Show Review – Esso Youth Showcase 2014

By: Emily Thomson

Every year Esso holds a youth showcase for the upcoming stars of Halifax and surrounding areas. This years showcase featured The Brood, Elephants in Trouble, Kyle Mischiek and Laura Roy. The way this showcase works is each artist or group performs 2 mini sets. After watching all the performers do one set, voting opens. It was up to the audience to vote in person or tweet to vote for their favourite performer. At the end of the night the votes are counted and one artist wins $500 from Esso.

The showcase started off with the first set from Kyle Mischiek. Kyle perform songs like ‘You (Wake Up Beautiful), ‘Cold Water’ and my personal favorite, ‘Mine for the Summertime’. It was my first time seeing Kyle perform and I must say I enjoyed it. I will definitely be going to another one of his shows in the future. Kyle closed his second set with ‘Mine for the Summertime’. It had everyone on their feet and dancing. You can check out the music video for ‘Mine for the Summertime’ here: http://youtu.be/M44UICHhRRs as well as his album ‘Fallin in Deep’ here: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/fallin-in-deep/id663075811 We will have an interview with Kyle coming soon on Canadian Beats!

10567912_812720908768836_857432641_n

Next up was Laura Roy! Laura’s voice is incredible! She blew the crowd away with everyone song she sang. This wasn’t my first time seeing Laura and it definitely won’t be my last. Laura played some older songs like ‘Highroad’, ‘Tonight’, ‘Karma’, ‘Give it All Back’, as well as a cover of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ and some newer so songs like ‘Body Talk’ and ‘Party With the Lights On’ and of course, her latest single ‘Getting Back to Loving Me’. Laura had the whole crowd dancing to ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’, ‘Party With The Lights On’ and ‘Getting Back to Loving Me’. You can download Laura’s latest single here: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/getting-back-to-loving-me/id890228188

1082094_812721022102158_41888877_n

Next up was a band called Elephants in Trouble. Elephants in Trouble were in the CBC Searchlight competition. They were actually one of Tara’s picks during the competition. I had never heard anything by the band before so I don’t know the names of their songs. I would definitely go see this band again, they did amazing.

10595828_812721032102157_360836544_n

And finally, The Brood. Again, I had never heard anything by this band. They were really really good. I would go see them again.

10578305_812721042102156_1378617250_n

Voting was a very hard choice. Each and every artists did awesome and deserved it. But at the end of the night there could only be one winner. Miss Laura Roy won the $500 from Esso. It was definitely well deserved. You can check out clips from Laura performance on her Instagram, @lauraroymusic.

10589918_812721112102149_2094087470_n

Connect with the artists:
https://twitter.com/thebroodhfx
https://twitter.com/3lephantSounds
https://twitter.com/lauraroymusic
https://twitter.com/kylemischiek