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Daniel Hannon Barry of Tournafulla attended auditions for The X Factor in Birmingham recently.
After queing for 6 hours in the freezing cold the crowd suddenly came to life with the arrival of Dermot O’ Leary.
Sporting the Irish flag saying “Daniel’s got the x factor” among the 6000 auditionees Dermot spotted it and thumped his chest in a symbol of respect to us. He then came over shook hands with Daniel, Damian (Daniel’s step dad) and Maria( Daniel’s mom)This was captured on film and later shown on Central News Birmingham where our vast family relatives in Birmingham were watching and captured it on camera. A picture of the shot is available on central news website as Dermot was approaching us. (SEE PHOTOS  ABOVE – LATEST PHOTOS). As the auditions were open Daniel was number 997 and went into a booth to audition (one of about 30 booths) while his Mom waited outside with anticipation. All of the other auditionees that went in with Daniel returned – some victorious some not and 20mins later I was still waiting outside my heart in my mouth willing him to walk out with the yellow ticket. Finally after an agonising wait he came round the corner spotted us and left a cheer out and began to run towards us. He had got through to the next stage. I ran towards him screaming with pride and relief and we both jumped into each others arms and hugged. OMG it was so exciting listening to Daniel recount the interview later that night as we dined with our Birmingham relatives and to hear how excited he was and how shocked he was to have got a yes. Describing how he felt his heart leap with joy and double checked to see if the judge was serious. He described how he leapt into the air and the booth effectivly was just 4 walls no ceiling and Daniel being 6ft 3 all the other auditionees could see was Daniel’s head and shoulders rising up in a loud cheer above the booth walls. We were so proud of him. But we had another 4 am rise on the following morning and with only 2hours 15mins sleep the previous night we headed back to the appartment and got 5 hours sleep before attending another day of auditions. this time we were indoors from 7am so at least we were warm and had a seat and at 9 o clock the doors opened for the auditions. the camera crew were in full action today and it was announced that while it is a singing competition it is primarily a TV show. Every move you made was being televised today and regardless of whether you had the best voice in the room, if your personality and image did not come accros well on the tv you will not get through. This opened our eyes to the difference between The x factor anf the All Ireland talent show (which is primarily about the talent). however we waited our turn with a group of auditionees that we met the previous day and took out the guitar’s and began a singsong to warm up the vocal cords. The talent in that group alone was outstanding. As they all got called in one after the other the majority came out with a no so while we are firm believers in positive thinking and visualisation doubt began to creep in. again Daniel was called in and again the wait was agonising this time he came back with a “No“. My heart sank for him and he was gutted. recounting the whole second audition and more intense interview. The judges said they really liked him but he was young and not what they were looking for right now but they said they know they will be seeing more of him in the future and wished him all the luck in the world with his career. Well to me this was really a positive. He is only 17 with no experience and they saw something in him that they really liked. So even though he didnt go any further within the competition I still see it as a success to be put through to the second round as one of 500 out of 6 thousand auditionees and to be told that he has a career in music by Sony producers was a huge compliment. I know that this is only the begining for Daniel and auditions so we have a long road ahead. But for now it’s knuckle down to the leaving cert and try to get into Music in UCC. From me and everyone in Abbeyfeale that knows Daniel – Well Done! You Did us Proud! (picture of Daniel available with X factor number given at 2nd auditions if required)

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