Episode 4 The Big Performance

Ten kids, terrified of singing in public.

Hey, don't cry.

What's happening?

-I don't want to do it.

-Two soloists. Chris and Oli.

They must undergo tough performance challenges...

-You must be extra nervous.

-I'm still shaking.

..to face their ultimate fear -

singing to a crowd of 40,000 people.

There's enough people there to eat you alive.

I can't explain how I feel. I'm really scared.

Could you do it? This is The Big Performance.

Last time the Big Performance bus visited one of the UK's top resorts.

The trainee singers took on a show tunes number.

-But embarrassment...

-I don't think singing is the done thing for boys.

-Oh, I can't do it.

-..and fear threaten to ruin their performance.

It's a difficult song. They've got to work hard.

If they're worrying, they will never get there.

And one...

How will they fare today, when they attempt a country classic?

I'm not doing it.

Who knew that country was going to be such a test?

I'm not doing it.

If he pulls out now, he'll regret it for the rest of his life.

Will the star of Outnumbered keep them on track?

I've got ten of the least convincing cowboys you've ever seen.

-Hi.

-I know him.

-He's cool.

Oli, it is going to be fine but I need you to give it a go.

Today The Big Performance tour bus is heading east

to Oli and Chris's neck of the woods, the New Forest in Hampshire,

with wild horses, acres of space and a ranch.

It's the perfect space for ten singing lone rangers.

It's a very different kind of music.

It's country music.

We're going to have two soloists this time.

-Chris...

-No!

-..and Oli.

-No.

-No!

My favourite music is definitely rap.

I will sing anywhere my sisters can't hear me.

I definitely don't like Justin Bieber.

I like all types of music.

I can sing to anyone as long as I've got my eyes shut.

And I don't get what all the fuss is with Lady Gaga.

-Do you like country music?

-No.

-No.

-Hate country music.

-Yeah.

-Yeah

Country music, popular since 1960,

sells millions of albums every year.

Grammy Award winner, Taylor Swift, is 19.

Her recent album went platinum in 14 countries.

And she's already the biggest selling digital artist of all time.

Dolly Parton's my favourite and Billy Ray Cyrus.

So far we've had all girls singing the solos.

It's time for the boys to step up.

No... I don't want to sing on my own.

That's probably the hardest thing.

Getting over the fact that everyone's watching me

and listening to me.

# I'm riding solo I'm riding solo, I'm riding solo... #

Gareth has picked the perfect location

to get the group tuned in to country music.

I brought you out into the middle of absolute nowhere

because country music started with people out in the wilderness,

under the stars, singing to themselves

about their feelings and emotions.

I have got you out here to get in touch

with the spirit of country music.

-Oh!

-Wow!

Get yourself a hat.

We're going to be singing a song that's incredibly popular.

It has been covered by everyone form Elvis to LeAnnn Rimes.

The song is called Your Cheating Heart.

-Never heard of it.

-Never heard of it?

Great song. It's really good. You'll love it. It's a classic.

# Your cheatin' heart

# Will make you weep

# You'll cry and cry

# And try to sleep... #

What do you think? Good song? Oli?

-I don't like it.

-It will take you a couple more listens

before you like it, but it's a great song.

Ready, two, three and one...

-ALL:

-# Your cheating heart

# Your che-e-ating heart...#

Try that. Three and go.

# Your che-e-ating heart... #

Yeah, so you go, # Che-e-ating, che-e-ating... #

# Will make you weep. #

Why don't Oli and Chris both have a go at singing that?

One, two, three and go.

# Your cheating heart... #

Both of you. # Will make you weep... #

-I'm not doing it.

-Ready?

# You cry and cry

-# And try to sleep... #

-No.

Oli, what's happened?

-I don't want to do it.

-You don't want to do it?

-I hate the song too much.

-You hate the song too much?

OK, I'm sorry that you don't like country,

but we're here to try new things.

-Katie, were you scared when you did your solo?

-Very.

-Did you do it?

-Yes.

Oli, it is going to be fine, but I NEED you to give it a go.

-Is this a complete refusal?

-Pretty much.

Why don't you take some time out, go and have a think about it

and I will teach the next bit of the song.

Let's learn the next bit of the song.

Yee-ha!

This is a real turning point for Oli.

OK, three and one...

Can he get over his embarrassment of singing in public

and embrace the country music solo?

Or will he give up all together?

I'm not doing it.

Everyone else has shown courage

in the face of a really, really scary thing.

And he hasn't. I'm really sad for him cos if he pulls out now,

he'll regret it for the rest of his life.

I really believe that.

With Oli's future on The Big Performance hanging by a thread,

it's left to Chris to take on the track later on today.

