LIVE: Belgium chooses for Copenhagen

Good evening Europe! We are nearing the end of the preselection season for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. Tonight, Belgium will be making it’s mind up during the grand final of Eurosong 2014.

The following six acts will take part in the final tonight, after many weeks filled with castings and semifinals. Behold, this is not the running order, which has not be published:

* Yass – Need You Tonight
* Sil – What’s The Time in Tokyo?
* Udo – Hero (In Flanders Fields)
* Bandits – One
* Eva Jacobs – Nothing is impossible
* Axel Hirsoux – Mother

You can refresh this post to follow along the show in Belgium, the timestamps you see are in CET. There will be many guest appearances tonight. Alexander Rybak, Anne Marie David, Kate Ryan, Katrina Leskanich, Ruslana, Sandra Kim, Tom Dice, Day One and 2 Fabiola will join the fun in Het Sportpaleis in Antwerpen. Most of them will perform at the afterparty though. You can watch with us through this livestream.

****

20:05 : Seven juries from other participating countries will cast their votes tonight. The televoters in Belgium will also influence the results tonight heavily. It’s time to start the show…

20:06 : All participants sing a line in the song ‘J’aime la vie’ that gave Belgium it’s only victory in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. The performing artist of 1986, Sandra Kim, finished the song on stage.

20:12 : It’s time for song #1, Yass – Need You Tonight
Yass
A nice campfire-setting for the first song of the evening. The song is having the right looks, but the vocals of Yass are not good tonight. Especially the high notes seem to be a problem. The jury is not very negative, they don’t have a say tonight however. Their role is only advisory.

20:19 : The second act is Sil – What’s The Time in Tokyo?
Sil
She used to sing dance-hits as Sylver, but now she wants to let the people hear her new sound. There is no better way to show yourself to the world then through the biggest music competition in the world. ‘What’s the time in Tokyo?‘ is a unique song, the staging is beautiful and engaging. Sil is also delivering some great vocals. There are already a lot of ballads in the first semifinal this year, and the question is if this will make the cut this year. But perhaps we are going to find that out in May. To answer the question, it is currently 04:23 in Tokyo!

20:31 : Next up is Udo – Hero (In Flanders Fields)
Udo 

One of the best singers of tonight is Udo, who has won the Belgian version of X-Factor in 2005. He is singing a song about the war, and the lyrics are a bit cliché. The act can be compared to the way Bosnia and Herzegovina has performed a couple of times. However, they had much more confidence and sincerity in their performance. There are way better songs tonight in the competition and Belgium will make another choice tonight, I’m sure. Especially after the bad vocals at the end of the song…

20:40 : The Bandits are next, with their song One
Bandits
They are being announced as the Flemish Beatles, and I hope the people in Belgium were joking. It is a dull rock-song and the performance is a bit underwhelming. The lead singer has charisma, but the whole band is too young and lacking experience to represent Belgium at the biggest contest in the world. A lot of fans in the hall and they might get a lot of points from the televoting in Flanders this year.

20:49 : The first semifinal was won by a landslide, let’s see how Eva Jacobs and Nothing is impossible will do it tonight…
eva jacobs
A nice song behind the piano, with an upbeat chorus with a lot of dancing on stage. A couple of backing singers give the song a nice full sound. The fireworks herald the climax of the song, which Eva is singing extremely good. But once again the same question, will this Mariah Carey-ballad stand out of the pack of ballads in Copenhagen? ‘Nothing is impossible’.

21:00 : The last act of this night is the big favorite: Axel Hirsoux – Mother
Axel
A great and emotional song by Axel Hirsoux. The fat singer is doing well, but needs to work on his English pronunciation if he gets to travel to Copenhagen. This is a ballad with epic proportions, that we usually see from some former Sovjet-countries in the competition. To underline this, Ruslana (Eurovision 2004) is in the jury, and she is crying because of the performance. She thinks Belgium will win the Eurovision Song Contest ten years after she did it on behalf of Ukraine.

21:11 : There are seven countries that will give points tonight. They will all give 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points, combined 40 points from each country. These countries are Azerbaijan, Denmark, Ireland, Macedonia, The Netherlands, Spain and Belarus. Of course, the televoters in Belgium will have the biggest vote of the evening, with 280 points in total. They now get a recap of all six songs.

21:15 : So after the seven international jury we now currently have the following standings…

1. Axel Hirsoux  – 74 pts
2. Yass – 58 pts
3. Eva Jacobs – 52 pts
4. Bandits – 42 pts
5. Sil – 32 pts
6. Udo – 22 pts

21: 25 : Ruslana is performing right now in the Belgian national final and states: “I devote my performance to Ukraine and Crimea, we want peace!”.

21:34 : So, after the interval-act by Ruslana it is time for the final results…

1. Axel Hirsoux  – 234 pts
2. Bandits – 90 pts
3. Eva Jacobs – 89 pts
4. Yass – 77 pts
5. Sil – 38 pts
6. Udo – 32 pts

21:38 : And there you have it, Axel Hirsoux will represent Belgium in Copenhagen with his song ‘Mother’!

Thank you for following the show in Belgium with us tonight!