Part one complete. Eurovision fever has been given a cheese lovers guarantee until Saturday with the sweaty tense countdown of the ten acts who made it through the first semi-final in Baku.

Once Jon Ola Sand verified the voting it was over to the virtual envelopes which one by one revealed the countries who would progress to Saturdays grand finale. Romania followed by Moldova, Iceland, Hungary, Denmark, Albania, Cyprus, Greece. Eight names out of the hat and everyone’s favourite Russian grandmothers were surely shoe in’s. It was getting quite tense. When Russia was announced at the ninth qualifier, everything hinged on one spot.

There were no more virtual envelopes, a golden envelope was brought to the stage in a slow dramatic fashion and after ensuring they had the nation gripped for the “will they” – “won’t they” result, finally Jedward were announced as the final act through to the final. They say it was in no particular order but there is no way it was co-incidence to have the Grimes twins backflip down to the stage triumphantly.

As television broadcasting goes, if it was unintentional it certainly couldn’t have gone any better. Mission one – Complete. The Jedward Eurovision 2012 journey marches on. Now onward to Saturday, where Jedward will take the 23rd slot on the night. Can they win it second time around?

Eurovision Semi-Final 1 Qualifiers

• Romania
• Moldova
• Iceland
• Hungary
• Denmark
• Albania
• Cyprus
• Greece
• Russia
• Ireland

Jedward Eurovision 2012 – Waterline

So in demand these days is Jessie J. She has Live at the Marquee dates, being a judge on The Voice UK and helped open the Channel 4 Comedy Gala amongst some of the stuff she is doing this year.

She now has a UK and Ireland tour to look forward to NEXT year. She will be hitting arena’s around the UK and in Ireland has two dates announced. One in The O2, Dublin on March 18th 2013 and the night before in The Odyssey, Belfast on March 17th 2013.

Tickets for these shows are €33.50 (Dublin) and £27.50 (Belfast) and go on sale from Friday 25th May 2012. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster.ie and outlets nationwide.

2013 UK Tour Dates
Tuesday 26th February @ Capital FM Arena, Nottingham
Wednesday 27th February @ Brighton Centre, Brighton
Friday 1st March @ Birmingham LG Arena
Saturday 2nd March @ Manchester Arena
Sunday 3rd March @ Sheffield Motorpoint Arena
Tuesday 5th March @ Liverpool Echo Arena
Wednesday 6th March @ Cardiff Motorpoint Arena
Thursday 7th March @ Bournemouth International Centre
Saturday 9th March @ London O2 Arena
Tuesday 12th March @ Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
Thursday 14th March @ Glasgow SECC
Friday 15th March @ Aberdeen AECC

Jessie J Ireland tour dates
Sunday 17th March @ Belfast Odyssey Arena
Monday 18th March @ Dublin O2 Arena

Jessie J – Who’s Laughing Now

Gig of the week is Gary Numan. The original synth master brings his Machine Music tour to The Button    Factory on Saturday 26th, tickets €25.

Life Festival is taking place down in Belvedere House this weekend, tickets for the staple electronic music  festival are €95.

Mammy sing along favorite Barry Manilow is hitting The O2 on Wednesday 23rd, tickets €33.50-91. Thursday 24th sees another one for the Mammies with five-time Grammy Award winner and soul queen Dionne Warwick taking to Vicar Streets stage for her 50th anniversary tour, tickets €59.

If singer songwriters are more your thing Newton Faulkner plays Whelans on Sunday 27th, tickets €22.50, and catch Mundy in The Abbey Tavern on Saturday 26th, tickets €18.35.

