Not to distract from the performance, but this is my favorite song. I love Damien Rice and nobody else here in the US even knows him. It's frustrating that people only want to listen to empty music with a beat and ignore art that comes from a place of passion.
I am sure that most countries have some sort of version of this show - I have watched many performers from all over the world - and the one thing I noticed is that in the Irish version of the show you hear a lot more unknown songs whereas in other countries they tend to stick to the popular - "flavour of the month" - type of songs - this is why I feel that when it comes to musical diversity, the Irish are the most musically talented people in the world!
