S09.E24: Finale: Performances

[maraleia]

 

The final six acts perform one final time.

 

[Anhourofmylife]

Seems like Emily has it in the bag.  I still wish they didn't allow solo artists on this show.  There are other shows for them.

[Shermie]

Wow, Acro Army really brought it. The craptastic camera work is their only detriment, which they can't help. FFS, can't the camera focus for 90 seconds on a group act without cutting to the judges and doing stupid grand sweeps of the stage? Gawd.

But the other acts were good too. I found Miguel dull, but screaming teen girls seem to like him. And ugh, "Michael Jackson rest in peace"? Quintavious and SOS were pleasant, but not winning acts to me.

Mat's giant card trick was perfect for the big stage. I don't understand how it worked.

I agree with Mel that Emily West's version of "Chandelier" wasn't as great as the first time, it seemed kind of rushed or something. And what is with AGT putting women singers with big voices in ginormous dresses? "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was the perfect choice for her voice.

[UsernameGoesHere]

Glad Mat Franco read my posts here (lol) and did a different version of his first audition. His second trick kind of dragged (I say this about every magic act ever basically) but the end result was good.

 

So glad Emily redid Chandelier as that was my favorite vocal performance by anyone all season the first time she did it. This was still good but I preferred it during the quarterfinals. That dress though - WTF?! She really is great, but I wish Howard would remove his lips from her ass just a little. I was bored during her second performance. Of course she gets the pimp spot. I bet she wins.

 

I was hoping Miguel would redo "Heartless" from judgment week as that was the only time I came close to liking him. Hmph. The whole time he was on all I could think is that I could've been watching Emil & Dariel right now. And ewww at him doing Michael Jackson, one of my favorite artists ever. Please go away.

 

SOS totally on point with their choice of performance to redo too! It's like they're all reading my mind. Really interesting second song choice. I liked it.

 

Great choice from AcroArmy as that was my favorite performance of theirs and they killed it again. Loved the second performance too and the song choice.

[callmebetty]

Miguel is a good singer, but to put it ala Howard, is he a million dollar act? NO.

Acroarmy, I don't remember their audition, but damn if they haven't brought it ever since then. They are awesome.

Mat Franco where have you been all my life? That smile! I get giddy like all the teeny boppers for Miguel. Add that he is an amazing magician. I would love for him to win for a few reasons.

Emily does have a beautiful voice.

SOS are awesome as well.

Still not the bestest most awesomest season ever, but all the acts were good.

[UsernameGoesHere]

Acroarmy, I don't remember their audition

 

That's because they didn't bother airing it on TV! I split my votes between them and Mat.

[peggy06]

Yeah, Emily West is going to win this. I wish she had auditioned for The Voice instead. I just don't get the superlatives for her, plus, I'm not into her "second chance" storyline. For a lot of acts, this is their first and only.

 

Sons of Serendip need to pick up the tempo, or something. I'm over their earnest performances.

 

Acro Army is great. I wish they, or Mat Franco, would win.

[beagletime]

 

Sons of Serendip need to pick up the tempo, or something. I'm over their earnest performances.

Agree, I was thinking the same thing.  They are all extremely talented, accomplished musicians.  I wonder if they can do something a little more fun or uptempo? I love listening to them but it makes me think of music at the massage therapist or acupuncturist.  Puts me to sleep after awhile. 

[anarchyangel84]

I almost didn't even watch the finale but I watched every other episode so I watched it. I'm still quite bitter though because David and Leeman was a lot better than Mat Franco. I also am not a big fan of singers on the show. Mainly because singers have 576 of their own shows. (Ok- maybe I'm off by 2 or 3.) Besides that and my bitterness, I thought that AcroArmy was awesome. I loved the first songs that both Sons of Serendip and Miguel did but I didn't like Miguel's "Billie Jean" or SOS's "Bring Me to Life". SOS should did "My Immortal" instead. I like Quintavious. He has a great voice but I don't think he should win because that puts a lot of pressure on a 12 year old. If puberty doesn't kill his voice, I think he'll be big one day. I ended up giving most of my votes to AcroArmy (it will suck to have to split that prize money with so many people since its an annuity.) I also gave some votes to Emily West and Miguel Dakota. Every Season the judges say something like, "We have more talent this Season than we've ever had before." They may be right this time be because I've watched since the 1st Season and this is the only year that I've voted for multiple acts.

