On this page you can keep track of the Eurovision related news stories from Ireland. You can find older news stories here.

18th May

Almost a week after the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, the reaction to Ireland's disasterous result is still gaining column inches and airspace in the Irish media. This is even more remarkable as the country is less than a week away from a General Election and political stories are tending to dominate the news.

At this stage almost every radio presenter, entertainment columnist and former Irish Eurovision winner seems to have had their say on what went wrong, and what should be done for the future. How much of this will impact RTÉ's full review of their future participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, is hard to know, but the national broadcaster will certainly not be short of suggestions.

During a Press Conference in Helsinki, Irish Head of Delegation Julian Vignoles (left) answered a question from "All Kinds Of Everything" regarding the selection proces for future Irish Eurovision entrants, and whether the same process from the last two years of RTÉ selecting the act and the public choosing the song, would continu. Julian said that it was likely to continue, but it would be reviewed depending on the result in Helsinki. Given what happened last week, it must now be unlikely that this process will be used for a third time.

Several people seem to feel that if RTÉ is to participate in Belgrade in 2008, that the entry should be chosen through an old style multi-artist National Song Contest. Given that established potential Irish Eurovision performers haven't had a chance to win a ticket to the contest since 2001, this option may now find favour with the national broadcaster. Another factor that may make the return of the National Song Contest more likely is the fact that most high profile acts will not want to go through the semi-final qualification process, given the Eastern European domination of this year's show. The semi-final in Belgrade is likely to contain five ex Yugoslav countries and six former members of the Soviet Union as well as Romania and Albania and based on the evidence of this year, few would bet against these countries fillling all ten qualification places.

Interesting, British bookmakers William Hill offered a book on who might represent Ireland in Belgrade, and came up with an interesting if optimistic list. The favourite is three time Eurovision winner Johnny Logan, who was one of the former Irish entrants who was interviewed this week, and specifically failed to rule out a return to the contest. You can find the rest of the list below. 

While the recriminations continue in the media, Dervish, Ireland's representatives in Helsinki have repeated that though devestated by the result, they enjoyed their Eurovision experience and have no regrets about entering the contest as it gave them an unprecedented opportunity to bring their brand of traditional Irish music t a new and wider audience. Interestingly the group did not do any promotion in Europe before the contest, but now that it's over are making a high profile visit to Latvia and Lithuania.

Irish President Mary McAleese is scheduled to leave Sunday on a three-day state visit to Latvia followed by a two-day state visit to Lithuania. McAleese is expected to address the Latvian business and academic communities on Tuesday before addressing the Lithuanian Seimas (parliament) on Thursday. Dervish will be among the President's entourage and will be playing at Presidential receptions in both countries.         

While the Irish entry "They Can't Stop The Spring" by Dervish  did not reach the Irish Top 40, as it was not released commercially, today's new Irish Top 40 sees a piece of history being made. You have to go back to 1996 and Gina G's "Ooh Aah (Just A Little Bit)" for the last time that a Eurovision entry that was neither a winner nor an Irish entry reached the Irish chart. Entering today's Irish Top 40 at #31 is the 2007 Ukrainian entry "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" by Verka Serduchka (photographed left with Dervish), the runner-up in Helsinki.

What makes this achievement even more remarkable, is that the song is not available in shops, and has reached the chart based on download sales alone. All of this year's Eurovision entries are elligable for the Irish chart as they are available for download, but only the Ukrainian entry has made the chart. The song finished third in the Irish televote. The Serbian entry, which won the contest, received four points from Ireland.

14th May

RTÉ has announced the viewing figures for Saturday night's Eurovision Song Contest. The show was watched by 780,000 which is marginally higher than last year and the TV share of 53%, which means that over 50% of people watching TV on Saturday night were watching the Eurovision. I am still awaiting a breakdown of the actual voting figures.

14th May

May 12th 2007 will go down as Ireland's darkest day in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest as for the first time the country finished last in the competition. Ireland's previous worst results came in 2001 when "Without Your Love" sung by Gary O'Shaughnessy shared second last place with Norway and in 2004 when Chris Doran singing "If My World Stopped Turning" also shared second last, this time with Belgium. 

This year's score of just five points is also a new low for Eurovision's most successful country beating the six points achieved in 2001. Remarkably Ireland can count itself lucky to even achieve those five points, which all came from Albania. Saturday's night's Albanian televote failed and consequently the votes of a back-up jury were used. There are few who believe that had the Albanian televote provided the votes, that Ireland would have scored anything, so Ireland came perilously close to achiving the dreaded "nil points". 

The disasterous result came too late on Saturday night to make most of the Sunday newpapers but reaction from the Irish media has been quite predictable, with many questioning Ireland's future in the competition, under the current format. In today's Irish Times under an article titled "No stopping the slide as Ireland hits an all-time low at Eurovision", writer Karen Fricker lays blame on Dervish and singer Cathy Jordan's (left) inability to make eye contact with the camera in the first verse and on the Eurovision rules which make Eurovision acts mime their instrumentals to a backing track. The article also points towards the dominence of Eastern Europe in the competetion, resulting in no small part to block voting by neighbours and the impact of emigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe voting from their country of birth.

However Irish songwriter John Waters, quoted in both the Irish Times and in today's Irish Independent under a article titled "Top of the flops. Eurovision disaster leaves Devish 'gutted'" written by Louise Hogan refuses to blame Eastern block voting saying that the result mirrors the differing levels of interest in the competition in various parts of Europe. 

Cathy Jordan has  said she and Dervish gave it their best shot but that it wasn't to be.She says that she didn't regret doing the Eurovision Song Contest and that 'life is about taking risks' and "it was a wonderful experience".She admitted though that she was crushed by the result, but she added that "music is not about votes, it's about heart and spirit and Dervish will always have that in abundance".

Irish Head of Delegation and member of Eurovision's Reference Group Julian Vignoles is also widely quoted  saying that RTÉ was planning to "look at everything and take stock of options" which RTÉ's Head of Press, Tara O'Brien was quoted in The Examier saying that "we will definitely be having a sit-down and looking at our geographical position and going through the whole process". The RTÉ quotes are seen as being very significant and may well be the forerunner to an announcement of a withdrawal from the 2008 contest. 

Irish fans in Helsinki and those watching at home would appear to be very supportive of such a move, as under the current format of the contest there is very little likelihood of Ireland qualifying from next year's semi-final which would mean a waste of the money and energy which the national broadcaster invests in the contest. A long overdue format change which was originally scheduled for 2008 has now been put back to 2009 following failure to agree on a final proposal and Ireland may well wait for 2009 to re-enter the contest. Ireland may not be alone in making such a move, with reports that Malta, Netherlands, Austria and Andorra are also considering their participation in 2008. Most dangerously for the competition, 2007 may also have been the last participation by France, one of Eurovision's "Big 4", with their Head of Delegation saying that they would most likely follow Italy (who have not participated since 1997) in withdrawing from the contest, were they to fail to make the Top 10. The French entry shared second last place with the U.K. 

The public reaction to the result, which has filled the radio airwaves seem to lay equal blame for Ireland's result at both the selection of the entry, Dervish's performance and the block voting, which saw countries from Eastern Europe and the Balkans fill all ten qualifying places in the semi-final and the top sixteen places in the final. There also appears to be withspread resentment to the "hijacking" of the Irish vote by immigrants from Lithuania and Latvia, who scored the top points in the Irish televote. The public reaction could best be summed up by bookmaker William Hill's Tony Kenny quoted in the Irish Independent. When asked about what it took for success at today's Eurovision Song Contest Kenny said "these days you either have to be mad as a hatter or be Eastern European". 

27th April

Anyone who's been waiting to see the Irish CD soingle in the shops, looks like they may have a long wait. Given the decline in the sale of physical singles, both in Ireland and elsewhere, it has been decided not to make the phsical CD single of "They Can't Stop The Spring" by Dervish available in the shops. Instead RTÉ are issuing a limited nuumber of promotional singles and these will be available from RTÉ and for the accredited journalists who make it to Helsinki.ou can see the artwork on the left. This isn't the first time that the Irish entry has not been released commercially, in 2001 Gary O'Shaughnessy's "Without Your Love" was only ever released a a limited edition promotional single, and these are quite rare and collector's items for Eurovision fans.

The difference between now and 2007 is that the single of this year's Irish entry will also be available for download from RTE's website and you can find the song here. Unfortunatly because the song is available for download without charge it is inelegable for the Irish Top 40 chart. The download and promotional versions are identical, but are different from the version used on the Eurovision preview video. This version will also be featuring on Dervish's new album due to be released on May 4th.

24th April

First off, we finally have a release date for the new Dervish album, which includes Ireland's 2007 Eurovision entry "They Can't Stop The Spring". It will go on release on May 4th, the day that the band are due to appear on "The Late Late Show" getting the traditional Eurovision send-off. We'll have more information on the album next week.

Some other news that may be of interest is that for the first time in six years RTÉ radio will also broadcast the contest live from Helsinki and just like in the past, the Irish radio commentator will be Larry Gogan.

While in recent years the internet is great for beeing first with the Eurovision preview videos, many people prefer the televised shows in the build-up to the contest. Here in Ireland the Eurovision 2007 Previews will be going out on RTÉ 1 on Saturday/Sunday 5th & 6th May (in two programmes) during the mid-afternoon, presented from Helsinki by Marty Whelan (left). The first programme on SaturdayMay 5th will featured twenty-one of the semi-finalists. The second programme on Sunday 6th will feature the more highly fancied semi-finalists including Switzerland, Belarus, Malta, Norway, Poland, and Denmark, as well as the fourteen finalists, finishing with the new mix of the Irish entry.  

If however you are in Dublin on Friday night next, then why not make your way to Keatings on Mary Street, for the second annual OGAE Ireland previews party. The party starts at 20.30 and will include a full preview of all of this year's entries, a full vote and a live show. Entry to the party is free and there's a late night bar extension until 02:30 and there might even be some cheesy titbits (and we don't mean the Norwegian entry). Get there early to get a voting card so you can vote at the end of the previews! For more information, on the event by contact Diamuid Furlong, President of OGAE Ireland. Like last year (when we were one of the few OGAE organisations to choose the winner correctly) I'll be reporting on the event. 

While RTÉ may have very wisely decided to steer clear of "Junior Eurovision", the Irish broadcaster will be involved in another pan-European entertainment competition later this year. 

Fifty years after the launch of the Eurovision Song Contest, a brand new show is set to sashay onto into our living rooms this autumn – take your partners for the sequinned splendour of the very first Eurovision Dance Contest. This is the latest attempt by the E.B.U. to spread the "Eurovision" brand to a live show. One wonders if there are any plans afoot to revive the famous "Eurofashion" contest that ran succesfuly in the 1960s.

The BBC will be the host for Eurovision Dance Contest at BBC Television Centre, London and the viewing public will be the judges for the spectacular competition, featuring dancing couples from 13 countries across Europe – Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Ukraine and the U.K.

The two-hour special will be presented by Irishman Graham Norton (left) and will will see professional and amateur dancers compete for the international crown. They will perform two dances – one a choice of traditional Latin or Ballroom, the other one a freestyle dance reflecting their National culture. Like the Eurovision Song Contest, the show will be live, unpredictable, with a scoreboard, foreign hosts – and who knows, perhaps an infamous, "nul points". Viewers will be asked to vote on the overall performance: dancing, choreography, costume and choice of music. There will be an expert commentator who will describe performance and artistic content. The Irish representatives will apparently be chosen from the current series of "Celebrity Jigs And Reels" currently running on RTE 1. Depending on the success of the show, it may apparently become an annual event.

9th April

We're now just over a month from the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, and over the next four weeks Eurovision related stories tend to get more than the usual amount of press coverage. 

Radio stations in Ireland are being given promo CDs of the final studio vesion of the Irish Eurovision entry "They Can't Stop The Spring" over the next week, so listen out for it over the next few days. The final version of the song is different to that which is heard on the Eurovision preview video, and the song will also get a single release here in Ireland later this month (most likely in the shops on April 27th). This is the seventh Irish entry in a row where there have been two different studio recordings of the song. 

Meanwhile Dervish (left) Ireland's Eurovision entrants in Helsinki are back home and have put the finishing touches to their long awaited new album, which will go on worldwide release on May 4th. The album which is produced by the legendary London based producer John Reynolds will have a more contemporary edge to some of the new songs.

The songs will include compositions from Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Forsett, the noted Irish song writer Sonny Condell, Finnish songwriter Matti Kallio,and or course it will also include "They Can't Stop the Spring", Ireland's 2007 Eurovision entry written by John Waters and Tommy Moran. Singer Cathy Jordan also makes her debut in the songwriting department with two songs one co-wrotten with Nashville singer-songwriter Sarah Vaughan.

It is believed that the Matti Kallio's song on the album, will be another song from Ireland's Eurovision selection show, the ballad "The Thought Of You". This will be confirmed when more deatils of the album will be made available next week.

Meanwhile Dervish have made plans for later in the year. They will begin work in June on a major cross cultural music project between Ireland and the USA connected with the music of the Carter family. The Carter Family who were hugly popular in America immediatly before and after World War II are one of the foremost names in American country and folk music.

While Dervish chose not to follow Brian Kennedy's example and promote their Eurovision entry around Europe, other country's artists have targetted Ireland as part of their promotion campaigns. Belarussian singer Koldun was a guest on the "Late Late Show - Eurosong 2007" show, and a couple of weeks ago the Polish duo The Jet Set also made an appearance on "The Late Late Show", performing their entry "Time To Party". The song which was performed with live vocals, as is the norm on the show, couldn't be a bigger contrast to this year's Irish entry. It is thought The Jet Set's visit was done to help gain the support of Ireland's large Polish community in the May. You can now watch the performance on RTE's website. Dervish are likely to have the traditional Eurovision send-off on "The Late Late Show" on May 4th.

The results of the 2006 census shed light on the potential well of support that some Eastern European countries entries may have in Ireland. A year go there were over 63,000 people born in Poland living in Ireland. The figure is now believed to be twice that. If the performance by the Polish entrants, even managed to attract 20% of those people, Poland would be virtually guaranteed the 12 points from the Irish televote. Other countries that have seen large numbers of immigrants coming into Ireland include Lithuania (over 25,000), Latvia (14,000) and over 13,000  from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, who may end up supporting the first ever Czech Eurovision entry.

Finally for this update, and two former presenters of the Eurovision Song Contest were in the news recently, when RTÉ announced the earnings of it's best paid employees. Pat Kenny, who co-hosted the 1988 with Michele Rocha remains the best paid person at the national broascaster. Today Pat presents a daily how on RTÉ Radio One as well as hosting the ever popular "Late Late Show". Last year Pat was paid €786,240.

Another former Eurovision presenter came second on the earnings list. Gerry Ryan (left) who co-hosted the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest with Cynthia ní Mhurchú, earned €520,685. Today Gerry concentrates on his 2FM radio show and is rarely seen on television. Meanwhile Cynthia ní Mhurchú qualified as a barrister a few yeas ago and now works exclusivily as a lawyer.

