Ireland – Joe McCall is god!! – He is fantastic!! He came over to our table in our drinking binge after TV’s Roy Delaney called him over and we asked him if he was going to be out drinking he said “shhhh” as his head of Delegation and his Mother, Helen, looked at us all with dagger eyes. In real life on stage, this is a certain qualifier… so much so that OnEurope will be placing £90 at 9/4 that this will qualify , which it will do handsomely. They have all the elements that it won’t qualify – Kitch Irish Dancing – 2 children dancing… however, somehow, it works Brilliantly – and when the Irish Delegation were told that 7 independent jurors had this qualifying – they nearly died!! – GO IRELAND!! ;o)
Slovenia – Omar comes on and sings really really confidently and the backing singer that does the whole diva bit is on the presenters plinth to the right of him – he does nothing vocally that you would not expect and, as such, gives a very confident and competent performance. My only worry is that there are too many songs of this caliber in this semi final for the Audience to choose from and it will get lost in the fog so to speak. However, having said that, he does fill the stage with his presence and goes onto the plinth to kiss her at the end of it all – so, I think that, with neighbourly good will in the contest, this might do well – but we will see!
Denmark – Virtually the same performance – it looks like a male bonding session – they do not do anything that isn’t Eurovision By Numbers – the backing singers tend to do a bit of swaying to and fro – and the overall effect is inoffensive – but it doesn’t really come across on stage as something to make the people of Europe vote for it I am afraid. The only redeeming feature is that there is nothing much, apart from Ireland and Poland around it in the draw.
Poland – oooh lots of choreography here and ripping of shirts off for the main singer – bare chested ending and all sorts of whirling around by pretty ladies. This song has gone up in the estimation of many that have been sat here in a darkened room for many many days!! – This, has a strong chance of qualifying we think – especially as it is last and has plenty of choreography.