The Eurovision organisers missed a trick picking Englebert Humperdinck. If they want someone with premium cheese content and international appeal next time look no further than David Hasselhoff. Just ensure that the star rehearses more than he did for this gobsmackingly incongruous gig.
This performance was supposed to mix music and laughter but the music from his over-plugged new album was excruciating. The Hoff has serviceable pipes but the lyrics were frequently cloying baloney about love. The laughter, meanwhile, was of the unintentional variety. From the start when he glad-handed his way through the stalls as if opening a supermarket to the finale which involved a tiny Berlin Wall being built on stage — very Spinal Tap — this was one of the weirdest shows I’ve ever witnessed.
The inclusion of underwear-clad dancers, stage school children and plucky Wicked songstress Louise Dearman resulted in an utterly uneven evening, not helped by Hasselhoff performing music from The Producers dressed as Hitler, and a Jekyll and Hyde excerpt in a wig that appeared to topple off.
At least devoted fans were happy, joining their hero on stage for a shambolic Baywatch tribute. A real car crash of a night from the Knight Rider.