Another former Irish Eurovision presenter is also shows signs of branching out from bradcasting. Carrie Crowley, who co-hosted the 1997 contest with Ronan Keating has turned to acting and has justed starred in the televeision drama "Anner House". For the last few years Carrie has worked almost exclusivly on radio. Meanwhile Ronan Keating, who has made a couple of unsuccessful attempts at writing an Irish Eurovision entry is rumoured to be teaming up with the other ex-members of Boyzone, with the intention of making a comeback, most likely inspired by the success of another 1990s boyband Take That. 

22nd March 2007

While Ireland's 2007 entrants Dervish continue their American tour, there are still a couple of Eurovision related stories of interest 

First off, the preview video of the Irish entry has been released on the internet. The video, which will be used for the Eurovision preview shows throughout Europe was was filmed in the County Wicklow village of Aughrim, is a tribute to European unity. As we expected, the video uses the new arrangement of the Irish entry "They Can't Stop The Spring". The more commercial mix of the song features a shorter intro featuring the tin whistle, a slighly more emphasised chorus, and a stronger build towords the end of the song. Reaction to the new arrangement, has ben generally good and you can watch the video on the left.

The single will apparently be issueded in April, but we're still waiting for the confirmed release date The band are currently agreeing the artwork and apparently it will be released through RTE's music division. The band are also due to release a new album later this year. While tracks for the album have already been recorded and will include their Eurovision song, Dervish are apparently considering the addition of another song from this year's Irish national final. 

Betting for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest has also begun and once again it looks as though the Irish entry will not be among the favourites for victory as it struggles to make the Top 20, and being an automatic finalist, lags behind several songs that have to qualify from the semi-final. However if you fancy the chances of Dervish to cause a surprise, you could make a tidy profit, with odds of up to 50/1.   

Should Dervish and "They Can't Stop The Spring" achieve Ireland's eighth Eurovision win in May, then RTÉ will once again have the problem of where to stage next year's Eurovision Song Contest. In this modern age of Eurovision being a huge production, with a big live audience, RTÉ's dilemma may well be solved by an old contest venue.

Earlier this week, planning permission was given for the redevelopment The Point in Dublin's increasingly dynamic docklands. The Point Village will cover a five hectare site surrounding the Point Theatre and include a shopping centre, offices, hotel, a 12 screen multiplex cinema and a Luas station. The Dublin Docklands Authority has now granted planning permission for a 120m tower and the new building will be topped by a 930sq.m multi-storey bar and restaurant, along with a viewing deck, office space and luxury apartments.

The most exciting part of the plans from a Eurovision perspective is a state-of-the-art 14,000 seater amphitheatre which will boast facilities which are unequalled in Ireland. The only slight problem could be the fact that the redevelopment is now due to be completed until 2009. You can read more about the new Point Village here.

3rd March 2007

RTÉ has confirmed that "The Late Late Show - Eurosong 2007"  was watched by 742,000 viewers. While this is not much different from the usual Friday night audience for the regular "Late Late Show" and it is slightly down on the 2006 rating, it should be remembered that this is quite a healthy figure compared to many Eurovision selection shows around Europe. If the corresponding audience figure was achieved by the B.B.C., then over ten million people would be tuning in to the U.K. entry being selected on March 17th on the "Making Your Mind Up" show. Indeed the only countries that are likely to have a higher relative audience figure are Sweden, Finland and Malta.

Following the selection of his entry, in 2006 Ireland's Eurovision performer Brian Kennedy went east to help his chances by visiting Croatia and Slovenia and performing his song on television. While these countries only awarded Ireland three points in total, it made the difference between going straight to the final in Helsinki or having to once again go through the dog-fight that is the Eurovision semi-final in May. This year, rather surprisingly Dervish (left) have chosen to go west, in the build-up to the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, and are now playing a month long tour of cities on America's east coast. They won't be back in Ireland until April. You can see the tour itinerary on Dervish's website.

Before they went to the U.S.A., Dervish were very busy. As well as playing two nights in Killarney's "Gathering" festival, the six piece group were recording the final version of Ireland's 2007 Eurovision entry "They Can't Stop The Spring" and they also found time to film a promotional video of the song, which will be used for the Eurovision preview shows.

The final version of the Irish entry, which apparently has a shorter introduction, a more emphasised chorus, a bigger ending and an overall fuller sound is expected to go to radio later this month, and it will be released on single in April. Visitors to "All Kinds Of Everything" will be able to win copies of the single in a compeition which we be staging next month.

The promotional video for "They Can't Stop The Spring" includes footage shot in the picturesque village of Aughrim in Wicklow. This isn't the first time that Aughrim has been involved in a European competition. In 2006 it won the international "Entante Floral", a competition to encourage public authorities, private business and individuals to make their town or village more appealing to live in, by encouraging landscaping, the planting of plants and flowers and the development of parks and recreation areas. Given that songwriter John Waters had said that he used flowers as one of the themes to his song, the setting for the video could hardly be more appropriate. 

For this reason, the village was especially chosen by Maurice Linnane, the director of the video, although Dervish apparenrly favoured Lissadel in their native Sligo, a place which is name-checked in the song. In the video the group are apparently shown alongside local children in their primary school, holding hand painted flags and emblems of the countries of Europe. The video is currently in post production and it is hoped that it will be completed in time for submission to the Heads of Delegation meeting being staged in Helsinki on March 12th and 13th.

Once again Julian Vignoles will be the Head of Delegation for the Irish Eurovision team going to Helsinki. Julian has also been appointed as a member of the Eurovision reference group that provide the direction for the contest. This is quite an honour for Julian and for RTÉ, and gives Ireland a better chance to have an input into the contest's future.

Meanwhile one of the songwriters of the Irish entry, journalist John Waters (right) has being giving several interviews about the song, his motivation for writting it, and entering the Irish Eurosong selection. Saying that he saw songwriting as a challenge, Waters confirmed that he and his songwriting partner and fellow Rosscommon man Tommy Moran re-started writing songs together five years ago, after a thirty year hiatus. Tommy specialises in the music and John on the words, but there isn't a strict rule on which comes first. With John living in Dublin and Tommy in Galway, they do not work together, but rather depend on e-mail, text, MP3 files and CDs sent through the post, to communicate their ideas.

John received songwriting tips from two time Eurovision winner Brendan Graham and used his technique of getting an A3 size sheet of paper and throwing down the main theme in the centre and linking it to the words which are asociated with that theme. The key theme to this year''s Irish entry is "spring" and John says that the chorus of "I Can't Stop The Spring" is about hope, resurrection and the defiance of the human spirit.

John is well aware that the line in the song which refers to "Archipelagic icicles" has been the source of much derision in the Irish media and beyond, and says that it came to him while he was visiting Lusaka, and while reading Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Nevertheless John says that he is immensely proud of the song, and of Dervish who will perform it in Helsinki. Both songwriters are making the trip to Finland, to support their entry.

The demo of the song, which was submitted to RTÉ featured the vocals of Galway singer Fionnuala Deasy. Interestingly Dervish singer Cathy Jordan sang the demo version of "The Voice" which was originally submitted by Brendan Graham in 1995, a year before it triumphed in Oslo when sung by Eimear Quinn.

19th February 2007

RTÉ have now put high quality videos of the performances of the four songs in Ireland's 2007 Eurovision selection show online. You can watch them here.

In the aftermath of last Friday's Irish Eurosong selection, the reaction to the winning song and the show in general seems to be quite mixed. We now know Ireland's song in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest will be "They Can't Stop The Spring" written and composed by John Waters & Tommy Moran. You can hear John Waters Saturday morning interview with Marian Finucane here (the interview starts at 51.30). Meanwhile today's "vox pop" of Derek Davis' (stepping in for Joe Duffy) Radio 1 show seems to reflect a rather negative public reaction to the song selection and/or the choice of Dervish to  represent Ireland in Helsinki. There are however many people who feel that the song and performance are so untypical of modern Eurovision that there is every chance that it could stand out in Helsinki.

Also on a positive note there seems to be consensus that we are not hearing the final version of the entry. RTÉ has a history of transforming songs in advance of them going before the Eurovision audience. "They Can't Stop The Spring" is almost certainly going to be re-arranged and many people seem to agree with the points made by Frank McNamara on "The Late Late Show" that the instrumental introduction needs to be shortened and the song needs to end with a flourish rather than just fade away. 

It has also been confirmed that like Brian Kennedy's "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" from last year, there will be a special promotional video made for "They Can't Stop The Spring" and this will be filmed before Dervish embark on their American tour in March, and should be available for the Eurovision previews shows. It is still unclear if Dervish intend to record any of the three unsuccessful songs in last Friday's selection.

The reaction to the Eurosong show in general seems positive, with people enjoying the performances for previous Eurovision winners, especially that of 1996 winner Eimear Quinn and other guest performers including 1970 winner Dana and 1976 winners Brotherhood of Man (pictured left). 

It was also interesting for many Irish Eurovision to get a taste of the opposition that lies in store in May, with video snippets of the Danish, Norwegian and Maltese entries. The guest appearance by Koldun from Belarus certainly put the scale of the task into scale, but it should be noted that this entry is the early leader in most internet polls.

There is widespread debate as to whether the process used to select both this year's and last year's entry. Several songwriters have put their disatisfaction with the process on record, felling that a wider variety of potential Eurovision acts is necessary.

Thanks to Dermot Manning for the photographs.

16th February 2007

The countdown has begun to this year's Irish Eurovision selection show. At 21.30 GMT tonight, the folk group Dervish will perform, four songs and the public will choose the winning entry to be performed at the Eurovision Song Contest final in Helsinki on May 12th. Voting will be by phone and text message and people in the UK will be able to vote. I will put a list of the phone/text numbers on the front page of the site as the show begins.

UPDATE : RTÉ has now published the running order the songs and the phone numbers which you can use to register your votes;

SONG A: "THE THOUGHT OF YOU"  (MATTI KALLIO)
Call 1513 71 72 01 or text SONG A to 53125
From Northern Ireland call 0905 081 5001

SONG B: "WALK WITH ME"  (STIG LINDELL)
Call 1513 71 72 02 or text SONG B to 53125
From Northern Ireland call 0905 081 5002

SONG C: "UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN"  (MALACHI CUSH, PAM SHEYNE, MARTIN SUTTON, DON MESCALL)
Call 1513 71 72 03 or text SONG C to 53125
From Northern Ireland call 0905 081 5003

SONG D: "THEY CAN'T STOP THE SPRING" (JOHN WATERS, TOMMY MORAN)
Call 1513 71 72 04 or text SONG D to 53125
From Northern Ireland call 0905 081 5004

Vote lines open after the last song has been performed and close at approx 11.15pm. Votes cost 60c (incl VAT) or 50p. Calls from mobiles may cost more.

There is also a draw for a Nissan car worth over 18,000 euros and everyone who votes is in show is in with a chance of winning, which is an improvement on last year when only those that voted for the winning song could win. You can find out more information on the songwriters on RTÉ's webpage.

Over the past couple of weeks Dervish have been putting the finishing touches to to the arrangements of the four songs. Apparently they will be playing live instruments tomorrow night, although that will not be necessary in Eurovision, where the songs are performed to backing tracks. Those that have heard the songs believe that there are two clear front-runners which offer an interesting choice to the public, alough none of the four songs should be ruled out.

RTÉ confirmed yesterday that they will be streaming the show live on the internet, and upwards of 20,000 people from around the world are expected to tune into the show on the web. Another interesting aspect of this year's selection is that the leading Irish bookmaker PaddyPower is apparently going to be running a live betting service during the show, so you can see where the money is going as the songs are being performed.

UPDATE : The announcement of the running order has meant a big shake-up in the betting odds. With four hours to go, this is how the songs are currently ranked;

The "All Kinds Of Everything" blog will also be live during the show. I'll be watching the selection in Limerick on television and my colleague Peter WAlsh will be watching the show on the web in Warrington, and we'll be posting our thoughts as the songs are performed and we'll be looking forward to your comments. It is also my intention to add MP3s of the live versions of the songs as the show progresses, and to save everyone's time and patience I also hope to add videos of the live performances of the songs to YouTube before the en of the show, at 11.40 GMT. 

By coincidence, one of the songwriters involved in the Irish selection, was also featured on RTÉ last night. Irish Times columnist John Waters (left) was the guest chef on the excellent "The Restaurant" show, where a celebrity takes over as head chef and helps the staff prepare a menu of their choice.

John will no doubt be hoping that he is a little more successful in the Eurosong competition, as his meal was panned by the critics, and he received a verty poor "two star" rating. He'll certainly be hoping that he doesn't get the advice which he received from one of his Irish Times colleagues, that he should "stick to his day job".

We should know the winning entry around 23.30 GMT, and no doubt the opinions will flood in over the following few hours.

14th February 2007

We're now only two days away from the selection of the song that will represent Ireland in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest in May. More details are emerging on "The Late Late Show - Eurosong 2007", which will be broadcast on RTÉ 1 at 21.30 GMT on Friday night. While the main business of the evening will be to allow Irish television viewers (including those in Northern Ireland) to select which of the four songs listed below will carry the Irish colours in Helsinki, there will be plenty of other special guests making the show a Eurovision special.

I can confirm the news from last week, that this year's Belarus singer Dmitry Koldun will perform his Eurovision entry "Work Your Magic" on the show, however most of the guests will be associated with the history of the contest; Brotherhood Of Man (left), still in their Eurovision formation, will perform the 1976 winner "Save All Your Kisses For Me", which remains the biggest selling Eurovision hit of all time. Ireland's first Eurovision winner; Dana from 1971 will perform the evergreen "All Kinds Of Everything" and it's believed that Ireland's most recent winner Eimear Quinn who won in 1996 will be reprising her winning song, "The Voice".  

There will also be a panel to comment on the songs and to chat with "Late Late Show" host Pat Kenny, himself a Eurovision presenter almost twenty years ago; these will be former contest winner Linda Martin, taking a break from her "You're A Star" duties, Ireland's current Eurovision commentator Marty Whelan and the lady who called in the Irish votes for many years, Eileen Dunne.

RTÉ has been busily promoting the show with clips from Eurovision's mosty memorable moments but as yet two pieces of information still remain to be clarified; the running order of the songs (the order below is from RTÉ's press release) and whether the show will be broadcast live on the internet. It is likely that the show will be streamed live, but I'm still waiting for final confirmation.

Meanwhile Ireland's selection has already been making the news in this year's Eurovision host country of Finland. During last Saturday's Finnish semi-final the special news reporter (left) who brings the locals up to date with what they should be preparing for in May reported on how Finn Matti Kallio had a song in the Irish final four. As we specualated last week, should his song "The Thought Of You" triumph on Friday night, there in no doubt that Finnish interest in the Irish entry would be very high.

