IRELAND’S ACT Jedward qualified for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan last night, singing their typically catchy up-tempo number Waterline.The twin Dublin brothers will compete alongside 23 acts in Saturday night’s grand final.
Suspense extended into the final moments of last night’s competition as the Irish act was the last qualifier to be announced. “We are so excited we are through to the final on Saturday,” the pair said afterwards.
“We knew we’d rocked Edzerbaijohn. Thanks to all our awesome fans.”
Other acts going forward to the final include the Russian grannies, the Buranovskiye Babushki, whose song Party for Everybody prompted by far the most enthusiastic response in the 16,000 capacity audience; the hotly tipped Romanian offering Zaleilah, a bouncy summertime song; Cyprus’s classily staged all-girl number La La Love; and Albania’s intense ballad Suus.
Hungary, Iceland, Denmark, Greece, and Moldova also qualified for the final.
The production of Waterline includes an onstage fountain, under which the Jedward brothers stand in the song’s final moments. The pair then change into identical costumes before heading to the green room which – in an innovation this year – is located in the centre of the arena, in full view of the audience.
Getting this double set of costumes ready has meant all hands on deck: “Our mum was up late Monday night sewing on buttons,” the brothers said.
Their father arrived in Baku on Tuesday to offer further family support.
Azerbaijan’s staging of the event came across as flawless, despite the venue, the Crystal Hall, having been completed only a month before the event.
The country’s no-expense-spared approach to hosting the contest was epitomised by a spectacular light show of some three dozen high-powered spotlights projecting a latticework of light high into the sky over the hall.
While official accounts indicate that the Azeri government spent €78 million on Eurovision, the local activist group Sing for Democracy claimed on yesterday that costs totalled nearly 10 times that figure – €628 million – including €218 alone to construct the Crystal Hall.
Jedward said yesterday that their favourites among the acts competing for victory in Saturday night’s final include Joan from the Netherlands, who sings the sweet uptempo ballad You and Me wearing a Native American headdress. and Love Will Set You Free by the UK’s Engelbert Humperdinck.
The 76-year-old music legend and the Irish twins will hold a joint press conference today in Baku.
The UK, along with the other major funders of the contest France, Spain, Germany, and Italy automatically qualify for the final, alongside the host country. At tomorrow evening’s second semi-final, the last 10 finalists will be decided.