[gaPeach]

I started to watch it but I so not into it anymore. Well that statement was true weeks ago.  I never watch it live so I can FF through the "packages" and watch the performance the judges comments or tongue bath.  Sometimes not even that.  I can get through their 2 hour filler show in about 40 minutes.

 

I will be glad when this is over.  A singer will win.........again.  Shocker.........NOT.

[elainemarie33]

The show was - pleasant.  The talent was good.  But the only true Vegas act I saw last night was Acro Army.  I was bored with Mat's marching cards, love him though.  So I ended up giving the majority of my votes, telephone and google, to Acro Army and a few to Emily West.  I don't think coming in second would hurt her career chances.  Did not like Quint's Let it Be, but I think he has a tremendous talent and a great future.

 

But as I said weeks ago, the show lost its momentum when it had that loooonnnnggggg break in the middle of the summer.  This is a summer show and should have ended by Labor Day.   And just like with The Voice - the auditions are the best part.  Not with Idol though.  I gave up on those auditions a long time ago.

 

I guess that's it.  Thanks guys for making my summer reading very enjoyable here on this new, for me, forum.  I still miss TWoP, but not as much as I did thanks to Previously TV.

[Indy]

The craptastic camera work is their only detriment, which they can't help. FFS, can't the camera focus for 90 seconds on a group act without cutting to the judges and doing stupid grand sweeps of the stage? Gawd.

SERIOUSLY!  Yet during Emily's second performance, the camera was glued to her the entire time.  If the producers insist on showing us judges reactions, can't they do it during a singing performance where what I see isn't nearly as important as what I hear.  I want to actually SEE Acro Army and SEE them do crazy stunts, not the judges reactions to the stunts!  

 

I want Acro Army or Mat Franco to win.  I could watch them both for an hour.  I do like Emily, so if/when she wins I won't be too bummed, but I still hated her performance of Chandelier.  I love that song but her version is choppy and rushed and not good.   Sons of Serendip were only okay for me last night, I thought their song choices could have been better and they suffer from having the back-up strings because it takes away from the pure beauty of just the four of them (though I'm sure the extra instruments are not their idea).  I liked Quintavious, I think he's a cute kid with a great voice, but he's still so young and him wining goes against my belief that kids shouldn't be on the show.  Hopefully puberty will be kind to his vocal chords and he will have a long career singing.  We fast-forwarded through Miguel because...boring...

[Anhourofmylife]

According to Wikipedia, Emily West started off as a country singer. She released a duet with Keith Urban. Emily also appeared on television in Celebrity Apprentice on a team led by Cyndi Lauper, competed in and won $25,000 on Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, and played the role of a drug addict in an episode of Body of Proof.  She also has her own website with booking information. I used to think of this show as somewhat of an "Amateur Hour" show.  Apparently I was wrong.  Now that I know this, I hope she doesn't win.

[A Boston Gal]

I see your point, but if Wendy Leibman is "undiscovered" enough for this show, so is Emily. 

SERIOUSLY!  Yet during Emily's second performance, the camera was glued to her the entire time.  If the producers insist on showing us judges reactions, can't they do it during a singing performance where what I see isn't nearly as important as what I hear.  I want to actually SEE Acro Army and SEE them do crazy stunts, not the judges reactions to the stunts!  

 

I want Acro Army or Mat Franco to win.  I could watch them both for an hour.  I do like Emily, so if/when she wins I won't be too bummed, but I still hated her performance of Chandelier.  I love that song but her version is choppy and rushed and not good.   Sons of Serendip were only okay for me last night, I thought their song choices could have been better and they suffer from having the back-up strings because it takes away from the pure beauty of just the four of them (though I'm sure the extra instruments are not their idea).  I liked Quintavious, I think he's a cute kid with a great voice, but he's still so young and him wining goes against my belief that kids shouldn't be on the show.  Hopefully puberty will be kind to his vocal chords and he will have a long career singing.  We fast-forwarded through Miguel because...boring...