You're going to be performing in front of New Forest locals.

So far, they've sung in front of each other...

SHE SINGS

# Can you feel it... #

..Gareth's old school choir

and professional entertainers.

# If I only had a heart... #

The stakes just got tougher. They must face the general public.

This is your first proper, public performance.

-And you're doing the solo, Chris.

-So is Oli.

Oli will be doing it. I'll go and talk to him now.

I feel that it might spoil, like, my solo

if he doesn't do it as well

cos we're both doing different verses, but on the same song.

I'm really worried about Oli.

He's just refusing to sing. This is a singing experience.

He said he wanted to improve his confidence by singing.

And now he won't sing.

Oli, an only child, loves football, tennis, rugby, you name it -

anything sporty.

But his guilty pleasure is singing.

I can sing in front of anyone

when I've got my eyes closed and headphones on.

So I can't hear my own voice or see anything.

Last week, he had difficulty singing show tunes.

'It's all about confidence, at the moment, I don't have much of that.'

I don't think singing is, like, the done thing for boys.

The thought of doing a country music solo later on today

has pushed him to the brink.

If you walk away, I'll obviously be really sad.

I'll be sad for you cos it'll be an opportunity lost.

But no-one is making you do it.

I want you to think really hard about it.

If Oli stayed and tried with us,

he'd probably be able to do the solo.

Giving it a try is the most you can do.

I don't think Oli's really got that yet.

It's decision time for Oli.

Can he overcome his fears and face the music?

Everything was just

swirling around and I couldn't concentrate. I walked out.

Oli!

Good to see you. How are you doing?

-Not very well.

-Not very well. OK.

I'm going to level with you.

I think you've got one of the better voices in the group.

It's very pure, you're bang in tune, you've got a good musical mind.

You're going to get this right if you go for it.

-Do you think you can do it?

-Dunno...

I reckon you can. I really do. Let's give it a go.

# Your che-e-ating heart

# Will pine some day

# And crave the love

# You threw away. #

You did a really nice thing where you opened the sound up.

I think it was, # Your cheating he-a-a-art... #

And you let us really hear your voice.

Could you go,

# Your che-e-ating hea-a-a-a-art... #

# Your che-e-ating hea-a-a-a-art

# Will pine some day

# And crave the lo-o-o-ove

# You threw away. #

Yeah.

How are you feeling now?

-Really?

-Mm-hmm.

-I think that was really good.

It was so critical. I thought he was going to leave.

I thought he was going to walk away and never come back.

And that, for me, is a big breakthrough.

Oli now wants to do it.

I did OK, so I feel so much better now.

I think we hit rock bottom and the only way is up.

I still hate country music, and I still dislike the song,

but Gareth says it brings out a lot of my voice.

So far everything Gareth says has been right.

I'll just have to trust him.

Later on today, Gareth will be rating Oli's chances

as the Proms In The Park soloist.

High, medium or low. Will he rise to the challenge?

It's time for Gareth to focus his attention

on today's other soloist, Chris.

Chris loves fishing, fishing and more fishing.

Mainly because he's away from his sisters, he's outnumbered.

They tease him about absolutely everything,

but especially his singing.

I normally tell Chris his singing's rubbish.

We need to find a way to make this song work for you.

Stand up.

I want you to shout at me using those words.

Your cheating heart... Really have a go at me.

-Use different kinds of expression.

-Should I shout

-like I'm shouting at my little sister?

-Exactly.

Perfect.

Your cheating heart, will make you weep!

You'll cry and cry and try to sleep, but sleep won't come.

How can we use that when we're singing?

HIGH-PITCHED: # Your cheating heart. #

Sing it like you mean it?

Chris has always struggled with his lack of confidence.

It's just people judge me for what I can and can't do.

I can't do a lot of things. I get bullied a lot, yeah.

But I just want to prove I can actually do something.

If Chris can start believing in himself,

he may be able to find his voice.

Sing it like you mean it.

# But sleep won't come

# The whole night through

# Your cheating heart

# Will tell on you... #

Great. Can you do that and be that expressive in your eyes

when we do the performance?

I'll try. I'll give it my best shot.

Good. Well done. Really, really good session.

I really liked when Chris started to shout

and be more expressive. I've not really seen that in his singing.

I know that it's there in his personality,

but he hasn't had the confidence to put it into the song.

The best that just happened is that I actually got to shout at Gareth.

Your cheating heart will tell on you!

I feel really confident now,

but I hope it doesn't change for the performance later on.

Will his chances of becoming the Proms In The Park soloist be high,

medium, or low?

Later, the group will perform LeAnn Rimes' version

of Your Cheating Heart to their first public audience.

