Liveblog: UK Eurovision, Your Country Needs You (ep 3)

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The national finals to find the singer for the United Kingdom’s entry into the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest airs tonight, and this is my liveblog of the show. Feel free to leave comments – but while the show is running you might be better responding to me via Twitter as well as the blog comments.

1940: And there we go. On balance a good result. The British public place one of the weakest acts in the bottom two, and Andrew Lloyd Webber doesn’t save her (Charlotte). Out of the four acts left, Emperors of Soul, Jade, Mark and The Twins, I would only worry about the Twins composure in Moscow.

1937: Defying the cynic in me, Andrew Lloyd Webber saves the Emperors of Soul!

1935: Emperors of Soul and Charlotte are in the bottom two.

1933: And now time to wrack up the fake tension. At least in the actual Eurovision Song Contest the scoring and the tension around it is genuine, and not as manufactured as the dramatic pauses and ‘tension’ music.

1929: Voting closed. Time for a ‘big’ UK group to come on and sing, then wax lyrical about how much they love Eurovision… but not enough to volunteer to represent the UK. This week, The Saturdays.

1925: Time for Norton and Lloyd Webber to [not] laugh at the foreigners who’ve already been selected. Showcasing Sakis Rouvas and Hadise, and then cutting back to our lot… err… well that;s going to sap any morale.

1922: Here come the girls, with Rhythm of the Night. The Twins look disgusted at having to sing this; Charlotte appears to be comfortable, and Jade… well Jade’s hit a home run with this song – it’s perfect for her.

1920: The only thing missing from that performance is some stools to dramatically rise up from.

1917: Shudder… here comes a Diane Warren medley. For the boys, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us” originally by Starship.

1915: Nice little showcase of Diane Warren’s song. Even if we’re sending an amateur singer, the composer and lyricist have a high pedigree.

1909: Voting lines open for twenty minutes.

1907: There we go, all five singers now. Have to say Mark won this week, with Emperors of Soul and Jade as his wingmen.

1904: He hit the note!!!!!

1903: Mark is still singing… rawr!

1901: Our final singer is Mark, singing “Me and Mrs Jones.”

1858: Charlotte sings fourth on a song that I don’t recognise… But there’s no passion or stage presence coming from the youngest contestant. There’s no spark, and I worry she would not be able to perform in a 20,000 seater stadium in May.

1856: Can someone take the phrase “Danger <pause> Zone” away from Graham Norton.

1854: Jade does very well as a Diva… but with the costume hiding her curves she’s relying on her singing capability. Which is very strong. I’d think we’d get a good mid-table result with Jade.

1852: Here comes Jade singing Voice of an Angel. Lots of people reckon that in a straight ‘choose one of these acts’ Lloyd Webber would go for Jade.

1850: Lulu bitch slaps down Andrew Lloyd Webber. Go girl!

1847; Except they have ten people on stage!!! There’ll be a maximum of six allowed in Moscow! (Time to stop being the rules lawyer I think).

1846: Emperors of Soul up next, singing a Prince classic. Now they’re very good at this, and it works well as a song. but will Eurovision take to them? I’m beginning to think they would.

1845: Can the UK public see beyond Bubbly blond twins and look at the performance and the singing? I doubt it….

1843: For twins they’re not that co-ordinated. And they have a dancer that’s the spitting image of Geoff Smith.

1842: Twins up first. That song by Girls Aloud in all the adverts… I wonder who’s deciding the running order. Going first is a tough slot.

1841: Actually Abba were around loing before they entered Eurovision, ALW.

1837: Jade’s voice doesn’t suit Save Your Kisses For Me, but the emperors of Soul worked it perfectly.

1834: Would it be cynical  to think that Andrew Lloyd Webber will keep in the ‘rubbish’ contestants so the chosen one has it easy on the final night?

1833: Here we go!

1828: Yet again i have to sit through the end of the “We need to give Richard Hammond a Job – how about reading a script for a show filmed in Argentina while in front of a big bluescreen,” which the BBC call Total Wipeout. It’s still rubbish. Given the US version is infinitely better, I can safely blame the editor, the scriptwriters and the commentator… Hammond himself.