America’s Got Talent – Episode 19: Quarterfinal #4

It’s Quarterfinal #4 for America’s Got Talent and the last 12 acts will perform for America’s vote.  On Wednesday’s results show, 4 more acts will join the 12 who have already advanced to the Semifinals.  Last week we finally had a results show where only one singing act advanced, will it happen again?  In case you missed it, here are the acts who have advanced over the past three weeks:  Nathaniel Kenyon, Christina & Ali, Future Funk, and Fighting Gravity -QF#1,  Alice Tan Ridley, Michael Grimm, AscenDance, and Antonio Restivo-QF#2, Debra Romer, Haspop, Studio One Young Beast Society, and Jeremy Vanschoonhoven-QF#3.  For a rundown of the top 48 acts and a summary of their journey so far, see our previous posts (Part 1 & Part 2).  Who steps up their performance and who steps right out of the competition?  Let’s find out.

Da Maniacs – Dance Crew
Da Maniacs perform a tribute to the Blues Brothers and MC Hammer.  They start with “Soul Man” in the appropriate suits and ties and then break out the gold pants and midriff baring shirts for “Can’t Touch This”.  Of course in Da Maniacs case the midriff baring shirts have a different effect than on most entertainers.  Right after they get into the MC Hammer, Piers buzzes them.  Again, this is an act that was put straight through to Hollywood and they’re getting buzzed.  This was a theme last week as well.  Unlike some of the acts last week, I disagree somewhat with Piers on Da Maniacs.  The act is all about entertaining and making fun of themselves and the moves were well choreographed and performed.  I wouldn’t say Da Maniacs is my favorite dance act this season but they are still pretty good.  Going first it’s tough to say what they’re chances are to advance.  Ask me again in two hours.

Nu Covenant – Singing Group
Nu Covenant sings “Apologize” by Timbaland and One Republic.  I absolutely love this song but I’m not sure it gives them the opportunity to display the energy their other performances showed.  They’re again rocking the different colored shirts and it appears they would really like to be Boyz II Men.  Two acts in and two buzzers for Piers.  He didn’t even really give them a chance to get into it this time.  It is kind of interesting to hear this song with four voices instead of one but the singing is just not up to the task.  Sharon actually buzzes them so they really have a tough road to advancement.  Howie chalks it up to nerves from the big moment but I agree with Piers that it’s probably more the song choice not fitting their style.  It would be a big surprise if they advance tomorrow.

Anna & Patryk – Ballroom Dancers
Anna & Patryk liven it up with a performance to Christina Aguilera’s great throwback style song “Candyman” (I’m assuming they don’t really understand the meaning of the lyrics, and the producers skip the naughty lines).  They start the routine dancing separate and then come together in the middle of the performance.  It’s really cute and they do show more personality than they previously have shown.  I think it really compliments their previous performances in that it shows they can do serious ballroom dancing and fun swing dancing.  I think the costumes and juke box stage set show that their act would translate to a Vegas show as the show could be broken down into performances of the various different styles.  It’s hard to believe they are only 12 years old.  Amazing talent plus cuteness equals a good chance to advance tomorrow.

Lindsey Sterling – Hip-Hop Violinist
Lindsey performs “Break Your Heart” by Taio Cruz (featuring Ludacris) and “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha.  It’s kind of wierd as I don’t think her previous performances included the vocals of the song in the performance.  I thought the idea was to replace the vocal with the violin.  The violin playing is getting drowned out by the songs and I think this is another case of a performer trying to think bigger than they’ve ever done and overdoing it.  Piers buzzes her toward the end of the performance and I can’t say I’m surprised.  It’s too bad as I liked her previous performances at her audition and in Vegas.  I agree with Sharon that if she could find some like-minded musicians and form a group it would fill out the performance and possibly make it better.  I don’t like her chances for advancing.

Doogie Horner – Comedian
Doogie does his set and it’s not really that good.  The final five performed on Last Comic Standing on Monday night on the same network as AGT and really showed us how comedy should be done.  Doogie is nowhere in the league of any of the comedians on Last Comic Standing.  So Doogie gets seen by about 12 million people while the finalist on LCS get seen by about 5 million.  On the plus side, Doogie is only the second act tonight to not get buzzed by Piers.  At this point I’m tempted to say Anna & Patryk are a lock to advance but last week the show started weak and then the last 4 performers were four of the five best so you never know.  The main part of Doogie’s routine was how he was refusing the producer’s bells and whistles but then as he performed, special effects kept shooting across the stage.  I will say that putting out the fire spray with the standard comedian glass of water was pretty funny.  I don’t see Doogie advancing and it would be a shame to all the really good comedians on LCS if he did.

