danyl Johnson.

After Johnson’s performance Cowell said: “I’ve never been so surprised in my life. If this is your last performance, I’ve never heard someone going out on such a high. I think it’s a joke that you’re in the position you’re in, a total joke.”

Walsh said of his act Miss Frank: “They’ve got an awful lot more to give, they were at their best last night and I love them.”

X Factor 2009 - want boyzone

X Factor producers want Boyzone to appear on the show to perform a special tribute to Stephen Gately, says a report in The Mirror who say the programmes bosses are waiting to talk to the bands manager and X Factor judge Louis Walsh before going ahead.

A source allegedly told The Mirror ;

“Stephen was a very close friend of the ITV show. During a production meeting they were discussing ideas for guest performers. Boyzone were mentioned as an obvious choice. Everyone is painfully aware they need to be sensitive, so they have held back on a formal approach until they speak to Louis. But the huge outpouring of grief is hard to ignore. There have been a lot of messages asking the boys to do some kind of tribute to his life.”

The 33 yearold singer who was found dead at his luxury apartment in Majorca earlier this month, was apparently a ‘huge fan’ of the TV talent show and had once expressed a desire to perform on the programme with Boyzone.

2009 X Factor winner Alexandra Burke

As well as being the UK’s most watched tv show X Factor also has a spin off ‘live’ concert tour that features the winners from the tv show performing at theatres and arenas around the UK.

The series of rock and pop concert dates for X Factor Live 2010 tour were announced on Friday 28th August, despite there having been only two auditions shown on our screens so far this season.

The X Factor live 2010 tour, kicks-off in Liverpool in February next year, before moving on to Birmingham, London, Cardiff, Brighton, Nottingham, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield and Manchester, ending at the London 02 Arena on the 20th March 2010.

The X Factor is now in it’s sixth year and has proved it’s popularity as a top entertainment show for the whole family.  The as yet unknown winners from the current series will embark on the X Factor Live Tour 2010 and there are already a couple of excellent singers that I am sure will be on the live tour.

Last years winner Alexandra Burke, performed at the X Factor Live Tour of 2009, along with Diana Vickers, Laura White, Ruth Lorenzo, Eoghan Quigg, Daniel Evans, JLS and Rachel Hylton.

The X Factor judges, Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Cheryl Cole and Danni Minogue, have begun the process of whittling out the chaff, which will continue for the next three weeks before series six, which for the first time will see the auditions held in front of a live audience on the Saturday evening slot.

There are already a couple of likely contenders that I think will be going through to the final.  Danyl Johnson, this man has exactly what the show is looking for, not only does he have a fantastic voice but he has the personality to match, love him.  Then there is Jamie Archer, or Jamie Afro as he’s known to his friends and how this young man has not been spotted before is beyond me.  Another natural born entertainer who had the audience and the judges on their feet and so cool.

Not forgetting the ladies, we have Stacey Solomon, the 19-year-old singer from Dagenham.  What a fantastic surprise when that gorgeous girl began to sing, the looks the voice, the X Factor.  Another surprise was in store when the bubbly Rozelle Phillip took to the stage.  You can’t help but love this girl with such a big voice, she’s sure to go all the way.

X Factor Live Ticket Information
At viagogo, every X Factor Live transaction is 100% guaranteed to be safe and secure. As well as making it easy and simple to buy X Factor Live tickets or sell X Factor Live tickets, viagogo ensure their safe and prompt delivery with online tracking.

X Factor 2009 - Auditions 2

Saturday night saw the second group of auditions taking place, all hoping to make it on to the X Factor stage to be the next winner.

The girl group ‘Miss Fitz’, who only formed 6 months ago after one of the three girls had previously auditioned on the 2006 show as a solo artist.  Gemma, 26, sang ‘Summertime’ and made it through until the final four were selected.  Not to be beaten, she met the other two girls at another audition and together they decided to become a group.

They sang the Britney Spears song ‘Toxic’ but with a bit of a twist, and the judges love it.  The girls received four yes votes and are through to the next round.

Daryl Markham, the 40-year-old Cabinet maker from Sussex, who applied for the X Factor competition last year, but it was the same day as he was to be Best Man at his brothers wedding.  Just after the wedding his brother was diagnosed with lung cancer and died six-weeks later.  David and his 37-year-old brother Gary, not only worked together side-by-side but they were best friends and is now a father figure to his brothers 9-year-old son.

He sang the Rod Stewart song ‘I don’t Wanna Talk About It..’, and after such an emotional audition, he made it through with four judges voting yes, didn’t you just want to give him a great big hug.

Then there was ‘The Stunners’!  not only were they not stunning, as the tactful Simon Cowell informed them, but they also couldn’t sing.  Lisa and Zoe, Zoe claimed that they had call themselves ‘The Stunners’ because they were stunning looking but they could also stun people with their voices, well I was definitely stunned!

They were going to sing ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ by Whitney Houston, but it wasn’t any sort of singing that I had heard before.  The judges were in absolute hysterics, can’t understand why!  Thankfully, Simon was too the rescue once again and stopped the howling, he then informed them that he could understand how they had come together, as it’s rare to find two people as bad as you.  The girls asked for another chance until Simon informed them that they didn’t hit a single correct note.

The talented Jamie Archer, or as he’s know to his friends Jamie Afro!  The 33-year-old’s passion has been music for as long as he can remember and he thinks could be his last chance.  His choice of song was ‘Sex On Fire’ by The Kings of Leon, and what a great choice, he had the audience eating out of his hands.  The cool dude had a concert all to himself with the judges and the audience enthralled, Simon Cowell was also seen singing along!  As Cheryl herself said, “a natural born entertainer”.  He’s definitely got the X Factor.

