It’s being billed as a special programme that will showcase and honour all the hard work the 39 Eurovision 2021 acts put into their live-on-tape performances. However, two countries will not air their backups for Rotterdam during the Eurovision Song Celebration — Ireland and the United Kingdom.
The absence of the two countries has triggered some fans, with several channeling their frustrations directly at Lesley Roy and James Newman on social media. This behaviour prompted Lesley to hit back at the trolls in a series of tweets.
Eurovision Song Celebration will not feature live-on-tapes from Ireland or the UK
Ahead of Friday’s first episode dedicated to the eliminated semi-finalists, Eurovision organisers have confirmed that we won’t see the back-up recordings for either Ireland’s Lesley Roy or the UK’s James Newman. The official website writes: “Neither the MAPS or Embers Live-on-Tape performance will feature in the Eurovision Song Celebration shows, as both artists want the live performance they delivered in Rotterdam to be the version that people remember”. It adds that Lesley and James will still appear in the shows.
That means that fans will see 37 never before seen live-on-tape performances, along with Australia’s backup which aired during semi-final one. You’ll recall that these were made to be used in the event that an act couldn’t travel to the Netherlands, as happened with Montaigne. The show will be fronted by Finland’s Krista Siegfrids. Episode one is set for Friday 28 May at 21:00 CEST. The second episode will follow on Saturday 29 May at 21:00 CEST.
Eurovision Song Celebration episode one — eliminated semi-finalists
- Slovenia / Ana Soklič – Amen
- Australia / Montaigne – Technicolour
- North Macedonia / Vasil – Here I Stand
- Croatia / Albina – Tick-Tock
- Romania / ROXEN – Amnesia
- Estonia / Uku Suviste – The Lucky One
- Czech Republic / Benny Cristo – omaga
- Austria / Vincent Bueno – Amen
- Poland / RAFAŁ – The Ride
- Georgia / Tornike Kipiani – You
- Latvia / Samanta Tīna – The Moon is Rising
- Denmark / Fyr og Flamme – Øve Os På Hinanden
Eurovision Song Celebration episode two — grand finalists
- Cyprus / Elena Tsagrinou – El Diablo
- Albania / Anxhela Peristeri – Karma
- Israel / Eden Alene – Set Me Free
- Belgium / Hooverphonic – The Wrong Place
- Russia / Manizha – Russian Woman
- Malta / Destiny – Je Me Casse
- Portugal / The Black Mamba – Love Is On My Side
- Serbia / Hurricane – Loco Loco
- Greece / Stefania – Last Dance
- Switzerland / Gjon’s Tears – Tout l’Univers
- Iceland / Da∂i Freyr og Gagnamagni∂ – 10 Years
- Spain / Blas Cantó – Voy A Querdarme
- Moldova / Natalia Gordienko – SUGAR
- Germany / Jendrik – I Don’t Feel Hate
- Finland / Blind Channel – Dark Side
- Bulgaria / Victoria – Growing Up Is Getting Old
- Lithuania / The Roop – Discoteque
- Ukraine / Go_A – Shum
- France / Barbara Pravi – Voilà
- Azerbaijan / Efendi – Mata Hari
- Norway / TIX – Fallen Angel
- The Netherlands / Jeangu Macrooy – Birth of a New Age
- Italy / Måneskin – Zitti E Buoni
- Sweden / Tusse – Voices
- San Marino / Senhit – Adrenalina
Ireland’s Lesley Roy hits back at Twitter trolls
On Friday morning, Lesley tweeted: “Trolls, Not sure what the issues are re:live on tape ? You guys didn’t like the performance of maps, remember? last in semi final1, a NQ, ring any bells?!”. She ended the message with an emoji of a woman shrugging. This appears to be in response to people sending her nasty tweets about her absence from the Eurovision Song Celebration.
Trolls, Not sure what the issues are re:live on tape ? You guys didn’t like the performance of maps, remember? last in semi final1, a NQ, ring any bells?! ????
