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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Jedward and Westlife very poor warm up acts for Obama--Talentless twosome send the wrong message to world media

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Jedward and Westlife very poor warm up acts for Obama--Talentless twosome send the wrong message to world media

Posted on Sunday, May 22, 2011 at 05:04 AM

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Whatever about the Obama presidential visit the choice of performers for the concert to entertain the president leaves a lot to be desired.

Before he arrives in College Green at the heart of Dublin on Sunday, the expected massive crowd and world media will listen to the best in Irish entertainment

Except it won't be.

When President Clinton went to Belfast in 1995 there was one electrifying moment when Van Morrison came on stage and played 'There'll be days like this."

It was a magical moment, one that will stay with the hundreds of thousands who witnessed it as a huge few minutes of symbolism as Northern Ireland inched towards peace.

That was then-- now Obama has Jedward and Westlife headlining.

How sad is that? Jedward are the pride of the teenybopper set, essentially harmless and good fun but with about as much talent as I have at singing and dancing.

Their main claim to fame appears to be their fantastical hairstyle, quiffed in a Teddy Boy look that drives the young females wild.

Then there is Westlife, a manufactured boy band who have made millions by being bland.

They will hardly stir the souls of the tens of thousands who will gather tomorrow for President Obama's speech and if Obama happens to arrive while either are playing he'll probably think he wandered into a teenybopper convention.

Really Ireland could have done much better.There is no dearth of fabulous musical talent and Obama will draw a crowd anyway.

Instead we have a talentless twosome and a vanilla boy band as Ireland's opening act for the most important man on earth while the world's media looks on.

Sad that.

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25 comments

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dani1995 | May 25, 2011, 02:06 PM EDT

After reading this article I have been left appalled by the writer’s attitude towards the entertainment of the event. I have been a westlife fan for many years and would like to point out that they are not only successful in the UK and Ireland but are extremely popular globally. Only recently they performed sell out gigs in Dubai and Muscat and are now planning to visit Indonesia. They have won record of the year countless times and sold out Croke park (third biggest stadium in Europe) twice. These are facts the author of the article failed to mention when accusing the group of being “bland.” Jedward may not be the best acts in Ireland, in fact their voices and songs are fairly weak, however, they did just represent their country in the Eurovision and did fairly well taking the political voting into account. Therefore I see no reason why Ireland should be ashamed of either act. As for the remark made about Van Morrison, this performance took place over 15 years ago, musical genres have altered and developed since then and we cannot expect acts like this to perform in these events any longer. Also the presidents musical tastes are unknown to the media therefore we should not judge his choice in entertainment by his importance.

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dani1995 | May 25, 2011, 01:39 PM EDT

After reading this article i am left appalled by the writers attitude towards the entertainment of the event.

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aoibhinn | May 25, 2011, 09:46 AM EDT

Agree Niall. A few wounded 15 year olds on here.

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cillowen | May 23, 2011, 05:51 PM EDT

say it isn't so that such zeros are consdered for entertainment.

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mayoman | May 23, 2011, 11:46 AM EDT

MMLeprechaun: Kindly tell us what you mean when you write: "oh come on, take your head out of the sand and see what is happening with that man!" Pray tell; what is happening with that man?

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MMLeprechaun | May 23, 2011, 11:20 AM EDT

Sounds like whoever picked the opening act knew exactly what they were doing...if the boys are as bad as quoted to be--but then they couldn't be as bad as the act that follows!!! "Most important man in the world....." -- oh come on, take your head out of the sand and see what is happening with that man!!

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esatdigiwank | May 23, 2011, 10:44 AM EDT

woundedkneecap- did it ever occur to you that we Don't like harp music?

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CitizenWhy | May 23, 2011, 10:36 AM EDT

It would have been so much better to have two incredibly talented young writers of great original songs greet President Obama: Harry and Alfie (watch on YouTube) from Dublin, secondary school students. Alfie is totally fluent in Irish and a ranked step dancer.

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The Waltons | May 23, 2011, 10:36 AM EDT

How apropo. A talentless twosome for a talentless president.

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mrkennedy | May 23, 2011, 10:17 AM EDT

This article doesn't surprise me a bit since NIALL is a strong Obama LOVER!!!!!!!!!!!

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Truthfully... | May 23, 2011, 06:42 AM EDT

WHY?????????????? THIS IS INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Towngate | May 23, 2011, 05:05 AM EDT

NIALL,a Chara: Dear God! - you have hit an all-time low with this Post! Just a few questions pop up: Were Westlife and Jedward booked as 'Warm-up acts' for somebody? I don't think so! ~ Why hold a concert in the(enclosed)Dublin Streets when they are usually held in the O2 arena or openair venues like Marley Park? It is,of course a ploy to make it appear that the fans who will come to see these popular entertainers, will be thronging the streets of Dublin to see and hear Obama read his speech from his shameful Auto-cue! These lads are an example of modern popular Irish performers and fans today,and if all the 'untalented' people in Ireland paid taxes on earnings of several million Euro every year - the country would soon be out of debt and paying its own way! ~ ~ ~ They are being shamefully hi-jacked and duped by Irish and American authorities to suit their own ends. The 'talentless twosome' you describe; when joined by Obama; will be renamed 'The Talentless Threesome', and finally for you to state that he is "the most important man on Earth", is obscene! He is no such thing. A Militarally powerful bully in charge with plans for World Domination and demanding compliance with its own so-called 'moral standards and values' on threat of cowardly military obliteration, is NOT the same as being 'Important'. Far from it!

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Ajreaper | May 22, 2011, 10:47 PM EDT

Niall, come on now 8th in Eurovision and apparently they'd beat you in a talent contest so clearly they are right to warm up the crowd for a speech by a president of the U.S. ;)

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mhichil | May 22, 2011, 06:56 PM EDT

ireland , whos got your soul???

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mhichil | May 22, 2011, 06:55 PM EDT

ya do better with the Rubberbandits!

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