
(Orlando FL) ‘The Voice’ is a popular singing-based reality-TV show having just completed its 6th season. This summer marks the first time that The Voice has put on a national tour, making a stop at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center tonight, representing the 6th stop of its 6-week, 31-city tour.
The 2-hour concert in Orlando featured 10 standout vocalists representing different seasons of the show. Granted, I walked into the show a little late due to a pretty significant rainstorm that delayed a few other late-comers to tonight’s show, but when I had entered the auditorium I witnessed a pretty high-energy sing-along involving all 9 vocalists on stage inviting the audience to serve as backup vocalists with lyrics to Taylor Swift’s ‘Never Get Back Together’ being projected at the back end of the stage. The performers then sang Lynard Skynyrd’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ together, while walking up and down the aisles of the main floor shaking hands and greeting excited fans along the way.
Country singer from Season 6, Jake Worthington, performed Keith Whitley’s ‘Don’t Close Your Eyes’, the tender ballad that put Worthington on the radar when he auditioned with it earlier this year. Worthington remained on stage where he was joined by fellow Season 6 singer Kristen Merlin to perform the gritty Band Perry tune ‘All I Want to be is Done.’
Dia Frampton, the runner-up from Season 1, then took to the piano to cover Kanye West’s ‘Heartless’. She then spoke briefly to the crowd stating that she was now in a new band in Los Angeles called ‘Archis’. She performed one of their premiere songs ‘I Need You’, a bubbly song seemingly fitting her cute personality whilst testing the dynamics of her upper vocal range, which faired well.
Jake Barker took to the stage and performed Bruno Mars’ ‘When I Was Your Man’, with which he made his initial audition at the beginning of the season. He sounded like a very clean Justin Timberlake with better tonality, more vocal dynamics and greater range. In my opinion Barker’s cover was the best vocal performance of the night and was far better than Mars’ version.
The former YouTube sensation, Christina Grimmie, who emerged as one of the finalists in Season 6’s competition performed Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking Ball’, but came up a little short in terms of power on her delivery; however, it’s my understanding that she was ill this night which likely would have explained the performance. However, alongside Will Champlin of Season 5 who backed her on the piano and concurrently accompanied her vocally, the duo then sang a very dramatic cover of ‘Say Something’. With lights dimmed and only a spotlight shining on the two, this was my second most-favorite performance of the night. The two sounded great together and Champlin did well on the piano. Grimmie would soon exit the stage and Champlin went on to sing FUN’s ‘Carry On’ which he masterfully executed on this night, as well as when he covered it during the finals of The Voice last year.
Orlando’s own Ashley De La Rosa emerged through the floor of the stage to belt out the Black Crowes’ ‘Hard to Handle’. Although De La Rosa was not part of the national tour, she sang (and danced) well tonight, reminding her hometown as to why she drew so many of our votes in Season 2. After showcasing a little bit of her fun ‘attitude’, she led off the final song of the 1st set in Usher’s ‘Without You’ where she was joined by the remainder of the performers, after which a 15-minute intermission ensued.
In the 2nd half of the show all singers came out to ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ but with the amount of talent in these singers I would have liked to see more harmonization in the arrangement. Jake Worthington led off with the first solo following the intermission with Bryan Adams’ ‘Heaven’.
Christina Grimmie accompanied herself on piano for her performance of Drake’s ‘Hold On, We’re Coming Home’, which she covered just a few months ago during the finals on the show. Josh Kauffman took to the stage next and did well on his Stevie Wonder cover of ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours.’
Jacquie Lee then delivered a very powerful ‘I Put a Spell on You’. I had not seen Lee’s previous performances and was completely blown away by her delivery on this one. She sang a very complex song and managed to captivate the audience with her soulful and emotional portrayal of this song. Excellent delivery on this one. Excellent.
Audience members were then exposed to the judge's perspective. The flood lights went dark and 3 members of the audience were asked to join the stage where they participated in a 'blind audition'. The audience could hear the contestants but could not see anything other than the contestant's silhouettes on stage. The 3 did well and it really put into perspective what it was like for the judges to decide when they actually wanted a contestant to join their team.
The Voice singers took to the stage to sing Cee-Lo Green's 'Forget You'. Upon finishing this one, Tessanne Chin took to the stage and reprised her performance of Katy Perry's 'Unconditionally' from 2 seasons ago. She then thanked the audience for supporting all of the singers and proceeded to introduce the members of the band that had been backing them the whole night. She called to the stage Josh Kaufman with whom they sang a very hypnotic duet version of Rihanna's 'Stay'.
The night rounded out with team covers of 'Radioactive', 'Feel This Moment', 'Turn Down for What', and concluded with 'Happy' just as gigantic inflatable beach balls were bounced around the top of the crowd.
It was a fun night packed with amazingly talented singers. Good luck to each of them as their careers are only just beginning.
