Plenty of good will for this abounding, and Zoë stole the show in London and Amsterdam. What this needs is charm, and buckets of the stuff. It needs to ooze from every one of Zoë’s pores and win over the crowd. She managed this in the Austrian final, and in the previews, but translating that to the Eurovision stage is difficult, and it’s a big stage to fill.
Does she do it? Hhm, not really. It’s not quite coming across as delightful as it should.
All the elements are here: the floral themes and butterflies from the video and a long floaty frock in pale peach, although it looks like the kind you usually see over a loo roll with a little dolly popping out the top. Some backing singers are well hidden somewhere.
There’s no treadmill effect, so my fears she might trap her hem in it are unfounded. But it can’t be this alone that’s missing, can it? I can’t quite put my finger on it but something is definitely lacking: a certain je ne sais quoi, if you will, that I can’t quite define, but something of the sparkle she created in previous performances isn’t coming across here. There’s time to find that though, as she relaxes into the new environment. At the moment it really is more on chante than enchanté.