Gareth Gates sings Empty Chairs at Empty Tables from Les Miserables on Michael Ball show

[RedLorryYellowLorryx]

he should have taken Nick Jonas's role.. definitely :P

[TheKatiefied]

This is the guy from pop idol?!?! Holy Schmolies!

[lykohmigawd1]

i kinda think he is over acting in this....love him though.

[RedLorryYellowLorryx]

@lykohmigawd1 now that you point it out.. yeah he is panting a bit too much and over acting.. but i think he's just really eager to please which is cute :P

[hotqueekboi]

Michael Ball has the better trained voice, but he was never appropriate for the part. Too trained and "masculine" is wrong for this song. Ball has always looked and sounded too old for the role.... it needs to be a young guy, or a guy who can pass for being quite young (as Gates is, he looks a lot younger than he is here).

So, I would say Gareth Gates is perfect here, however that breathing all over the place annoys me. I think he over did it. But he's reinvented his career spectacularly!

[06s091]

@hotqueekboi Marius is supposed to be 23-24 years old. Michael was 23 when he originated the role. It's not Michael's fault that they haven't been able to find actors to play Marius as strong as he(and the others that played the role in the beginning) did.

And just so you know: Michael doesn't have a trained voice - he never studied singing or had voice lessons. (except once in 2004 before playing Jean Valjean)

[hotqueekboi]

@06s091

Really???

Guess I now know why Grantaire says: "Is Marius in love at last?" in Red and Black/ABC Cafe.... no love at all until 23/24??? Silly thing - where has he been hiding? :P

Also, if that can be taken to be the average age of the students then... they are all pretty old students! Stop procrastinating and graduate already!

[jakeriding53]

a pop star singing a classic song from a classic musical, normally i would hate him for doing it, but he does it so damn well

[2HonestIam]

Gareth has a better sounding voice than all the other pretentious male singers that have been in this show.Closet bumboy Ball,has a dreadful vibrato,the others always sound laboured and very West End,they would all do themselves a favour and learn to sing in their natural voices,and not listening to puffs in music schools!

[luzzazul]

Love his voice, and he's also a great actor!

[breathingrocks123]

I think I just fell back in love with gareth gates! <3 :'D this is so beautiful!! :'D

[djmooresound]

@breathingrocks123 same :L i used to love him when i was like 6 :')

[MrAaronWomball]

No doubt, Ball is the better trained singer but my god can Gareth act, really wish i could get tickets to go see him do this in the london show. I saw Alastair Brammer, who by the way was even worse than Michael Ball. No offence michael x

[MoreCarlie94]

I love this man. I just ordered the 25th anniversary tour CD with him on it, all the way from the UK.

[MazBowie]

I like Gareth Gates because he conveys passion and emotion essential to this song. He doesn't have the vocal strength of Michael Ball - but I am not keen on Michael's huge vibrato and prefer Gareth's voice!

[eoin84]

So much better than that Nick Jonas!!

[PinkCarnationProDux]

I like it, but I feel like he takes the depth out of the song. I realize it isn't in context, but still...I don't feel the emotion behind it.

[musicismyreligionx]

Went to see Les Miserables in London last week, Gareth was amazing! Think this is good? he was 10 X better live :D

[rent418]

@musicismyreligionx same here i feel the same way there is no explaining how much better he is now xx he rocked in les mis xx

[hbyton1]

Gareth you were awesome - so wish you were doing the show with matt lucas and alfie boe - it would be perfect !!!X

[confusedasalways75]

Goosebumps. Wow. <3

[hyperchicken1984]

Anyones better than Nick blimmin Jonas.. I think Kermit the frog could do a better job

[TLKthing3]

@hyperchicken1984 I think Kermit is just as nasal as Nick was, but any other person could do it better... (having a LITTLE training)

[Sam4God]

okay watch this, then watch the annoying nick jonas in the O2 25th anniversary. you cant even compare them. its OBVIOUS gareth gates is miles better than nick jonas. he would've been a much better choice for the O2 marius! or any other proper musical theatre actor (not nick who just stood there with the same expression all throughout the show, and attempted to sing but didnt sound too good).

[Banburian1]

I saw Gareth in Les Mis in Southampton and thought he was great. As a Will Young fan I didn't like his voice as a pop singer but I think he has matured well and his voice has much more range and is excellent. His acting skills are much better too. Well done Gareth.

[wickedsuperfan]

saw him with the tour and this was the most amazing cast ive ever seen!! nick jonas was not right to be cast as marius, his voice was too weak and the wrong style but gareth gave and INCERDIBLE PERFORMANCE. john owen jones is one of the nicest guys ive ever met and he was the best person in the whole performance!!