Another of the four finalists has also been generating news, apparently  the lyrics of "They Can't Stop The Spring"', the song written by John Waters and Tommy Moran are quite political, and RTÉ were quite nervous if it might be in breach of Eurovision rules, so they submitted the song to the EBU, in advance of announcing the finalists and gained the All clear" from the Eurovision powers that be.

8th February 2007

Yesterday's announcement of the songs and songwriters for the Irish Eurovision selection has been getting of plenty of press coverage. Most of the local attention seems to be on the well known columnist John Waters. While in Northern Ireland it's Malachi Cush's involvement that is gaining the most interest. One advantage of having songwriters from five different countries in your national final, is that it may create a little more interst beyond Ireland. 

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has opened the betting on the selection. Given that only a handful of people have heard the songs in contention, one can assume that the betting is based purely on the experience of the songwriters. Given the background of the four songwriters behind "Until We Meeet Again" it's no surprise that it's the earely favourite in what is seen as a very close race. Here are the latest odds;

Meanwhile it has been releaved that "Until We Meet Again" was originally written a couple of years ago, but had been sitting on the shelf unrecorded until someone decided that it might be the ideal vehicle of Dervish at Eurovision. If reports are correct the main songwriter is Malachi Cush and that it is a ballad with a distinctive Irish flavour.

Our friends at Eurovision-Kazakhstan are reporting that there will be a special guest at "The Late Late Show - Eurosong 2007" on February 16th. Dmitry Koldun (above left) is the performer of the Belarus entry "Work Your Magic" at Eurovision in May and he's taking on an extensive promotional schedule to help his chances in Helsinki. Last weekend he appeared at the Spanish "Mision Eurovision" show and he is also planning on visiting Cyprus, Macedonia, Montenegro, Greece, Lithuania and Russia, where he is already well known. One can only hope the poor lad can find a new wardrobe before he undertakes his travels. 

7th February 2007

RTÉ has announced the titles of the four songs that in contention to be the Irish Eurovision Song Contest entry in Helsinki on May 12th. The songs were chosen from over two hundred entries which were submitted by songwriters from eleven different countries from across Europe and around the world, after RTÉ scrapped their "Irish writers only" rule, which applied in previous years. The four songs will be performed by Dervish on "The Late Late Show - Eurosong 2007" on Friday February 16th, when the Irish public will decide which song will represent Ireland. Both Phone and text voting lines will open after Dervish have performed the songs.

The final four songs were chosen by a judging panel made up of former Eurovision winner Shay Healy; MD of Universal Music Ireland, Dave Pennefather; publisher and IMRO board member Johnny Lappin; Eurovision commentator and broadcaster Larry Gogan; and singer Eleanor Shanley.

The fours songs are;

1. "They Can't Stop The Spring"' - written by John Waters and Tommy Moran

2. "Walk With Me" - written by Stig Lindell

3. "The Thought Of You" - written by Matti Kallio

4. "Until We Meet Again" - written by Malachi Cush, Pam Sheyne, Martin Sutton and Don Mescall

There are some familiar names in the list of songwriters, with no obvious front-runner, unlike last year when Brian Kennedy's own song was the odd-on favourite.

There are some familiar names in the list of songwriters. Irish Times columnist and professional contrarian John Waters (left) Waters was famously left frustrated last year when his song "Words That Never Wear Out" was rejected by RTE's Eurovision panel and then slated by the critics after being performed on "The Late Late Show". Waters had publicly claimed that his song didn't get a fair opportunity in the competition  he believed that the selection was geared to guaranteed singer Brian Kennedy got to perform his own song in Athens.

However Waters, famous for a brief but highly publicised and acrimonious relationship with singer Sinead O'Connor remains undeterred and has chosen to enter this year's selection with a song co-written by Tommy Moran "I'm a glutton for punishment," said John Waters last night. "We decided to enter because, well, f*** them. RTE is the national broadcaster and it belongs to us.

John Waters was born in Co Roscommon, where he grew up in the town of Castlerea. As a teenager he began writing songs with his neighbour Tommy Moran. He subsequently became a journalist, author and playwright. His first book, Jiving at the Crossroads (1991), about the cultural underbelly of Irish politics, was a bestseller. His other publications include Race of Angels (1994) a study of the roots of U2's music in Irish history and culture. His most recent book is The Politburo Has Decided That You Are Unwell (2004). His award-winning plays include Long Black Coat (1994) and Easter Dues (1997).He currently writes a weekly column for The Irish Times. He and his daughter Roisin live in Dublin. 

Tommy Moran was born in Co Roscommon, and grew up there in Castlerea town. From an early age he played a number of instruments, including guitar, piano, accordion and tin whistle. He played for several years with a number of groups and showbands. He subsequently worked as an electronic engineer but continued to play and write music. In 2000 and 2001 he won the Glinsk Song Context with songs co-written with his father-in-law, J.J Flannelly. He was short listed for Eurovision on one previous occasion. He and his wife Jacinta and their four children live in Galway.

Waters and Moran are currently putting the finishing touches to the song, which is believed to be a traditional style ballad and which was written with chosen Eurovision performers, traditional group Dervish, in mind. "It is specifically for Dervish, which is to say with an Irish flavour," he said. The title comes from a quote by the President of Czechoslovakia in 1968, during a period of uprising that became known as the Prague Spring. "When he saw the Russian tanks rolling in and students throwing flowers in front of them, he said: "They may crush the flowers, but they'll never stop the spring." Waters goes on : "They Can't Stop the Spring" is a kind of Celtic celebration of the eastern European revolutions and their eventual outcome, including the presence in Ireland of thousands of beautiful Polish, Czech, Slovakian and Latvian women!" 

The second song in contention "Walk With Me" was written by Norwegian Stig Lindell (left). Having written songs for local artists like Andreas"Glorious" Johnsson, Titiyo and 2007 Polish national finalists Charizma, Lindell has also worked on the successful Swedish "Fame Factory" talent search. 

This isn't the first time that Lindell has been involved in a Eurovision selection. As well as submitting songs to the Swedish "Melodifestival" how, he also co-wrote "Like A Wind" which was performed by Veronica Akselsen in last year's Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix and in 2004 his song "I'll Give You A Mountain" finished 5th in the Estonian selection, after being performed by Swedish group Charizma. There are suggestions that "Walk With Me" is the most obvious Eurovision style song in the selection. 

The song "Walk With Me" was written in September 2006. As I was writing the chorus, it just came to me: This should be an Irish song! When my publisher told me, it made perfect sense to me. To me, every song must have its history and story. This song is written from my heart and I hope that it could mean something for others as well. 

The third song in contention to represent Ireland in Helsinki, is rather interestingly written by a Finn. "The Thought Of You" is the work of 30 year old Matti Kallio, a musician from Helsinki, who specialises in traditional music with an Irish flavour. During his career Matti has been engaged in numerous projects and is a multi-instrumentalist, playing piano and keyboards, accordion, Irish tin whistles, flute and he is also a vocalist.

Matti has worked with the Finnish world music band Värttinä and with Finnish popular singers Hector, Vesa-Matti Loiri and former national finalist Anna Eriksson. He has arranged music for a cappella groups such as Rajaton and Club For Five, and composed music for groups such as the Reykjavik City Theatre in Iceland. Kallio has worked as a session musician on several albums and also performed on several film soundracks and musical theatre.

Matti has visited Ireland several times, attending Irish music festivals around the country. He found out about this year's Irish Eurosong contest on the internet, and felt that he needed to write a song for Dervish as he is big fan and has seen them perform live many times.

It is believed that "The Thought Of You" is the most folk/traditional style song in the Irish selection and emphasises the musical skills of the members of Dervish. Having a song written a Finn might well be a nice novelty when going to Finland and if chosen is guaranteed to draw additional local interest in the Irish entry.

The fourth and final song that has been chosen for the Irish national final is "Until We Meet Again" and comes with a very impressive list of songwriters. Malachi Cush (left) is probably best remembered  as a contestant on the first series of the BBC's talent show "Fame Factory". The 27 year old singer/songwriter hails from Donaghmore, a small village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Coming from a large musical family, he started singing and playing Irish traditional music at an early age. 

After coming fifth on "Fame Academy" was given a solo recording contract with Mercury. In March 2003, '"Keep Me A Secret" sung by Ainslie Henderson, a song that he co-wrote on the show with Henderson and Sinéad Quinn, charted at #5 in the UK. His debut album "Malachi", (released on the UMTV label) consisting mainly of covers and songs he had sung on the show, also came out in March 2003 and reached 17 in the UK charts with sales topping 100,000, for which he received a silver disc.

After parting with Mercury, he signed with the specialist Irish music label "Emerald". In October 2005, under the name "Malachi", he released his second album, Celtic Heartbeat (Where the Heart Is), consisting of traditional Irish songs. He has also recorded two songs which appeared on "George Best - The Tribute Album". Cush now works mainly in Northern Ireland performing live, and he appears regularly on radio and television.

One of the co-songwriters on "Until We Meet Again" is Pam Sheyne (left) who also has connections with "Fame Academy" as she she was one of the songwriters giving a masterclass to the contestants, including Cush.

Pam was born in Auckland, New Zealand, the youngest of three children and from an early age her parents noticed she had a natural talent for music. Country music and Abba were her earliest influences.  Having  established herself in the gigging scene for a few years, she found more session work with acts such as Lulu, Swing Out Sister, William Orbit, Tom Jones and  Right Said Fred. In 1992 she toured with the Pet Shop Boys.

Inspired by Diane Warren, Shyne then started to concentrate on songwriting and over the last decade she has been one of the most prolific and successful songwriters notching up scores of hits most famously Christina Aguilera's breakthrough hit "Genie In A Bottle. You can see the rest of Sheyne's songs here.

This isn't Sheyne's first attempt to win the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1996 her song "A Litte Love" performed by Zeitia Massiah finished third behind Gina G's "Ooh...Aah (Just A little Bit") in the U.K.'s "A Song For Europe" selection.

The third songwriter involved in "Until We Meet Again" is Limerickman Don Mescall (left). This is the second year that the talented singer/songwriter has managed to get a song into the shortlist for the Irish Eurovision selection. Last year his entry"All Over The World" was the runner-up to Brian Kennedy's own song "Every Song Is A Cry For Love". 

Don’s musical career began in local pubs where he sang 6 or 7 nights a week. However with a desire to find fame and fortune, he followed the route of many Irish musicians and headed for London.  Don's reputation spread and his talent as a performer has also gained him a recording contract with Curb Records. While being a successful performer in his own right, it is Don's work as a songwriter that has brought him even more attention. Former Eurovision winner Lulu has recorded his song "Time To Fall" while Frances Black has recorded several of Don's songs. 

Over the past year, Don has realeased his debut album "Inoocent Run" on which a track was co-written by former Westlife member and Irish Eurovision songwriter Brian McFadden. Mescall has also co-written "All Over Again" with Randy Goodrum which was taken to #6 in the UK singles chart as a duet between Ronan Keating and English singer Kate Rusby. Mescall continues to attract new as a live performer and supported Brian Kennedy on his succesful run in Dublin's Olympia theatre last summer.

The fourth songwriter involved in "Until We Meet Again"is Martin Sutton, and while he may not be as famous as his co-songwriters, he inclues Sam Brown's "Stop" among the lisyt of song which he has co-written. Sutton is a songwriter/producer based in Bucks, UK. I've had songs recorded by Olivia Newton John, Duncan James, Lulu amongst others and last year wrote and produced a duet for Leann Rimes and Brian McFadden called "Everybody's Someone" which I believe hit 19 in the Irish charts. I've also worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Celine Dion and currently writing with Gary Barlow. 

Some people may be dissapointed that given Dervish's musical roots, that there isn't a song in Irish Gaelic in the selection, but RTE's Kevin Linehan says the standard of song is particularly high this year and Dervish singer Cathy Jordan says that she already has two favourites among the four songs.

21st January 2007

While the panel of experts reduce the list of potential entries from over 200 to just four, the 2007 Irish Eurovision entrants Dervish (left) have been adding dates to their touring schedule. The six piece folk group will make a rare Dublin appearance at the Olympia Theatre on Sunday January 28th. The night will form part of the Temple Bar Irish music and cultural festival. Tickets are available from www.ticketmaster.ie 

As I mentioned in previous news, several Irish songwriters who had originally intented to enter songs in the Irish Eurovision selection changed their minds once Dervish were selected, felling that their more mainstream pop songs would not suit Dervish's musical style. For a couple of Irish songwriters, that's turned out to be a good move, as they have now had those songs chosen for other countries national finals. Niall Mooney and Brendan McCarthy, who wrote "Summer Rain" for the "You're A Star" final in 2004 have linked up with Swede Jonas Gladnikoff and had songs selected for both the Bulgarian and Lithuanian Eurovision selections. In Lithuania, their song "I Will Survive" will be performed by Kafka, while in Bulgaria "Open Your Eyes" will be performed by the Maltese sisters Charlene & Natasha. Indeed they could have had two songs in the Bulgarian selection, but Irish singer Una Healy had to withdraw, and so the song "Too Late For Heatache" will not now compete there. The Bulgarian semi-final will be on February 3rd, while the running order in Lithuania still has to be confirmed. You can find out more about this talented songwriting team on their Myspace page.

Three Irish Eurovision commentators have been in the news over the past couple of weeks. First off is Larry Gogan (pictured left) who has been an ever-present voice on Irish radio for 45 years. For over thirty years Larry provided RTÉ's radio commentatary on the contest and he has been the back-up television commentator for the past few years, as RTÉ no longer broadcast the contest on radio and as such he's been part of the RTÉ delegation. Earlier this month Larry, who is one of the most informative broadcasters on pop music, announced that he is to retire from daytime radio. He will be missed by many Irish music fans, who grew up with his voice on the radio.

Also leaving the 2FM schedule is RTÉ's current Eurovision commentator Marty Whelan. Under two years ago Marty was a surprising choice for the breakfast show presenter on the national pop music channel, but he is now to be replaced in a re-shufffle intended to target a younger audience for the channel, which has recently been struggling in the ratings.

Finally, there's good news for BBC Eurovision commentator Terry Wogan (left), who's long career in broadcasting is continuing to earn him awards, and he is once again being recognised in his native city. Terry will receive a Special Lifetime Achievement Award which is given to an individual who has, in their own unique way, contributed significantly to the value of Limerick city and county. "This year we are very pleased to honour Terry Wogan, who has done so much to put Limerick on the world-wide map" said Brian Deegan, Managing Director, Limerick Leader newspaper which helps organise the awards.

Terry was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Limerick in 2004 and received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth in 2005. The ever jovial Terry has never hid or played down his origins and has always remained a proud Limerickman, keen to promote his native county whenever the opportunity arises. "Limerick never left me, whatever it is, my identity is Limerick. I am so pleased that I am from Limerick -I am grateful that I grew up in a small town where I had a sense of my own identity, it was a lovely place to grow up in," he said. 

