Acoustic nights and open mic nights

A listing of regular acoustic nights and open mic nights is given on our page for acoustics and jazz in Leicester.

We have started a new page, listing singers, soloists and acoustic artists in Leicester/shire.

The Silver Bullet/Pavilion Acoustics Competition - 2008

A competition for solo artists and singers including singing groups and small acoustics bands started on Wednesday 25th June at the Pavilion Venue, Leicester and concluded with the finals held on 16th August 2008

Entrance to the shows is free of charge. See our Pavilion page for directions to the venue

Results

Here are the results of the Grant Final of the competition, held at the Pavilion Venue on Saturday 16th August

First place, winner of the SilverBullet Trophy for the overall winner of the 2008 Competition

Steve Faulkner

Steve Faulkner (left) receiving his trophy and prize from the owner of the Pavilion Venue

Second place

Chris Armson (left) receives his prize for winning second place

Third place

Lisa de'Ville

Runners up prizes were awarded to

4th place

Bryn Jones

5th place

Dean Sharman

6th place

The Truth

7th place

Barricades Rise

8th place

Dan McColgan

9th place

The Locks

10th place

Dan White

There were five merit prizes awarded by Silver Bullet Promotions

Best Interpretation of a cover song: The Locks

Best singer songwriter: Jason Westall

Best modern song: James Spoon

General merit prize a: Bryn Jones

General merit prize 2: Paula Driver

Special category prizes

The Connexions Prize for the best young act (16 to 18): Nathan Lord.

Trevor Locke - one of the judges- (left) handing the Connexions prize for Best Young Act to Nathan Lord (16)

The Vocal Tech Prize for the best new act: Dean Sharman

The Convolutions prize for the best combo act: The Truth

Members of the Truth winning the Convolutions Prize for the best combo act

The Sheehans prize for best instrumentals: Chris Armson

The Arts in Leicestershire Prize for the best stage performance: Dan White

Sponsors

The organisers would like to thank those companies that supported the Competition

Prizes

The overall winner will receive a cash prize of £200 plus the competition Trophy. The second place will receive a cash prize of £100; third place £50. The runners up will also receive cash prizes. There will also be special category prizes donated by our sponsors.

List of all prizes

Prize Categories

There will be a special category prize for "Best Young Act (16 - 18)", donated by Leicester Connexions.

There will be five prizes of paid performances at the Harrow Thurmastan and the Queen Victoria, Leicester

A secial category prize, "Best New Act", will be awarded to the most promising new artist, donated by Leicester Vocal Tech, and is a course of vocal coaching provided by Leicester's Academy of Voice Training and Stage Performance - Vocal Tech

"Best Combo Act", is a prize for acts with more than one artist, and is a recording session is also offered as special category prize, by The Convolution Rooms of Leicester. They have worked with Kasabian, Oasis, The Enemy, Jersey Budd, The Arctic Monkeys and many more top acts.

Sheehans Music Services have offered six sets of acoustic strings as a special category prize: "Best Instrumentals".

Arts in Leicestershire will also be offering, as a prize, an online promotional page on our web site and a publicity package, for the class "Best Stage Performance".

There will be prizes for Best Singer Songwriter, performing their own original songs.

GRAND FINAL

SATURDAY 16th August (finalists from the semi-finals). To be held at the Pavilion, doors open at 7 p.m. Free entry. The first act will start at 7.30 p.m.

The finalists will be (in order of appearance):

