The X Factor (UK Series 5) - Live Shows

Live Shows

The live shows began on 11 October 2008, and continued through to the finale on 13 December 2008. Leon Jackson performed on the first live show, promoting his second single "Don't Call This Love". Girls Aloud performed their new single, "The Promise", on the second show on 18 October. This became the first single from their fifth album Out of Control, as announced by Cole at the X Factor launch in August. Will Young performed his new song "Grace" on 1 November. Mariah Carey appeared on 8 November and performed her new single "I Stay in Love", plus a special version of "Hero" with 11 of the finalists (Diana Vickers was ill with laryngitis so could not perform). Leona Lewis appeared the week after and performed her new single "Run" from the deluxe edition of her album Spirit. Take That performed on the 22 November show, as did series 4 third-place act Same Difference, who performed their debut single, and series 4 runner-up Rhydian Roberts, who sang a track from his debut album. On the 29 November show, Miley Cyrus performed her new song "7 Things" and Britney Spears performed her new single "Womanizer".

Boyzone, Westlife and Beyoncé Knowles were guests on the final show where they duetted with the finalists, with Knowles performing "Listen" with Alexandra Burke. Knowles also performed "If I Were a Boy" from her album I Am... Sasha Fierce.

An added twist for this series, confirmed on the first live show, was that acts in the bottom-two showdown sang a new song of their own choosing, rather than repeating the song they performed in the first part of the show (as was the case in previous series). As the series continued, some bloggers noticed a pattern emerging, that the acts performing early on are much more likely to feature in the "sing-off" to decide who will be eliminated.