The first night festivities are going well so far, aren’t they? If you’re not aware, I’m live blogging tonight’s X Factor, watching the show from over the top of my monitor the whole time!

So far, the judges have been extremely pleasant to the contestants. Will that change? Let’s watch and see!

The McDonald Brothers – Three Times A Lady

Brian and Craig dedicated their song tonight to their mother. First impression of the two is that they’re a good looking pair – young and highly marketable! The singing was fantastic and their harmonies were faultless, and they showed good confidence and command of the stage

Louis gave them a glowing report. Sharon commented that they’d need more than their talent to survive – they’d need personality and stage presence. Simon went a step further “boring, dull and predictable…the sort of thing you’d see at some ghastly kid’s party”. Looks like I was wrong about the judges holding back!

My verdict: They’ve got potential. I think they handled the stage well and sang strongly. Don’t know what Sharon was talking about.

Ray Quinn – Ben

First off, Ben is the typical song for the young guy in the group. Poor bloody song choice from the get go!

Ben took the stage looking typically ‘cheeky chappie’, he’s sure to get the teen vote. However, Ben is such an easy song to sing, he didn’t have to put in much effort – and he didn’t! He’s simply not a good singer in my opinion.

Keeping with his tradition of likening all the acts to performers from 100 years ago, Louis said Ray was “a young Donny Osmond”. Sharon gushed similarly. Simon said that the great thing about Ray’s act was that it was believable. In fairness, he was honest saying that Ray needed to put in more work, but for a first performance it was good enough.

My verdict: The guy leaves me cold. He’s likely coast along on the basis of his looks and tweenie appeal, but he isn’t a good singer and he wasn’t a convincing performer. Tonight at least.