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Verdict: Worth going to once, but only because its free: a very chavvy affair.

Review:

Having received the free tickets back in December had been looking forward to the day coming around, the event started at 13.15 and finished around 6pm
. I had heard about the organisers overbooking and then turning away latecomers (no matter how far travelled…!) so we arrived there at approx 10.30, there was already a long queue so those at the front must have been there an awfully long time.

Security had clearly been doing this for a while and were well setup, they went down the queue taking the online ticket printouts (not scanning barcodes though) and stamped the right hand of each individual thus allowing you to pop out of the queue for food etc- very much appreciated as was freezing! A interviewer and cameraman went along looking for willing participants to question, the interview was very much steered e.g. “ok, how about you say ‘I’m sooo excited to be here’”; etc along with filming a few group acts attending on the day.

The judges arrival were standard affairs, three standard silver Mercedes separately arriving and dropping each off amid much attention from those at the front of the queues and passers by.

At around 13.15 they started to let in the audience checking thee right hand stamps (note to any cunning sneaks, the stamps are generic and (whilst I personally am not telling you the format or text) could easily be self created).

Once inside it just depended on luck as to your seating, we ended up on the top tier which was a good view but unable to see the judges table clearly due to the drop (though you could always try the scared of heights line).  At this point the audience or in corny BGT lingo ‘The 4th judge’; were all in good spirit, cheering anything that moved across the stage - in this case the staff & stage crew. my party included myself & my other half in our late 20’s along with my younger sister.

The audience to be frank were pretty chavvy, note this is not me being a snob- I am working class brought up on a normal estate etc but the manners  and general behaviour of many was very ‘asbo’, many were ‘the types of people who will go on to spend a lot of money phoning in to make their votes to this any other reality show to fill some void in their life… This was reflected by many’s choice to bring young children despite the content and indeed ticket advised 15+.

 The event was hosted by a unknown comedian who does not appear on TV but hosts all the auditions of BGT and X Factor, initially likable but then grew more and more annoying and/or lewd to point where he crossed over to just being a sad old pervert (commenting on girls in crowd, giving a fiver to a 8 year old and advising to give to performers scantily clad, advising which of the runners was single etc etc.

Anyway back to the event, after the comedians intro Ant and Dec briefly came on stage for around 2 minutes, milked the applause and left- didn’t return as they were focusing purely on the back end performers reviews and taking no part in front of the audience which was a shame- even more so due to the poor host.

Next to come on were the judges, it was announced that it was fine to take pics until they had sat down but once the filming had begun no cameras/mobile filming was  allowed. The judges entered the stage one by one, Piers then Amanda (for the girls- she had on a figure hugging red dress and ridiculously high,  heels) then Simon. They proceeded to say a few words: “hello Manchester, thank you for coming, you are the fourth judge” yada yada before making their way down to their seats.

An amusing thing to note is the amount of care they took over their makeup- after almost every act had auditioned their makeup artist (Tracey I think is her name) would dash on to touch up all three- was quite pathetic to look at as whilst some is clearly required for TV- men should be men…

First up, as pointed out by lucy’s comment below, were a dance troupe from wakefield, West Yorkshirewho who were dressed like cowboys, the judges sent them through with three yes’s. Next were was a set of dancers in purple uniform, were average although the throwing of girls and catching across the stage was impressive, don’t think they went through.

Cue crap host and more crap jokes and then the next act was the usual loon- a 35 ish woman in a top and skirt with pom poms, A very orange tan and general spaced out behaviour. She had been waving across the road to the queuing audience earlier  so we hard already seen here so she came on to a mixed reaction (mainly boos), after a speech about spreading the love and giving pom poms to the judges she proceeded to do not a lot- wave a bit. Three X’s and general comments about drugs being her reward.

The next was a 12 year old mixed race girl, had a nice range to her voice but it had a scratchy edge which wasn’t a pleasure to listen to, Simon asked for another song but the same and she was off.

A drum band came on next- dull to watch, drumming whilst interweaving amongst one another. The next was a highlight- accountant with a decent opera voice who went through. Also went through did a bonny  Belarus pole dancer (for obvious reasons) amidst predictable childish comments from the male judges- she was a good gymnast though.

Next was an old man who played up the Jamaican Accent”yeah man” and after very poor singing “why I no good man” yawn. Another pensioner travelled all the way from Wales- she was crap too and tried the “I’m disabled” line to get sympathy- thankfully not through as had no talent.

A comedy duo came on who started off ok but only had the one joke being dragged on so failed, a young kid and man disco routine which failed, a second pleading by the child to break-dance also failed, two male ‘jack the lad’ persona  strippers came on and thankfully failed as were crap- plus not suited to family viewing (and I personally prefer old fashioned standards of morals when viewing with my younger sister so felt uncomfortable) but then Simon had a change of heart as the aforementioned chavvettes in the crowd were ‘luvving it innit’, sigh! A Turkish Jacko impersonator also failed- the routine included lifting up a teen blond ‘they met on holiday’, a la Swayze in Dirty Dancing but had to have two attempts which was a sorry affair.

The event ended with ‘gravy wrestling’ by a few guys who admitted they weren’t there to win was poor,  An interview for the ITV2  show asked each judge their best Manchester act over the four days they were there and none picked an act from today which said it all really, wouldn’t go again- the TV highlights are the best way to view.