Excitement rages as Top 30 wannabes reach next stage

THE competition to find the Capital’s next superstar is hotting up, as Edinburgh’s Got Talent reaches its next phase.

Votes have been flooding into Evening News HQ over the last week, since we announced the lucky acts who had made it through to the Top 30.

Among the talent to win through are singer Smoothies For Me, all-girl duet Duel, singer Mike Thomson and dance acts Rockabeat and the fabulous Forth Valley Chorus.

But like all the acts, they will now be crossing their fingers and hoping the public will put them one step closer to the final, where they will get a chance to perform live to a packed audience at the Edinburgh Playhouse and compete for the grand prize of £1000 and a chance to perform at the Radio Forth Awards.

And the race is now on to see which of them will make the cut to get through to next round . . . The Top 20.

The team at Edinburgh’s Got Talent have been busy counting the votes, and are expecting a late rush today as fans battle to beat the deadline.

The Top 20 will be revealed on Wednesday, and Liam Rudden, Arts and Entertainment Editor and head judge, said: “The sheer undiscovered talent amongst our readers never ceases to amaze me. It was such a tough call whittling this year’s entries down to a Top 30 that I don’t envy readers the task of deciding the Top 20, or the 10 who will go before the judging panel at the Playhouse.

“To be honest, it’s going to be a difficult call on the night as, looking through the Top 30, almost anyone of them would be a justifiable winner . . . it’s all going to be down to the public votes to get them through.”

And one of our judges, Deborah Welsh, added: “This is definitely the best year yet for Edinburgh’s Got Talent, the standard is so high and we can tell the competition is fierce out there. It’s going to be closely fought and we’re looking forward to a nailbiting finish.”

Votes can still be cast for any of the Top 30 acts, and a coupon – which counts for two votes – can be found on page 19 of today’s paper. It must be handed into the office by 5pm this evening.

Alternatively votes can be cast by text – simply text the word EEN, followed by a space, then TALENT, followed by a space, then the code for your favourite act, printed under their photo, followed by a space and then your postcode, to 61500. So for example, EEN TALENT 051 EH8 8AS.

You can see all the acts perform at www.edinburghnews.com/talent

Make sure you pick up Wednesday’s News to see who is one step closer to performing in the grand final.

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