Amen to the SOS observations! The back up instrumentals just diluted the whole act, and it became less interesting to watch.  That, coupled with the slow songs just killed it for me. Love them, but it wasn't their best night, unfortunately.

[UncleChuck]

Boo to the singers...

I love Emily West, but I still don't want AGT to be all about singing.

 

Acro-Army....What the HELL!!!  Those kids must be aliens--or some type of mutated life form.  NO WAY can ordinary humans fly and balance and FLY like that!!!   This season we had a few performers who were pretty impressive hand balancers (with and without a dog), but these Acro-Army kids do balancing that is mind-blowing.  How does one even think of getting tossed high into the air, doing a flip and then landing on ONE hand on top of another person?  And more than once 5 or 6 were hand balancing simultaneously while getting carried around the stage--and no falls!

 

A lot of AGT acts end up with a Vegas show or a lucrative career even if they do not win the show sponsored by AGT, but the sad thing about Acro-Army is that they can never really be a professional Vegas or traveling act, because all those kids are still in school.  Too bad.  Well, if they win--the prize money ($1,000,000 paid over 40 years) will get divided up about 25 ways and each of them will bank about $1000 per year until they are all grandparents.  Easy Street!!!

 

[AuntieDiane6]

 

Acro-Army....What the HELL!!!  Those kids must be aliens--or some type of mutated life form.  NO WAY can ordinary humans fly and balance and FLY like that!!!

 

Those kind of acts are all over China.  And the Chinese do them MUCH better.  My concern is that a lot of their tricks are BANNED by the NCAA as being unsafe for cheerleaders.  Where are their parents?  And there's something a bit creepy about all those men handling young girls … 

[Panopticon]

First of all, thanks everyone here for sharing your smart and funny commentary, and for letting me join in.

 

On to the performances:

 

Quintavious Johnson: Hey, someone found him an age-appropriate song to sing! For the most part I didn't like the arrangement of Let It Be, but I appreciated the choice. I did think the camera work and staging were fantastic for one moment at the end where there was just his very smal shadowed figure standing in front of all the adults blending together and fading out. That almost moved my cold dead heart. However, I still hate kid acts. And singing acts. And kid singing acts. (In all seriousness, here's hoping his voice survives puberty. He's talented for real.)

 

Mat Franco: His modification of his earlier trick was perfect. He's a wonderful performer. I'm impressed that he got through that poem without his tongue getting tied up more often without even factoring in the constant slight of hand he was doing at the same time. His  on-stage "human card" trick was inspired, too. I don't know off the top of my head how he did it and I appreciate that he managed to find a way for even the people in the balcony of Radio City to see and enjoy. This may not really be the best year ever for talent (shut up, Howie!!) but I bet it's the best year for magicians. And Mat is doing the others proud as last magician standing.

 

Miguel Dakota: Look who's been reading this forum and decided to ditch the bad-boy thing and go back to his original image! I doubt that it was enough, but I do like him better this way. Still hate singing acts though.

 

Sons of Serendip: I liked both of their performances. I also think Howie is going way too far with his insistence that if they lose it's because they're too raw and don't have that rock star look. I don't think any of those guys break mirrors when they look into them or anything.

 

AcroArmy: Fantastic again and very much my pick to win. I wish I could see more of them... you know, instead of the camera cutting to Howie while they're throwing those girls from the judges' stand to the stage proper. By the time the last girl got on top of the pyramid I was saying words that I suspect break the posting rules here. Wow.

 

Emily West: Just urgh. I feel about her the way most here seem to feel about Miguel. She bores me. I hate singing acts, especially when those acts are already professional to the point of having a recording contract. There are 7356938654379865438256 other shows for solo singers.

 

Final note: I may want Howie to take a hike, but I want Nick Cannon to stay around, with or without his million dollar shoes. He's so good with the various acts, most noticeably today when he saved the Sons of Serendip guy who obviously blanked out during the first interview. Good man, Nick.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Panopticon

[DrLar]

All my votes went for Acro Army, but sadly America is going to choose Emily, an already professional singer, not fair competition...

