The last two finalists for the Dutch Nationaal Songfestival 2003 have been chosen in the fourth – and last – preselection. Gordon will go to Rotterdam with I'll be your voice and Bert Heerink & Manou will bring Blue skies are for free.

Gordon was favorite among the jury members and the televoters, so the second choice of the televoters got a ticket for the final too: Bert Heerink & Manou.

Kathy Bloom, who is actually pregnant, performed the country song I'm on fire. Jury member Cornald Maas referred to a witch when he saw her and Corry Brokken called the song “a happy outsider”.

Souvenirs, brought by Boulevard, was a “dated song” according to jury member Marlayne. She represented the Netherlands in 1999 with One good reason and replaced Johan Nijenhuis for one night. Stanley Burleson called the male singer a character from Beauty and the Beast and the singer asked “which one am I?”.

Lewis and Simon, performing Let's give it a try, surprised the audience with their clothes, completely filled with small lights. The clothes were designed by Jan Aarntzen, who also designed the dress of Linda Wagemakers in 2000. By the way, the song reminded us to Secret love of the group Romeo…

Sasja Brouwers was shaking of nerves before her performance. Jury head Cornald Maas was not impressed by the song…

Gordon, one of the more experienced artists of the evening, performed I'll be your voice. Songwriter Mark was one of the backings too and did a small duet with Gordon during the song. The jury was positive, although some people in the audience called boo afterwards. After his victory they sung “We are going to Riga, we are going to Riga”. Time will tell…

De Helden performed Omdat jij jij bent (Because you are you). Most of the jury members were against Dutch on the Eurovision Song Contest, but some wanted to make an exception for this song.

A-teaze closed the last preselection with Don't cry. Jury member Nance said that the lead singer had difficulties to find a balance between singing and dancing: “just try one thing”, she said… host Harm Edens reacted with saying that he had to skip the singing part.

The final will take place next Saturday at March 1st in Rotterdam and esctoday.com will be there to cover it. Mary Amora, Zooom, Esther Hart, Mango Nuts, Ebonique, Arwin Kluft, Gordon and Bert Heerink & Manou are the candidates for the Dutch ticket to Riga. Willem van Beusekom, head of the selection commitee, told us that the participating order will be decided by the NOS internally or by a ballot. Tomorrow we will know more about it…

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