Edinburgh girl is just one step away from singing at London O2

Edinburgh schoolgirl, Catherine Thomson, has taken the judging panel of the UK’s biggest original music competition by storm, and is now just one good performance away from playing at London’s O2 in the Grand Final of Live and Unsigned which is part of Live Fest, London’s biggest indoor festival. She was voted by judges as one of the best in the Regional Final Showcase and now Catherine will be competing against the most talented bands and artists in the country in the North East and Scotland Final on Saturday 12th May. At the heat in Glasgow she sang one of her own songs “Fortunate Tonight” followed by a cover of The Doors song “Strange”.

Catherine battled against the best talent in the region, to secure a coveted spot in the Area Finals and now has the opportunity to prove that she is the hottest unsigned act in the UK. Acts taking part in the live Area Final Showcase in front of hundreds of spectators will also get to perform to a professional judging panel, including judges from Radio One, Kerrang and Choice FM.

More than 10,000 acts entered nationally and the few still left in the competition are in with a chance of making their way to the Grand Final at London’s O2, winning the £10,000 main cash prize and the Live and Unsigned festival tour. There’ll also be a £10,000 publicity investment in the winners.

The winning act of Live and Unsigned 2012 will embark on a remarkable festival tour this summer spanning 15 top festivals across the UK including; Relentless Energy Drink Boardmasters, Norfolk Spectacular, Strawberry Fields Festival, Cloud 9 Festival, Glass Butter Beach, Brownstock, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and seven other summer festivals.

Catherine Thomson, is now just one good performance away from making The O2 and competing in the Grand Final, after making it through the auditions from over 10,000 acts and now the Regional Finals. Catherine is now preparing for the Area Final Showcase on Saturday 12th May 2012 in Newcastle for the opportunity to progress to the National Grand Final at The O2 in London.

Here she is singing in Glasgow:-

http://www.muzu.tv/player/getPlayer/a/ZKP9kRfWkc/vidId=1340710&la=n
Catherine Thompson – Live & Unsigned | Glasgow Regional Final on MUZU.TV.

That number is hopefully set to expand over the next couple of weeks, and it will also include an additional international festival with a partner in Sweden, Italy or Latvia. The lucky winner of the Peace & Love slot in Sweden will play alongside Rihanna, Bloc Party, Skrillex, Enter Shikari and many more! Aside from the winners tour there are more than 100 festival slots being given away throughout as the competition makes the journey towards the Grand Final at The O2.

Event Director of Live and Unsigned Chris Grayston says getting this far is a real achievement; “When you consider the amount of entries we had this year it’s a big deal to have got to this stage, and be just one performance away from fulfilling the dream of performing at The O2, one of the best music venues in the world”.

This year’s competition also offers acts an extra chance of exposure as it is being filmed for broadcasting on Sky TV in an exclusive fly-on-the-wall documentary, Live and Unsigned: Uncut. All the acts in the competition are battling it out for the chance to play at Live Fest at The O2 in London. The Grand Final is incorporated into London’s biggest indoor festival on the 14th July.

Live and Unsigned is the biggest original music competition in the UK for unsigned bands and artists. Attracting over 40,000 musicians to enter this year, it has set itself apart from its predecessors by promoting originality. It’s established as the definitive music competition for original acts and it’s open to all genres of music from Heavy Rock to Rap.

The winners will be awarded the title of the UK’s best unsigned act in front of a capacity crowd on the main stage of the festival. A&R and celebrity judges involved in previous finals include former Slade front man Noddy Holder, R’n’B star Shola Ama, Radio 1’s Annie Nightingale, Tom Deacon, Daniel P Carter, Ras Kwame and Kerrang! unsigned specialist Alex Baker, who can’t wait to be on the panel again; “It’s a really interesting competition to be involved with as it’s nice to actually see what bands have got in the flesh. There aren’t many competitions out there with the credibility of Live and Unsigned.”

For more information and tickets go to the website. Come down and support your local talent!