Finally, although this hardly qualifies as "news", the recent celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the National Concert Hall (left), revealed an interesting Eurovision related story. The venue, in Dublin's city centre, was originally opened in 1914 and is rated by performing artists as one of the finest concert halls in Europe. Since re-opening in 1981, the hall has established itself as Ireland's premier centre for the performance of live classical music. 

However it was not well known that the hall was RTÉ's original choice of venue to host the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, the first to be staged in Ireland. Unfortunatly the cost to convert the then rarely used venue was deemed to be prohibitive, and therefore the show was broadcast from the nearby Gaity Theatre.

12th January 2007

Last Tuesday (9th Jan.), RTÉ announced that it had received two hundred potential Eurovison entries as the deadline for submitting demos for the competition to select the song that will carry the Irish colours in Helsinki finally closed. The number is significantly lower than last year, when almost eight hundred songs were entered. However comparisions may be a bit misleading. The interest generated by Brian Kennedy's decision to represent Ireland in Athens, meant that many songwriters, who would not normally see the Eurovision Song Contest as an outlet, chose to enter their work. The decision by RTÉ to send Sligo based folk group Dervish, was inevitably going to mean that the number of potential songs was going to be lower. 

Firstly, Dervish (left) have a much lower profile with the general public, and unlike Kennedy, have never set the Irish or international charts on fire. Secondly, the type of music which Dervish produce is not that which will appeal to songwriters who specialise is in writing commercial pop songs. It is known that several songwriters who had songs ready for submission to RTÉ with Eurovision in mind, chose not to enter, knowing the style of music favoured by Dervish.    

One interesting aspect of having a group like Dervish performing our Eurovision song is that it has been reported that several songs in the Irish Gaelic language have been submitted to RTÉ. Only one former Irish Eurovision entry ("Ceol An Ghrá" in 1972) has been sung in Irish Gaelic, and while that did not do well in the contest, it is thought that a more traditionally sounding song in the language might have a better chance of success. It is thought highly likely that one of the four final soings may well be in Irish Gaelic. The last time a song in the language was in an Irish Eurovision selection was back in 1999 when the infamous " An Bon Bon Carr" finished fourth behind "When You Need Me" sung by The Mullans.    

Work is now underway on whittling the two hundred songs down to just four, which will be performed in a "Late Late Show" special on February 16th. RTÉ staff and former members of the Irish Eurovision jury are involved in the initial weeding out of the potential entries. The a panel of experts consisting of Shay Healy (Eurovision winning songwriter), Dave Pennefather (Managing Director, Universal Music Ireland), Johnny Lappin (music  publisher), Larry Gogan (2FM DJ and former Eurovision presenter) and singer Eleanor Shanley will make the final selection. The four lucky songs are likely to be announced on February 9th. After the huge succes of last year's webcast, RTÉ is believed to be broadcasting the Eurovision selection show on the web once again this year. 

Coincidently on the same day that RTÉ announced that it had received two hundred potential entries, the BBC stole the limlight by announcing that it was in discussion with the internationally famous singer and songwriter Morrissey, to write and perhaps perform the U.K's entry in Helsinki. The Irish media have also been giving heavy coverage to the story.

The news of Morrissey's (left) interest in the Eurovision Song Contest should not come as the huge surprise that many in the media made it out to be. Firstly those that know about the musical tastes of the former Smiths singer will know that he counts 1960s girl singers among his musical passions. Indeed he has worked with former Eurovision winner Sandie Shaw on a couple of occasions. Secondly, Morrissey was loud in his criticism of last year's abysmal U.K. entry "Teenage Life" and said that the BBC should have approached him to write the U.K. entry. 

It now appears that the U.K.'s national broadcaster has taken the Manchester born singer at his word and that Morrissey was serious in at least writing a song to represent the U.K. in May.

Late last year it became clear that the BBC was going to change its method of selection, and no competition for potential songs was announced. Rumours quickly spread of an internal selection and while the name of the Scissor Sisters was discussed, it is believed that the BBC would prefer to have a British rather than American act representing them in Helsinki.  

Morrissey's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, either as a performer or more likely simply as a songwriter is still to be confirmed, but were he to appear in the competition, he would from an Irish perspective, be the best known participant in the contest, since Cliff Richard competed in 1973. Morrissey regularly plays to sell out crowds in Ireland and has retained and indeed increased a devout fan club over a period of two decades. He also lived in this country for several years during the 1990s. 

The news of Morrissey's potential participation made both the television and radio news and among the radio reports, the "Drivetime" report by Donal O'Herlihy (listen here) and interview with Hot Press editor Niall Stokes (listen here) gave a very good indication of the reaction to the story. There is also an interesting report from BBC North West on YouTube (watch it here). 

17th November 2006

On Tuesday last (14th) RTÉ became the first broadcaster to confirm its performers in the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Helsinki, Finland on May 12th 2007.

Following much speculation and rumour of an internationally known pop music singer, the announcement came as big surprise, when the Sligo based tradional music band Dervish (left) were announced as Ireland's next Eurovision entrants.

The format for the selection of the song will be the same as in 2006, with composers being asked to compose and submit songs and the public will choose Ireland's Eurovision entry on a "Late Late Show" Special on February 16th. 

Learning from the problems that beset the previous song selection process, RTÉ has given songwriters a later deadline of January 8th, to submit CD recordings of potential entries. Interestingly the competition is open to entries from songwriters who are either citizens or residents of Ireland and also to entries from songwriters who are not citizens or residents of Ireland. Given the reduced timframe between the deadlkine for submitting entries, and the selection show, the process for choosinging the four songs which will compete in the televised final, has also been made more transparent. 

Compared to the front page news which followed the announcement of the selection of Brian Kennedy to represent Ireland in Athens, the reacation to the choice of Dervish has been far more muted. While the group has an established reputation in folk and traditional circles, they are all but unknown to most pop music and Eurovision fans and despite releasing nine albums since their debut "Harmony Hill" in 1993, they have made little impact on the Irish charts.

The six piece band which consists of Brian McDonagh (mandola) Liam Kelly (flute and whistles) Tom Morrow (fiddle) Shane Mitchell (accordion) Cathy Jordan (vocals, bodhrán and bones) and Michael Holmes (bouzouki) are well known on the international folk and world music scene and their live performances have a wide variety of styles; at times wild, jaunty and carefree, and at other times more deep and spiritual, so it is hard to know what to expect from the band when they get to Helsinki. 

Ireland's last Eurovision winnrer was "The Voice" sung by Eimear Quinn, which came in the heyday of ethnic music in the contest. Recent years years have seen folk and ethnic flavoured music not doing anything like as well, with the exception of a couple of Balkan efforts in 2004 and 2006, which had huge regional support and Belgium's shock runner-up "Sanomi" by Urban Trad in 2003. By comparision in the last few years other ethnic songs have generally done quite poorly. Albania, Croatia and Norway in 2006, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Spain in 2004 and Estonia in 2003 all failed to make the top ten in either the final or the semi-final. 

Despite this, Dervish have said that they are delighted to accept the Eurovision challenge. One interesting limitation that the group will face in Helsinki is that they are be unlikely to be allowed to perform the instruments live on stage, as backing tracks are now exclusivly used during the Eurovision performances which may come as a surprise for a band that has an established reputation for live performances.

One other interesting scenario resulting from the selection of Dervish, is that there is now a stronger potential for Ireland being represented by a song in the Irish Gaelic language, as several of the songs in Dervish's repetoire are in Gaelic. Only once has the Irish Eurovision entry been sung in Gaelic, in 1972 when Sandie Jones performed "Ceol An Ghrá" (Music Of Love) in Edinburgh. Unfortunatly it did quite badly, giving Ireland its worse Eurovision result up to that point. 

You can find out more about Dervish on their website, watch the band in action here and here. You can have your say on the selection of Dervish on a poll on the front page of this site.

Dublin based Eurovision fans get a chance to see a former contest winner in the flesh, next week. American born Katrina Leskanich (left) was the lead singer of Katrina And The Waves that won the competition in 1997, the last time that Ireland staged the Eurovision Song Contest. 46 year old Katrina was last seen just over a year ago, when she co-presented the special anniversary Eurovision show; "Congratulations" from Copenhagen. No doubt Katrina will be performing her winning entry "Love Shine A Light" along with her other major hit "Walking On Sunshine" when she does a personal appearance in Dublin's most successful midweek gay club "Glitz" on November 21st. More information on the venue can be found here and you can find more information on Katrina, on her website here.

Finally for this update, Johnny Logan's comeback has been a something of a damp squib. "Don't Cry" his duet with Belgian based rapper Kaye Styles disappeared from the Irish chart after just one week at #25. 

27th October 2006

Apparently it's now looking increasingly unlikely that former Eurovision winner Johnny Logan (left) will be involved in Ireland's entry in the contest to be staged in Helsinki on May 12th next year. While it has been confirmed that initial talks between RTÉ and Logan have taken place, the national broadcaster has not made a firm offer and the three time Eurovision winning singer and songwriter is apparently reluctant to commit to being involved at this stage. 

While the next contest is still over six months away, RTÉ need to announce a final decision on the performer and the method of selection of Ireland's entry quite soon. The broadcaster received some criticism from aspiring songwriters last year when a timeframe of only six weeks was given to submit potential entries. While the deadline was later controversially extended, it is believed that a period of at least two months will be required for songwriters to have their songs recorded and submitted to RTÉ. 

Given that all the songs then have to be reviewed and shortlisted for the public selection and that the eventual Irish entry has to be chosen by the middle of March, an announcement by RTÉ is thought to be imminent. It is still believed that the same method as used for Athens, with RTÉ choosing the performer and the general public selecting the song, is the preferred option. Former boyband stars Ronan Keating (ex Boyzone, and Eurovision co-presenter in 1997) and Bryan McFadden (ex Westlife and co-writer of Ireland's 2004 Eurovision entry) are the subject of some speculation, as is 1992 Eurovision winner Linda Martin who continues to be an enthusiastic supporter of the contest.

While Johnny Logan may now not feature in RTÉ's future Eurovision plans, he's certainly not been short of coverage on the national broadcaster in recent weeks. Following his appearance on the "Tubridy Tonight" show (see below), he has also been interviewed on both RTÉ radio channels and on Tuesday night last, he was the guest on the top rated "Podge And Rodge" (left) show, and received the usual irreverant treatment. 

The publicity which Johnny has received, has given him his first Irish hit single in sixteen years. Today "Don't Cry", a duet with Belgian based rapper Kaye Styles which features Johhny singing the chorus of his 1986 Eurovision winner "Hold Me Know" entered the Irish singles chart at #25. Johnny's last hit in Ireland was in 1990, when "Lay Down Your Heart" peaked at #20. The chart performance of "Don't Cry" may be considered a little disapointing given the amount of airplay the song has received, and the fact that PaddyPower bookmakers had it as an odds-on chance of topping the Irish chart. Time will tell if it challenges for the #1 spot, but at this stage that looks very unlikely.

24th October 2006

With news from RTÉ regarding its intentions for Ireland's 2007 Eurovision Song Contest  entry due within the next few weeks, the name that seems to be on everyone's lips is that of Johnny Logan. Last week the Evening Herald newspaper qouted the poll of visitors to the "All Kinds Of Everything" site to support the idea that Eurovision fans were supporting the idea of Johnny being involved in the Irish entry in Helsinki, however closer inspection of the poll, shows that a majority of those voting, were actually against the idea. You can see the article by clicking on the image and see the actual poll figures here. Whether or not Johnny gets involved in Eurovision again, it now appears pretty certain that he has another hit on his hands with he re-make of "Hold Me Now" with Belgian rapper Kaye Styles looking certain to hit the Irish chart on Friday next. 

Johnny Logan holds a unique place in the Eurovision Record Book as being the only performer to sing two winning entries. In addition Johnny also wrote "Why Me?" for Linda Martin in 1992. Other former Eurovision winners have been less successful in making comebacks to the contest; Vicky Leandros (Luxembourg 1972) and Severine (Monaco (1971) failed to even make to the contest after entering the German selections, following their victories, a fate which also befell Katrina (UK 1997) when she tried to represent Sweden in 2005. The Olsen Brothers (Denmark 1990) suffered a similar faith in the Danish final in the same year. Others that did actually make it backto Eurovision, have generally done quite poorly;

Whether of not Johnny Logan will return in some capacity for Ireland in 2007, should be known within the next few weeks.

Two other former Irish Eurovision artists gaining publicity over the past few weeks have been Red Hurley (1975) and Mickey Harte (2003). Red (left) continues to be one of Ireland's more popular singers and has just released his new album "Always There For Me" which he has been promoting with somne television appearances and is now going to play some theatre gigs over the next couple of weeks, including Dublin's Olympia Theatre on 26th and 27th October. There is more information on Red on his offical website.  

Mickey Harte formed his own record label after leaving Sony Ireland in 2004 and has recently released his third album called "Live And Learn". Samples of the tracks can be heard or downloaded here, while the album can be bough at the CDWOW site. More information on what the popular Donegalman has been up to in recent times can be found on his website. Meanwhile someone with obviously a lot of time on their hands has recreated Mickey's pre-Eurovision performance of "We've Got The World" on the "Late Late Show" in Lego, filmed it, and added it to YouTube. You can find the result here.

13th October 2006

An appearance by Ireland's "Mr.Eurovision" Johnny Logan on last Saturday's "Tubridy Tonight" show has certainly focussed a lot of media attention on next year's contest, even though it may still be seven months away.  Johnny who was back in the country to help promote his new single, a duet with Belgian rapper Kaye Styles, told the show's host Ryan Tubridy how the collaboration came about and said he looked forward to being back in the charts after the single is released in Ireland on October 20th. You can see the video for "Don't Cry" here. 

The single will also feature another Eurovision related collaboration between Johhny and Kaye "I Love To Party" is the duo's re-interpretation of Ireland's 1980 Eurovision winner, "What's Another Year". The single which was a hit in the Belgian charts during the summer has been picking up a lot of interest and extensive airplay in Ireland and Paddy Power's bookmakers are offering odds of 4/7 for it to top the Irish charts. 

Naturally enough given his Eurovision record, Johnny (left) was asked his opinions on how the contest has progressed since he was last involved in the early 1990s. Johnny admitted that his fondness for the competition had faded in recent years, citing the lack of a live orchestra as a major reason. Johnny was also highly critical of "You're A Star" being used to select the Irish entrants. However when asked about any potential magic recipe that would make Ireland a winning country again, Johnny  said "you need to ask me to do it again!"

The show's audience were certainly in support of the idea, however Eurovision fans and more evenly divided, with a poll on this site, showing a 50/50 split on whether Johnny should be involved in our 2007 entry. Paddy Power has now made Johnny the favourite to represent Ireland in Helsinki next May. The odds on the the favourites are as follows;

The Irish singer and timescale for submitting songs are expected to be announced within the next few weeks and if you fancy having a flutter, you can do so here.