— lesley roy (@lesleyroyreal) May 28, 2021
The tweet quickly spread with many taking it as an attack on the Eurovision fandom at large. Lesley soon followed up with a second more detailed statement. “Ehh I don’t think my joke translated”, she wrote along with a grimacing face emoji. “Ahh let me clarify, to all the amazing ppl that did support Maps my previous tweet was NOT directed at you. I was just shocked/confused by the uproar of no live tape from the ongoing haters. I am SO grateful to those of you who have supported Maps & I see you! I will be sharing a new song w/ you VERY soon ! ❤️”.
Ehh I don’t think my joke translated ? pic.twitter.com/jQ9jRcsTMX
— lesley roy (@lesleyroyreal) May 28, 2021
Lesley added further context to the situation in her replies. Writing to one fan, she says “I ADORE the fans soo much they are amazing and Ive tried to interact with them in every way I possibly can for over a year. I was just shocked at people who DONT like me/maps that wanted to see the tape . That was all that I meant .” In a now deleted tweet, the singer also revealed that she had been receiving “some pretty scary direct messages” in the days since Eurovision.
Irish broadcaster RTÉ has not responded to the matter publicly. However, Lesley is not the first Irish act to be trolled on social media. In 2019, Sarah McTernan received torrents of abusive messages for travelling to Israel.
Meanwhile, at the time of writing, neither the UK delegation nor James Newman have commented on his absence.
Will you be watching the song celebration? Will you miss Lesley and James? Let us know below.
Jesus, people need to leave Lesley alone. I totally get their reasoning behind withholding the live on tapes. Michael Kealy, Ireland’s HoD, also expressed before that he really wanted Lesley to perform live since the tape wouldn’t do her justice. So, just enjoy the live performance and leave it at that 🙂 Love you, Lesley!
North Macedonia’s staging on the tape was way better than the live one: they often overdo it with the staging by doing something unnecessary (it still would not have qualified but the reflected mirrorball was a gimmick didn’t add any value.
I’ve seen lots of comments on various blogs criticising Lesley and James for this decision. Do we know it was actually their decisions? Maybe it was RTE/BBC or their management??
Lesley and James both actively participated in the pre contest events and James has said how much he loved the experience and the fans even after coming last. I can’t imagine their absence at the live on tape specials being because they feel bitter or want to throw their toys out
Stop the trolls, wiwi.
Ouch! your passage about Romania is pretty harsh.
Ireland and UK are not happy with fans and the ‘trolls’. My observation relates to those who continuously criticise. There is a big difference between those who are professionals and have a career in journalism and those who just speak what they say without thinking and without any journalism experience. It’s easy to set up a website and a blog, but it is a task and a half to maintain it, sustain it, and capture the attention of others and ensure followers are influenced as well making sure one is objective, open minded and impartial to opinion. Influence is a… Read more »
Lesley comes across as lovely and down to earth . Her biggest problem is getting involved with RTE and doing Eurovision. She wasn’t suitable for a big stage
Lesley is salty she got last place. That post makes her look bad if anything. That’s why she deleted it. Weird thing to be praised for, but you do you.
This year I got an impression that even many non-fans got really interested. We were 9 people watching from the youtube stream, some of my friends had their watch parties. I only know a few people who watched alone. You’ll need to wait to see the final number, which I feel is going to be above 200M
You’re confusing different things. That 64M figure is the average audience, the 200M they always mention is the ‘reach’, which is the amount of people that watched at least part of it.
I still feel bad that Ireland didn’t qualify because Maps is still my jam. Sure the performance was a hot mess near the end but the song is still beautiful. If I have to guess why Lesley doesn’t want to show the pre-tapped is because its very similar to the actual ESC performance so no point and on top of that lots of negative trolls bullying her. Hope she doesn’t give up on her music and Ireland will help embrace her!
Lesley is just punishing her fans, the trolls couldn’t care less about her live on tape, this is Lesley being bitter and very immature, same with James, very very bad look.
No because plenty of haters and non-fans like to criticize and bash certain artists/acts.
I feel like people don’t realize when they’re being nasty and negative.. An honest opinion can feel like just that but if you throw in some sass and side eye kind of comment you’re just being nasty and shady.. People do that with an ease that makes me wanna throw up.. Be kind
It’s called sarcasm. It’s a coping mechanism. If her second clarifying tweet was part of the first sarcastic one, she wouldn’t be having this issue. I’m still listening to and enjoying MAPS, GOLD, and the rest of her back catalog.
