‘The Tavern’s Got Talent’ 2nd Heat Report
The 2nd heat of this year’s Tavern’s Got Talent took place on Friday last in The Tavern Ballinderry, and what a night! Five superb acts gave tremendous entertainment to a large audience and made life extremely difficult for the 3 adjudicators from Tipperary and Westmeath. First on stage were “Acts Of Piracy” from Nenagh, who got the night off to an electric start! This 5 pc band certainly rocked the house, with an original song “Shut Your Pretty Little Face” and a great version of Credence Clearwater Revival’s Proud Mary. There was some dynamic lead guitar here, but most striking of all was the superb vocal gymnastics provided by lead singer Grace Tooher. In true X-Factor style the adjudicators gave their comments after each act and all 3 were bowled over by Acts Of Piracy.
By complete contrast we had a very mellow performance next from Shane O Dwyer from Ballinderry. Accompanying himself on guitar, Shane gave very soulful renditions of Knocking On Heaven’s Door and House Of The Rising Sun. Again the audience loved it, as did the adjudicators, commenting that they liked the “mellow” side of Shane!! Next, and couldn’t be any more contrasting, was Peter Walls from Limerick. He told us he used to be an accountant, but he’s ok now! Actually he was an accountant but has had to turn to music in recent years. From Limerick, where you can often see him busking, Peter gave us a song called “Necktie”, composed by his brother for his musical “This isn’t the life I ordered”! This was reminiscent of Peter Skellern style, and it told a great story. He followed this with Nella Fantasia, sung in Italian. This is the theme music to the movie The Mission, otherwise known as Gabriel’s Oboe. Judges said they were mesmerised and transported to a different world during Peters performance.
Following this was local man Dermot McDermott. Dermot gave a truly rousing 6 minutes of entertainment, complete with dance! His 2 songs were a tribute to the late Bobby Darin, and came from the year 1959. Dermot gave a lovely smooth vocal performance of Beyond The Sea, and Mac The Knife, complete with 5 key changes! Another great favourite with the audience. Finally to complete the night, Brigid Maher from Roscrea gave us a beautiful performance of 2 mellow songs. First was the Carpenters version of Ticket To Ride, and indeed if you closed your eyes you could almost think you were listening to the great Karen Carpenter. Brigid’s 2nd song was a lovely rendition of I Cant Make You Love Me, and again received a great reception form the very appreciative audience.
The judges retired to consider their verdict, and the audience filled in their voting cards and took a deep breath! Eventually the result was announced and the winner of a close audience vote was Shane O’Dwyer. The judges also put 2 acts through, Peter Walls and Act Of Piracy, with Dermot and Brigid going to the Wild Card night.
The Tavern is the place to be next Friday once again for heat 3. With its own mini theatre style complete with lighting and sound, it is a wonderful intimate venue. Remember also there is still time to enter the competition, just ring 067-22195 or 086-2656257. But meantime all roads lead to The Tavern for heat 3 on Friday night!
