Saying you get chills from listening to him, or that he's amazing, or that he's the real deal is ridiculous
He gave me chills. Not because he's the greatest singer to ever step on stage, but because of his appearance. Honestly, who would've expected him to do that well? He's introduced as a shy, unconfident, goofy looking telephone salesman. Seeing an underdog do such a good job is what gave me chills, and I'm sure others would agree.
What's ridiculous is not being able to admit that the man has a great talent.
American Express Cardmembers can purchase tickets* to Paul Potts before the general public beginning Tuesday, December 11.
Paul Potts, the unassuming tenor, originally from Fishponds, Bristol, took opera back to the very top of the charts with the album One Chance and he had a helping hand from the enormously popular television talent show, Britain's Got Talent. On June 17, 2007 he received the highest public vote out of 2 million votes cast to win Britian's Got Talent, winning a chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen. One Chance was the sort of album that came along and persuaded people that they liked opera, when previously they might have thought they did not. There is no denying that Paul Potts has indeed got talent and Potts rides this wave extremely well. www.paulpottsuk.com
CALGARY: Jack Singer Concert Hall
Performance: March 24, 2008 American Express Presale: Tue, Dec 115 2007 at 10AM to Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 5PM
(403) 777-0000 http://www.ticketmaster.ca/promo/pr6ici
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I’m always amazed these sportscasters and announcers can call the game with McDavid’s **** in their mouths all the time.
Not to detract from Paul Potts in any way, it was great, but...
Last year's Australian Idol winner Damien Leith performed the same song, having ZERO opera experience, he is a folk-rock guy but sang Nessun Dorma for a theme night where the judges picked songs for the contestants to sing (this was before Paul Potts performed the song on tv) and I would say he did a fantastic job for someone with no operatic training. As Mark Holden points out at the end of the clip, he learned it in a week.
I just watched it for the first time, and I have to say.... pretty impressive for a guy with limited training, though it's clear he has some. When it comes to the debate which is more or less between music aficionados and those coming to opera for the first time, I'm pretty much a tweener.... I grew up around opera music, and though I don't have formal training in it, I've picked up a little knowledge here and there.
To say that Potts is a "tin horn" is a huge exaggeration. His voice lacks refinement, but he makes up for it with passion. Comparing him to Pavarotti is silly--but that doesn't mean he's not any good. As for Andrea Bocelli--I think his syrupy-sweet, lacking-in-depth voice is one of the most overrated of our generation. My humble opinion is that Bocelli sucks, and I'd rather listen to almost anything else. But that goes to show how subjective this stuff really is.
But let's start by making at least a fair comparison. You wouldn't compare a minor-leaguer to Wayne Gretzky, so let's compare Potts to a group that's at least in orbit around the same star: Il Divo. Both have a "Simon Cowell" connection, so the comparison makes sense to a certain extent. The verdict? Il Divo sucks. They suck infinitely harder than Paul Potts, because they do violence to the music that they perform, where Potts just gives a performance that may not be super-original, but is passionate, and surprisingly, not too dang bad at all.
