Due to some problems at the accreditation centre, Belgian Patrick Ouchène was only 4th to rehearse today even if the country was drawn 3rd in the running order for the first Semi-Final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. Patrick took this problems with a laugh though when he met up with the eurovision.tv team in the accreditation centre and said that he would feel perfectly at home here in Moscow.
During the rehearsal of the 2009 Belgian entry Copycat - a rock'n'roll number with a funny reference to Elvis Presley accusing him to be a "copy" of Patrick Ouchène, the singer was accompanied by two female backing singers, a guitar-player and a cello-player. Patrick was wearing black trousers and a glittery jacket while the backings didn't seem to be wearing their final clothes yet. The two backing singers are hard to be missed as they were doing a choreography matching the lyrics of the humorous song. The colours of the LED screens changed from black and white to red and back during the song. The technical crew seemed to like the song a lot as they were dancing next to the stage to the delight of the Belgian delegation.
During the 1980s, Patrick Ouchène produced two albums, an EP and a number of singles. His greatest commercial success was the song Je Suis Swing with the group The Dominos, which entered the French Top 10 in 1991. With this hit, the Dominos took part in major French entertainment programmes. Hundreds of live appearances followed in clubs and festivals where The Dominos shared the stage with big names such as Johnny Clegg, the Blues Brothers Band, Wynton Marsalis, Michel Legrand, Claude Nougaro, Maurane and Arno. More recently, Patrick Ouchène produced six full CDs that provide an explosive cocktail of rockabilly straight out of the fifties. He hopes to follow up Sandra Kim as the second Belgian singer to win the Eurovision Song Contest.
Image gallery: Belgium: first rehearsal
During the rehearsal of the 2009 Belgian entry Copycat - a rock'n'roll number with a funny reference to Elvis Presley accusing him to be a "copy" of Patrick Ouchène!
In the Belgian press conference, the head of their delegation, Leslie Cable, explained that prime time national finals wouldn't work in French-speaking Belgium, so that's why they decided to choose the singer and song internally. Patrick Ouchène himself explained that the focus on his act should be on the singers and not on visual effects. However, a cartoon cat will be used on the LED screens in the next rehearsals.
Image gallery: Belgium: first press conference
The first press conference of the Belgian singer Patrick Ouchène took place today.
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