30th September 2006

Tonight sees the final show in the television series "1 To Remember" which starred Ireland's 2006 Eurovision singer and songwriter Brian Kennedy. The series which has run for the past ten weeks has received rather mixed reactions, both from television critics and Eurovision fans alike and the Grand Finale sees Brian and his guests perform ten former Irish number ones chosen by the public. You can see the line-up here. Brian then embarks on an Irish tour and you can find more information on his website. 

The recent appearance of former Westlife member Brian McFadden on the show and the need for an established singer with an international reputation has kicked off some strong speculation that he might be the singer in line to represent Ireland at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki next May. Brian has a previous connections with the Eurovision Song Contest. He co-wrote the 2004 Irish entry "If My World Stopped Turning" performed by Chris Doran and a year earlier Bryan's song "A Better Plan" was second in the "You're A Star" Irish Eurovision selection but topped the Irish charts, launching the career of Simon Casey. Brian's sister Susan McFadden has also competed in the "You're A Star" show.

Dubliner Brian (left) scored a series of Irish and international chart-toppers as a member of Westlife before launching a solo career in 2004. He topped the Irish and UK charts with his debut solo single "Real To Me" and has also scored hits with songs like "Irish Son" and "Almost Here". Brian is currently working on his second solo album, due for release later this year. This week his latest single, "Everyone's Someone" a duet with American singer Liann Rimes has entered the new Irish chart at #27.

While no official announcement has been made and there are other names in the frame, we should have confirmation of RTÉ's intentions for 2007 within the next few weeks and many believed that the timetable which was used to select the 2006 song did not give songwriters adequate time to find or write a song suitable from Brian Kennedy and the strict Eurovision format. 

Meanwhile the songwriting credit on Ireland's 2006 Eurovision entry "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" on Brian Kennedy's "Homebird" album has created a storm in a teacup in Eurovision off-season. On the album, a co-credit is given to Brian's long time collaborator Calum MacColl, son of popular singer/songwriter Ewan MacColl and brother of the late Kirsty MacColl. Calum and who was on stage with Brian in Athens, denies being involved in writing the song. 

Calum is English and RTÉ's rules stipulated that songs submitted to them for Eurovision must be the work of Irish songwriters and while the story has gained some minor attention in the media here, there is no issue of significance as Eurovision rules do not limit songwriters by nationality. Indeed when you look at this year's contest you find that the Swiss song was written by Germans, the Belgian song by Swedes and the Monegasque song by a French and Polish duo.

In the "Irish News" section, we like to keep track of former Irish Eurovision artists and one name we haven't mentioned for a while is our 1976 singer Red Hurley. Red (left) who finished 10th in The Hague with Brendan Graham's first Eurovision entry "When" has continued to remain a popular figure in the Irish entertainment industry and in 2005 he had his own radio series "American Songbook" on RTE1. Red returned to the Irish album chart last year, and he has now scored his first hit in the Irish singles chart since 1989 with his new single "We Were In Love".

Another former Irish Eurovision entrant could also be in line for a long overdue return to the charts. Johnny Logan's collaboration with Kaye Styles which we covered on July 7th (see story below) is also gaining airplay and media attention in Ireland and there are rumours that the track may yet be released as a single here within the next few weeks. Johnny hasn't had a hit in the Irish charts since 1990 when "Lay Down Your Heart" reached #20, however given the attention the track is gaining, it could well turn out to be a rather unusual hit. 

While Irish Eurovision fans are waiting for next year's contest to bring them their next annual dose of excitement, some are settling in to the autumn nights in the company of a good book. BBC commentator Sir Terry Wogan who of course originally hails from Limerick is synonymous with the Eurovision Song Contest, has just had his autobiography published. "Musn't Grumble" (left) is Terry's look back at a long career which started on radio with RTÉ in the 1960s before moving to the BBC in London in 1971.

Terry has provided the BBC commentary on the contest for over thirty years, and co-presented the show in Birmingham in 1998. His book makes plenty of mentions of the contest, all of them in his typical tongue-in-cheek style. While some of the more avid fans may not be pleased with what he has to say about Eurovision or Terry's slightly faulty memory of events but it certainly makes for an entertaining read.

Terry returned to Dublin today for a book-signing in Easons in O'Connell Street and its obvious that he remains one of the most popular Irish broadcasters and personalities. Apparently he wasn't giving anything away on when he might given up the Eurovision commentators booth or who he might favour to replace him.

30th August 2006

While there has been no official announcement, sources close to RTÉ have confirmed to "All Kinds Of Everything" that the national broadcaster are looking to repeat the 2006 formula to select Ireland's entrants for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki. If these sources are correct, once again acts with an established reputation for live performances are under consideration, and once again the Irish public will choose the Eurovision entry through a televote. An official announcement is however unlikely until later in the year.

RTÉ may face a dilemma in broadcasting next year's Eurovision Song Contest. According to several sources including the popular ElectionsIreland website, the date of the next Irish General Election is most likely to be Friday May 11th 2007, the day before next year's contest. In that event, the televised counting and analysis of the vote will follow on Saturday May 12th and may relegate the Eurovision Song Contest from RTÉ 1 to RTÉ 2. The contest normally draws huge viewing figures and this may be impacted by the switch of channels. The clash of dates will of course also mean that any Eurovision fans going to Finland, may miss out on the chance of voting in the election.   

Despite that fact that thanks to the Top 10 finish of "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" in Athens,  Ireland has automatically qualified for the 2007 final,  RTÉ has confirmed that next year's semi-final, which will take place on Thursday May 10th, will again be broadcast on the RTÉ2.

Ever the optimists, Irish Eurovision fans in Athens, were speculating where RTÉ might stage the contest in the event of Ireland's eighth Eurovision win. Since this country last staged the contest in 1997, the show has become a much bigger event, both in terms of the number of delegations, but also in the size of the press corps and the audience that attend the event. For the last three years the venues in Istanbul, Kyiv and Athens have ranged in capacity from just over 10,000 to over 16,000 and at the moment there is no indoor venue in this country that can hold these kind of numbers in the seated configuration, necessary for the contest.

However that situation may be about to change. The Point Depot (left), which successfully staged the contest in 1994, 1995 and 1997 is apparently about to undergo a major transformation. Plans have been announced to expand the venue, so as to almost double its capacity to 14,000 spectators for concerts. While this number will be reduced for an all-seated show like the Eurovision Song Contest, the venue may still hold in excess 10,000 for such events.

The plans to transform the site, don't end there. There will be a new "Point Village" complex, complete with a hotel, casino and several shops. The popular Luas tram system is to be extended to the venue and it will take visitors to and from the city centre in five minutes. 

Finally, for this update, this Saturday night sees one of the most unusual Eurovision related events coming to Dublin. Many people were surprised when the top points from this year's Irish televote were awarded to the tongue-in-cheek entry "We Are The Winners" by the Lithuanian "supergroup" LT United. This weekend LT United come to Ireland to thank their Irish based fans for their support in May.

LT United will head a Lithuanian all-star line-up which will play at the RDS in Dublin (venue for the 1981 and 1988 Eurovision Song Contests) on September 2nd. While the show is mainly aimed at the large Lithuanian emigrant community in Ireland, it also contains a double treat for Eurovision fans. As well as seeing L.T. United perform their 2006 Eurovision song, the line-up will also include the popular group Skamp, which performed at the 2001 contest in Copenhagen, finishing 13th with "U Got Style".

Skamp feature Dubliner Erica Jennings on lead vocals, while another member is Vee Diawara, who was also the French rapper on LT United's Eurovision entry. Talking to Vee, while in Athens, I discovered that Skamp spent some very enjoyable time recording and playing in Dublin in recent years, so they will be no strangers to an Irish audience. You can find out more about Skamp on their website.

Saturday night's gig will also feature Andrius Mamontovas, the man behind L.T. United, and also for many years, one of the biggest stars on the Lithuanian music scene. You can read more about Andrius on his website. 

Since achieving Lithuania's best ever Eurovision result (6th) in Athens, LT United have decided to continue working together. "We Are The Winners" reached the Finnish Top 20 in June and has gained a lot of airplay, even from as far away as the U.S.A., where it apparently has turned into an alternative gay anthem. You can find out what LT United have been up to on their website. 

If you are interested in going along to the Dublin gig on Saturday night, tickets are available here. 

31st July 2006

With no firm news coming out of RTÉ on the selection process for Ireland's 2007 Eurovision entry, visitors to this website have been having lots of fun suggesting names that they'd like to see represent Ireland in Helsinki. At the end of this week I'll put a selection of your nominations to a public vote on the front page of the site.

Over the past few weeks, nine potential names have been up for your support and with over a thousand votes cast, two names have emerged as clear favourites. Ronan Keating who co-presented the contest in 1997 and performed the interval as part of Boyzone is hardly a surprise, given his high international profile. The other favourite may be less well know, but Corina Brouder (left) has been getting a lot of attention in the U.S.A., due to her recent appearance on "America's Got Talent".

While the former "You're A Star" entrant didn't quite make it to the final, she did reach the semi-final, and you can watch her performance on that show here. While now based back in America, Corina is apparently still very interested in competing for Ireland in the world's biggest international music competition and has been recording some potential songs written by Irish songwriters.

This week almost certainly marks the last entry in the Irish singles chart for 2006 Eurovision Song Contest winner "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. After eight weeks in the Irish Top 40, it falls from #28 to #34 , having peaked at #4, making it the most successful non-Irish Eurovision song in local chart chart since Nicole's "A Little Peace" reached #1 back in 1982. Around Europe "Hard Rock Hallelujah" has been one of the most commercially successful Eurovision winners for many years, and the follow-up single "Who's Your Daddy" will be released next month. You can watch the video for that song here.

Brian Kennedy (left) will also be releasing the follow-up single to his Eurovision entry in August; the track chosen is apparently "Destination" from his current "Homebird" album. The song which Brian co-wrote, may be a surprise choice of single to some, as many people thought that "Turn To Me" (co-written with former Eurovision winner Brendan Graham) was a more obvious choice of single. Perhaps that song is being held back for the more lucrative Christmas market. In the meantime you can hear a sample of Brian's next single "Destination" here. The exact release date has still to be confirmed.

Brian is currently hosting his own television programme "1 To Remember" on RTÉ1 on Sunday evenings. In the first couple of weeks, he has had two other former Eurovision entrants as guests on the show; Michael Ball (United Kingdom 1992) and Baccara (Luxembourg 1978), however apart from "Every Song Is A Cry For Love", no other Eurovision entry has been performed on the show. The series is scheduled to run for another eight weeks and other former Eurovision entrants will be guests on future shows.

Finally for this update, news of some other former Irish Eurovision entrants. Waterford man Chris Doran (left), who represented Ireland in Istanbul in 2004 has certainly changed his musical style and promotional methods for his current single. 

Chris was signed to California based Bootcamp Records in January 2006. The first single that the record label decided to release was a hip-hop version of "Fast Car" the Tracy Chapman classic. Apparently this song opened a lot of doors for Chris in the United States and was being played on radio stations across the country.

In May 2006 Chris flew to California, where he met up with the production team of Eddie G Music which has had amazing U.S. success with B5 and the track "Get Your Head In The Game"  With them Chris recorded "You Know You Want It". To add some spice to the track, Eddie used his girl group called "Femme Fatale" on backing vocals on the track. The song has been released to radio stations and clubs in America and may get a commercial release on this side of the world in weeks to come. Following the example of people like Sandi Thom and Lily Allen, Chris has now created his own MySpace site to promote his music, and you can hear his recent releases here.

There's less good news for 2005 Irish entrants Donna & Joe McCaul. The Athlone duo released their their third single "Hands Up" (a cover of Ottawan's 1981 novelty dance hit) three weeks ago, but the single has fared badly and has completely failed to make the Irish charts. There must now be a question mark over the duo's plan to release an album.

7th July 2006

While this may be the "off season" for the Eurovision Song Contest, there are still some Eurovision related stories making the news.

Since returning from Athens, Ireland's 2006 Eurovision Son Contest singer and songwriter, Brian Kennedy has been a very busy man. As well as promoting his current album "Homebird" which reached the Irish Top 10, Brian has also been recording his new weekly television series "1 To Remember" which begins its run on July 23rd on RTÉ1 and will run on Sunday evenings until the end of September.

Next Monday (July 10th) Brian begins a series of five concerts in Dublin's popular Olympia Theatre and tickets can still be bought from the venue or from the Irish Ticketmaster website. 

On June 21st Brian performed at the opening ceremony of the Irish Special Olympics, which were hosted for the first time in Brian's native city of Belfast. 

Yesterday (July 6th), Brian returned to Belfast and received his honourary degree from the University of Ulster. Brian was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) at a ceremony in Belfast's Waterfront Hall in recognition of his distinction as a popular artist. Combining his natural charm with one of the greatest voices this island has produced, Brian once again charmed the audience when he broke into song as part of his response on behalf of the new graduates. You can hear Brian's speech and live rendition of "You Raise Me Up" here (links to the University of Ulster website).

Brian will also represent Ireland at the annual "Second Chance Contest" organised by the international Eurovision fanclub O.G.A.E. This contest which pits songs which appeared in the national selections, but failed to make it to the actual Eurovision Song Contest, has been running since 1987, with Ireland first entering in 1990. 

This year's Irish entry might be a surprise to many people, as the song selected is not "All Over The World" which finished second in the Irish national final and was featured on the single of "Every Song Is A Cry For Love", but rather "The Greatest Song Of All" written by Jimmy McCarthy, which finished 3rd (and last) in the Irish national final. The studio version of the song is due to be included in a compilation of McCarthy's songs, released later this year. You can watch Brian's performance of "The Greatest Song Of All" here. You can find out more about the O.G.A.E. Second Chance Contest here.

After the relative success of "Every Song Is A Cry For Love", which finished 10th in Athens, and automatically qualified Ireland for next year's final of the Eurovision Song Contest, there has been a lot of speculation that RTÉ may use the same formula to select the Irish entry for Helsinki in 2007.

A number of names have been discussed as potential Irish performers for next year's Eurovision Song Contest. One singer that was mentioned as a potential entrant for 2006 is still being circulated as a possible future participant in Helsinki in 2007 is the 1997 Eurovision presenter, and former member of Boyzone Ronan Keating. Keating who has worked with Brian Kennedy in the past, also appeared at the "Congratulations" show in Copenhagen in 2005 which marked Eurovision's 50th birthday.

Several performers that were unearthed by the four series of "You're A Star" have achieved further success, Offaly man Simon Casey (runner-up the first series) has had several hits in the Irish charts over the past few years, while Cork's Jean Elliot (from the second series) has also had a hit single and is known to have recorded demo versions of potential Eurovision songs.

The winner of the most recent series, which was not directly connected with Eurovision was Lucia Evans from Zimbabwe (via Galway), and while her debut single was not the huge hit that most people expected, her high profile and strong voice may make her a contender, although Lucia has previously gone on record to say that she would not have entered "You're A Star" if the prize had been a ticket to Eurovision. The Sullivan Brothers who lost out to Lucia Evans and have just scored their first Irish hit single, might also be an option for Eurovision.

