Eurovision 2018

Thing is, if RTE wanted to be ambitious about Eurovision there's no shortage of Irish stars who could really rival the BBC coverage. Right off the top of my head, Dara Ó Briain would be fantastic. If money is the issue then there's plenty of people who are bloody funny on the likes of 2fm who could give it a go.

If people were actively watching Eurovision for Marty, in the same way as they did for Terry Wogan, then I could make a strong case for him staying no matter whether he's serving Eurovision well or not. But there's only so long you can sit there going "this is nonsense, Ireland has been robeed again" before people take it literally, stop watching and your viewing figures go off a cliff. The handover between Wogan and Norton came just about in time. RTE needs someone who came laugh with the contest, rather than at it.

Just in case you haven't checked, for those interested in seeing the behind the scenes development of the stage, the Eurovision diary is up and running again:

https://www.m-m-pr.com/index.php/eurovision-diary-2018

RTP today revealed the official theme music of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.

That music is stunning. It captures the calm nature of last year's winning track and the country whilst being incredibly different to what we've heard in the recent past.

Agreed. It’s fantastic, although not totally removed from the fantastic Copenhagen theme which had a similar vibe. Be interesting to see how it all fits in to the shows.

This time three weeks I’ll be packing my case for Lisbon.....

When I listened to the ESC2018 theme music for the first time the other night, I immediately got flashbacks to the themes from '04, 2012, 2014, and 2015.

I'm finding this theme even more stunning every time I listen to it, and I'm wondering what the other variations will sound like.

Different certainly but that doesn't make it better. Not a fan on first hearing TBH.

Be lovely if it was played by a full orchestra - even if a pre-record.

Every day for the next two weeks RTP will be screening a daily show after the rehearsals are finished. Here was yesterday's first episode.

https://www.rtp.pt/play/p4589/todos-a-bordo-diarios

It gives us the first idea of what the branding will look like and the first sting from the theme that they will use.

Stage completed and the first camera rehearsals have begun.

An idea of both the staging and the presentation in this video. Love the little sting at the beginning, looks like a strong theme this year. Stage looks good but very similar on a lot of the rehearsal videos uploaded today.

Channel 5 have a ‘When things go horribly wrong’ ESC special edition on right now, and as per usual with these types of programs they’re talking a pile of **** about something they’ve obviously only just been shown 5 minutes previously. Highlights include Andy Abraham blaming his last place on politics as if his song wasn’t crap. Great.