I loved it and I love Lesley, there I said it.. I respect the decision made
What’s childish of being so proud of your live performance that you’d rather your sub-standard performance is not revealed and the legacy of your main performance lives on?
I fully respect James’ and Lesley’s wishes, but I am surprised. What do the have to lose? Each finished last on their evening, so these tape performances are unlikely to damage their reputations. And if Samanta Tina was brave enough to show her mess on tape, than I see no reason why others wouldn’t. I see why she was so adamant of performing live. Despite finishing last, her actual semi performance was much better.
I strongly disapprove of bullying the artists. The don’t owe us anything.
Handled it better than your English, apparently.
Good.
We didn’t have to watch her mess one more time.
ESC fans full of love as per usual I see…
Not good. Don’t you get it? There will be no more artists for ESC if they all get hated out of the room.
Talent always wins hun. Look how we all are supporting Maneskin. There’ll be always good examples for those who want to be a part of the show in future. We just don’t need sore losers, it is what it is.
Yeah that’s exactly the way to go about it. No wonder why artists shy away from Eurovision. With people like you giving these ridiculous immature opinions. I wanna say that opinions like yours fall flat and don’t hurt acts reading them because I think your opinion is a load of … but unfortunately they do, they’re humans who put so much effort into their craft for people to enjoy. Annoying how people like you are allowed to watch it. Grow up ffs ????
I really enjoyed last night’s films and missed seeing Ireland. I’ll feel the same about the UK tonight. I wonder exactly why they made the decision not to join in. Surely none of the above constitutes trolling.
Apparently they are so proud of their Eurovision performances they don’t want to show their lesser loved back ups – obviously they weren’t as pleased with them. I know James Newman’s was filmed on the Comic Relief stage in teh BBC studios, so that may have been a factor for his one.
But these were performances which were supposed to be competitive, if the worst came to the worst. They can’t have been that bad. Eurovision fans are the losers.
Maybe they’ve had enough criticism & don’t want to hear more nitpicking or what they or their team did wrong.
That wouldn’t flag with how well the songs have charted though? Maybe people just accessed the youtube stream via VPNs?
11M aftershow now, live I think it was from 200,000 to 500,000 if I remember.
well from the “semi” show my 12 points go to Australia,
10 points to Poland (for the staging only)
Hey, Poland was pretty good if you ignored dude in sunglasses
Funny how the moderators of this website deleted my post criticising the way they have let hate and toxicity fester on this website for years. They can’t handle the truth. How about you spend more time focusing on deleting hateful posts towards artists than truthful ones?
This comment section is full to the brim with vileness, toxicity, disrespect and rude entitlement. Look at yourselves. They owe you nothing. Respect their wishes. It’s a video. If they dont want to show it then dont attack them for that decision. These artists are being attacked and bullied. DMed by pathetic bullies telling them to kill themselves and worse. Maybe they just do not want to give those sad bullies more ammo. Idk. But what I do know is that nothing justified some of the disgusting comments here.
The artists’ wishes have been respected so far. I don’t know the extent of the awful messages they have received. If it is really as bad as you have stated, there would be no point continuing with Eurovision at all, as no artist would want to sign up for that treatment.
N.B. This is not the way I wanted to end the season. It appears that the ESC has quite a serious problem to tackle.
It’s well known how toxic some in the fandom can be at times.
It’s called freedom of expression. Just because they are not little facists who want to censor every comment that they don’t like. Grow up.
It’s just another way the UK is alienating themselves from the fun, spirit and togetherness of the contest. I kind of understand where Lesley is coming from. The staging was epic innherbsemi final performance and it may have been of a lower standard in her live recording. Despite this the trolls need to take several seats.
Or maybe people can just respect James Newman and Lesley Roy’s decisions.
People are telling her to kill herself among other awful things. That’s hardly a discussion on whether or not the song and performance was good. That’s a direct personal attack. So when you say none, you are very wrong.
If they don’t want their backup performances to be shown then they don’t, and we should respect their decision wheter we wanted to see their performances or not.
omg so many live on tape performances were better than the live ones what a mess!!! Poland, Romania, Croatia…
Anyway, Ireland and UK are losers. Why would you forbid EBU from showin your live-on-tape?
