Blue singer Antony Costa has described pop twins Jedward as “mental dudes” when he met them at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest.
The Lucan lads represented Ireland back in 2011 with Lipstick, the same year as the 90s boy band represented the UK.
Reflecting on his time at the Eurovision, Antony said watching Jedward onstage was the “highlight” of his experience.
He said: “I’ve got to say that Jedward were one of the highlights for me. They’re mental dudes, but hats off to them, they worked bloody hard. They probably worked harder than us.
“The boys don’t stop, bouncing off walls, yet talk to them off camera and they’re alright. You see people really taking it seriously as well.
"I can’t remember what country it was, but there was a guy who was constantly singing and we were like, ‘mate, you need to be quiet now.’ Again, people take it how they want.”
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Anthony said he felt enormous pressure and can barely remember the night.
“100% I felt pressure. It was hard to enjoy it because I don’t remember it. I remember everything else, but I don’t remember the performance. We were on autopilot. It’s upsetting that I don’t remember it. I think we put too much pressure on ourselves in terms of not getting it wrong.
“We were an established band and a lot of pressure was on us to sing live and pull it off on the night. People have their opinions, which is fine, and you’ve just got to roll with it. We wanted to enjoy it, but it’s a shame that I don’t remember as much as I’d like.”
Costa told Betway Casino that the Eurovision was “effectively the World Cup of singing”, saying it was the “hardest ten days of work I’ve ever done in my life”.
“It was amazing first and foremost. It’s a complete honour representing your country, whether that’s in football, athletics or singing, which is what we did. It’s effectively the World Cup of singing.
"However, one thing I’ve always said and I’ll take this to the grave, it was the hardest ten days of work I’ve ever done in my life. It was a case of getting to Dusseldorf on Monday and we were there for 10 days.
“We got there a week before the gig, did the show, and then we came home. It was unbelievable, honestly. Interviews, press conferences, photoshoots and Eurovision parties.
“I know you’ve got to do the press, but effectively you’re only there to sing for three minutes. We also only had two soundchecks, so that was six minutes plus the show.
"When you think about it, we only did our proper job for nine minutes. Everything else around it was crazy. We were getting up at 6am and not going to be until 10pm or 11pm. It was constant! We kept on saying, ‘Oh god, we need to rest our voices, how do people do this?’
“There’s so much pressure and it’s out of our hands. When you’re doing your own tour, you can say, we can soundcheck from 2pm then from 3-6pm we can chill, have dinner and relax. It’s your own vibe and your own time, whereas we were still doing interviews until an hour before our performance at Eurovision.
“You’ve got this adrenaline. It was great to perform and I loved the performance, but I don’t remember it at all. I only remember it when I look back. I don’t remember performing at all, but I can tell you how many interviews I did that day. It was like a whirlwind,” he added.
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