Replay – United Kingdom: Second elimination show

Live, the second elimination show of the United Kingdom's national selection for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest is being held. The remaining five acts compete to be among the four who will reach the third round. Eurovision: Your Country Needs You is the search for the performer(s) who will perform the song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren.

WEBCAST 2: United Kingdom: BBC1 Live (available worldwide) click here!

LIVE Report

The show is about to begin 19:35 CET (20:35 local time), stay tuned…

After host Graham Norton introduces Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, the show begins with the remaining five acts, Emperors of Soul, Charlotte, Jade, The Twins and Mark performing Save your kisses for me. And yes, they do the legendary dance routine, although it is somewhat moderised!

Tonight's guest panellists are once again, 1969 Eurovision Song Contest winner, Lulu and former boyband singer and now solo artist, Duncan James from Blue will be sitting on the Lord's sofa. And now, on with the competition

SONG ONE: THE TWINS – singing The Promise (Girls Aloud)
esctoday.com weekly poll: 5.5%
Voting number: 09015 22 24 01

Dressed in identical pink dresses with gold trimmings, The Twins show off well timed choreography. Still struggling to work the right cameras, the harmonies work well and once again an incredibly vibrant audience in the studio enjoy the performance.

Comments:
The Twins say that they're happy to get through the song after a mid-week wobble.
Andrew says "They are great news and can Sheffield be twinned with Moscow? I'm beginning to think so. The choreography was great and it was a great step up for you".
Duncan: "I've seen Girls Aloud perform that song live. There's five of them and only two of you, and you were better"

SONG ONE: THE TWINS – singing The Promise (Girls Aloud)

SONG TWO: EMPERORS OF SOUL – singing Kiss (Prince)
esctoday.com weekly poll: 5.5%
Voting number: 09015 22 24 02

Dressed in clubbing wear with different takes on grey, silver and white, we start with each band member taking on solo lines. The harmonies come in for the chorus and five girlsin matching 60s style mini-dresses enter the stage with some raunchy routines. It's a confident performance with the boys showing some well synchronised moves as well as strong vocals.

Comments:
EOS "We've shown a sexy side tonight and we can see the audience enjoyed it".
Andrew: "You'd be a fantastic act in a dinner theatre"
Lulu: "You guys are so much fun, but are you the entry for Eurovision? I Don't know because we need something different"
Duncan: "It worked for me, but the thing for me is your styling. You need to bring it up to be more contemporary".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqHcnNPiSs4&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&rel=0

SONG THREE: JADE – singing The Voice (Christina Aguilera)
esctoday.com poll: 62.7%
Voting number: 09015 22 24 03

Taking on a complicated vocal ballad, Jade once again displays a star quality that seems to effortlessly attract attention. Dressed in a gold full-length gown, she shows of a controlled voice and a wide range. Working the camera brilliantly, she shows why she is a clear leader in the esctoday.com poll for the United Kingdom's ticket.

Comments:
Jade "It was nice to be a diva for the night"
Andrew: "We went the other way from last week and a lot of singers that saw that performance will think 'oh my goodness, who is this girl' because it was extraordinary".
Duncan: "You pull it off and you pull it off well, you blew me away"
Lulu: "we talked about the dynamics of your voice last week and tonight you showed it off. I could see the passion rising and i loved it".

After being in the danger zone last week, Charlotte is looking stronger this week. With some confident dancing and working with the camera, she shows off a far better vocal performance than in last week's show. This week's song seems to suit her natural style far better than last week and the audience in the studio reacts really well to the performance with a huge ovasion.

COMMENTS:
Andrew: "I made the right decision last week. The only person that can rain on your parade is you. I think you are going to hacve a huge career at some point"
Duncan: "My only concern is that representing the UK at Eurovision is a huge responsibility"
Charlotte: "I dont think it's about responsibility, it's about talent and I think I can do it"
Lulu: "You upped your game this week and if you keep going, you'll be fine"

With a slow orchestral song, Mark is dressed in a black suit with a peach shirt and designer stubble, the performance is controlled, lifting a gear for the chorus. Working with backing singers for short harmonies. The audience love the performance as he gets the ovasion of the night.

Comments:
Mark: "It's such a responsibility to act through a song, I loved it"
Andrew: "He did very well, the son of a welsh sheep farmer, you raised your baaaaaar. What I loved is that you got right into it. I thought it was excellent"
Lulu: "You're playing Prince Charming and we can see why. You play to the camera maybe too much, I want to see you let loose a bit more".
Duncan: "You've got this huge vocal range and that's important going into the Eurovision Song Contest. I think you'd do great".

SONG FIVE: MARK – singing Me and Mrs.Jones (Billy Paul)

The Saturdays join the sofa, and Ula talks about performing as a backing singer at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 as a backing singer for Brian Kennedy (Ireland).

THE VOTING LINES ARE OPEN

Graham Norton goes backstage to talk to the finalists about their performances and what they are looking to do in the coming weeks on the show.

Andrew says that all the acts have progressed well this week and tells us that the vote last week wasn't necessarily his vote, and he hopes the public get it right this week.

Next we see a video of what happened when Dianne Warren came to London this week to meet the Lord. We see clips of some of her biggest songs. She then joins the sofa and gives an amusing interview with Graham. She is confident in working with all five acts.

EMPERORS OF SOUL & MARK – performing Nothing's gonna stop us now (written by Dianne Warren)

Mark gives a theatre-style vocal performance along with solo lines for EOS. The chorus sounds strong with great harmonies. The dance routine can only be described as a typical 1980s Eurovision Song Contest backing dance routine. The boys go all out to show their vocal talents and they all look good on camera. it's a very good rendition of the song.

Charlotte, The Twins and Jade – performing Rhythm of the night (written by Dianne Warren)

Starting with all four girls singing, the vocals do not sound as strong as the boys performance, but there is more dancing than the Euroboys. Jade seems to have the edge with the routine and The Twins are out of time slightly with each other. Charlotte is looking more relaxed than in any performance so far in the series and is clearly the most improved act of the week.

Comments:
Lulu and Duncan both say that Jade is the stand-out performer for the girls, Duncan adds that Mark was good in the boys performance. Andrew says everyone looks like they're enjoying themselves.

UK PUBLIC SEE FIRST 2009 EUROVISION SONG CONTEST ENTRIES

Andrew and Graham then provide a critique of some of the 2009 artists. The UK viewing audience get to see the 2009 Turkish entry and Andrew says that she is a threat. They show Greece's Sakis Rouvas performing in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest and say that he is a good performer but we don't know about the song yet. Next up, they show Albania's entry, Kejsi Tola and her song Me merr ne enderrin her Festival i Kinges performance, they don't think she is as strong.

As the voting lines close, The Saturdays perform their newsong Up.

THE RESULTS

• Jade: Your Country STILL NEEDS YOU
• Emperors of Soul: Your Country HAS PUT YOU IN THE DANGER ZONE
• Mark: Your Country STILL NEEDS YOU
• The Twins: Your Country STILL NEEDS YOU
• Charlotte: Your Country as PUT YOU IN THE DANGER ZONE

Andrew Lloyd Webber has to choose between Emperors of Soul and Charlotte. he says "truly the talen we have seen tonight has been absolutely first rate".

• His choice is:ANDREW SAVES EMPERORS OF SOUL
• Charlotte is eliminated from Your Country Needs You