Lesley didn’t handle it well, rule number one: don’t answer or pay attention to haters. However, i think Lesley calls haters those who openly said that her live show was disappointing which was!
Ireland and UK are losers?
I’m sure both Lesley and James have accomplished way more than you. In fact, I know they have.
Alex thinks that he knows it all and others are losers in his opinion. I wonder who is the loser.
lol oh wow you got your cookie and you got a life.
Oh give me a break. UK and Ireland are losers meaning the broadcasters, not the artists per se. Calm down Karen.
I was going to put a like before I read the loser thing.
I agree that Ireland and UK should have let fans watch the live on tape, as it’s not fair for the Eurofans, but hating on them won’t bring us those performances, so we should just enjoy the performances other artists agreed on showing us and show some respect to everybody.
I am not hating on the performers but the broadcasters. Guys you’re really sensitive, seriously…
I don’t like Lesley’s performance was disappointing. One of the most structured visual performances this year – just wouldn’t translate well for those in the arena. Vocally not as spot on as she would have liked, the same with James…but neither have anything to be embarrased about. Maybe both feel their live on tape performances were not of the calibre they would have liked, henceforth the reason for not wanting them broadcast. I mean, poor James had to record his on a stage which wasn’t constructed for him, but for a TV Charity show.
Lesley’s performance was very bad, vocally espoecially. Let’s be honest. I love the song and Lesley but i was very disappointed and the public was right to give her the last place because the other acts were better overall.
Love Lesleys response, even if it was only supposed to be a joke. Why does anyone care if they share the performance or not. The fans made it perfectly clear they didnt like Ireland and the UK songs but now some fans are moaning that they dont see a different performance of them so they can then b*itch and moan about that one also. There just isnt any pleasing some people.
1. What about the genuine fans of Lesley?
2. What about the full set of recordings for historians 50 years from now?
Some things are bigger than cheap jokes on Twitter.
If they were genuine fans of Lesley they would support her decision not question it. There is absolutely no need for anyone to feel they have the right to abuse someone on social media for a decision that they made.
I think you’re missing the point. Her rights are not at question, and of course have been respected. But as a genuine fan of Lesley, I think seeing more of her would be good. Haters have nothing to do with me or the fandom. From my perspective: She’s giving the haters what they want, not the fans. That’s very sad. And, the cheap shot on Twitter is a low point. Hopefully one day we will get to see the recording. It’s important to history, if nothing else.
I’m not sure it’s really that important if it was never used. I’d prefer to see the jury performances, which count for half the result.
Agreed over more transparency on what the jury sees. I don’t understand why it’s a different show than what the TV audience sees.
I can’t underatand the downvoting under all of your comments. Your points are really valid and I completely agree.
Oh, about the jury thing, yes it’s unfair, but I guess they do because they won’t have to calculate jury results on the day of the Semi-Final/Grand Final and they don’t waste precious time
Thanks.
drama queens
Or maybe they don’t want more drama – more criticism on what they did wrong or didn’t improve or what they had better but made worse. They have a right to distance themselves from their very disappointing Eurovision experiences. True fans would seek more their non-Eurovision work.
Eurovision 2021 is over , let’s put the contest to bed for 5 months
Thank god I am eurovizzed out
honestly who’s watching albania’s borefest…
I think Romamia’s staging in live on tape was much better than in Rotterdam. It is a pity Romamia stayed in the semi finals
Agree I thought the same!
I actually loved Polands too
Dear Lesley! Embrace the love! Forget the haters! ??
Sigh I hate the toxic fans who actually go to artists personal socials and send hate.. how pathetic and entitled.
No wonder why Lesley or James don’t want to give those types more ammo.
I pity her cuz her live on tape was prob filmed under the stairs at RTE studio with a handheld camera and a torch costing 10 euros for the space for one hour.
I must say this performance of Rafal was much more polished (pun not intended).
Totally agree with point 4. Fyr og Flamme should have been in the final instead of a certain Mr. K
People praising the vocals of the performances tonight, spoiler alert: they are enhanced.
And too many pre-recorded vocals covering the voices.
The main vocals for all singers were their live ones…they had 3 times to perform fully and chose the best performance. The backing vocals were allowed to be pre-recorded. So no spoiler alert there #TheMoreYouKnow.
