Eurovision 2011: Blue go public with I Can in about 13 hours from now...By Jamie McLoughlin on Mar 11, 11 09:26 AM
Tonight was supposed to be the night that the British public see and hear the first performance of Blue's Eurovision entry for the United Kingdom, I Can, on the Graham Norton Show. Well, it will certainly be the first time people see it, as the song leaked in full over the internet yesterday afternoon shortly after I Can received its press launch in London.
And the song has had a remarkably positive reception from just about the majority of those who have heard it. Bookmakers now have the boys from Blue at around about third or fourth favourite to win the thing (it's a long time since the UK had such good odds, even in 2009 with the presence of Andrew Lloyd Webber our entry was never fancied to do spectacularly well).
I must confess to a spot of naughtiness, I had a listen to the not-exactly-official sneak preview of the packed three minutes of tune myself when I got home from work last night. And I think...
...it will all depend on the live performance on the night. As the photo up there shows, there is definitely some simple-yet-illustrative choreography going on and it will be interesting to hear how the boys deliver the effects-laden track live on stage.
It has the potential to do very well, there's a thumpingly good intro and first verse but if I have to pick up on one thing is that trhe chorus is perhaps the least memorable part of what is still a very memorable track capable of landing large dents in the scoreboard on May 14. It's so far away from last year's entry in terms of style and quality it's passed through five different time zones to reach its detsination of far-awayness. What's more, the experience Simon, Duncan, lee and Anthony have of singing live in huge arenas will do them a lot of favours in Germany in about nine weeks from now.
I think I'll feel even more positive about the UK's chances after seeing the whole package on Graham Norton's show tonight (tune in to BBC One from about 10.30pm if you want to check it out for yourself). But right now only two things concerns me about Mission Blue:
(a) It 's the draw on Tuesday and I hope beyond hope we're not lumbered with an early draw - although a good song like this is usually draw-proof.
(b) If the juries and the televoters are in an anthemic mood, there's a good chance they'll go for Denmark over this. That's when the who-comes-across-better live factor will really come into play.
But those are minor worries. Well done lads, you've done good.
Bron