* Singing policeman Karl Joseph.
* Chris Sims tells all about The Piano.
* Shea Ferron with one of his big West End musicals numbers.
Three-plus-three plus 100 equals one thousand. Or at
least they do when talented Llangollen people sprinkle some stardust on the
equation.
The magical arithmetic here means that last night at the
Town Hall three local TV heroes spent three marvellous hours giving their
services free to entertain a sell-out audience of over 100 to raise a marvellous
£1,000 or more to ensure this year’s Llangollen Christmas Festival is another big
hit and in turn raises thousands for local charitable causes.
Shea Ferron, who made it to the finals of
ITV's Britain's Got Talent as part of the Johns' Boys choir appeared along with
well-known local musician Chris Sims, who was featured in Channel 4's The
Piano, and "singing policeman" Karl Joseph who hit national
prominence on ITV's Star Struck.
The sum of success for got even better for
the Llangollen Superstars concert when Orb Sound and Lighting and a host of
volunteers, headed by Christmas Festival chair Chem Cheminais. manning the hall threw in their efforts free of charge.
Chris Sims provided the melodic prelude to the
proceedings with a sing-along version of Monkees’ hit Daydream Believer,
following up with Beatles biggie Lady Madonna.
He showcased his keyboard versatility even further with
favourites from the likes of Duke Ellington, Bill Joel – pounding out for the
first time ever in public his Piano Man – and also threw in some of his own
compositions a couple of which really deserve to become hits in their own
right.
Chris rounded things off in fine style by encouraging the
audience to jump to their feet and dance along with Status Quo’s Rockin’ All
Over the World – a version of which he had played on The Piano.
In the gaps between his numbers he gave us some fascinating
behind-the-scenes tales of his couple of days in front of the TV cameras.
There were similar inside stories from PCSO Karl Joseph
when he took his turn on the Town Hall beat, opening with a foot-tapping Let Me
Entertain You from Robbie Williams and continuing with Coming the Air Tonight
from Phil Collins.
Switching styles he steered us out West with his take on
country number Wagon Wheel before paying homage to his favourite band Queen’s
Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
By this time he had ‘em dancing in the rather limited aisles,
ramming home Footloose, I’m a Believer from the Monkees, Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol and a big soulful Angels by Robbie Williams.
Hotfoot from another gig out on the coast, Shea Ferron
bounded on stage to deliver a powerful Tougher than the Rest by Springsteen
then It’s Hard to Speak My Heart from the musical Parade.
He stuck with the West End theme with a well-acted-out
You’ll Be Back from Hamilton, a moving Bring Him Home from Les Mis – the same
one for you which he had memorably joined Alfie Boe on stage at this year’s
Eisteddfod – and a soaring Defying Gravity from Wicked.
Shea gave us his own personal memories of singing to telly
glory with his choir before demonstrating how easily he can move around the
songbook with Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel and the
thumping Show Me the Way to Amarillo by Tony Christie.
To wind up he was joined on stage by Chris Sims to finale
with Light Up by Snow Patrol.
All this added up to a stonking evening of home-grown entertainment the like of which we should see more.
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