The Aftermath

It's all over. All those months of preparation and... it's all over. Serbia won with "Molitva" and, I must be honest, I didn't think it would be quite strong enough to be the winner. But it even overcame Verka and scored rather well from the west (not the UK, although we did give it 5 in the semi-final!). Let's see what I said about "Molitva" when I first heard it...

"...a very nice song indeed with a beautiful melody [but] the weakest of that three [FYR Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia]"

Again, a really accurate point from me. And talk about misreading Bulgaria, I can't believe they came in 5th! Every year there's always one that takes me by surprise.

Still, there's a lot of happy fans because Serbia won. Simply because it shows that a non-English ballad can still win in the televoting era which was beginning to look impossible! It's not as good as Lejla or Lane Moje though is it? Still, she did well last night. As for the west, well... Big 4 in the bottom 6 wasn't good. And highly political voting too. Although there was some very bizarre votes last night! My favourites being...

12 from Ireland to Lithuania
0 from Andorra to Spain
12 from Albania to Spain
5 from Albania to Ireland
12 from Georgia to Belgium (in the semi final!)
0 from UK to Ireland

And of course let's not forget the 12 points from Malta to UK. That absolutely made my YEAR! It was worth coming 22nd for. You don't often see many 12 points come our way these days so thanks Malta! And Ireland of course, shame it wasn't reciprocated. Although everyone I spoke to was amazed at how spectacularly awful Ireland was.

Just listening to the UK Top 40 - Scooch are #5! So there's some justice...

Congratulations to Serbia, we all thought Ukraine were robbed, and this is my 100th blog post. What a centenary. What a Eurovision!

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Aah, well done old Marija Serafovic. It proves that a ballad CAN still win Eurovision these days. Even if you're not the prettiest girl in the class.

I will write a more indepth blog entry tomorrow - still reeling for the fact that the UK scored our first 12 points for 5 years :-)))))

Oh, and to Sasa, who told me about three months ago that Bulgaria would go top 5... I've started eating my hat already x ;-)

Vampires Are Dead

So, yeah, western Europe aren't very happy with last night's results. Apparently there's a very nasty atmosphere in the air in Helsinki with fans and delegations from a lot of countries rather angry that no western country qualified. I hope Svante is in some sort of safehouse.

I did, however, get 7 out of 10 right. Lucky I played that FYR Macedonia card, I'm starting to think they are invincible. Did NOT expect to see Moldova, was surprised to see Georgia and laughed when Bulgaria qualified. I must say I was told on this very blog that Bulgaria would do well while I was too busy slagging 'em off. Well, you can't get it right all the time.

But did they deserve to go through? Well I'm sad that Israel didn't make it, I'm very sad Malta didn't (great song!!) and was a tad surprised that Switzerland didn't go through, but it was one of the weakest performances of the night. Denmark - well, not much to say except THEY WOZ ROBBED!

On the other hand, Hungary thoroughly deserved to go through, as did Slovenia, Latvia and Serbia. Turkey also, even though a lot of people still aren't keen on this. And Belarus was brilliant, best performance last night.

Now just in case I can't blog again before the final tomorrow, I will make this prediction now.

- At this moment in time, 19.22 on 11/5/07, if I had to say a name to win I would say Ukraine. I'm thinking it could be a direct Balkan fight between Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Latvia.
- Serbia won't come much higher than 5th.
- Ireland, UK, Spain and France will not do very well. Germany will probably come about 16th.

And so finally - who do I WANT to win? Well... my fave song tomorrow will be Belarus. Good luck to Koldun and good luck to Scooch. As someone said today, could a western win save this contest? Because right now something needs to save it. I tell you, it's being killed... :-(

On the brightside, it's The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 tomorrow!!! So bring on that block voting, in the words of Wogan - "we'll show Johnny Foreigner what for!"

Kiss of Death...

This will be my last post before this evening's semi-final. It's hard to believe that I started blogging about Eurovision 7 months ago. And here we are, semi-final time again. Ay, ay, ay...

