This weekend saw the first round of arena auditions where it separated the men from the boys (and ladies from the girls). Lets find out what went down!

Saturday:

It was a rather disappointing start to the arena auditions on Saturday. Cheryl seemed to be the only judge who had her head screwed on straight. The first contestant to wow the judges was 17 year old James Graham who came back with a bigger and much improved voice that earned him 4 yeses and a ticket to bootcamp! Cheryl lover Jale arrived to belt out another track from her favourite judge, complete with Cheryl's back tattoo taped to her backside! She shouldn't have gotten through to arenas in the first place but she was good entertainment for a saturday night. We have no idea how The Courtesans managed to get through to bootcamp (without Cheryl's approval) with a miming guitar player and one of the weirdest versions of 'Delilah' we've ever seen. After awesome first auditions the nerves from having to sing in front of a packed arena caught up with next three contestants. Charlie Brown and Stevie Tennet got through to bootcamp with Simon and Louis' support but unfortunately Rebecca Jones failed to impress any of the judges with her slightly boring take on 'Moon River'. Our favourite audition of the night goes to Paul Akister (the one who had his dreams crushed by Louis at judges houses last year) and his perfect rendition of 'Let's Get It On'. You could see the dollar signs in Simon's eyes. We also have our eyes on a young girl with an amazing soulful mature voice for her age, 16 year old Lauren. Her version of one of our favourite classic Whitney tunes was amazing. The night ended with Amy Connelly who didn't show her full potential on stage which left Cheryl as the only judge supporting her. Although she was a bit average she was definitely better than some of the other acts who were somehow sent through to the next round.

Sunday:
Sunday's show kicked off with a Lost Girls fave pug loving Italian, Andrea Faustini where he wowed the audience and the judges with his rendition of "Try A Little Tenderness". He was definitely our favourite of the night and we're keeping our fingers crossed he makes it to the live rounds!
Following Andrea was girl group Rouge Kiss. Their harmonies were all over the place during Iggy Azalea's "Fancy" which made us think if they even practiced this song as a group? We were with Simon 100% on his decision, we just wonder what exactly the other judges heard when they were performing? We soon were reunited with the tanned baby version of 1D, Overload, where they were a pleasant surprise! They took a risk and performed an original song which payed off as the judges, crowd and us at LGC HQ loved it! We thought it was a vast improvement since their room auditions. (although Sophie feels as if there's one member of the group that needs a bit more work vocally). Sunny and bubbly Steve Ritche was next! BLESS HIS LITTLE COTTON SOCKS! His arena performance of Queen's classic "Don't Stop Me Now" was miles better than his room audition (this time he remembered the lyrics). His infectious energy got the crowd loving every minute of it and even participating in singing along (a sign of a great entertainer), did someone say the next Robbie Williams? Kayleigh Manners had a bit of a shaky start when Cheryl stopped her mere seconds into her song, where she pointed out her lack of confidence on stage. Nerves and confidence issues seemed to be a popular plague this weekend, but after Cheryl gave her a confidence boost Kayleigh managed to redeem herself with her second song "Your Song".  We're on the fence with Kayleigh, we loved her room audition but thought the arena audition was sub par. Jay James ended the night with "Fix You" which is one of our FAVOURITE Coldplay songs! We admire him putting his own lil twist on it but we much preferred his room audition which almost had us in tears.

We can't wait to see how the rest of the arena auditions turn out and who makes it through to bootcamp!

K. & S.
xx