Two other potential names that are also being mentioned are Corina Brouder and Una Healy. Corinna (left) who fails from the Bronx district of New York, but has family roots in Limerick twice tried out in "You're A Star", but didn't make it through to the live shows. Despite this Corina received plenty of press attention, being featured on the front page of V.I.P. magazine and scoring a minor Irish hit with her own composition "Another Day", a song which is currently being used to promote the syndication of "Sex And The City" on American television. Corina is also known to have recorded a number of demos of potential Eurovision songs written by Irish songwriters and has she has continued her search for wider success on Simon Cowell's  new television series "America's Got Talent" which is currently running on NBC in America. You can find more information on Corina Brouder on her website.

Another potential name in the frame is that of Tipperary girl Una Healy (left). Keen Eurovision fans will already be familiar with Una, as she was one of the three backing singers that accompanied Brian Kennedy on stage in Athens.

Una who was a national champion swimmer in her early teens has concentrated on her musical career for the past two years and has studied songwriting at the popular IMRO workshops. Una has taken part in musical showcases predominantly performing her own songs. She has been featured on TG4, the national Irish language television channel and also on BBC Northern Ireland.

Una recorded an EP of her music earlier this year and received good reviews from Hot Press magazine and she is currently working on gaining a recording contract. You can find information on Una on her MySpace website.   

If RTÉ decide to be a bit more daring in their selection, they may look at the Finnish winners of the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, and be inspired to choose a rock group to represent Ireland in Helsinki.  Irish rock music is famed throughout the world, but the more conservative nature of Eurovision in the past has meant that the national broadcaster has never sent a rock act to the contest. 

Following the success of Eurovision winners Lordi both at Eurovision, and in the Irish charts, Irish rock groups might now consider Eurovision as a viable option for gaining greater recognition in Europe. One band who are hugely popular at home, but have failed to make much an an impression beyond Ireland are The Frames. This pop/rock group may have missed the boat for international success up to now but the boost they would receive from appearing at Eurovision may make participation more attractive than some people might think. The Frame's website can be found here.

Another Irish band that would appear to have the repertoire necessary to appeal to a big international audience, but also appear to be making little inroad outside Ireland at the moment are BellX1 (left). The band's "Flock" album has been a best seller in Ireland, but despite being released in the U.K. earlier this year, their domestic success has not followed them outside of the Irish market.

With Eurovision now appearing to draw a much younger audience in Europe, and the band's instantly appealing pop/rock songs seeming to be ideal for the contest, the popular Kildare foursome might enjoy the huge local and international attention that a participation in the contest would bring. You can find more information on Bell X1 on their website here.

On the front page I have allowed visitors to this website to select which if any of these acts they'd like to see representing Ireland in Helsinki in 2007. I am also looking for other suggestions which you can send here. I will also put the best of these to a public vote. 

While we still have no definite news of Ireland's Eurovision performer for 2007, one name from Irish Eurovision history is still making an impact in Europe. Johnny Logan, was one of the panel of experts who helped choose this year's Belgian Eurovision entry. While Kate Ryan and "Je T'Adore" may not have done as well as expected in Athens, but Johnny's involvement in the Belgian selection has had an interesting and unusual side-effect.

One of the contestants who lost out in the selection was 24 year old Ghana born Kaye Styles (left) with the R'n'B song "Profile". While the song only finished 6th in the Belgian final, it went on to be a huge hit in the local chart. During the selection process, which took two months, Kaye became friends with Johnny, who admired the talent of the young rapper & singer. Now Johnny has combined with Kaye to re-record his 1987 Eurovision Song Contest winner "Hold Me Now". The new and very contemporary re-interpretation of the song is titled "Don't Cry" and is gaining play on several European radio stations and on music television channels. You can watch the video of "Don't Cry" by Johnny Logan and Kaye Styles here.

Finally for this update, another look at the current Irish charts. Lordi's Eurovision winner "Hard Rock Hallelujah" is now in its fifth successive week in the Irish Top 10, dropping two places to #8, having peaked at #4. The band's "Arockalypse" album, which is also available has however failed to sell well in Ireland, unlike many other countries in Europe, where the band have gained huge album sales since their Eurovision victory.

This week the Irish Chart reaches the digital age for the first time, with downloads counting towards chart positions for the very first time. The Irish download market is considerably smaller than its U.K. and several European equivalents, accounting for only 14% of music sales in this country. However that figure is expected to grow significantly over the next few years, when Ireland finally sees the penetration of broadband, which has lagged behind most European countries.  The inclusion of downloads in the Irish chart is expected to negatively impact local artists as many do not have deals with digital download sites. You can find the latest Irish Top 40 singles chart, incorporating digital downloads here. 

9th June 2006

Despite Sony/BMG Ireland's decision to follow the example of their U.K. counterparts and delay the release of 2006 Eurovision Song Contest winner "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi, the single has entered the Irish Top 5 based on only three days sales.  The single went on sale in Ireland on Tuesday last (6/6/06) and because the Irish charts are based on sales from Friday to Thursday, there was speculation that it might not be the high new entry that many were hoping for, but the single entered at #4 and therefore became the biggest hit by a Eurovision winner since "The Voice" by Eimear Quinn reached #3 in 1996. With a full week's worth of sales to count towards next week's chart, it is highly likely that "Hard Rock Hallelujah" could reached #1 next week. Don't forget that you can read the full history of Eurovision entries in the Irish chart here.

While Ireland's Eurovision entry "Every Song Is A Cry For Love"  is now dropping down the Irish Top 40, having peaked at #4, Brian Kennedy has the consolation of a Top 10 album with his "Homebird" collection, which entered the Irish album chart at #9 last week.

Meanwhile RTÉ has released the full details of this year's Eurovision televotes. The total number of televotes are surprisingly low and this may be caused by the relatively high cost of casting a vote in Ireland (0.60c) compared to other countries.

EUROVISION 2006 : The Irish televotes

The results show a considerable consistency between the semi-final and final, with the Lithuanian and Finnish entries being the clear favourites with the Irish public, taking almost one third of the votes between them on both evenings. The result also dispels any idea of the immigrant vote being solely responsible for the success of the Lithuanian entry "We Are The Winners", in Ireland. While there are a significant number of Lithuanians in Ireland, they are far fewer in number than both the Latvian and especially the Polish community and yet Lithuania easily out-scored Poland in the semi-final, and Latvia in the final. Indeed given the make-up of the Top 3 in Ireland, it would appear that younger and non-traditional voters made up a large portion of the Irish televote. 

Apart from Ireland's support for Lithuania, the only other major differences between the Irish televote and the overall result were the lower placing of the Bosnian entry (3rd in Athens, 9th in Ireland) and the much higher rating of the U.K. entry (19th in Athens but 3rd in Ireland).

28th May 2006

The 2006 Eurovision Song Contest winner "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Finnish group Lordi is apparently being released in Ireland on Friday next (June 2nd). BMG are very confident that the single will be a huge chart hit all over Europe and if they are right we could be looking at the most successful commercial success for a Eurovision winner, for many years.

Interestingly  a recent change in the chart eligibility rules in the U.K., may mean that the track will reach the chart there, before it is released in the shops. From tomorrow (May 29th) all downloads of the track will count towards its chart placing and this may see "Hard Rock Hallelujah" reach the Top 40 as soon as June 4th, a couple of days before the CD single hits the shops. The track is already set to reach the Top 40 download chart  next week.

Meanwhile such is the interest in Lordi, that they have been added to the line-up of several big outdoor festivals this summer, and there is some speculation that they may be invited to play at one of Ireland's big summer gigs.

Meanwhile more details are emerging of Brian Kennedy's new television series to be broadcast on RTÉ this summer. The ten week series will be broadcast on RTE1 on Sunday evenings at 20.30 and is called "1 To Remember with Brian Kennedy". The show will feature Brian singing number one hits from the Irish charts over the years. The public will have an opportunity to vote for the hits that Brian and his guests will perform. The guests will apparently include several people who have topped the Irish charts. You can vote for which songs you want Brian to perform here. 

The show will be recorded at the RTE Studios, Donnybrook, Dublin between 23rd June - 30th June. There are several Eurovision songs for which you can vote. Members of the public who would like to attend the recording of the shows will also get the opportunity to request tickets on the same website. The e-mail address for tickets to the show is one2remember@gmail.com.  Anyone can request tickets, by leaving both your email and phone number. 

Brian was interviewed by Gerry Keely on UTV on Friday evening and he performed "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" and "If You Don't Believe In Me" a track from his new album "Homebird", released this week. Brian confirmed that he thoroughly enjoyed his experience in Athens, and believed that his 10th place finish was relatively satisfactory in light of the competition and the number of gimmicky entries in the competition. Brian also confirmed that the idea to perform part of his Eurovision song on one knee, was his own and that it was done to build an intimacy with the television audience.

Brian also spoke about the recent award of an honourary doctorate by the University of Ulster. Brian will receive the degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) in recognition of his distinction as a popular music performer. As well as the television series, the next big event on Brian's diary will be a five night run in Dublin's Olympia Theatre in mid July. More information here. 

26th May 2006

Brian Kennedy and RTÉ have certainly reaped the rewards for their successful participation in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens. "Every Song Is A Cry For Love", written and performed by Brian finished a creditable 10th place in the final, having just scrapped through Thursday night's semi-final in 9th place. In the final 23 of the 38 countries which voted, awarded points to Ireland, the breakdown was as follows; 10 from Monaco (which apparently used a jury rather than a televote), 8 from the U.K., 7 from Norway, 6 from Estonia and Lithuania, 5 from Denmark, Portugal and Sweden, 4 from Andorra, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Malta and Netherlands, 3 from Armenia and Switzerland, 2 from Croatia, Romania, Poland and Ukraine and 1 point from France, Iceland and Slovenia. Monaco's and Ukraine's points were the highest ever awarded to an Irish entry, while those from Andorra were the first awarded in a final (Andorra gave Ireland two points in the 2005 semi-final).

In total the Irish entry received 93 points, finishing two points ahead of Turkey, and by finishing in the Top 10, Ireland has automatically qualified for the final of next year's Eurovision Song Contest, to be staged in Helsinki on May 10th 2007. Interestingly the countries which Brian visited as part of his promotional tour (Malta, Croatia and Slovenia) made all the difference when it came to automatic qualification. Ireland has rarely received substantial points from Slovenia or Croatia and Brian's visit to these countries may well have all the difference this year.

Ireland hasn't finished in the Top 10 at the Eurovision Song Contest since Eamonn Toal finished 6th in Stockholm in 2000 with "Millennium Of Love". In 2003, "We've Got The World" sung by Mickey Harte finished 11th, but because Spain (one of the "Big 4") finished in the Top 10, Ireland automatically qualified for the 2004 final.

The interest generated by Brian's participation in Athens and the rather unorthodox nature of the winning song have generated far more media coverage in the contest in Ireland, compared to the last couple of years. The viewing figures were also very high. On May 18th the semi-final which was broadcast on RTE2 was watched by an average of 517,000 viewers and rose to a peak of 912,000 during the results section. This is apparently the highest viewing figure recorded by RTE2 this year and most unusually RTE2's audience was considerably higher than RTE1's, during the show. On Saturday 20th, the final was watched by an average audience of 762,000 viewers on RTE1, rising to a peak of 1,032,000, again during the voting. The Eurovision Song Contest is once again likely to be one of the top three programmes of the year on Irish television. It is also worth noting that many people watch the show on BBC, where Irishman Terry Wogan is the commentator and these figures do not include those watching on BBC.

"Every Song Is A Cry For Love" has also recorded an astonished upsurge in sales in the wake of the contest and has risen to #4 on this week's Irish chart, up ten places from last week. The success of the single has increased interest in Brian's new album "Homebird" which is released in Ireland today, and is due for release in the U.K. on Monday next. For a limited period the album comes with a free acoustic album, including a version of the Eurovision song.

Brian has spent this week recounting his Eurovision experiences on Irish radio and he appears on "Gerry meets" with Gerry Kelly on UTV later this evening. It's quite obvious that Brian thoroughly enjoyed his time in the contest and he has gone on the record in encouraging other established artists to take part in the show.

Surprisingly Curb Records decided not to release "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" in Britain, although it was released in Northern Ireland. Apparently the single will also be released in Sweden over the next few days, where interest in Eurovision is far higher than most other European countries.

Unlike last year's Eurovision winner, the single of Finland's Eurovision winning entry "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi will apparently be released in Ireland. The single is being released by BMG in the U.K. of June 6th (6/6/06), but it may be in shops in Ireland as soon as June 2nd. The song has picked up considerable airplay on Irish radio and was championed by Dave Fanning on his 2FM rock show in advance of the contest.

Finally for this update, there has been a lot of discussion regarding Ireland's rather unusual votes in this year's contest. The Irish public chose Lithuania's tongue-in-cheek entry "We Are The Winners" by LT United (left) as their favourite in both the semi final and the final. There has been a lot of speculation that the large Lithuanian immigrant population was responsible for this vote, and while they probably played a part, some completely unscientific research which I have done with family and friends suggests that "We Are The Winners" was also hugely popular with the native Irish population, especially younger members of the audience.

It is however interesting to note how different the Irish televote was from the points that would have been awarded by the back-up jury, which would have been used in the case of a problem with the televote, as happened in 1999 and 2003. Below you can find how the public actually voted, and how the jury would have voted.

The difference between the televote and the jury vote is very significant. While the public tended to go for novelty and unusual entries like Lithuania, Finland and the U.K., the jury, which is made up of a mixture of the public and members that work in entertainment industry went for more traditional songs like those from Sweden., Greece and Switzerland.

Finally, while Ireland's result in Athens was a pleasant surprise for many Eurovision fans in this country, it wasn't quite as good as some people might have hoped, and it ended up causing a little embarrassment for Sports and Culture Minister John O'Donoghue. On Monday, the department's website issued a statement congratulated Brian on winning the Eurovision Song Contest and bringing the country its eighth contest victory. The page was later withdrawn and put down to "human error". 

8th May 2006

The reaction to Brian Kennedy's appearance on Friday night's "Late Late Show" has been filling up my mailbox over the weekend. It appears that many people prefer the arrangement of "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" on the preview video and radio rather than the more minimal orchestration used on "The Late Late Show". Today I opened a poll on the front page and at the moment the preview/radio mix is winning by a factor 3 to 1. 

Brian spent Saturday in Malta, where he appeared on the weekly Eurovision countdown show. He has also visited Britain, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia & Montenegro, and while this promotional campaign is not as extensive as other contestants, it's certainly good to see an artist of the calibre of Brian Kennedy making such a huge effort in Ireland's Eurovision cause.  

Brian is the latest performer to sign a special leather jacket, which Linda Martin (left) has been working on for over six months. Linda has managed to get the jacket signed by a  host of Eurovision celebrities from the first winner Lys Assia in 1956, to the most recent winner Helena Papaizou, as well as all of Ireland's winners and the cast of last year's "Congratulations" show in Copenhagen.

