Engelbert Humperdinck to sing first at Eurovision

UK representative Engelbert Humperdinck will be the first performer in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest which will take place in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

Engelbert Humperdinck will have the unfortunate “pleasure” of being the first act to perform in the Eurovision Song Contest this year. It is seen as something of a major set-back for Engelbert Humperdinck’s chances of winning the competition – or even scoring a decent amount of points for the UK. Songs that tend to do better at Eurovision – and win – tend to be performed later on during the competition.

Quite often the first few countries to perform are forgotten by the time the last country has performed and while highlights of the songs are shown to remind viewers they do little to really jog their memories. Although voting is now open throughout the competition, instead of after all the countries have performed, that fact isn’t expected to help Engelbert Humperdinck – after all who will vote after just watching one song?

The presence of “bloc voting” will also impact the UK’s chances of doing well though this has been redeemed somewhat in the past few years by the re-introduction of juries for each country. The points are awarded by each country now are 50% decided by viewer voting and 50% decided by a jury of experts for each country – which is perhaps why in more recent years the UK has actually gained some points.

Yesterday Engelbert Humperdinck revealed the song he will be performing in Azerbaijan in May; Love Will Set You Free.