The 2-hour concert in Orlando featured 10 standout vocalists representing different seasons of the show. Granted, I walked into the show a little late due to a pretty significant rainstorm that delayed a few other late-comers to tonight’s show, but when I had entered the auditorium I witnessed a pretty high-energy sing-along involving all 9 vocalists on stage inviting the audience to serve as backup vocalists with lyrics to Taylor Swift’s ‘Never Get Back Together’ being projected at the back end of the stage. The performers then sang Lynard Skynyrd’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ together, while walking up and down the aisles of the main floor shaking hands and greeting excited fans along the way.
Country singer from Season 6, Jake Worthington, performed Keith Whitley’s ‘Don’t Close Your Eyes’, the tender ballad that put Worthington on the radar when he auditioned with it earlier this year. Worthington remained on stage where he was joined by fellow Season 6 singer Kristen Merlin to perform the gritty Band Perry tune ‘All I Want to be is Done.’
Dia Frampton, the runner-up from Season 1, then took to the piano to cover Kanye West’s ‘Heartless’. She then spoke briefly to the crowd stating that she was now in a new band in Los Angeles called ‘Archis’. She performed one of their premiere songs ‘I Need You’, a bubbly song seemingly fitting her cute personality whilst testing the dynamics of her upper vocal range, which faired well.
Jake Barker took to the stage and performed Bruno Mars’ ‘When I Was Your Man’, with which he made his initial audition at the beginning of the season. He sounded like a very clean Justin Timberlake with better tonality, more vocal dynamics and greater range. In my opinion Barker’s cover was the best vocal performance of the night and was far better than Mars’ version.
The former YouTube sensation, Christina Grimmie, who emerged as one of the finalists in Season 6’s competition performed Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking Ball’, but came up a little short in terms of power on her delivery; however, it’s my understanding that she was ill this night which likely would have explained the performance. However, alongside Will Champlin of Season 5 who backed her on the piano and concurrently accompanied her vocally, the duo then sang a very dramatic cover of ‘Say Something’. With lights dimmed and only a spotlight shining on the two, this was my second most-favorite performance of the night. The two sounded great together and Champlin did well on the piano. Grimmie would soon exit the stage and Champlin went on to sing FUN’s ‘Carry On’ which he masterfully executed on this night, as well as when he covered it during the finals of The Voice last year.
Orlando’s own Ashley De La Rosa emerged through the floor of the stage to belt out the Black Crowes’ ‘Hard to Handle’. Although De La Rosa was not part of the national tour, she sang (and danced) well tonight, reminding her hometown as to why she drew so many of our votes in Season 2. After showcasing a little bit of her fun ‘attitude’, she led off the final song of the 1st set in Usher’s ‘Without You’ where she was joined by the remainder of the performers, after which a 15-minute intermission ensued.
In the 2nd half of the show all singers came out to ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ but with the amount of talent in these singers I would have liked to see more harmonization in the arrangement. Jake Worthington led off with the first solo following the intermission with Bryan Adams’ ‘Heaven’.
Christina Grimmie accompanied herself on piano for her performance of Drake’s ‘Hold On, We’re Coming Home’, which she covered just a few months ago during the finals on the show. Josh Kauffman took to the stage next and did well on his Stevie Wonder cover of ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours.’
Jacquie Lee then delivered a very powerful ‘I Put a Spell on You’. I had not seen Lee’s previous performances and was completely blown away by her delivery on this one. She sang a very complex song and managed to captivate the audience with her soulful and emotional portrayal of this song. Excellent delivery on this one. Excellent.
Audience members were then exposed to the judge's perspective. The flood lights went dark and 3 members of the audience were asked to join the stage where they participated in a 'blind audition'. The audience could hear the contestants but could not see anything other than the contestant's silhouettes on stage. The 3 did well and it really put into perspective what it was like for the judges to decide when they actually wanted a contestant to join their team.
The Voice singers took to the stage to sing Cee-Lo Green's 'Forget You'. Upon finishing this one, Tessanne Chin took to the stage and reprised her performance of Katy Perry's 'Unconditionally' from 2 seasons ago. She then thanked the audience for supporting all of the singers and proceeded to introduce the members of the band that had been backing them the whole night. She called to the stage Josh Kaufman with whom they sang a very hypnotic duet version of Rihanna's 'Stay'.
The night rounded out with team covers of 'Radioactive', 'Feel This Moment', 'Turn Down for What', and concluded with 'Happy' just as gigantic inflatable beach balls were bounced around the top of the crowd.
It was a fun night packed with amazingly talented singers. Good luck to each of them as their careers are only just beginning.
Jake Barker:
Will Champlin:
Tessanne Chin:
Ashley De La Rosa:
Dia Frampton:
Josh Kaufman:
Jacquie Lee:
Christina Grimmie:
Kristen Merlin:
Jake Worthington:
Group shots: