I was a young teenager in the early 1990s. My brother, 11 years my senior, had children early in his life. He would often come back to the family home and bring his young son and daughter with him.

As the older Uncle Andy, I had responsibility for entertaining the boy. What a pain he was! Entirely obsessed with playing F/A 18 Interceptor on my Amiga 500, but so young that he could rarely get the bird off the carrier without crashing. Over and over he would try - driving me crazy in the process.

“Alex!”, I would bellow, “go away and leave me alone!”

Today, at 4:15am Perth time, little Alex hit the big time with Voyager, the band for whom plays he bass guitar and provides supporting vocals.

After a near-miss in 2022 in the Australian Eurovision qualifiers with their song, Dreamer, this year they made it through to the Eurovision big show in Liverpool, UK.

Their song for this year_Promise_, is even better.

The band absolutely slayed their semi-final. The song was great, the performance was impeccable, the lighting and staging first-class.

When my little nephew Alex let out his gutteral, “riiiigghhttt”, I knew this performance was on the money. My annoying little nephew transformed into a rock superstar, and I’m here for it.

My 2023 has been a challenge. I’ve suffered the end of a marriage. I’m soon to lose my current job.

Yet for this 3 minutes of Eurovision all those personal challenges was washed away, as I jumped around a Perth lounge room at 4:15am with my two sons, all three of us belting out the lyrics, “everything is gonna be alright!”.

For Alex—for Voyager—who now push onto the Eurovision 2023 Grand Final, no matter what happens in that performance, everything is going to be alright. They’ve made it.

For me, dealing with one of the hardest times of my life, it was reassurance that everything is going to be alright for me also.

The annoying little nephew has taught his old uncle a good life lesson.

I bet he still can’t land an F/A-18, though.