They captured fans’ hearts when they first appeared in the “Together” music video. And now, Ireland’s Ryan O’Shaughnessy has confirmed that the two male dancers from the clip will join him on stage in Lisbon.
The singer-songwriter broke the news on his Instagram story, when he revealed his six person on-stage team. Along with Ryan himself, #TeamIreland will include the dancing duo — Kevin O’Dwyer and Alan McGrath — and three female backing vocalists — Claire Ann Varley, Janet Grogan and Remy Naidoo.
A behind-the-scenes snap shows the smiling six after some final rehearsals on home soil.
Ryan’s supporting quintet includes a number of familiar faces. Janet previously auditioned for the UK X Factor, while Remy appeared on The Voice of Ireland. Keen Eurovision fans may recognise Alan, or rather his pectorals — he was one of the three oiled-up topless dancers who accompanied Ryan Dolan in 2013.
Ireland’s stage show
During an Irish radio interview on Tuesday, Ryan remained coy about his exact staging plans. Although, given the presence of Kevin and Alan, it is clear that the gay love story from the music video will be retold inside the Altice Arena.
This isn’t exactly news, since Michael Kealy, the Irish Head of Delegation, essentially confirmed that this would be the case. Speaking to wiwibloggs in early March, he said “I would be surprised if you didn’t see it [the music video] translated to the stage in some way”.
While depictions of same-sex relationships are nothing new at Eurovision, it’s almost certain that many media outlets will latch on to the theme in search of sensationalist headlines.
They already have form. In the immediate aftermath of the video’s release, several websites reported on a “Russian ban” that never was.
Ryan may be keeping shtum for now, but all will become clear following his first rehearsal, which is just days away. He and his team will take to the Lisbon stage for the first time on Monday 30 April.
What do you think of Ryan’s team for Eurovision? Are you happy that he’s continuing the story of his music video? Let us know in the comments below.
People should appreciate this instead of thinking that it’s a PR or a bait towards the gays. At least it can be for a good cause that does not harm the gays any further. Give plenty of things a benefit of the doubt.
I think they need to be careful not to over produce it. The dancers worked well in the video as they had the whole of Temple Bar to dance through! Dancers and backing singers seem over the top for a simple ballad and I don’t trust RTÉ from past experience. Having said that although the chances of the song qualifying are small, I don’t think this semi-final is as much of a bloodbath as people say. There are about 4 certain qualifiers which are among the favourites anyway but I believe that the remaining 6 places are very open. The… Read more »
Most of the cameras shots will be of Ryan I would imagine. I’ve never heard of an ESC entry where the TV director showed mostly the dancers and ignored the lead singer, so it’s very unlikely the dancers will dominate the performance
You do realize however that there are gay and liberal Russians, right?
I can’t help but wonder, if this is just a cheap move in order to appeal to the LGBTQ+ audience. Sure, I appreciate them for showing gay love – but this won’t make me vote for that song.
I think that the best O’Shaughnessy is the solo cute boy he was when he first came on stage of BGT. Any kind of production and staging devalues the honest and real emotion you can hear in his voice. Just him and his guitar, kind of Sobral like, – that format could have worked. I was thrilled when I saw he was to represent Ireland, but sadly, now I feel it’s just a wasted opportunity.
For me the music video distacted me from the song. Didn’t like it at all at first, but when I just listened at it – I suddenly apprichiated the song more
Good luck from Sweden
IMO, I would focus on the song and his performance. That has worked in the past before.
Precisely. His music especially is about feeling and not about fireworks…
Right!
Well, in SF1 I would better give my votes for Lithuania, sorry <3
You do that, the rest of us will vote for Ireland, cheers.
Cynical LGBTQ+ bait, or sincere? Who knows? Anyway, good for them for finding reasons for people to talk about this boring entry.
Finland 2013, and Lithuania 2015 felt like more “cynical LGBTQ+ Bait”. Ireland is just trying to recreate an atmosphere that in my opinion worked really well, and if it ain’t broke, why fix it? Also, the song is far from boring! It has some of the deepest lyrics of any song in ESC this year. Nothing about “love being stronger than fire”, “being so hot it burns”, “I got the fire” or of course the irritating “Luna Moon Me Up”. This is a song with depth and meaning. Sorry I forgot it so not uptempo and overusing the pyrotechnics to… Read more »
I always wondered whether they should keep it and I´m glad they did. It is a strong song, very beautiful. And with a live recreation of music video they could qualify. Which they should. It is the best Irish entry in a while.
They should qualify for the final. Beautiful song<3
Ryan feels like a more subtle and quiet version of Silvia Night from Iceland
Pass.
It’s an obvious choice, since the video is very charming and they need something to call attention to the entry. But the same dance that worked so well on the streets won’t necessary play like it should on a big stage full of distractions. Anyway, it will be better than that hot air balloon!
Anything is better than that hot air balloon.
Yeah, that was awful. It haunts me that someone thought that it could be a good idea.
Hot air balloon may have worked maybe he was in it and the scenery behind it was changing.
Guess I’m the only one who liked Irish entry last year, I was sad it didn’t qualify, but , yeah, that baloon was too much..
I don’t know if it would help that much, Nick. For example, Belarus had a similar concept and I think they could have done better on the scoreboard with different staging.
As Purple mask said, anything would have been better than standing in front of a hot air baloon and swinging from right to left. That was totally meaningless. But the song itself was decent.
Yep, exactly what NickC said. 🙂
After his pr trick for a “russian ban” i am not supporting this. Bye felicia
Someone’s easily salted. He simply retweeted a video from an apparent pro-gay YouTube channel called “Pink News”. Ryan himself is not gay, so how’s was he to know that the site wasn’t reputable?
If that she what makes you dislike a song then i feel sorry for you.
Want to tell us where the apology is from him, then? It wouldn’t take a lot to type in, “Sorry for the assumption!”.
Because who cares? We all know people like esc1234 don’t care about the Russia thing, they just want to hate on Ryan and his song but want an excuse to do so without looking like a tool (oh…I fell so bad for all the Russians who get called homophobes… give me a break!
This could help it qualify genuinely.
This is qualifying fight me
I’m assuming the three girls will make an appearance on stage in Lisbon and will not be hidden away, given that they are young and photogenic.
Very interested to see what the dancers look like performing some form of contemporary dance to a ballad. It’s an intriguing move. I can see why RTE might think just planting Ryan at the front of the stage with his guitar would be a tad boring in a “been there, done that” type of way.
I hope there’s no piano!
Sorely underrated this year, but it’s not the first time Ireland was underrated. The staging for this sounds really good! I look forward to seeing the emotions and atmosphere of the video be transferred to the stage in Lisbon. Honestly, I would happily settle for a 10th place qualification. The song could place wherever it want some after that. I hope Europe gets behind Ireland and Ryan.
I hope the three women are actually kept in the background. They are there to provide backing vocals, not for their own personal moment in the spotlight – it seems that Ireland always have to give their whole team some TV time, which is not always the best thing to serve the staging.
That stage looks massive in Lisbon and the female vocal is very prominent on Together, I’m not sure there would be much point in hiding the backing singers away offstage.
I don’t mean they should be offstage, but they should not get much camera time. I don’t care if their Granny in Ballyhaunis can’t see them.
Glad to hear that Ireland will try to recreate one of the best videos of this Eurovision season as part of their staging in Lisbon
Although , in my opinion, the song isn’t the strongest in the competition, the whole package could be a revelation!
I hope they make the dancers central to the performance and not peripheral to Ryan’s staging.
If they do, this could be a well deserved qualifier
Fingers crossed Here!