Every pack has a joker, and today’s joker was Alan Walton, the 50-year-old from Birmingham who fancied himself as a big of a rock star.  Alan confirmed that he had developed his singing from karaoke, where he said he goes down well!  Bless, he stood on that stage with his shirt buttoned-up wrong, wearing a cap and gave Simon directions to his home, it just got worse from there!  The song started but unfortunately Alan didn’t, he stood looking at his watch, of course, by then I thought it was part of a comedy routine.  After a couple of minutes he began to sing ‘No Matter What’ by Boyzone, before Simon stopped him.  Simon pointed out that he was out of time, when he explained that he was timing himself in with his watch, you couldn’t make it up could you.  He set his watch again and the audience cued him in, it was terrible and a deserved four no votes were given.

The bubbly Rozelle Phillips from Trinidad & Tobago, had been sent to the auditions by her grandmother after the two of them had watched the X Factor programme back home.  Rozelle was raised by her grandmother who sent her to England a year ago in order for the 21-year-old, to fulfill her dreams of becoming a singer.  Rozelle chose to sing the ‘One Night Only’ by Jennifer Hudson.

What a voice, the girl did good and put on an incredibly emotional performance.  The audience and judges loved her and Simon told her to phone her grandmother and tell her she got four yeses.

Behrouz Ghaemi, what can I say, he certainly didn’t lack confidence.  After bigging himself up, this cocky young man, strutted onto the stage in his tight leather trousers, showing what looked like an acorn in his front pocket, black shirt and leather waistcoat, convinced that the audience and the judges were going to love him.

The 29-year-old, informed Louie that he would like to go as far as Elvis!  Good to know he’s not setting his sights to high then.  He had choosen to sing the song ‘Take Your Mama Out’ by The Scissor Sisters’ but once he started the expressions on Simon’s face were priceless.  Well, he was certainly entertaining but as for getting three votes, unbelievable, Simon told him he was through to the next round but made it quite obvious what his vote would have been.

X Factor 2009

The popular talent show ‘X Factor’ began it’s new series on Saturday night bringing in a record number of viewers to the ITV show as we watched the auditions.

A 27-year-old dance teacher Danyl Johnson received a standing ovation not only from the audience but also from the judges including Simon Cowell.  How much confidence did that boy have, he’s a natural, he has the voice, looks and personality to win the contest, absolutely amazing.

Stacey Solomon, the 19-year-old girl from Dagenham who sung her version of ‘What A Wonderful World’.  As she spoke to Simon at the beginning of the audition she came across as just a blond bimbo from Essex but once she opened her mouth, wow.  This girl is just so cute and definitely another contender to take the crown.

Then of course there was ‘Sister Act’, oh my god!  This is the overweight girl who was ridiculed in the last set of auditions after turning up at the show with a dress made for her by her overweight father.  The Chawner family had been all over the tabloids after being evicted from their council house and being forced to live in the family car along with their pets after neighbours complained about the singing at all hours.  This time, the lovely Emma had the support of her sister but instead of making it better it made it twice as bad.  This girl just refused to believe that she cannot sing and has vowed to return again next year, no doubt with her dreadful family in tow!

Kyle, the 16-year-old Scottish singer gave his rendition of ‘Untouchable’ by Girls Aloud, not that being a devoted fan of Cheryl’s could have helped him in anyway at all, he was awful.  I couldn’t quite make up my mind if he was joking at first, but apparently not and thankfully Simon put an end to it before the audience left.  Surely it would have been nicer of his mother to tell him bad he was rather than to agree to take him to the audition!

Cheryl spotted a familiar accent as 18-year-old student Joseph began his interview, he sang ‘Dance With My Father’ by Luther Vandross.  Another contestant receiving a standing ovation for his spectacular voice but the boy is a real cutie with dimples to boot, he is sure to be a hit for all those young girls watching the show.

Harry Enfield once had a comedy act know as ‘The Double Take Brothers’, and this is exactly what I expected from the 17-year-old Irish twins John and Edward.  They gave it all the spiel at the beginning of the audition but that was as good as it got.  They attempted to sing ‘As Long As You Love Me’ by the Backstreet Boys and it wasn’t good.  I usually agree with what ever Simon says and I will again now, they were incredibly annoying.  Unbelievably, they were voted through and not by Simon, Louie of course said yes, they’re from Ireland!

What can I say about ‘The Dreamgirls’, definitely more of a nightmare.  These two young sisters from Lithuania are part-time models but are inspiring to be singers, stick to your day jobs girls!  After missing the start of ‘Angel’ by Robbie Williams, which was maybe a good thing, they really got going, thankfully Simon came to the rescue again although it should have been a lot sooner, and no they didn’t go through.

Duane Lamonte returned to the auditions from last year but was stopped by Simon after singing the same song he sang last time ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ by Marvin Gaye.  The judges wanted to hear a more up to date number and he opted for Beyonce’s ‘Broken Hearted Girl’, he was voted through by all four.

I can’t wait for next weeks, only 6 days to go.

Jack The Lad Swing or JLS as they have become known beat off the likes of Lady Gaga to top the charts, the single also became the highest selling first week for a debut single, selling 100,000 copies in seven days.

The band were allegedly escorted out of a Take That show recently, after fans recognised the  JLS boys in the audience and started screaming just as Take That started one of their lovely ballads. Security escorted the trouble making JLS from the premises according to reports.