It's a wrap - The Voice Au Grand Finale

After spending the last 4 weeks live tweeting from my couch during The Voice AU live finals I was very excited to be heading back to The Voice arena for the Grand Finale yesterday all thanks to Vodafone Au.

Talk about an extra special VIP experience and a half….  

At 1pm I was again picked up by my driver Alex in his Mercedes who was just a true gentleman and made the beginning of my journey ever so pleasant as we made our way to the studio.

On arrival at Fox Studios I met with my fellow Team Vodafone compadre Kate Patto and the very lovely Lisa from Shine Australia.  We were all very excited.

We then headed into The Voice AU on site office to have a quick chat with Holly who is the head of Social Media.  Holly gave us a quick run-down and the hash tags to be used for the night. Of course #thevoiceau and we were told to use the #grandfinale which was apparently created by Joel Madden when he used it one of the live shows! You gotta love Joel for his creative use of words during the live finals.

Our favourite Vodafone girl Alice then joined us and we were escorted by Lisa to the room where magic takes place. In the make-up room, Caterina Torres, Celia Pavey and the soulful Miss Murphy were also present. I said hello to Caterina and I grabbed her phone number.  

 I could not believe how fast the make-up artists worked to get us all done up and what a fab job they did!

On my way to get dressed I bumped into Celia Pavey again and I gave her a hug for good luck.  Mitch Anderson and I caught up and I had a quick chat with Danny Ross and also wished him luck.

After whipping on my electric blue crepe “China Girl” dress made for me by my designer friend Voislav, I headed back to the make-up room. It was at this moment I wish I had started singing “Lost without you, can’t help myself”... The one and only Robin Thicke was sitting in the chair having his hair worked. Ahh! It really was a magical room.

Finally it was time to meet the coaches. A small of group of people gathered in the VIP tent and 15 minutes later Delta Goodrem, Seal, Ricky Martin and Joel Madden arrived on the scene. They were all so lovely. I hugged each and everyone one of them especially Ricky and I handed them a copy of my brother Mike Champion's CD. They all said “Oh Mike, we loved his performance." I was so happy.

I had heard from my friend Zaidee, that Seal loved poetry so I asked Seal what his favourite Rumi poem was and he began to recite: "Whatever, did I lose in dying..” for Kate and I.  Halfway through the recital, he stopped, snapped his fingers and said "You've given me an idea.” I wonder what the idea was?

I told Ricky how much I had loved watching him on the show and he thanked me. Delta told me she loved my dress and style – chuffed.  Joel told us how much he loved the show and what it does to support great Australian talent. He didn't have his toothpick with him.

At this time, Kate and I had stop and soak up the moment and we had a toast to the fact that we just had the chance to meet four world class artists. Thank you Vodafone!

After a quick bite with the crew we then hit the red carpet. I just love the red carpet. Lots of screaming girls, Darren McMullen and the top 16 artists and their coaches strutting their stuff. We grabbed some photos with finalists Harrison and Celia and Seal used my camera to take a pic of us together.

Ricky said hi again and he told me he had received my tweet. I have to admit, I was completely star struck by Ricky Martin. What a man, What a mighty mighty good man.

1. 
   Angel Champion ‏@AnAngelChampion23h

   I just met @ricky_martin OMG!!!! He is just gorgeous! #thevoiceau #grandfinale #teamvodafone

Upon entering The Voice AU arena you could feel the electrifying energy in the room and it was fabulous that the live performances amplified this energy.

Three highlights for me were of course, Robin Thicke with “Blurred Lines”.  He brought it with his banging hit and world class performance.  Ricky Martin and Luke Kennedy blew my mind with their version of “Roxanne” and you could just feel the love between Seal and The Voice of 2013 Harrison Craig in their rendition of “His My Brother”. I feel privileged to have been there to witness it all first hand.

I have to say The Voice is one of the best reality shows to hit the Australian television. Not only does it arouse so many emotions in you, but it is the greatest platform for local Aussie artists to be seen and heard and also offers them an amazing life experience.

If you have a Voice I suggest you audition for next year’s show! You have nothing to lose!

A shout out to all the production team of 200 + at Shine Australia that work tirelessly to bring us The Voice Au and who do such an amazing job to make it happen.  Thanks especially to Lisa Coren and Dave Emery for making our experience so very special.

Congrats to Harrison Craig for his well deserved crowning of The Voice of Australia 2013 and also to Super Coach Seal for his second win in a row.

A big thank you to Vodafone Australia for giving me this opportunity to report all the behind the scenes action, I am truly grateful.

Until next year that’s a wrap for Team Vodafone.

The Voice Australia - Angels top 4

Who's loving The Voice AU? I certainly am.

I love The Voice not only because some of my local friends Michelle Martinez, Rob Edwards & Lady Lyric got their chance to shine on a national and international stage, and it is a great platform for our local artists to showcase their talent, but also because the show arouses so many emotions. One moment you are crying hearing one of the artists major life challenge and then the next you are laughing at Joel Madden's jokes and crazy antics.

Although Keith Urban was a hard act to follow, can I just say I couldn't be happier the gorgeous Ricky Martin joined our coaching panel. Ricky is not only easy on the eye, but he is a true gentleman who only speaks words of beauty! Go RICKY!

After my VIP experience on the first live finals show on Monday, I got to meet most of the top 16 artists.and I had the opportunity to see them perform live at the rehearsals and again at the live show.

So I wanted to publish a post on who I think the top four final artists from each team would be based on my knowledge of the industry. 

