Jedward Restore Eurovision Pride for Ireland
The hyper twins didn’t bring the Eurovision title back home to Ireland this year unfortunately, but their future seems assured. The energetic duo came in at 8th place with their catchy tune Lipstick in this year’s Eurovision, with the winning title going to Azerbaijan.
There are now rumours that Jedward’s manager Louis Walsh could be sending Jedward back to Eurovision next year. Walsh (57) said that, provided he had the same team to back their bid next year — MCD boss Caroline Downey and RTE — he would strongly consider re-entering the 19-year-old twins for the 2012 contest in Azerbaijan. Jedward said they could have unfinished business with the Eurovision. Asked what they would say to Ireland’s entry in 2012, they immediately said: “Go John and Edward.”
Jedward were greeted at Dublin airport by 500 screaming fans on Sunday, as they arrived home from Düsseldorf. The duo are set for international success, and have plans for a new ITV children’s show and new album.
The Eurovision Song Contest itself lasted for three and a half hours. The production, in a 35,000-seat arena converted from a football stadium, seamlessly rattled through the 25 numbers. However, there was then half-an-hour of recaps and filler, before we sat through scores dribbling in from 43 international juries. Tension dissipated. Will to live was lost. Nodding off occurred on sofas nationwide.
Yet that interminable final hour shouldn’t detract from an overall impressive show. It wasn’t quite as relentlessly odd as it used to be. There were strong performances of proper songs: Denmark’s punky upstarts, Sweden’s disco-pop, Iceland’s folky campfire singalong and Serbia’s retro Motown jive.
Normal novelty service wasn’t resumed until Moldova took to the stage in pointy gnome hats, playing fairground music and joined by a unicycling fairy.
Sweden came in third, the top five completed by sandy Ukraine and punky Denmark – who provided one of the more amusing moments when the camera cut to the green room and the spiky-haired singer, presumably having availed himself of the complimentary refreshments, profanely described what he wanted to do to the hostess.
The worst song by far, Greece’s “poperap” effort (that’s pop meets opera meets rap and just as bad as it sounds) somehow finished in the top ten. Another surprise hit was the yodeling geriatric from Bosnia & Herzegovina. Switzerland’s buskers got the wooden spoon. Germany’s champion Lena Meyer-Landrut failed to defend her title and runaway favourites France didn’t even make the top half. Serves them right – the Paris jury, along with Brussels, were the only ones who refused to give their results in English.
Tactical voting was as brazen as ever, with everyone backing their neighbours. The German presenters in the arena were a tedious threesome: two glamorous women who thought they were funny flanking a doughy-faced, David Brent-ish man who thought he was a rock star. We’ll never have to see those three again, thankfully.
So even though Azerbaijan won the competition, Jedward restored much of that Eurovision pride that was lost by Ireland in previous years!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXouSYabDig
