Three acts: Archie Combe, Josh Baum and Kitty O’Neal, who are all Southampton students, played a live session at Orange Rooms, called the iSessions, in November to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. The gig was run by The iPaper, the concise version of The Independent. The bands played in a busy Orange Rooms, filled with red ‘i’ balloons, and free iPaper lanyards.
Kitty O’Neal, the winner of the event, is now in a competition with acts from 17 different universities, who can be voted for online until 23:59 Thursday 31st December. The five top acts will go through to a live final in Manchester in February 2016, and the winner will receive a day in a recording studio. By voting for them, you automatically enter a draw to win an iPad mini.
The first act of the night was welcomed on by SUSUtv compère, Ellie Wermter, and played five original songs. Archie Combe hopes to one day play his music on cruise ships, and his performance certainly fit in with his future plans as ‘Dancing’ really did make the crowd get up and dance.
The second act, singer-songwriter Josh Baum, played an acoustic set filled with upbeat originals containing clever and catchy lyrics. Some of his songs even had a few of the audience members singing along. Despite coming second in the competition, Josh is certainly up-and-coming and is set to play SoundClash Festival yet again in 2016.
The third act, and winner of the competition, Kitty O’Neal, accompanied herself with a piano and guitar and captured the crowd with haunting melodies, soulful vocals and emotive lyrics. Kitty’s song ‘Yes’ is up to vote for on The Independent’s website.
To finish off the night, the three singer/songwriters played some fun covers. Archie Combe covered the Riverboat Song by Ocean Colour Scene. Kitty O’Neal and Josh Baum collaborated to finish the night with an excellent rendition of ‘Get Lucky’ by Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams.
Remember, you can vote for Kitty O’Neal, who is representing Southampton on The Independent by clicking here.