For everything else see below:

	Gig Listings May 21st – 27th
2012-05-23	Barry Manilow	The O2	€33.5 – 91	Ticketmaster
2012-05-23	Sleep	The Button Factory	€21.50
2012-05-24	Alt-J	Academy 2	€12	Ticketmaster
2012-05-24	Billy Yates & Robert Mizzell	The Great Northern Hotel	€25.15	Ticketmaster
2012-05-24	Brendan Benson	The Button Factory	€22.00
2012-05-24	Bronagh Gallagher	Dolans Warehouse	€16.35	Ticketmaster
2012-05-24	Dionne Warwick	Vicar Street	€59	Ticketmaster
2012-05-24	DZ Deathrays	Mc Hughs Basement Bar	€10.25	Ticketmaster
2012-05-24	Howe Gelb	Whelan’s	€17.50
2012-05-24	Kings of Lyon	The Village	€10.00
2012-05-24	Paul Kalkbrenner	Olympia Theatre	€23 – 25.5	Ticketmaster
2012-05-25	Alt-J	The Stiff Kitten	€11.25	Ticketmaster
2012-05-25	DZ Deathrays	Academy 2	€6.3	Ticketmaster
2012-05-25	Life Festival	Belvedere House Gardens & Park	€134	Ticketmaster
2012-05-25	The Damned	The Academy	€25	Ticketmaster
2012-05-26	Aura Noir	The Pint	€16	Ticketmaster
2012-05-26	Donal Lunny, Padraig Rynne, Sylvian Barou	The Thatch Rahan	€18.50
2012-05-26	GALA CHORAL CONCERT	Royal Theatre and Event Centre	€20	Ticketmaster
2012-05-26	Gary Numan	The Button Factory	€25.00
2012-05-26	Hush War Cry	Cyprus Avenue	€10.00
2012-05-26	Kings of Lyon	Empire Music Hall	€11	Ticketmaster
2012-05-26	Lethal Dialect	The Workman’s Club	€12.00
2012-05-26	Life Festival	Belvedere House Gardens & Park	€95	Ticketmaster
2012-05-26	Mundy	Abbey Tavern	€18.35	Ticketmaster
2012-05-26	Newton Faulkner	Limelight	€19.5	Ticketmaster
2012-05-26	Noize Kulture	Cyprus Avenue	€7.00
2012-05-26	Ozric Tentacles	The Village	€17.50
2012-05-26	Subject at POGO – David Kitt & Tr One	The Twisted Pepper	€12.00
2012-05-26	The Damned	Mandela Hall	€18	Ticketmaster
2012-05-26	The Original Rudeboys	Roisin Dubh	€14.85	Ticketmaster
2012-05-26	Totally Wired	The Academy	€17.35	Ticketmaster
2012-05-26	TR One	The Twisted Pepper	€11.75	Ticketmaster
2012-05-27	Aura Noir	Voodoo	€12	Ticketmaster
2012-05-27	Bronagh Gallagher	The Pavilion	€10.00
2012-05-27	John Sinclair & Howard Marks	The Button Factory	€19.50
2012-05-27	Liam Geddes	Academy 2	€11.75	Ticketmaster
2012-05-27	Life Festival 2012 – Sunday Ticket	Belvedere House Gardens & Park	€70.45	Ticketmaster
2012-05-27	Newton Faulkner	Whelans	€22.5	Ticketmaster
2012-05-27	Papa M	The Workman’s Club	€16.00

I’m not sure if this counts as a comeback or if she’s just been very quiet but we can announce that Jennifer Lopez will play her first ever show in Ireland this year as part of her “Dance Again” world tour. The tour starts in Panama city on June 14th and rolls around North and South America before hitting Europe towards the end of August.

She is coming to play The O2, Dublin on Friday 19th October 2012. Tickets for the show have not had a price set yet but will go on sale Monday 28th May at 9am.

Tickets will be available from Ticketmaster.ie and outlets nationwide and we’ll update with prices once we get them.

www.jenniferlopez.com

Jennifer Lopez – If You Had My Love

Legends rock into town in just a few days on May 25th, when The Damned hit Dublin to play The Academy. Tickets for the show are €25 and are still available from Ticketmaster.ie.

However we have a pair of tickets to give away to this amazing show and as always all you have to do is send your NAME and ANSWER with the subject line ‘The Damned’ to competitions@goldenplec.com and we will put you in the lottery for a pair of tickets to the show.

The question is…

What is the name of The Damned’s debut album???

Competition closes Thursday 24th May at 1pm