Rudi Macaggi – Acrobat
Rudi starts with a balancing act with his lovely assistant and then goes for the “circular saw of death”.  There is a lot of set up but the act is absolutely dangerous and thrilling as Rudi does a handstand above the circular saw on stacked blocks and then pushes the stacked blocks to the side and lands his hands on the supports the blocks were standing on and is able to stop his body’s downward momentum and maintain his handstand just before his face hits the saw blades.  Crazy.  It’s like a contraption you would see in one of the Saw movies except the poor sap doing the stunt wouldn’t be a trained acrobat.  This is exactly the kind of crazy, showy type of act you would see in Vegas.  I’ll be very interested to see if the audience at home votes him through.

Taylor Matthews – Singer
Taylor sings “The Man Who Will Not Be Moved” by The Script.  He seems to have lost some of his nervousness and gives a pretty self assured performance.  I’m not sure his vocals are really good enough at this point but I do think they’re just good enough that when combined with his personality and story it might get him through to the Semifinals (Yes, you’ve heard that sentiment before, see Christina & Ali and Nathaniel Kenyon).  I agree with the judges that he’s got the intangibles that make him seem like a potential pop singer, he just needs more seasoning to get there.  I predict there is a good chance that America will give him the chance to gain more experience.

Mary Ellen – Singer (kinda…)
Mary Ellen is the biggest waste of a spot in the top 48 (yes, bigger than Ronith or Chipps Cooney).  She performances some kind of unintelligible country song and I’m waiting for Piers’ buzzer.  And there it is.  Will Sharon and Howie follow suit or will they continue this national charade?  I wonder what the back-up dancers are thinking during this performance.  Unfortunately, Sharon and Howie let her continue as the audience starts to turn on her.  Nick finally pulls the plug on the peformance to put us all out of our misery.  Sharon and Howie continue the charade through their judging and it’s really just embarassing and not even remotely funny.  I don’t need to dignify that performance with a prediction of her results.

ArcAttack – Performance Artists
ArcAttack performs “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath (way to suck up to the judges).  The way they control the electricity to create different musical notes is really cool.  It’s not perfect but it’s not like controlling electicity is a precise art.  While the selection of an Ozzy song is clever and works with the tesla coils, the song is kind of dreary and not high energy.  That’s about my only critic.  This really is the type of thing that would work well in a Vegas show and I expect them to go through.  Even if they don’t there are probably Vegas talent scouts that would be interested in talking to them.

Prince Poppycock – Opera Singer
Prince comes out in a more clownlike outfit than a prince one and performs some opera.  Not being a connoisseur of opera I don’t really know how well he is doing.  The audience seems restless but then when he gets to the big part they start to cheer.  I still don’t think he’s matched his original audition but it was better than his Vegas performance.  He also does a good job coming off as a normal guy in his interviews so that you know he’s not some crazy person who is “on” all of the time which would be really annoying.  This is one of the acts where I don’t know what the audience reaction will be.  I look forward to seeing what happen with the Prince tomorrow night.

Murray – Magician
Murray starts his act and borrows Piers’ sport jacket.  He gives the jacket to one of his lovely assistants in a glass box and she puts it on.  As Murray monologues he covers the box with a sheet and then when he removes it there is a tiger in the box and the assistant with the jacket on pops up behind Howie.  Murray has been living in Vegas trying to pursue his dream and he’s really a polished performer.  I don’t have to tell you that magicians are big in Vegas (as are tigers) so Murray is getting great exposure on the show.  Will he advance?  That’s up to you America.

Strikers All Stars – Dance/Stepping Crew
Strikers perform to “Poison” by Bell Biv Devoe so they earn points from me before they even start dancing.  I really like the performance and I like that they didn’t just copy the moves from the original video.  They also really stand out with the red track suits and some of the choreography was really cool.  I disagree with the judges and feel that they have a good chance to advance.

I’ve been pretty good with my predictions the past two weeks but this week seems tougher.  I don’t feel anyone really stood out as a shoe-in to move on but over half the acts were good/interesting enough to get the votes.  Also, some of the favorites acts coming into tonight had better performances either at the auditions or during the Vegas round.  I would eliminate Mary Ellen & Doogie Horner but wouldn’t be surprised by any of the others making it through.

Favorite Performances:
Anna & Patryk and Strikers All Stars

The 4 Acts I Would Advance to the Next Round:
Anna & Patryk, Strikers All Stars, Murray, and ArcAttack

The 4 Acts I Think Will Advance Tomorrow Night:
Taylor Matthews, ArcAttack, Anna & Patryk, and Murray

Come back tomorrow for the Quarterfinal #4 Results Show.