Anyway, from all the stuff I've read, heard and seen, here are the ten countries I predict to qualify tonight...

• Israel
• Belarus
• Switzerland
• Denmark
• Serbia
• FYR Macedonia
• Hungary
• Slovenia
• Turkey
• Latvia

Of course, this will be the closest semi-final ever, so my predictions may be wrong. I'm unsure about Israel, but if they pull it off it could do well. I'm also playing the safety card of FYROM, but this could also not happen. Some people have been saying Croatia's started looking good! Madness.

I got 9/10 in 2004, 7/10 in 2005 and 9/10 last year. 10/10 this semi-final? I doubt it. There are loads of other countries - Bulgaria, Norway, Andorra, Malta to name a few - that could qualify just as easily. Let's see what happens.

Good luck, Europe!

The Finishing Touches

Apologies for not blogging on yesterday’s second finalist rehearsals. From the sound of it, not much change. Ireland’s backdrop is now a flower (much better) and Scooch have dropped the gigantic union jack that was flying behind them. Instead it’s now polka dots in the colours of the flag which is a bit more subtle, and doesn’t shout UK ARE THE BEST to all of unimpressed Europe.

Today, the first dress rehearsals took place for the semi-finalists, the first time the “general public” were let loose! So what went down well?

- It seems the biggest cheers of the evening were for Bulgaria and Latvia! Now I slated that Bulgarian entry and said it would flop… hmm. Time for hat eating perhaps?
- Belarus didn’t go down as well as Cyprus. Interesting.
- Edsilia Rombley turned in a very good performance.
- Everyone couldn’t wait til Albania finished, and Croatia got the quietest applause of the show.
- Serbia was “very good” but not blow-your-head-off-this-could-win “very good”.
- Norway went bigger than Portugal and could qualify. Malta could also qualify. Things are also looking good for Andorra and Hungary.
- Dark horse alert! Belgium went down very well and could really come through on Thursday.
- Austria got an OK response. Mutton dressed as lamb, methinks, but the audience are no fools.

There’ll be another rehearsal this evening, AND tomorrow. As if you couldn’t get enough semi-final action.

Meanwhile, Svante Stockselius has been outlining some admin for the Eurovision winners. They’ll get to go on a winner’s tour of Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Greece! They will also have their footprints set in Helsinki as a sort of shrine.

In the show itself this year, the voting will be FIFTEEN minutes long, not ten! Also there will be two reprises just in case you miss one.

And of Eurovision in the future well… big news. Eurovision Song Contest 2008 will carry the same format as this year, but from 2009 there will be TWO semi-finals. It was rumoured that this would happen and that the two semi-finals would be regionally based, i.e. western and eastern Europe. However, this will not happen, the countries taking place in each semi-final will be determined by a draw. Which is unlucky if Netherlands come up against all the Balkan countries for example. It’s unclear whether the Big 4 will automatically qualify in 2009 :-/

Oh, and next year’s Eurovision will take place on Saturday May 24th with the semi-final on Thursday May 22nd.

*Phew*. Well I think that’s it! Oh, except one thing…

NERLY EVERYONE IN HELSINKI IS SAYING THAT VERKA’S GOT IT IN THE BAG. SHE WILL WIN BY AN ABSOLUTE MILE. THERE IS NO CHANCE FOR ANYONE ELSE.

Be afraid Europe. Be very afraid.

The Eurovision Flight Takes Off!

Today, the 14 qualified finalists rehearsed for the first time, the UK being among them! So what's it like? Well, the backing singers don't appear on conveyer belts (boo) but they are prominent in the performance which features airline metal detectors, airline seats as well as the trollies! The backdrop may be their downfall though... a G-I-A-N-T union flag, dispersed with aeroplanes flying in all directions. It's certainly patriotic.

Conflicting reports about it though - some say it was fantastic, some say it was awful! Some say it'll get 0 points, some say it'll win! I've seen the vid of the rehearsal and it sounded OK to me. I just don't like the backdrop - when it's not the union flag, it's just white planes on a black backdrop. However, this will certainly look effective and I'm now very excited about it all! They're doing tongue-in-cheek but they're doing it well.

