Ireland’s six Eurovision hopefuls will take to the stage live on The Late Late Show Eurosong 2022 Special this Friday night, vying for the chance to represent the nation at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Italy next May.
And for the first time in several years, viewers at home will have the opportunity to cast their vote for their favourite song and help to decide who will fly the Irish flag at Eurovision. The winner of Friday night’s Eurosong will then perform at the Eurovision Song Contest, in front of an audience of 180 million people around the world.
Last Autumn RTÉ issued a callout on The Late Late Show for artists and songwriters with the talent and ambition to compete and succeed in this highly competitive environment. The final six songs, chosen from over 300 entries, will be performed live on RTÉ One on Friday evening.
The winner will be chosen by the combined votes awarded by, the Public Vote, an International Jury and a Studio Jury.
Eurovision stalwart, commentator Marty Whelan will be on hand as our Green Room correspondent, capturing all the backstage action, throughout the show
Excitement on the night is sure to reach fever pitch with a very special interval performance from Riverdance, who first performed their iconic dance line in a spine-tingling routine at Eurovision back in 1994.
The chosen winner on Friday night will go on to represent Ireland at the competition in Turin in May, with Ireland drawn to perform in the second semi-final of the competition, bidding to qualify. Italian rock band Måneskin, winners of the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, have gone on to enjoy worldwide chart success since winning the competition, with Zitti e buoni, their winning song, garnering more than 200 million streams on Spotify since their win in Rotterdam.
By way of background …
Ireland still holds the record for most Eurovision wins, with a tally of seven victories at the contest. Ireland first entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965. Ireland famously won 4 out of 5 contests in the 1990s and became the first country to win 3 times in a row.
Ireland’s Eurovision Winners
– Dana All Kinds of Everything -1970
– Johnny Logan What’s Another Year -1980
– Johnny Logan Hold Me Now – 1987
– Linda Martin Why Me? -1992
– Niamh Kavanagh In Your Eyes -1993
– Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan Rock n Roll Kids -1994
– Eimear Quinn The Voice -1996