Linda will be a guest of Alan Hughes on TV3's morning television show on the day of this year's semi-final (Thursday May 18th) and they will be auctioning the jacket for an animal charity which is close to Linda's heart. This is the perfect opportunity to own a unique piece of Eurovision memorabilia and we wish the best of luck to Linda in this worthy cause. That show will also apparently feature a link to Brian Kennedy in Athens as he prepares for hopefully the first of two big Eurovision performances.

Former "You're A Star" presenter Ray D'Arcy will also be in Athens next week for his mid-morning radio show on Today FM and he will be reporting on the events in the build up to this year's contest. The show has also been featuring several of this year's entries. Brian Kennedy will have over a hundred Irish supporters in the hall on semi-final night cheering him on, which is quite good considering the distance involved and the difficulty getting tickets.

It  also appears that Brian's recent high profile and continuing popularity has landed him his own Friday night music and chat show on RTE 1 television this summer. Brian has previously presented two television series on BBC Northern Ireland.       

One person that doesn't seem to be impressed by Brian and his Eurovision entry is U.K. entrant Daz Sampson (left). Daz was interviewed in yesterday's Irish "Star On Sunday" and said that he thought that "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" was "too safe" and "too traditional" for Eurovision. Daz added "I was expecting something uplifting like "You Raise Me Up" but when I heard the song I was very disappointed .This is not a strong song and is not as good as previous Irish entries". Brian Kennedy's view on the U.K. entry is as yet unknown, but "All Kinds Of Everything" will be asking the question in Athens. 

Daz also talked up his own chances in this year's Eurovision Song Contest, where his song "Teenage Life" is highly ranked by several U.K. bookmakers and has also been attracting airplay on several music video channels. The single is released in the U.K. today, and a high chart entry is expected on Sunday next, with several chart watchers tipping the song for the Top 5. Surprisingly the single did not go on general release in Ireland on Friday ;ast, although it is expected to hit the shops by the end of the week. 

Recent U.K. entries have fared very poorly in the Irish chart with Javine's "Touch My Fire" peaking at #32 last year, and no U.K. entry has been a Top 20 hit in Ireland since "Love Shine A Light" by Katrina & The Waves reached #5 in 1997.

5th May 2006

Brian Kennedy had a webchat with fans from all over the world, earlier today. You can find the full webchat on RTE's website here. As well as discussing his new album and his taste in music and wine, Brian was very frank but upbeat on his forthcoming participation in the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens. Asked about his decision to take up the RTÉ's invitation to compete Brian said "If you don't take a risk how can you expect something extraordinary to happen?" Brian has obviously been sizing up the opposition, "I have heard all of the songs now and there seems to be something for everybody in the audience", and repeating something that many Irish Eurovision fans feel "I'll do my very best to get through the semi-final and that will be a victory in itself." This was something which Brian repeated in his pre-performance chat with Pat Kenny on tonight's "Late Late Show".    

Brian also spoke about his recent visit to Croatia and Slovenia, where he has been promoting "Every Song Is A Cry For Love", and mentioned that he will flying to Malta very early tomorrow morning. Brian will be singing his song on Maltese television tomorrow evening, before coming back to Ireland, and then leaving for Athens on Wednesday next. You can watch the chat between Brian and Pat here.

Brian sang his Eurovision entry, dressed in a pale brown suit with a chocolate coloured shirt. With sang live as was supported by the three backing singers who will be on stage in Athens. Disappointingly the arrangement that was used was the more minimal album version, rather than the far full radio mix. For Eurovision, Brian will also have a guitarist on stage, and hopefully the arrangement will be changed. You can watch Brian's performance here.

Brian will undoubtedly be hoping that his performance will pay-off in sales of the single, which dipped from #8 to #16 in the new Irish Top 40. The single will undoubtedly pick up additional radio play in the build-up to Athens, over the next two weeks.

Tonight's "Late Late Show" also featured another 2006 Eurovision song. Sweden's Carola flew in especially to perform her entry "Invincible" on Ireland's top rated television show. This was quite a coup for the Swedish singer. Last year the Bosnian and Croatian performers visited Ireland but the visits were relatively low key and were missed by many Eurovision fans.

As I discovered at Sunday's Irish Previews Party, Carola still retains a lot of goodwill from many Irish Eurovision fans. Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of Carola's Eurovision Song Contest victory in Rome with "Faangad Av En Stormvind" (Caught In A Stormwind). This year she is attempting to repeat Johnny Logan's record of being the only performer to win the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions. Unlike Brian Kennedy, Carola did not sing her song live, but you can watch her performance here.

While it has still to be confirmed officially by RTÉ, there  is a strong rumour that another familiar face will call in the Irish votes in Athens. Following Johnny Logan in 2004 and Ireland's first Eurovision winner Dana, who called in the Irish votes to Kyiv in 2005, it appears that this year it will be turn of Ireland's most recent Eurovision winner Eimear Quinn. 2006 is the tenth anniversary of "The Voice" written by Brendan Graham, winning the contest in Oslo, and this remains Ireland most recent Eurovision win.

Finally for this update, Irish Eurovision fans might be interested in this week's Sunday Independent, which comes with a free DVD. The disc contains two of the best episodes of the popular Irish television comedy series "Father Ted". One of the episodes on the DVD is the famous "Song For Europe", one of the funniest Eurovision parodies of all time. Originally filmed in 1995, when it appeared that Ireland couldn't stop winning the contest, it tells the story of a desperate national broadcaster looking for a song that was so bad that it couldn't win. Ah the good old old days!

3rd May 2006

Brian Kennedy has a busy weekend ahead of him. As well as the traditional "Late Late Show send off on Friday night, Brian will be in doing a webchat with fans earlier on Friday. Between 13.00 and 14.00 BST (14.00 and 15.00 CET), Brian will be online, and answering questions on the RTÉ website. You can submit questions for the chat here. On Saturday morning Brian is apparently heading for Malta, to do some promotional work on the Mediterranean island. There may be another webcast, and if there is I will post the link on Saturday.

Brian trip to Croatia lat weekend went very well and it also gave Ireland's 2006 Eurovision singer/songwriter, a chance to meet up with some of his fellow Eurovision contestants. In the picture left, you can see Brian (extreme right), Malta's Fabrizio Faniello (second left), Sweden's Carola (third left) and Croatia's Severina (third right), with two members of OGAE Croatia.

On the subject of Carola, there are some websites reporting that Carola is paying a visit to Ireland on Sunday next, however I cannot get confirmation of this.

RTÉ have apparently sent CD packs to 500 radio stations and both preview videos to all the relevant broadcasters in an effort to get some airplay ahead of the Contest. Brian has also confirmed the reason why RTÉ decided to change the preview video for "Every Song Is A Cry For Love". Apparently it was believed that there needed to be more of Brian performance of the song, and that it needed to be more personal. On the subject of preview videos, don't forget that RTE will be broadcasting the 37 entries in a special show hosted by Marty Whelan, the weekend before the contest.

If you fancy a trip to Athens to see Brian Kennedy perform live at Eurovision, Ray D'Arcy's morning radio show on Today FM is offering the opportunity for one of its listeners to make the trip. You just need to provide a good reason why you think it should be you.

While many Eurovision fans were attending last Sunday night's Preview Party (see story below), others were tuning into the final of RTE's "Celebrity Jig n'Reels". Last Sunday's Grand Finals saw three couples showing their Irish dancing skills, including 1970 Irish Song Contest winner Dana (Rosemary Scallon). Unfortunately Ronan McCormack Dana's dancing partner suffered an injury during rehearsals and Dana had to dance with a stand-in on the evening. The show was won by soap opera actor Killian O'Sullivan. You can see Dan's performance in the final here.

Dana's recent weight loss regime has also been covered in the RTÉ Guide. Dana has shed two stone (13kg) and is looking better than ever and her performances in "Celebrity Jigs n'Reels" has raised thousands of pounds for Irish hospices. With an Irish General Election due next year, a return to a political career cannot be ruled out.

1st May 2006

With less that three weeks to go to the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, Irish singer and songwriter Brian Kennedy has been on the promotional trail once again. This weekend he visited Croatia, where he appeared on one of the country's top television shows on Saturday evening. Swedish singer Carola and Malta's Fabrizio Faniello also performed, but Brian was the only performer to sing. You can watch some of his performance here (Real Player required). On Friday night next Brian will be singing "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" live on "The Late Late Show" and this will be the best indication of how the song will be performed in Athens, and I will have the video of that performance soon after it is broadcast.

On Friday last it was confirmed that the Irish Eurovision single had entered the Irish Top 40 at #8. As the single apparently hasn't been released in England, Scotland or Wales, sales in Northern Ireland were unsurprisingly not enough to enter the U.K. Top 40. 

On Sunday night many Irish Eurovision fans gathered in Dublin's Centre Stage bar on Parliament Street to view all of this year's preview videos. The cabaret was provided by Uri Vision who treated us to a couple of old Eurovision songs before we got to see this year's collection.

The videos were shown in performance order and reaction to some of the songs can best be described as unenthusiastic, but there was no doubt that several people have selected their favourites for Athens. There seemed to be general consensus was the he songs at the the of the semi final were a great deal better than those at the start of the final.

After an interval provided by a live performance of the representative from "Phlegmland" there was voting. If the government are looking for a home for one of their electronic voting machines, can I suggest the give one to Eurovision fans to help reduce the time involved in counting all the votes.

In the end the Irish fans chose Finland's Lordi  (left) and "Hard Rock Hallelujah" as their favourite 2006 entry. Below you can find the full voting figures.  Whether these come anything anything near the actual voting figures on May 18th or 20th is open to debate. 

A big thanks to Tom Daly who organized the event and also those who said nice things about this site !

28th April 2006

With the Eurovision Song Contest only three weeks away, Brian Kennedy is off on his travels again this week, with another trip to the Balkans on the agenda. Brian will be in Croatia this weekend, appearing on a show with some other performers fro this year. I hope to have a report on the show, and Brian's visit early next week.

Yesterday Brian did some local promotion, appearing in HMV on Dublin's Grafton Street. Brian performed an acoustic version of his Eurovision entry and several other well known songs before signing CDs for fans and received lots of support messages for his forthcoming trip to Athens.

A more slim line Brian wasn't giving too much away about his outfit or performance in Athens, although he will be giving a few hints when he appears on the "Late Late Show" on May 5th. Brian will be flying out on May 10th, the day before his first rehearsal. Brian was obviously delighted by the midweek chart news that shows the single version of "Every Song Is A Cry For Love", entering the Irish chart at #8. The official chart position will be revealed later today.

Speaking to Brian I discovered that he has indeed recorded the Jimmy McCarthy song "The Greatest Song Of All", which finished 3rd in the Irish Eurosong selection. The track has not been included on the single, as originally planned, but will feature on a compilation album of Jimmy's songs due for release later this year. 

Here are some pictures from Brian's performance at HMV and the subsequent autograph signing, with thanks to Vincent Donnelly for the photos. Click on the images for bigger versions.

21st April 2006

The Irish Eurovision single is finally the shops today and will be released in the U.K. on Monday next (April 21st). This is the first Irish Eurovision single will be released in the U.K. since 2003 and may even reach the U.K. Top 40, given the recent success of Brian Kennedy's version of "You Raise Me Up" from the George Best tribute single.

The CD contains three tracks, a three minute "radio remix" of the Irish Eurovision entry "Every Song Is A Cry For Love", another much more minimal "album version" and sandwiched between them is Brian's recording of Don Mescall's "All Over The World" the song which finished second in Ireland's Eurovision selection. I will be making this song available for one day only, tomorrow. Brian has also recorded the Jimmy McCarthy song "The Greatest Song Of All", but it has not been included on the single. It may however turn up on Brian's album or on a future single.

There were rumours that the single was delayed so as to avoid being released on the same day as "You're A Star" winner Lucia Evans debut single "Bruised But Not Broken", however in a major upset to expectations that single only debuts at #5 in the new Irish chart, which is bound to disappoint everyone connected with the single and the "You're A Star" show, as it is almost unprecedented for a casting show winner not to top the charts on the back of the publicity generated by the show.

In 2003 and 2004 both Mickey Harte and Chris Doran (left) both entered the Irish chart at #1, but in a foretaste of the disappointment that was to come in Kyiv, "Love?" by Donna & Joseph McCaul only managed to reach #2 in the Irish chart.

Another new entry on the Irish Top 40 this week sees the return of Ireland's 2004 Eurovision singer Chris Doran. Coincidentally Chris has recorded another Don Mescall song "All Of The Above", which Don co-wrote with Scott English. This is one the few times that a one track CD single has reached the chart, and you can hear a sample of the song here. Despite achieving a disappointing result at Eurovision and failing to land a recording contract with a major music company, Chris has continued to retain a large following in Ireland and remains a very popular live performer. 

Following the recent singles from Chris Doran and Donna and Joseph McCaul (see story below), another "You're A Star" winner is also about to return, with 2003 winner Mickey Harte's second album due to be released this summer and a single release due shortly.

17th April 2006

Many of this year's Eurovision performers are busily promoting their entries and Ireland's Brian Kennedy is no exception. Brian has already been giving several interviews to the press and radio stations across the U.K. to help promote the release of his single "Every Song Is A Cry For Love", which is in the shops next Friday (21st) in Ireland and three days later in the U.K. The single will also be released in Sweden and other European countries in May. Brian is also playing a number of concerts around Ireland at the moment and previewing songs from his new album, "Home Bird" which will be released in May. You can find details of Brian's tour dates on his website. Brian will also be appearing in HMV on Dublin's Grafton Street on April 27th at 6pm, which may give fans a chance of getting their singles signed by the man himself.

Also interesting is the decision to change the promotional video for the song. The original version which will still be shown on most Eurovision preview shows and which you can still see here was criticised by some as being rather old fashioned and more than a little clichéd. Last week a new video was unveiled which is a lot more reflective and includes some of the performance of the song from the "Late Late Show. You can see that video here. Brian should be back on the "Late Late Show" on May 5th to get the traditional Irish send-off, before he heads to Athens during the following week.

Other dates which Dublin Eurovision fans may wish to put in their calendar are May 1st to 6th. As part of Dublin's Gay Theatre Festival there is a chance to "Sing-A-Long-A-Eurovision" presented by AJN Productions. You are invited to "dress up as your favourite Eurovision star, wave your flags, stamp your feet and sing along at the top of your voices to your favourite Eurovision hits. All sung live by the one, the only EuropopSensation Supergroup“Tacki”. Get your chance to vote for your favourite Eurosong of all time with the help of the Cheese ‘O Meter". I attended this show in Manchester and I thoroughly recommend it to everyone. The show will be staged in Filmbase in Curved Street and you can find out more here. Also don't forget the Eurovision Previews Party in Centre Stage on Parliament Street on April 30th. If you would like to be added to the guest list for that event send your details to thdaly@tcd.ie.