Here we go:



Who I'd like it to be: Mitch Anderson

Who I think it will actually be: Harrison Craig

Who I'd like it to be: Kiyomi Vella

I think it will actually be: Michael Paytner

Who I'd like it to be: Miss Murphy

I think it will actually be: Luke Kennedy

Who I would like it to be: Steve Clisby

I think it will actually be: Tim Morrison

What do you think?

Behind the scenes at The Voice Au Live finals

Talk about a VIP celebrity experience and a half! Monday night I had it all and more and it was all thanks to Vodafone Australia.

After being chosen as Social Media Reporter (right up my alley) for #TeamVodafone at The Voice Australia live finals, I was very excited to receive a Samsung Galaxy S4 to report my adventures with and to give The Voice AU Fans, VIP access whilst tweeting, and posting pics on instagram live from the first finals show. 

And it went like this;

At 3pm on Monday 20th May 2013, I was picked up in a Mercedes; my driver was just great and would not let me open the door and when I asked him who the last celebrity he worked with was he said, "I'm not sure if you know her, her name is Angel Champion".

I was chuffed. 

An honourable mention here to my fabulous designer friend Voislav for styling me in this slick white Safari leather trim jacket I love it! Thanks V!

Also thanks to Trudy from 9 lives Re-creation for providing me with this recycled zipper necklace and a HUGE thanks to Karen Burgoyne for her beautiful work on my face.

Upon arrival at Fox Studios I was greeted by the very friendly, welcoming and hospitable team at Shine Australia (the production company for The Voice Au).  Dave and Lisa really took care of us.  I was also joined by the very lovely Alice from Vodafone. 

We were then taken into The Voice on site offices to meet the heads of Social Media Joel & Holly #TeamJolly. They were so lovely; (they put your tweets on TV. They told me what they look for - Be different, be quirky, a little bit cheeky but always be positive!) (Hush, hush).

 

After receiving a run down on how The Voice Social Hub works we were then taken to the live rehearsals.

When I say live I mean the artists were rehearsing their song LIVE and I got to see it & tweet about it first. The coaches Seal, Joel, Delta & Ricky were in the building giving their feedback to the artists.

Oh so exciting! The pics, my tweets and my videos tell it all.

Just in case you are wondering all of these videos and pics were taken with the Samsung Galaxy S4 and it was all powered by the coolest Telco in Australia - Vodafone.

Check out the lighting. The Voice Au definitely has the best lighting and staging.

 

 

 

 

UH OH they gave me a microphone

During rehearsals we met the girls from Channel 9 and they gave Alice and I a bag of goodies. VIP baby!

We were also treated to an impromptu performance by Delta Goodrem as she broke out into a song. Her voice is flawless.

Alice and I were ecstatic to be given VIP seating, right behind guess who?

After rehearsals we got to meet The Voice AU band. 

Did you know that by the end of the show they would have learnt approximately 180 different songs. 

Like WOW! 

Musical Director, Scott Alpin told me that coffee was his best friend and no sleep had become the norm.  

I was happy to catch up with my old friend Michael Dolce. He is one of Sydney's most accomplished Guitarists.

I also met Byron lead Bass player for the John Butler Trio.

Props to the band they make the music! :) 

We were then escorted to the VIP tent to eat dinner with the crew.

Have you ever seen how people who work on a set of a film, movie or television show eat? 

Imagine school camp back in the day.

The food was really good! 

Whilst eating dinner we could hear the crowd cheering outside who had eagerly gathered  for the red carpet arrivals.

I immediately thought to myself 'hmmm Ricky Martin must be around.'

It seems I was right, the excitement once again built as we were whisked away to the red carpet to see the artists and their coaches arriving.

I was positioned in a prime spot on the carpet and I bumped into a Twitter fan of mine. Hey Hey @The_VoiceAu_Fan.

The red carpet was a blast. First Team Seal, then Team Ricky, then Team Joel & them Team Delta.

As Team Ricky arrived the screams got louder and the girls began to chant "Ah Ricky, you're so fine you blow my mind, hey Ricky, hey Ricky..."

He smiled and clapped along.

  

 

Once the red carpet was over we were blessed with a meet and greet with the angelic Rachel Leahcar from The Voice Au 2012.  What a beautiful and precious soul she is.

After meeting Rachel we were whisked back to the red carpet to get some press shots with the artists.

I got to meet most of them at this time.

They were all really lovely and they looked fabulous. I encouraged them all.

It's not easy getting up on that big stage.

Once the photo shoot was over we headed into the V Room.

I was lucky enough to be given this very candid interview by Faustina the Fuzz. She is just beautiful. She reveals who her favourite coach is. 

Finally it was SHOWTIME!

 

The highlights of the night for me from the performances were definitely Kiyomi Vella's rendition of "It's Oh So Quiet", she blew me away and Celia Pavey with "Jolene", wow, Delta's song choice was on point.

Another highlight was when host Darren McMullen announced that he is nominated for Cleo Bachelor of the year. 

What do you think ladies is Darren eligible?

The Voice Au arena was absolutely electrifying. What made my experience even more memorable was the fact that I got to sit behind Ricky Martin.

Alice from Vodafone and I had the best afternoon and evening experiencing the very first The Voice Au live final.

We were treated like royalty it was just fabulous. I could get used to that life. 


To keep up with all the backstage happenings on The Voice Au live finals and for VIP access follow my fellow #TeamVodafone compadres @PaulyMaybury & @KatePatto on Twitter & Instagram and also on The Voice Au social hub 

I will be back again at The Voice Au grand final ready to represent #TeamVodafone on 

Monday 17th June. You can follow my updates on Twitter & Instagram - @AnAngelChampion or check out all the action on the tube - LeopardAngelTV

A huge thanks to Vodafone for this amazing experience and to Dave and Lisa at Shine Australia for looking after me.

                                                                                                           

I love The VOICE.



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