Jedward to return to the Eurovision stage – for an open air Liverpool party

The Dublin twins are joining an all-star line-up including Vengaboys, Katrina from Eurovision winners Katrina and the Waves as well as Claire Richards from Steps for an open air screening party at the Pier Head on Merseyside.

John and Edward Grimes are to front a gig called: “Jedward’s epic Eurovision singalong.”

Also joining the bill is Derry singer Brooke Scullion, who represented Ireland in last year’s Eurovision in Turin but failed to qualify from the semi-final.

Jedward scored Ireland’s highest placing in the competition since Mark Roberts finished 2nd in 1997 when they finished 8th in the 2011 final with Lipstick.

The following year, in 2012, they again represented Ireland and while they made the final they finished in 19th place with Waterline.

The 31-year-old twins first shot to fame on the X Factor back in 2010.

Ireland, which holds the record number of Eurovision wins with a total of seven, failed to qualify for this year’s grand final after Wild Youth and their track We Are One was not selected in the semi-final on Tuesday.

They were not selected as one of the 10 acts to go through to the grand final on Saturday.

A second semi-final takes place this evening.

Ireland’s last time to reach the grand final was when Ryan O’Shaughnessy finished in 18th place with his song Together.

Ukraine won last year’s Eurovision, but because of the war in that country, it was deemed necessary to have this year’s contest elsewhere.

As the UK finished second with Sam Ryder’s Spaceman, Britain was selected as the host country, with Liverpool winning a bidding war to stage the show.

This year’s Eurovision intermission acts include performances by Rita Ora and Rebecca Ferguson, and also several Ukrainian performers.

The grand final, which kicks off at 8pm on Saturday, is expected to be watched by over 160 million people.