Finally a Eurovision story with a rather unusual Irish twist. Singer Sakis Rouvas (left) represented Greece at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, finishing 3rd with the up-tempo dance song "Shake It". Sakis will co-present this year's contest in Athens, and he remains a very popular recording star in Greece. His new single could hardly be a bigger contrast from his Eurovision song. Sakis has recorded a cover version of Irish singer Damien Rice's song "The Blower's Daughter", one of the most emotional songs in Rice's repertoire.

Sakis's version of "The Blower's Daughter" which is featured on a new album "Live Ballads", due to be released this summer, is now being played on music video channels in Greece, and you can watch the video here. If you'd like to see Damien Rice's original version of the song, you can see it here.

2nd April 2006

While most Irish fans concentrate their thoughts on Athens and the prospects of Brian Kennedy and his song, recent weeks have seen the return of "The ghost of Eurovision past" with the comeback of 2005 entrants Donna & Joe McCaul (left). The brother and sister duo virtually disappeared after the failure of their song "Love?" to make it out of the semi-final in Kyiv. Donna gained some media attention last year after coming out as a lesbian, but their music careers seen to under question.

However after an appearance on the "Late Late Show Eurosong 2006" show in February and a hilarious interview on the "Podge & Rodge Show" ("I suppose you're the biggest thing to come out of Athlone since the Army deafness claims?"), the duo are back in the music business. On March 10th, they performed their new single "Heaven", co-written by former "You're A Star" finalist Michael Leonard on "The Late Late Show" and talked about their plans to record an album together during the summer. Despite not having a record contract with a major label, this week the single entered the Irish Top 40 at #10. You can hear some of the song here. There have also been reports linking Joe McCaul with Louis Walsh and rumours of a possible participation in next year's "X Factor" having been doing the rounds. Joe also seems to have caught Louis's ability for the controversial statement. Apparently while being interviewed on local radio Jo predicted an even worse result for Ireland in Athens, than the McCauls achieved in Kyiv.  

Interestingly all the follow-up singles from the three "You're A Star" winners have now been Irish Top 10 hits. This year's "You're A Star" winner Lucia Evans has her debut single "Bruised Not Broken" in the shops later this week, and it is almost certain to top the Irish charts, something which "Love?" was unable to do, stalling at #2. The interest in Lucia's single has apparently caused the delay in the release of the Irish Eurovision single for 2006.

Brian Kennedy's "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" was originally scheduled to be in the shops in Ireland on April 7th. This date is still the official release date according to HMV, however Brian Kennedy's website is claiming that the single is now being released on April 21st and given the lack of radio play so far, that seems far more likely. Another Eurovision single that has seen its release date being moved is the U.K. entry. Daz Sampson's "Teenage Life" was originally scheduled to be in shops in Ireland on April 14th. Now this has moved to April 28th, with the U.K. release three days earlier. Apparently this delay is due to the shooting of a new promo video. 

While Ireland's (and the U.K.'s) entry may not be gaining much radio airplay as yet, amazingly the Swedish version of Carola's  "Invincible" has been played twice this week on Maxi's early morning show. I'm not quite sure what early morning radio listeners think of this, but it's good to hear a Eurovision song on the radio in advance of the contest, something that used to be a regular occurrence in the 1970's and early 80s.

Speaking with several Irish fans over the past couple of weeks and reading emails, many seem to feel that the Swedish entry is one that will gain high points from Ireland, as it is seen as being "traditional Eurovision". If the fans are to be believed Ireland will also be giving high points to Latvia, Germany and Norway. Interestingly despite all the promotional tours by various Eurovision contestants this year, I haven't heard of anyone visiting Ireland.

Another former Irish Eurovision entrant Dana (Rosemary Scallon) started her quest to win "Celebrity Jigs And Reels" last week. Showing amazing confidence, Dana and her dance partner Ronan gave a very good performance while dancing to Westlife's "She's Back". You can see the performance here.  Dana is hoping to raise money for Irish Hospices, a very worthy cause.    

Finally for now, it's the opportunity that no Irish Eurovision fan can resist. Tom Daly from the Irish Eurovision fan club, OGAE Ireland is organising the first ever public Eurovision Preview Party night, later this month.

The event will be taking place on Sunday April 30th at the "Centre Stage Cafe" on Parliment Street in Dublin 2. The date coincides with the Eurovision Song Contests from 1988 and 1994 which were both held in Dublin.

The event will include a full screening of the previews, a schlager interval and a full vote. There will also be special guests and Eurovision cocktails on the night. Places are extremely limited and by guest list only. If you would like to be added to the guest list please send your details to thdaly@tcd.ie. See you there!

22nd March 2006

This Sunday sees the start of a new celebrity show on RTÉ television; "Celebrity Jigs 'n' Reels" has more than a couple of links to the Eurovision Song Contest.  Over the past couple of years, television shows which showed celebrities learning and displaying their dancing skills, have been very popular in the UK, the US and elsewhere, but RTE's show will have a local flavour as the show which begins on RTÉ One at 6.30pm on Sunday 26th March, will feature seven celebrity contestants facing off against each other in a bid to impress the judges and the voting public with their Irish Dancing skills. 

The show will be presented by Ireland's Eurovision commentator Marty Whelan and among the contestants will be Ireland's first Eurovision winner Dana (Rosemary Scallon) (left). Since losing her seat in the European Parliament in 2004, Dana has been a regular face on Irish television, appearing on the popular "Afternoon Show", "The Restaurant" and of course calling in the Irish votes at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. Dana has also been busy making concert appearances and on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) she is the host of the weekly programme "Backstage", which highlights upcoming Catholic musicians. She also released a prayer CD called "The Stations Of The Cross". 

Dana won't be the only person involved in the  show to have thread the Eurovision stage. One of the judges is Jean Butler, who was the lead female dancer in the famous 1994 Eurovision interval act "Riverdance". Jean is one of the most famous Irish dancers throughout the world, and if anyone can judge the contestants skills, she certainly can.

Each contestant will represent a charity chosen by them, with the majority of money raised during televoting going to the charity. Three contestants will battle it out in the Grand Final on Sunday 30th April.

Today I received some further updates on Ireland's 2006 Eurovision song "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" by Brian Kennedy . Unlike previous years, the 2006 Irish entry will have a specially shot preview video, which will be used across Europe in place of the usual national final performance, which has been used by RTÉ for several years. Many countries have used these promotional videos to preview their Eurovision songs and some have rather large budgets. Those with a long memory and a sense of humour will remember previous Irish efforts such as Sheeba dressed like "Star Trek" extras invading a planet that looked strangely similar to Dun Laoghaire harbour and Linda Martin trying to get a role in "Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown" as she tried to reach "Terminal 3". Those that have seen this year's video describe it as melancholic and rather low key but quite suitable for the song.

22nd March 2006

The two big pieces of news from an Irish perspective over the past week were the draw for the running order in Athens and news of the release of the studio version of Ireland's 2006 entry "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" on CD.

Tuesday's draw which was conducted by Eurovision 2006 presenters Maria Menounos (left) and Sakis Ruvas was presented live on Greek television and was performed in front of those attending the Heads of Delegation meeting in Athens. Kevin Linehan, commissioning editor for entertainment programmes for RTE and Julian Vignoles, Ireland's Head of Delegation in Athens could clearly be seen in the audience during the draw. Quite what they made of the #8 draw for Ireland, can only be speculated, but most visitors to this website seem to feel that it does not make a major impact on Brian Kennedy chances in  May. One titbit that may have been missed in the aftermath of the draw, but is sure to be mentioned during the semi-final is that Ireland's 2006 entry, will be the 1,000th Eurovision song based on the EBU's count.  

The early draw position means that Ireland's first rehearsal is likely to be on the afternoon of Thursday March 11th, with the second rehearsal on Saturday 13th. It will then be a couple of days off before the full semi-final rehearsals on Wednesday, and the show itself on Thursday.

Some thought that Brian's trip to Belgrade to promote his song was wasted after the withdrawal of Serbia & Montenegro from the contest, but in a rather bizarre twist, the rules for this year's contest mean that while they won't have an entry in Athens, Serbia & Montenegro will still be voting in May, so hopefully they will remember Brian's performance in their ill-fated Eurovision selection. 

We now have an official release date for the CD single of the Irish entry. Brian Kennedy's single of "Every Song Is A Cry for Love" is scheduled to be in the shops in Ireland on April 21st and in the U.K. on April 24th. It's being released on Curb Records with the catalogue number B000EU1LG8, and as previously mentioned, will also have the studio version of Don Mescall's "All Over The World" which was the runner-up in the Irish Eurosong selection. Don will be supporting Brian on some dates on his forthcoming Irish tour (see details below).

If you can't wait until April, Brian Kennedy's website (www.briankennedy.co.uk) has a sample of the studio version of the song as its background music and it certainly sound a lot fuller and more uplifting than the version performed on the Eurosong selection. The song is also apparently going out to radio stations in the few days. 

The release date for the compilation album has also been announced, and it should be in the shops on April 28th, a full three weeks before the contest. This year's CD comes in a logo themed blue cover, making it quite distinctive from previous Eurovision compilations.  The U.K. single is also scheduled for release in Ireland. Daz Sampson's "Teenage Life" is due for release here on April 14th. 

We also have news of this year's RTE previews show. This year it will apparently be done a a two hour special on the weekend before the contest, and will involve filmed interests of Irish commentator Marty Whelan visiting the 2006 host city, Athens. With a full two hours, it should mean that we get to see quite a bit of the songs this year and if you can't wait until May I hope to have all the preview videos on this site quite soon. I also hope to have confirmed news of a previews party for Irish fans to be held in Dublin in late April or early May in the next week or so.

Irish bookmakers Paddy Powers opened their book on the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest today. They make Ireland a 25/1 shot to win in Athens which is considerably lower than the 50/1 and 66/1 on offer for The McCauls in 2005. Despite the fact that we still haven't heard the Eurovision version of the song, the early favourite is Sweden at 8/1 with Germany, Greece and United Kingdom at 9/1. With no less that 14 songs available at 20/1 or less, this is obviously going to be a very open contest.

12th March 2006

Over the past couple of weeks I have been concentrating on the international aspect of the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest,  but once all the songs have been selected I will be doing a full report on YOUR thoughts on the Irish selection, as sent to me in over a hundred emails. I will also be making available the video files of the songs which performed by Dickie Rock, Linda Martin, Niamh Kavanagh and Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan, during the Eurosong 2006 show.  

The Eurovision version of the Irish entry "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" has apparently now been recorded and will be submitted to the EBU next week. As well as recording his new album Brian Kennedy has been busy rehearsing for a new tour to promote his album, due to be released next month and also helping his Eurovision cause by performing the Irish entry during the ill fated Europesma show in Belgrade last night. Brian was the only guest performer from outside the ex-Yugoslav states. In a brief interview before his performance Brian talked about his excitement at going to Eurovision and his delight at the warm welcome which he received from the Serbian people. Quite what he made of the scenes at the end of the show when bottles were thrown at the stage and the winning song could not be reprised is something which I'm sure we'll find out in due course.  

Brian will be playing several dates in Ireland before heading to Eurovision including Portlaoise (April 15th), Kilkenny (16th), Donegal Town (17th), Wexford (20th), Killarney (21st), Galway (22nd) and Cork (23rd). Dublin fans will have to wait until July when he plays five nights at the Olympia Theatre. Check local press for ticket arrangements.

6th March 2006

Unlike in the previous three years, the 2006 edition of RTÉ's "You're A Star" may have not had direct connection with the Eurovision Song Contest, but rather ironically the winner chosen by a public televote last night would be the ideal performer for the competition in the minds of many Irish Eurovision fans. Lucia Evans, the 23 year old singer, currently living in Galway, but born in Zambabwe won the television casting show, beating the Sullivan Brothers in the final.    

Lucia will release her debut single "Bruised Not Beaten" on the Polydor label in a couple of weeks time and it is expected to reach number one in the Irish Top 40. Previous "You're A Star" winners Mickey Harte and Chris Doran both topped the Irish chart, while last year's winners Donna & Joe McCaul reached #2. While both Micky and Chris had had chart hits since their Eurovision entries, Donna & Joe have all but disappeared, although a long overdue follow-up single called "Heaven" is due for release later this month, and an album may be released during the summer. 

The 2003 winner Lucia Evans has said that she would not have entered this year's "You're A Star" if the prize had again been to represent Ireland at Eurovision, but was more interested in this year's prize of a major recording contract.

21st February 2006

It may not have generated the front page news coverage, the TAM ratings or the televoting figures of the previous three years' "You're A Star" finals, but the one thing that the "Late Late Show Eurosong 2006" staged on Friday February 17th wasn't short of, was controversy.

From the moment that Pat Kenny announced the four songs in contention to be Ireland's 40th Eurovision entry on February 10th. After the disqualification of one song, the claims of bias in favour of singer's Brian Kennedy's own composition and the strange decision to potentially reward only those who voted for the winning song, the Irish media has not been short of Eurosong related stories, over the past ten days. The Irish edition of the Sunday Times dedicated almost a full page to the selection, and the related controversies, while Pat Kenny's Monday morning radio show also covered the selection, at length. The radio show which airs letters from listeners, was quite negative on Ireland's chances in Athens, many citing that Eurovision has changed and with neighbourly voting coming more into play, Ireland could never win the contest again. However, bookmaker Paddy Power has installed Ireland at 14/1 to win the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens.

On a more positive note the viewing figures for the show were 781,000 and just under 300,000 votes were cast, both of which are quite respectable figures. The televoting figure may be down on the one million plus who voted in the "You're A Star" finals, but it is worth remembering that the phone lines were opened for a much shorter time. Compared with the last regular Irish Eurosong in 2001 which attracted just over 60,000 phone votes this year's level of interest in encouraging. You can find my review of the show here. So far RTÉ has not added Friday show's the the Late Late Show online archive. Several people have requested the videos of the performances of Dickie Rock, Linda Martin and Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan and I will add those to the site over the next couple of weeks. 

Following Brian Kennedy's performance on Friday night, he was interviewed at length on Marian Finucane's Saturday radio show. You can listen to the show here. RTÉ's plans are Athens are for that the Irish delegation will arrive on the day before Brian is due to rehearse (the first rehearsals for the  semi-finalists are likely to begin  on Thursday 11th).  

The good news for those who liked the two other songs in the Eurosong selection, is that it is likely that Brian will record them both for inclusion on the CD single of "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" which is due to be released in April. Brian's new album is also due to be released in April.

Over the next month  Brian will be promoting the album by a series of high profile appearances. On Sunday next, he will perform the anthems at the Ireland vs. Wales rugby match, which will be shown live throughout Ireland, the United Kingdom and France. On March 12th, Brian will be appearing in London's Trafalgar Square at the Saint Patrick's Day festival. That show includes many top Irish music acts, including the Hothouse Flowers, Gemma Hayes an Altan.

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