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Previous winners include Birdy!

The UK's largest talent competition for singers and songwriters travelled to Bedford this week to see the best acts in the area battle it out for a chance to play at the grand final at the O2 in January.

Thanks to everyone who braved the weather to join us at the Bedford Corn Exchange on Sunday 28^th November, you all put on an amazing show!

Here the judges give us some feedback from the event, but remember it could all change at the grand final.

Please note: views expressed by Judges are opinions and in no way reflect the views of Open Mic UK. 

The judges were: Judges Radio 1’s Ras Kwame; singer from Vocal Tutor Jules Pretorius, City of Bath college music Coordinator Max Weedon; from Big Help Management Dutch Van Spall, Paul Stanborough, engineer and in-house producer with Guy Chambers,  and Future Music’s Chris Grayston.

Jo Wood;

Good start to the show, judges thought you had a bright future ahead, but please take care on the higher notes- started to get as bit screechy in places, and that detracts from all the amazing work you’ve done.

Joshua Smith;

Nice tone and worked the stage well, but need to get that connection with the audience a bit stronger, could do with a bit of work on image.

Larissa Rose;

You had a strong range and a lovely voice-the song choice limited what you could do with it though.

Benji Blake;

Improved since the regional finals, but still too shouty, you had lots of confidence and it was fun to watch though , good job – nice, catchy original.

Chloe Oliver;

Vocally good, but you need to be an outstanding performer with bags of stage presence at this stage of the competition, need to work on that a bit, but you did look great!

Tasha Heard;

Good cover and a nice choice of song, piano work was solid, and you def. made it your own,

 Greg Weller;

The dancing was great, however the vocal wasn’t, you seemed under rehearsed – you need to focus more on the singing side, and less on the dancing – look at your mic control.

Katrina Scuteri;

You really raised the bar, with a great voice, great look, all round a fantastic performance, clear star quality and hard to fault- please keep this standard up!

Amy Westney;

Good vocal, tended to be a bit shrill in places – nice to hear well-crafted original songs.  Judges are sure you will have a decent career in music.

Jimmy Sharp;

Good image, nice playing, lovely voice, good solid performer who is very strong lyrically. The judges loved your guitar skills, but want to see you do more original songs.

Sonia Gill;

Beautiful, beautiful voice, but the wrong song choice let you down, you have a great look and a good stage presence. Judges recommend more training to help you into a certain bright future in music.

Tom Ryder;

Lovely polished performance, rich voice and decent guitar skills, cool and confident performer, one to watch for the future. Judges all loved your original.

Jade Grand;

Great voice, but your nerves let you down   - a real shame, because you are definitely talented, judges advise just to do more gigs and get more used to being on stage.

Callum Friend;

Very professional show Callum, Judges loved your moves, but it detracted and affected your vocals, which sounded a bit strained at times, very entertaining though.

Bronwyn Waller;

Good performance, nice guitar playing but you needed to find a song that reflected more of your range- your choices kept you a bit low, keep at it!

John Winston;

Liked the image, especially the Carnation, but try to remember your audience and have eye contact with them – nice sound to your voice, hopefully we’ll see you again after a bit more practice.

Ginny;

 Lovely voice and a good performance, but poor choice of cover song,  judges all thought your original was much better!  Liked the guitar, you were very listenable.

Kolossal Entertainment;

Brilliantly entertaining act, best dancers of the night, the female vocalist was excellent but backing track needed more mixing, overall a solid show, well done.

Meera;

Pure class, loved the partnership between you and the keyboard player, nice to hear such a different take on a song, really excellent vocal, - you wowed the judges.

Ross Chaplain;

Confident performance and a good voice. Need to match the passion in your original to that in your cover. Don’t be afraid to make the song your own and judges recommend you look into vocal training.

Sarah Charlton;

Nice soulful voice with a lovely tone to it. Be careful of diction and try to engage more with the audience.

Morgan Willis;

Great potential here, keep working on your vocals and performance, nerves affected your concentration, but that can be corrected with a bit more practice.

Jaymi Hensley;

Wow, it was a really heartfelt performance, you had the crowd with you and you looked and sounded like a star. A fantastic job, please keep it up! Well done.