#UK: Live blog of Eurovision Your Decision from 20.30 CET

If you’re from the UK, this will be one of the highlights of your Eurovision year. Your country decides tonight who will be carrying your flag in Lisbon. Will the UK be destined for another near miss, or will the BBC get that formula right.

The show starts at 20.30 CET and we’ll be blogging it just for you on here. Mel Giedroyc and Måns Zelmerlöw (remember him?) will be hosting proceedings. You can watch them HERE.

As ever, hit ‘Refresh’ to see what we think of the songs.

We have a representative in the Dome’s audience. I’ll be posting some photos from there, so it’ll feel like we’re there too!

The crowd are being warmed up. We understand that a certain Lucie Jones will be performing tonight too.

Our hosts for the night. Mel G is on the right. Måns lives in the UK now. With his pregnant fiancée.

To celebrate the fact that a certain ABBA won in this very location in 1974, we get a tribute to the band. Måns singing ‘Waterloo’, Lucie Jones singing ‘Dancing queen’. The two singing ‘SOS’. Brilliant. And, of course ‘The winner takes it all’.

Lucie tells the performers (backstage) to enjoy themselves and try their best.

Mel tells us that there will be a 50/50 split tonight of ‘experts’ and public voting.

The panel in the Dome consists of Tom Fletcher (of McFly), Rochelle Humes (The Saturdays) and Rylan Clark-Neal. Rylan is the ‘superfan’ apparently. The are not the jury, who are squirrelled away somewhere.

But – finally – onto the songs!

RAYA – Crazy

We start uptempo with the dimunitive RAYA. Dancers are there to help her, and the do a lot of gyrating. It’s quite formulaic – not always a bad thing – and the crowd do seem to get into it. A good opener.

Liam Tamne – Astronaut

A more understated performance here. Liam is resplendent in his sparkly leather jacket. This is a song that commands a wide vocal range and could be quite challenging. He told us that his experience in musical theatre should put him in good stead. As a song, it’s OK. Not bad, but probably not quite what we’ll be hearing at the end of the night. However, he does sell this song quite well.

Asanda – Legends

This is the pre-show favorite in some quarters. There’s a complement of six on stage, and young Asanda has a series of platforms that she uses during the song. I can see why this song is the favourite, but it seems to be missing something. It does however bounce along nicely and still may do well. But if anything does hinder it, the vocal might have been a tad off in places.

Jaz Ellington – You

Ballad time, with a gospel sound. Jaz is alone on stage which is OK for stage this intimate. He’s a serious singer and has a powerful voice. Maybe not the range of Liam, but it’s better in a different way. This song has gone up in my estimations, and will be a challenger for the big prize tonight. Best so far tonight.

SuRie – Storm

SuRie has worked with Loïc Nottet don’t you know. She’s alone on stage and goes for the Blanche approach. That is, static with arm movements. It’s a pleasant song that has something about it. I think the tempo should be a bit quicker, but she seems happy in what she’s doing. And she’s putting the right amount of emotion into the song. There was, however, a note that I’m not sure she meant to sing. It gets a decent reaction.

Goldstone – I feel the love

Our only non-solo act of the night. This was written after the Grenfell Tower disaster. Interesting. This starts OK and bounces along very nicely for three minutes. There’s good harmonies between the three girls and they really do seem to know what they’re doing. The crowd reaction isn’t quite there like it’s been for some of the other acts, and that could count against them. However, it could be in with a chance. It’s not the worst performance of the night. Nor, probably, the best.

With the songs over, the only thing to do now is vote. Which we can do – if we’re in the UK that is. There are 15 minutes to vote.

Måns likes the Wombles apparently.

Whilst the lines are open, we watch University students watching the 2017 contest. Bengtsson (Sweden) drew mixed reactions. Salvador (bless him) (Portugal) gets a positive vote. Sunstroke Project (Moldova) is liked (and why not).

Next: Is Måns British? It turns out he is. He’s got a toad-in-the-hole waiting for him, cooked by Mary Berry. And who wouldn’t want that?

After a re-cap of the songs, Måns goes for a wander around Brighton. Cue more ABBA. He likes the pier with its plethora of chip shops. We see The Lanes which is nice and historic. And we see George IV’s beach hut, also known as the Pavilion. Eventually, he finds the naturist beach…

Voting has closed. Time for a retrospective of 1974. Commando Katie, a yellow-carpeted stage, Greece’s début. Italy’s alleged political song, and Portugal’s overtly political song. They’re on Y*u*u*e. As are the Wombles. Were they an inspiration for Riverdance?

But after all’ said and done, 1974 was all about ABBA. The best Eurovision Song of all time? What do you think?

Anyways, back to 2018. The six acts are on stage.

The winner is…

SuRie

What do you think? Is it the right result?

Author: John Stanton

Source: Eurovision Ireland, BBC