To get them into the music, the tour bus's next stop

has everything a country star could wish for.

Plus there's a celebrity guest waiting in the wings.

As you know, this week we're doing country music.

I think it's important that you get into the feeling

of what it is to be cowgirl or a cowboy.

Yee-ha!

Yes!

A cowboy is nothing without his lasso.

So mastering this art should get them into the part.

LAUGHTER Um, yee-ha!

Yee-ha!

-Yee-ha!

-Yee-ha!

Really going for it.

SHOUTS: Yee-ha!

And away it goes.

It doesn't matter that we didn't get the bull,

but what matters for singing is that we get the attitude.

I didn't really see cowboys.

So, I'm going to go and get someone who'll help you

get into the spirit of cowboy cos he's a really good actor.

This person has been in an award-winning comedy.

He's not that much older than you.

He's an absolutely brilliant actor. I'll get him.

-Tyger.

-Hi-yo.

-Hello.

I've got ten of the least convincing cowboys you've ever seen.

Star of hit TV show Outnumbered,

Tyger Drew-Honey has been acting since the age of seven.

I will do anything to get them on their way.

-Good, let's go and meet them.

-Lovely.

Hi, everyone.

I know him, he's called Tyger Drew-Honey,

he's off Outnumbered, he plays Jake, he's cool.

OK, well one of the most important things about performing

is getting into character, because if you're not in your character

things can seem flat and uninteresting.

How can we help everyone get into character as a cowboy?

Well, for our little exercise today

we're going to be doing some role-plays.

You've all got the same characters.

Armed with props and some stock country characters

our singers have to act out a typical cowboy movie scene.

There's sheriff's, cowgirls, bandits and even a damsel in distress.

Your story isn't quite as important as the characters,

because if you don't have the character,

if you're not convincing then there isn't a story.

Imagine if you had been given a box of frogs, how you'd react.

-I would laugh.

-I would scream.

-Well scream.

Really, you can't pretend to be in character, you have to actually be.

How do you get into character?

I just sit down for a second and prepare myself,

just imagine how you'd walk and talk and interact with things.

'Think what a particular character might be.'

What sort of environment he'd be in, what sort of mood he'd be in.

Tired, old, think of all those things, take them into account.

And then you can get a really good,

accurate idea of what to do, how to move, things like that.

Oli is a massive Outnumbered fan.

Can his idol, Tyger, help him get into his role as a country soloist.

In your mind what would you say is a brilliant soloist?

He has no fear and his voice is really clear and really loud.

So it can be heard from a long way away.

You need to put yourself in this brilliant soloist's shoes.

You need to have no fear, be positive,

make sure your voice is loud and clear.

Be that person that you just described to me.

No! Please, I have two starving kids at home.

You were a really desperate, dithery criminal,

which I thought was good. Really funny.

When you're singing it is like putting on a character.

It doesn't always have to be you on stage.

Really fantastic to meet you and really inspiring as well.

Thank you very much, that's really good.

Tyger told us to like act like a character and think of it

so you won't get like nervous or shy to do it.

You can be a different kind of person

to who you are normally when you're singing.

If you were singing country for example,

just imagine yourself as a cowboy, like "hey, I'm Bob."

The tune goes, it's like

# Your cheating heart... #

While the rest of the team rehearse, it's challenge time for Chris.

Gareth needs to see

that he's starting to believe in himself as a singer.

Chris, it's time for your solo challenge.

I want you to sing in front of your sisters and four of their friends.

No.

Do you think you can do it?

My sisters are going to take the mickey out of me.

They might, but I think they'll be encouraging,

because you're going to be brilliant.

Come on, let's go.

Singing to his sisters is a big deal for Chris.

As Gareth discovered at the first audition.

-I actually want to prove my sisters wrong.

-Why what do they say?

-They say, "You're rubbish."

-Really?

-"You can't do that,

"you can't do this."

It might not be that bad because...

her four friends are my four friends and they might not take the mickey.

But I know my sisters will.

If Chris can pull this off he will hopefully find the courage

to sing in front of the group's largest audience yet.

There he is.

# You're ch... # Erh!

# Ahhhh

# Will make you weep

# You will cry and cry

# And try to sleep

# The time will come

# When you'll be blue

# Your cheating heart

# Will tell on you. #

APPLAUSE

Chris, I'm not even going to ask the audience, I'm going to ask you

did you sing or did you speak?

-I spoke.

-You spoke.

Gareth wants to show Chris that he really can sing,

if he just believes it himself.

-# You're... #

-Yeah?

And...

# You'll cry and cry

# And try to sleep. #

You see, he can do it.

I'm happy they clapped but I don't know if they meant it.

I think he sounded a lot better than I thought.