[SGIuk1980]

so glad to see him not the only person who didn't like nick Jonas in this role

never as epic as michael ball but still good in its own right & so much better than Jonas

[jakeriding53]

i'd hate him for doing this, marius is a dream role of mine, but he does it so damn well

[andsasteeeg]

michael ball: but I got my eye on you *with matching hand gestures*

XDXD

[sparkysharky90]

He is better than Nick Jonas no doubt. As nick Ruined the role. But he is definatly not the best Marius ever

[missfox76]

im amazed at how he can put all that enotion into his voice and facal exprestions xxx

[beciboo36]

Can't wait to see Gareth playing Marius in the new year at the Queens theatre.. Good luck GG x

[Debbie2]

@itsleeh I really don't understand how you can say that about the high notes. To me Gareth reaches every note absolutely pitch perfect and effortlessly. I fail to see how he could sing it any better than he does TBH.

[itsleeh]

IDK, Gareth has the emotion and sings really good , but I don't think he can reach the high notes properly, ~please don't kill me~, I liked Nick Jonas' performance, I just think he needs more training, but that doesn't even sounded close to the Jonas Brothers Pop, I'm impressed with his potential

[TwiHardGirl]

He has a fantastic voice, but there wasn't enough power behind some of the big notes in this song.

[0o0dead0o0]

why wasnt Gareth Marius for the 02 Concert? He's like 10 times better than Nick.

[orlaphelan]

Love this - check out Gareth singing The Little Sparrow - excellent. Loved Gareth voice since pop idol days and he just gets better and better.

[Numaness]

Excellent vocals, emotions and I think he is brilliant in musicals!!

[justrightgril4u]

Spot in emotion and voice! <3

[Elitchka1]

Great Gareth Gates performance. As always. This song is so hard: Gareth Gates is more an opera singer now, a real "Maestro". I am amazed by his GREAT TALENT. Let God bless him.

[natasyaandrea1]

i love Marius and I like the way Gareth played him.

[gags24601]

Im very proud to share the same first name as Gareth. He is fantastic

[gerryhansolo]

could have been the perfect marius for the o 2 event!

[canadastar05]

@gerryhansolo Agreed.

[Probolass]

Wonderful Gareth!!

[chuckielover06]

Saw it at the mayflower last night, it was excelent, the Javert was AMAZING!!

[jpg0901]

I agree with Michael, it's a much better costume!

[Danny064]

anyone else actually think gareth is better now as musical star that a pop star? everyone now seems to refer to him as gareth who was in "les mis" or "joseph" - and i congratulate him for that! :D

[thunderstormabbi]

@Danny064 definatly better at west end that pop star

[seaviewsteve]

I cant believe they have Nick Jonas playing Marius at the 25th Concerts at the O2. I saw Gareth in Edinburgh on the tour, and he was amazing. Having watched clips of Nick singing this, there is no comparison...Nick being so mediocre!!!! Ah well, Im sure I will enjoy the concert regardless.

[jpg0901]

@seaviewsteve I think Gareth probably had other things to do, so we got stuck with Nick...I do wish Gareth would've done it, but it is what it is...you can tell Gareth was nervous though the way he was moving around...I mean when I get nervous in a performance, I just move around like an action figure the whole time and I can never keep my eyes on the same spot...

[Kingiwingi8713]

This man had me in floods of tears last week in Manchester. What an awesome take on a brilliant song!

[thunderbush1]

Lovely to see Gareth evolve from Pop Star to Musical Theatre Star. Not everyone can make the transition so successfully but he has done it. Cameron Mackintosh, Andrew Lloyd Webber and other big names in Musical Theatre (including Michael Ball!) speak of him in glowing terms - and rightly so.

[Debbie2]

I agree with you Meglig. I think its obvious for anyone to see that there was a genuine appreciation from both Michael and Gareth for the other one. I loved the rapport between them. I thought this was a fabulous performance from Gareth.

[Meglig]

Good performance indeed

I don't think Michael was trying to make Gareth anymore nervous than he already was either. There was clearly a banter between them and if you look closely at the clip one of the last things Gareth does before starting to sing is look to where Michael is standing. I think both he and his fans of which there were many there that day, were very supportive of Gareth and wanted him to do well.

[06s091]

Great performance. He's probably my 2nd favorite Marius of all time. Second only to Michael Ball himself, who will always be no.1 in my opinion.

[Alive]

I love it, Gareth is awsome.

[Debbie2]

This is so beautiful. Thanks for uploading. Gareth sings it with such emotion