Unpopular opinion perhaps but I love both Amen songs..
Reading the comments on here is actually disgusting.
The hatred and toxic attitude some of you have towards James and Lesley, or even UK and Ireland as countries is actually disgusting.
Are you really so concerned because two videos are not included in a YouTube compilation video? REALLY!??
I think that says more about y’all then it does about James Newman and Lesley Roy.
As an Irish man it’s nice to feel the warmth and welcoming attitude from the comments, I must say.
These are people, with feelings.
Do not worry baby, they are just jealous because Ireland holds the biggest record of wins, as for all those who slander Ireland, first of all your country will bring 6 wins and then you Can talk.
I’m not jealous. I am proud of my country’s 5 wins and 15 2nd places.
I just would have loved to seen what they would have brought to the table had their journey taken a turn for the worst. Nothing more, nothing less.
No need for hatful comments toward Ireland and U.K. Its only music , I’m sure they will bring good songs next year.
by the way I like this year both of their songs, they did not deserved last place!
I don’t believe I have brought any hateful comments about Ireland and UK….maybe about the BBC in general, but not about either songs!
Sadly, 7 of the Irish wins and 4 of the UK wins all came from 100% jury voting at a time when there wasn’t much competition….nowadays there are anything up to 43 countries voting in the final – which kinda is a joke as I still feel it should only be the countries which qualified should vote (own personal opinion) kinda like how only the countries and 3 automatic qualifiers can vote in their semi.
One day both nations may return to former glories, but many baby steps need to be made before the giant leaps.
Britain has nothing to do with us, as we are not British.
We also don’t think Europe is against us either.
So because a uk soap airs on Irish tv we are automatically British?
We have a vastly different culture to Britain, but I know you’re just trolling.
I suggest you take out that geography book, read it, understand it, or get back to 1900 as that must be where you’ve come from.
Beidh amadán ann i gcónaí….
Smh
I don’t live in north west Donegal…
I was bashing RTÉ yesterday yeah, because they are inept, out of touch and incompetent. However, I’m not going to stand by and say nothing while people here were actually bashing the countries. It’s completely different. And the toxic stuff people have been saying here in uncalled for. You are not helpful either, with your “little Britain” remarks, we are not British. We have our own language, our own sport, we are in the EU, UK not, UK have a monarchy, we don’t we use the metric system, Uk doesn’t, and various other differences. I know full well who I… Read more »
Irish people know exactly who we are and we have fought for that for hundreds of years, educate yourself pls ur making a fool out of yourself
who even are you? are you British?
you obviously know nothing about irish history and culture if your gona call it “little britain”. gtfo
i feel so bad for lesley, really enjoyed her performance
Loving Samanta’s attitude and sass here..
Yeah. I don’t know what Samanta disliked specifically about that recording; it wasn’t that bad.
Exactly, very good
Maybe the fact that she couldn’t really dance or move in those high-heel boots? But the rest of the performance was indeed fabulous! especially her hair!
Awesome stuff, many performance are so much more, um, focused I should say, than what we saw in the semis
Guess the nerves took the better of some..
In any case, the EBU has to apologize to U.K and to James and to Spain and the Netherlands for Humiliated them live , why even declare zero points? Hopefully next year this bad method will change, all the singers worked so hard before the competition, and they do not deserve to be left with a bitter taste in their mouths.
Zero points isn’t the problem here, but there was no need to shove the camera up their nostrils when it was announced. Highly unnecessary and rude.
Hear hear!
i’m sure no one is satisfied with their backup, but besties – you want to be remembered by your live shows? bet. so a vocally shaky grey mess without a coherent narrative, and two trumpets over a mid-tempo attempt of a summer song all paired with a fugly outfit. see: the only way is up i promise
See, that just makes me even more curious about the original concepts for UK and Ireland, and how they developed into the final live products. It’s art history now. 🙂
Where can I watch these performances? Please help me with a link? Thank you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOHwiWElR1A
Unfortunately it looks to be geoblocked in America.
Ever since Justin Timberlake was on Eurovision and was strict with owning the rights of his performance – dictating to them they couldn’t broadcast it through their site and other demands on them – Eurovision started geoblocking the Final and other certain performances for the U.S.
