Canadian singer Michael Buble sung to a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, but his audience members ended up seeing more than one amazing performer that night.
During the concert, Buble handed over the microphone to a young girl and gave her the chance of a lifetime. In a moment that no one expected, audience member Erin Bellucci was given the reins and an opportunity to sing her favorite song, the Etta James classic, “At Last.”
Before Erin began to sing, Buble reminded his audience to be kind.
PopSugar reports that the singer told his audience “don’t be terrible judges” before encouraging them to channel their inner Blake Shelton as opposed to their inner Simon Cowell.
The amateur performer had only managed to belt out a few flawless bars from the song before the audience went into a frenzy, applauding and cheering her to continue. The impromptu performance was caught on camera by her friend, who helped in instigating the unplanned serenade during a brief conversation with Buble while he was onstage. The video was later posted to Bellucci’s Facebook page, where it has received just shy of 80,000 views since Wednesday.
Watching the video, it’s easy to see how impressed the veteran singer was with Erin’s performance, considering how nervous she was and the fact that Buble had no knowledge of her singing skills.
As the video clip panned to Michael, he could be seen smiling from ear to ear as he watched the young girl sing. At one point, the seasoned singer even bounced up and down with glee when Erin skillfully mastered a series of beautifully belted notes.
AT LAST: Michael Buble picked a girl out of the crowd at his Madison Square Garden concert and asked what her favorite song to sing was. What she did next blew everyone away. https://t.co/U2XIbxOeau pic.twitter.com/khk7KFNbDx
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 21, 2019
After she finished, Buble praised Erin.
“You’re the next American Idol! That was so beautiful. That was incredible — too incredible, if you ask me.”
Buble went on to remind his audience that Erin’s performance was not staged. He regularly invites fans to sing at concerts and says that the outcome is quite unpredictable.
“It’s not set up. There is real horror in this because I never know what’s going to happen. Some nights that doesn’t happen.”
On the heels of her brush with fame, Erin was interviewed by local Delaware news outlet, West Hartford . The 21-year-old college student told reporters that she sees what happened as a sign that she needs to put herself out there more.
When @MichaelBuble gives you the ?, you belt it out and blow him away. That’s what happened to #UDel junior and Music Education major Erin Bellucci at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. https://t.co/yUrKbY5iBA
— Univ. of Delaware (@UDelaware) February 22, 2019
In addition to the video of her performance going viral, Bellucci is getting a lot of attention. Former American Idol host Ryan Seacrest was also in attendance at the concert Wednesday night and shared his own video of the show on his daytime talk show, Live with Kelly and Ryan.
Fan upstages Michael Bublé at his own concert — but he’s into it https://t.co/3OfMA1Bf7q pic.twitter.com/8XbjgCDxvA
— New York Post (@nypost) February 22, 2019
The novice singer was also mentioned in Billboard’s review of the concert event.
