[Red Moon]

ASTON CALLS FOR 'ONE LAST PUSH' FROM LOCAL FANS

ASTON Merrygold is hoping everyone in the Lisburn area will get behind JLS for "one last push" to see them crowned X Factor champions in tomorrow night's final (Saturday).

The group were ecstatic at reaching the final after a tense semi last weekend, and they have had a busy week preparing for the final showdown where they will perform up to four songs, including a duet with a celebrity guest.

The boys were on the promotion trail on Monday when they paid a visit to Aston's former school in Peterborough, and they caused mayhem in Croydon, the home of fellow band member JB Gill, when thousands turned up to see them perform.

Four teenage fans were treated for minor injuries at the Croydon show and Aston said it was surreal how their lives are changing.

"It was quite scary, really," he said. "We were in the hummer a mile away and were told it's not safe for us. I walked down those streets a couple of months ago; I used to work down there.

"My mum and dad have said 'you can't go on the tube or on a bus, because it's all different now'. I still think it's fine because I've done TV work before, but obviously there is a wider range of audience with the X Factor; it is surreal."

With just four acts left, last week's semi final was a tense affair but two superb performances from JLS; who chose to sing Rihanna's 'Umbrella' and Lonestar's 'I'm Already There', led judge Simon Cowell, who said their performance was in a "different league", to declare: "Not only after tonight do I think you could make the final, I'm going to make a prediction, you could actually win this whole show."

"Before the first song we were fine. The first set of comments were amazing; Simon said it shouldn't have worked, but it did and Cheryl said we smashed it, Dannii said everything was amazing and Louis was supportive as always. Then we got the second set of comments, which were amazing. We gave it everything on that second song and the emotions were just too much."

Speaking about choosing a Rihanna track, Aston said, "Chris Brown is more R'n'B, but Rihanna crosses over R'n'B and pop and Umbrella is just a track that everyone knows. It was number one for ten weeks and anyone who doesn't know it must've been alseep that whole time. Everyone knows the words to it, we just thought 'let's put our twist on it, it can go either way', thankfully it worked out well."

The boys were the first to be told that they had a place in the final, and the relief was clear for the four members. "To be called first is just relief," said Aston, "you don't want to wait until that end moment."

"For Saturday we have to potentially learn four songs, one we've done from the series, a Christmas song, a duet with a celebrity guest, although we don't know who yet; they have talked about Duffy, Seal, Beyonce, Boyzone, Take That, any one of them would be great to work with."

The band will also get to perform their version of 'Hallelujah', which will be the single released by the X Factor winner, if they make it through to the top two of the competition. "We want to show our version of it," said Aston.

"We are so proud of it. It's amazing to think it could be the first JLS single and number one. We so badly want to perform it, we all loved it, it's a wicked song."

Encouraging all of the local supporters to get behind JLS tomorrow, Aston said, "Obviously this is the biggest night, we want to say thank you for all of your support so far and for putting us into the final.

"We are all so appreciative and we hope you can give us one last push, that's what we are calling it this week.

"We need those votes on Saturday, this is as far as we can come but we would love to win. The dream's already started for all of us and anyone of us can win, it is definitely all to play for. I just want to thank everyone again; please keep supporting us."

Source: Lisburn Today