Brian Kennedy says he is feeling relieved and confident in advance of his appearance for Ireland in tonight's Eurovision Song Contest in Athens.
Clearing Thursday night's semi-final was "a particular hurdle," but now Kennedy is "ready to go out and give the strongest and most believable performance I can."
Kennedy advanced to the final of the 51st Eurovision Contest on Thursday night when viewers across Europe selected his entry, Every Song is a Cry for Love, as one of the top 10 songs in the semi-final round. Tonight Kennedy will be the 21st to sing in a running order of 24 finalists.
Many Eurovision experts in Athens believe that the difference in Kennedy's song - an old-style ballad - among a field of mostly contemporary, up-tempo numbers, helped it to advance to the final.
This may work to his advantage tonight as well: his is one of only three pure ballads, and the only one in the English language in the final.
The others are the highly regarded Bosnia-Herzegovina song Lejla, which qualified from the semi-final, and the weak French entry, Il était temps.
Kennedy says he admires the Bosnian song most among his competitors: "There is a lot of homogeneity in the songs, a strong Abba and American influence.
"But the Bosnia-Herzegovina song is clearly indigenous and from their culture."
The spectacular opening of tonight's show continues the theme, established on Thursday, of Greek mythology, and involves co-hosts Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas being flown on to the stage to make their entrance. One of Greece's best loved singers, Nana Mouskouri, will also make an appearance on tonight's programme.
It is widely felt here that the winner of this year's Eurovision is too close to call.
Early favourite Anna Vissi, a superstar in the Mediterranean and Middle East, has performed well in rehearsals, and is the only performer confident enough to appear on stage completely on her own, without backup singers or elaborate staging effects.
But other strong contenders have emerged to challenge Vissi: the German country-and-western group Texas Lightning with their magically catchy No, No, Never; the charismatic young Russian Dima Bilan, whose Never Let You Go advanced from the semi-final; and the most talked-about group in the competition, the Finnish monster rockers Lordi, whose lead singer has promised to "turn the amps up" in the final.
In a contest that has included some major surprises, including the shock relegation of Belgian disco diva Kate Ryan in the semi-final, anything could happen.