Poland shows clearly why pre recorded backing vocals should be remote asap.
You don´t even hear his voice in the chorus. It hurts the Contest
I so agree with you. We need the rule back that all vocals must be live, it is much more fair. Ok even then we get to case that people not even on stage sing the main chorus, or difficult high notes, but that is better then the situation now. Poland live-on-tap is THE example this is wrong.
Ohhh yes Poland! That has made my night. 🙂 They should be very proud of that recording, bravo.
I know right?? The vocal mix suddenly is decent and all
That’s because you can’t hear Rafal 😀 But I agree, very nice performance!
Both U.K. and Ireland are superpowers of music, they can send good singers and songs, do not understand how this happens?
Certainly in the UK there is a stigma that Eurovision kills careers…goes back to the negative newspaper press when the UK wouldn’t win or finish top 3. But always just after Eurovision plenty of named artists always say that they would do Eurovision…but never appear when Eurovision season is back in full swing.
Look at the treatment Flo Rida got, why would any named artist go near Eurovision now?
You don’t get points just for being famous.
I can think that’s the only reason Bonnie Tyler got any points at all
I think the BBC have got a reputation of being very controlling and a lot of UK singers value creative control and write their own songs, so they’re put off by that.
No idea why you got a negative rating for the comment. You are truly right. The BBC made sure Frances Ruffelle couldn’t take her grungy look to Eurovision – for a good example of what you said.
Totally loathe the bbc for many reasons , ITV might make a better job of it.
And Benny was so good
Benny’s always so meticulous; it was great to see him at his best there.
True! I don’t get why they felt a need to change that performance at ESC. This was much better (still a NQ though, due to his vocals).
Yeah but the electronic voice behind his vocal sounds way more exciting.. This was much better
People should just stop hating on others, performers, countries and respect them and the decisions they make! It’s not difficult..
The British isles?
Or maybe, just maybe, BBC should relinquish the Eurovision to another network such as ITV…or do what some other countries like Russia and Belgium do and alternate every year…..the UK needs a fresh approach and Auntie just cannot bring it at the moment.
It’s more likely jealousy of the vaccine rollout.
That would at least be believable.
Not really.
February was three months ago.
The only other thing I would appreciate to see is the BBC loosening their strangle hold on the whole UK and let the 4 nations compete separately. I would gladly have my Scotland compete in the semi. We are a proud wee nation with some talent who can belt out the notes! Not that I am advocating a return of Lulu…but she still has the pipes.
Doesn’t work either, look at Wales in Junior Eurovision, 2nd to last and last.
difference is, 4 nations could vote for each other.;……not that THAT ever happens with neighbouring nations or ex countries which have broken into smaller countries.
bbc not fit for putpose in any way shape or form. They are finished. Time is coming.
ITV would be awful at ESC. It’d be seen as a joke. The BBC brand carries prestige in the UK, and it’s the public broadcaster of the country.
“The BBC brand carries prestige in the UK”
hahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahaha you’ve made my night with that.
The BBC is the most corrupt broadcaster in the UK. They are the FOX News of UK Television!
Both have a great way of making a news story out of nothing or covering up the truth. Look at the scandal the BBC tried to impose on Sir Cliff Richard. Look at the deviousness that is now coming out about the Princess Diana interview. Pretty sure the Kids in Cages were Trump’s doing anyways…..but I was only using FOX news as a metaphor!
See Aex Belfeild’s channel for what the bbc get up to. Currupt as hell.
They all have a statue outside their hq of a pervert who botherd his own kids and the family dog. **Eric Gill** , google him.
The BBC is corrupt! Look at recent revelations. In what way would ITV be any more awful than BBC? They wouldn’t put stupid bits on instead of letting us see interval acts and we would have some adverts instead of backstage gossip.
https://www.youtube.com/c/CelebrityRadiobyAlexBelfield/videos They are just see what they are doing to this man. He used to work for the BBC. Time they were over.
lol what? Its vanishing by the day what little prestige they had. They are a joke.
If ITV withdrew for JESC despite doing well for the UK during the show’s first three years, then why would you expect them to be any better in ESC in place of the BBC?
I appeal for calm.