I think he's really brave.

I wouldn't be able to do this.

There's good news and bad news.

The good news is he got through it and didn't fall apart.

The bad news is it wasn't the best performance.

He'll be beating himself up now. I need time to get him up to scratch.

One down, another soloist to go.

Can Oli let go of his fears and sing in front of an audience?

His toughest yet is closer to home than he realises.

OK, Oli, you know where we are.

We're outside your house. Who do you think's inside?

-I don't know, but I'm terrified.

-It's your parents.

If you can do this then you can do the performance later.

-OK.

-Shall we give it a go? Come on, let's face your fears.

He's quite self-conscious, will do anything to avoid the limelight.

So this is the one that is hardest for him.

I'll always want to do them, like proud, whenever I do something.

And I'm worried about slip-ups.

Can Oli prove he really has turned a corner?

# You'll cry and cry

# And try to sleep

# But sleep won't come

# The whole night through

# Your cheating heart

# Would tell on you

BOTH: # When tears come down

# Like falling rain

# You'll toss around

# And call my name

# Your cheating heart

# Will tell on you. #

Really fantastic, yeah.

Yeah, he's really great to stand up there and do that.

I would find it so hard.

Didn't show you didn't like the song, you sang it with heart.

You passed your solo challenge, round of applause I think.

It means a lot to me that my parents think I'm a good singer.

I've always been nervous to sing to them.

I don't say this very often but I am proud of him anyway,

to see him there singing in front of us was terrific, yeah.

We now know that Oli can actually do it, he can sing.

It's a really good sound, he makes.

Now he just needs to forget about all the worries

and stand up and look like he enjoys it.

Put on a character of somebody confident.

To put on a successful country performance

the group needs to get into character.

But how do the celebs do it?

I've got to find something in my own life, I've experienced,

that I can latch onto in the song.

And then feed off of that all of the time.

It's kind of sort of method acting, for an actor.

When playing a character I think it's important you think about

the way that character stands, the way they hold themselves.

The way they portray themselves.

And that sets you up perfectly for your performance.

For some people, if the character's strong enough

and they know it well enough they can snap into it.

So there isn't any preparation process.

Whatever type of singer you're going to be, soul, country, pop,

it's important you know the styles you're playing.

And really get your head space into that sound.

It's showtime.

And the spotlight falls on Chris and Oli.

They've made it through their solo challenges,

but this is the largest audience they've ever sung to.

Can they keep their cool?

Yeah, I'm feeling nervous.

There's kids and adults there.

Our age just waiting to see us.

In the end this is my only solo opportunity, so I've got to take it.

Um, and give it my best.

Everyone is scared and nervous, but we're still going to do it.

I'm particularly nervous about this

because this is their biggest audience to date.

Oli I think should do a good job, but I'm really worried about Chris.

Because he really was very nervous in his performance challenge.

I don't know how it's going to go.

Give it as much as you can.

OK? Agreed?

Come on, let's do this, let's go.

APPLAUSE

There's nothing more Gareth can do.

It's up to Oli and Chris to prove they're real contenders

for the Proms In The Park solo spot.

PIANO

# Your cheating heart

# Will try... # Erh.

# You'll cry and cry

# And try to sleep

# But sleep won't come

# The whole night through

# Your cheating heart

# Will tell on you

# When tears come down

# Like falling rain

# You'll toss around

# And call my name

# You'll walk the floor

# The way I do

# Your cheating heart

# Will tell on you. #

APPLAUSE

WHISTLES

Who knew that country was going to be such a test?

I really enjoyed it, I think I did pretty well in it.

I didn't like it that much but I'm glad I did it.

This is my first public audience and I think it went OK.

# Those troubles I'm facing

# The chances I'm taking

# Sometimes might knock me down but

# No, I'm not breaking. #

Some of them struggled with it as a style of music.

But I think it's done them good.

In seven weeks Gareth's singers will perform to a 40,000 strong crowd

at Proms In The Park.

One of them will be picked as the soloist.

Based on today's performance, I think Chris has got a low chance

of being the soloist for the big performance.

But Oli's got a much better chance, I think he's got a very good voice,

doesn't struggle so much with the pitch, as Chris.

I think Oli's got a high chance.

But with seven weeks to go until the big performance,

there's still time for things to change

before Gareth makes his final decision.

Next time on The Big Performance.

The group go back to DJ school.

# I've got the power. #

Howard's solo has a powerful effect on his audience.

-It moved me to tears, I have to say.

-Oh, tears!

-Tears of the good sort.

-Very, very good.

And the group singing is put to the test

when they perform to their most important audience yet.

The man from The Proms has expectations, he wants a good show.

So I really hope that they just... get it right.