On January 30, “America’s Got Talent: All-Stars” continued with the fifth installment of first round episodes featuring performances from 10 fan favorite acts. In this penultimate episode in the preliminary round, judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel joined with Terry Crews to hand out the special Group Golden Buzzer to the one act they all agreed to be most deserving of a spot in The Finals. Following a rendition of “The Sound of Silence” that Simon called the best vocal performance of the series, Tom Ball was their consensus choice. Watch the full performance in the video above.
Tom first competed on season 15 of “Britain’s Got Talent” where he finished in third place. He lost in The Finals to comedian Axel Blake who he was set to go head-to-head against again on this episode of “All-Stars.” To come back this time around, Tom had his second chance to show his family and the world that he’s deserving of a winning title as well as to inspire that there are always “higher heights” to achieve.
In his performance he was joined by a string quartet in a stunning version of the Simon & Garfunkel classic “The Sound of Silence.” Ahead of the song, Howie and Heidi mentioned how nervous, yet lovable he seemed. Following the performance, they joined Simon and the entire crowd in a roaring standing ovation, confirming that he overcame the nerves to once again touch the hearts of his audience.
Simon expressed “anger” that this performance wasn’t the first time he was experiencing Tom because not only did he deliver something unexpected, but it was also the “best performance all series.” Howie added that he’s able to do classic music “so right” and that’s amazing. Heidi said it’s “outstanding and larger than life” because he hits all the right notes and has the pipes to back it up. The critique returned to Simon who said that if he had performed that song in the BGT finale that he would have won. At that point, the crowd began to chant, “Golden Buzzer!” and Terry answered by coming out on stage to receive a thumbs up from Heidi and Simon, signaling that the panel was unifying in their decision to give Tom the Group Golden Buzzer.
As the fifth and final Golden Buzzer act of the season, Tom joins Heidi’s pick Aidan McCann, Simon’s selection Mike E. Winfield, Terry’s choice Detroit Youth Choir and Howie’s pick Light Balance Kids in The Finals. He will also compete in that last round against the acts that advanced based on the superfans vote: Bello Sisters, Aidan Bryant, Avery Dixon, Power Duo and Ana-Maria Mărgean.
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