Maybe more sad the top 3 will be singers if not the top 4!

 

1. Emily

2. Miguel

3. Quintavious

4. Acroarmy

5. SoS

6. Mat Franco

[Indy]

 

My concern is that a lot of their tricks are BANNED by the NCAA as being unsafe for cheerleaders.  Where are their parents?

Acro Army isn't made up of cheerleaders, though.  They are Sports Acro athletes, and most/all of them are on the US National team.  Some even have world medals.  Is what they do dangerous? Absolutely.  But they know what they are doing.  

[daughtersofanarchy]

My comments are based only on the new performances because I missed the first half of the show.

 

I thought all the acts did their best.  Even Miguel gave his best performance to date.  AcroArmy was fun and exciting, and dh and I said "wow" again.

 

Really can't guess who will win.  My head says Emily and Quintavious have the biggest talent, but my heart goes to AcroArmy.

[marketdoctor]

If you're going to have people with experience and solo singers win, I'm hopeful for Emily West.  I hope the America's Largest Dress* didn't hurt her singing performance.  Mat Franco seemed to almost have a feeling he wasn't going to win, so he was going to enjoy the journey to the end--and I hope the latter is true for him. Making it as far as any magician ever has on AGT could help his career.

 

* I'm not sure of this, but it's way up there if it's not.

[SandyToes]

This used to be must-see summer watching for me. Prince Poppycock!  I find coming here (or TWOP) the day after and reading comments MUCH more enjoyable. Certainly faster and more thoughtful.  (And I really kind of liked the train wrecks in the early auditions...)

 

As for America's Largest Dress (tm marketdoctor), was there a Snapple Vote for that, too?  Wow. And why?

Edited September 17, 2014 by SandyToes

[Shermie]

They're about to announce the first result, so I'll make a quick guess. They will be eliminated in this order: Sons of Serendip, Miguel, Quintavious, Mat Franco, Emily West, with Acro Army winning.

[Taeolas]

I mostly fast forwarded through the show since I was only really interested in Acro Army and Matt Franco's magic act.

 

Acro Army did a great job; opening up the second part with the "fly in from the audience" was great; but they did seem to be losing a bit of energy towards the end. (not that I blame them) Still, impressive towers and tosses all around.

 

Matt's first trick, the cup and balls was good; but he needs more practice. After seeing how smooth Penn and Teller do it, not to mention the guy on "Fool Us", Matt's moves were pretty obvious for the most part. (Then again, after watching the Cup and Balls trick so oftne I think I'm more alert for those motions). Still he got through it very smoothly while getting out the story without tripping over his tongue, or his fingers, so that was very good.

 

His second trick has got me stumped. Stacking the deck after Howard 'sorted' them is pretty standard,

I'm sure if I looked closer I could find the swap (if there was one) or the sort he did; with trick cards he could probably have pulled them apart and restacked them to get the colours lined up.

But the stage part of the act has got me completely baffled.

About the only way  I can think of for how this would work would be for the audience cards to have instructions on the back of them 'If you are on the red side, stand in the first row, else stand in the back row'. Since they mingled so much while the sorting was going on, you couldn't tell exactly when a card was sent to a certain side.

 

The rest were OK to decent I guess; I skipped most of their acts in any case due to lack of interest. 

[Kromm]

Seems like Emily has it in the bag.  I still wish they didn't allow solo artists on this show.  There are other shows for them.

Not according to Mel B., I guess.

 

And man does it take stones to be Melanie Brown and criticize vocals from someone who's literally 100 times the singer you were (even if Emily IS definitely a pro, whatever the show claimed).

 

So sad that this show has become SO predictably slanted towards singers that we have to hope for a mega-talent like Emily to lose just because we hate the tendency of singers winning, and talents like Acro Army not winning.  It's frustrating from BOTH sides, this issue.  I can see why Howard has been campaigning for years for a group to win--it may be the only way to satisfy the singing bias, but also be a little different.

Edited September 28, 2014 by Kromm