	Lisa de'ville Lisa comes from Loughborough. Black Vinyl Heart singer/songwriter Lisa de'Ville is currently crafting an acoustic album, introducing a set of 'folk noir' songs and breathing new life into the tradditional female singer / songwriter genre. For the past few months Lisa has been playing many gigs at a number of popular venues, caves, cafes and art galleries, including The Bodega Social Club, The Musician and the LSU Main Stage, supporting a wide variety of touring bands. Lisa's live sets tend to silence audiences. Her classically trained four octave voice has drawn comparrisons to Jeff Buckley, PJ Harvey and K.D Lang. With words that are provocative and powerful and heartbraking melodies that stick in your brain and set souls free. Lisa d'Ville
	Paula Driver Paula comes from Leicester. Paula started out wanting to write lullabies and play guitar to her grandchildren. She never dreamt for a she would develop a career as a singer. Now she is hosting an open-mic night and performing regularly at Leicester venues. Paula Driver
	James Spoon James is one of the teenagers perfoming in the finals has has sung regularly in many local venues, such as the Shed, the Pavilion and the Queen Victoria pub.
	Dan White Dan is from Hinckley and performs his set of comedy songs with his characteristic face-painted mask. He has played at many venues, such as the Shed and Praha and is about to launch his first album. Dan White
	Jason Westall Jason is 19 and the lead singer from Leicester indie band, The Utopians, recently signed to Red Skin Records. He has been performing in public since he was 13, mainly as a guitarist in bands and has done several live solo sets including one on BBC Radio Leicester on the Jo Bostock show. Jason Westall
	Nathan Lord Nathan is 16 and is the lead singer in the popular local indie band Razmataz. He has done several solo appearances in Leicester and writes his own songs, with members of his band. Nathan's outstanding characteristic is his huge enthusiasm for live music and bands. Nathan Lord
	Chris Swirls Chris is from Leicester and performs under the stage name Mono Wednesday. He has been a drummer in various local bands. He is planning to record some demo tracks of his songs. Chris Swirls
	Bryn Jones Brynley was born in South Africa but now lives in Leicester. He writes his own songs and developed an eclectic taste in music from an early age.
	The Locks The Locks, Dan and Sandy, come from Melton Mowbray. They have performed their set of polular covers both in local venues and on the radio. The Locks
	Dan McColgan Dan is 25 and was born in Northern Ireland, now living in Leicester. His favourite bands are Oasis, U2, Coldplay, Iron Maiden, The Stone Roses and a few more. Dan McColgan
	Steve Faulkner Steve comes from Hinckley and was the lead singer in local band Set In Stone, until their recent demise. He has written and recorded several songs and is known for his highly indiviudal interpretations of some very well known popular songs. Having been a singer and musician from an early age, he now has a busy gigs schedule, playing at local venues. Steve Faulkner
	Barricades Rise Jonathan and Michael come from Nuneaton and have been playing together as Barricades Rise since December 2007. They have a busy gigs schedule and were the partnership behind the band Idle Hollow. Barricades Rise were the overall winners of the Battle of the Acoustics, held at the Shed in 2008. Barricades Rise
	Chris Armson Chris Is a singer/songwriter from Leicester. Apart from many solo appearances, he also plays in the local Jazz and Blues band, Jack of Hearts Band. He has been playing the guitar and singing for 10 years and can often be spotted at gigs with his unusual travel guitar. He not only plays in Leicester but also in London and Cambridge. Chris Armson
	The Truth As a full band The Truth has five members which formed in the summer of 2007. They write their own songs and perform some well known covers, such as Bob Marley's 'No Woman, No cry'. They have played many local venues and recently featured in an open air stage set in Humberstone Gate. Lead singer Chrissie joined the band in the spring of 2008 and Siobhan was soon to follow as their resident drummer. The Truth
	The Boll Weevils Did not appear
	Dean Sharman Dean plays under the name of D.JsBlues Bar. Heavily influenced by the roots of the blues Dean prefers playing mostly delta blues style and taking back some old Chicago tunes. His set often includes original songs and re-works of "classics". He is noted for his playing slide on the guitar. Dean Sharman

Download a printable version of the running order.

Find out more about the previous heats of the competition

Each finalist will perform 3 songs only.

The results will be announced after all acts have performed. Prizes will be given to artists at the awards ceremony at the end of the show and the competition prizes and trophies will be awarded to the overall winners of the competition, to the runners-up and to special category winners.

Thanks

The organisers of the competitiion, Silver Bullet Promotions, would like to thank all the artists who participated in the competition. Your contributions produced a programme of shows of the highest quality. We also thank the Owner and Management of the Pavilion Venue for hosting the event. Thanks also to Sewell Photography for providing the photographic service for the competition.

Venue

The venue for all events including the Grand Final will be The Pavilion Venue on Victoria Park.

Photography

Our thanks to Trevor Sewell for photographing the contestants - photos are available from Trevor's Flikrsite. Please credit "Sewell Photography" if using them.

Page updated on: Monday, August 18, 2008 9:17 AM

See Travel to Leicester for details of how to get to Leicester and where to stay when you get there.

All shows are listed in our rock gigs listing or our listing of music events

See this page for a general listing of all Leicester's acoustic events

The Shed Acoustics Competition, 2008