Kingsland Road told their performance will be “the one “people will be looking forward to every week”
Kingsland Road in New York, photo ITV - Credit: Archant
Kingsland Road sailed through to the next round of the X Factor live shows, as their mentor, pop icon Gary Barlow, told them their performance would be the one “people will be looking forward to every week”.
The five-piece boy band - who take their name from the stretch of the A10 running from Stoke Newington to Shoreditch – joined 11 other acts Saturday night for a show with an 80s theme.
Connor, 19, Josh, 20, Matt, 23, Thompson, 22 and Jay, 19, pulled off George Michael and Andrew Ridgely’s classic Wham pop tune I’m Your Man.
Judge Nicole Scherzinger said she was “impressed with that performance”, Louis Walsh told them he “loved them from their very first audition”, while Sharon Osborne told them they are “going to go an awful long way.”
She added: “You have great energy, there’s a great atmosphere you brought to the room here, it’s fantastic - and Connor, you look like Leonardo Di Caprio.”
Gary joined in with the praise: “All the hard work has paid off, there’s nothing like you out there at the moment, you are new, you’re original and do you know what this’ll be the performance everyone is looking forward to every week.”
The boys told Dermot O’Leary they never imagined in their “wildest dreams” they would get such amazing comments in week one.
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The lads, who had to change their band name from Kingsland because a US group already has that name, share a two-bedroom flat in Haggerston and have lived in Shoreditch and Homerton.
“We’ve gone from a two bedroom flat with beds on the floor to a mansion with a swimming pool,” said one of them.
“We’ve been doing all these photo shoots and it has just been mad, we’ve been singing all day, we get our make up done.”
During boot camp they admitted to judges that two of them had lost their bar jobs after stepping up band rehearsals.
The night saw a new twist to the ITV talent contest, with a “flash vote”.
The act with the lowest votes recorded in the 10 minutes after the lines opened - Shelley Smith – had to compete in a “sing off” with the other act with the lowest votes by the following night, Lorna Simpson – who lost.
