Diary: Your Country Needs You #2

The morning after any Eurovision event is the worst time of all. There’s a mixture of relief that it’s all over and the inevitable post-match analysis followed by the bitter recriminations.

Bizarrely, I’m feeling the same way now, the morning after the first Your Country Needs You? Last night’s show was only the preview to the main selection event. There’s months to go before that post-Eurovision negativity I loathe. Still, for some of us Eurovision fans, we sat glued to our TV screens, assessing everything and (I’m speaking for myself here) getting excited even though perhaps we know we shouldn’t.

At the end of last night’s show us Eurovision fans who sat glued to the TV screen analysing everything were presented with six acts including identical twins Francine and Nicola, Emperors of Soul, teenage singer Charlotte, Jade (not Goodey), Damien and Mark.

I was excited at the end of it, buzzing with hopefulness. Mind you, I’ve never predicted a winner and always voted for the song I like. I figured I’d trawl the internet to see what a few others thought of it.

Chris Higgins at www.chig.blogspot.com seemed a little down on the competitors with a doctored image of the main Eurovision homepage promo (the Eurovision stormtroopers have been dispatched although I understand they’re not looking for Chris necessarily). His assessment is surpassed by thecustard.tv review with a scathing tagline reading “The TV blog that ranks … Your Country Needs You among the worst Saturday night BBC1 shows of all time.”

Ewan Spence provided some personal responses to the acts he saw on the show – he seems quite up on Damien and Mark.

The Schlagerboys seem like they can’t wait (either that or they want a job at the BBC), making it quite clear who they’re backing …

The whole show was completely schlagertastic and fabulous. The Schlagerboys aren’t that bothered who gets to sing the song in the end, as long as it’s Jade. 2009 is clearly going to be the UK’s year! It’s Birmingham 2010 all the way! Hurrah!

http://schlagerblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/your-country-needs-schlagerboys.html

And also, according to the Schlagerboys,

“they’ve [ the BBC ] even hired a behind-the-scenes blogger who clearly knows his Eurovision and isn’t going to run the contest down for the next five months.“

That behind-the-scenes blogger – Mark Cook from the Guardian – writes on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s site …

“Even if we don‘t win, this will at least restore some musical pride for the country that gave the world The Beatles and send a message to the rest of Europe that we are taking this most treasured of musical institutions more seriously.“

Let’s hope so. Quite a challenge ahead of us then over the next few weeks.