And as for the other finalists today...

• Bosnia&Herzegovina kicked off rehearsals. It's safely in my top 5, but a lot of people can't see past this just being 'nice'. Starting the show is a difficult draw cos there's nothing to contrast it to. However, I think it's great and vocally it's brilliant. It will get votes, but it's not a winner
• D'NASH of Spain also sounded good today but it's typical boyband fodder in the cursed 2nd place. Not even the backing singers drumming upside down Cornettos could turn this one round I don't think. Contender for bottom 5.
• Ireland has been well received with some people very enchanted by its performance! They're playing up to the instrumental, Cathy's vocal are sounding fine (by her standards anyway) but the backdrop, a sort of orange honeycomb, has not been so well received by everyone.
• Finland passed without any sort of interesting note. This is going to bomb.
• Lithuania are sticking with a winning formula with their infamous screens silhouetting the instrumentalists as they did in the national final. It's a nice classy performance but perhaps a bit too subtle for the Eurocrowd.
• Sarbel still can't dance, which is unfortunate for Greece because they've given him a head mic (no no no...). It's like Martin Vucic all over again! However, I still think it'll do well, but his lanky figure is not helping the highly choreographed piece.
• The Ark are glamming it up for Sweden with, again, mixed reports. The stage is black and white with a bit of purple, and apparently the spinning disc works a treat it seems. Some say this'll do well, others say it'll just get lost in the mix.
• The French song is coming across as very strange. And it is strange. It's a strange song being performed in a tongue-in-cheek manner. The flower backdrop is nice. I just don't get it.
• Russia got mixed reactions with some saying it was very strong, and others saying that its rather static performance lets it down - the three are standing behind mics simply belting it out. But I'm glad they're not trying to ruin it with any gimmicks or breathless choreography! This could pay dividends. Serebro performed well though today, it bodes well
• Roger Cicero was dressed all in white for Germany with their jazz entry going down well! It's pretty much as it was in the national final but the last chorus is now in English as 'Guess Who Rules The World'. Vocally sound, performance good, not much to improve on.
• Verka Serduchka is convincing more and more people that he/she/it could win - and I'm amongst that number! Ukraine haven't changed much from the national final performance - he's in the same sparkly silver outfit and the Dancing is still as silly as ever. He missed a few camera shots but people don't generally care. This could be the winner. Holy moly.
• There's nothing about the Romanian rehearsal anywhere. This is because everybody at all Eurovision websites, including eurovision.tv, buggered off to the Welcome Party! Not only this but UK, Romania and Armenia had their press conferences cancelled because of this! I did read about Armenia though. Their stage presentation looks beautiful. Two trees are onstage, meant to be giving the impressin of burning, and people are on the floor playing instruments. I still think this is a dark horse, it's a great moody ballad.

So that sums up today. Same countries rehearse tomorrow - hopefully a bit more info on Romania and Armenia and we'll see what Scooch have to say in their press conference! Something to mull over, Sir?

Bits And Bobs

Thought I'd just do a bit of a tit-bit stream as the rehearsals seem to be overshadowing the important issues...

- bonoparti.lv have turned up safe and well! It transpires that their absence was due to them going to sing at an international flower festival in Estonia. But slapped wrists for not telling the Latvian delegation where they were.

- Teapacks probably won't pull out. It does seem that all their suggestions were ignored though, and most people are on their side! It seems the YLE bigwigs may have a part to play in not listening to the Packs of Tea...

- Scooch have said their bon voyage after a barnstorming gig at G-A-Y, and a performance on The National Lottery People's Quiz with Michael 'the ball' Ball.

- Guri Schanke has been speaking about her striptease and her endless practising of it to avoid her boobs popping out. I don't know why she's trying to avoid it, it might get her some points from the 'Dad vote'.

- Olivia Lewis has revealed her dress for the semi-final; a yellow floating number which looks rather good. Fans are also in full play in the Maltese entry. As they are in the Danish and Portuguese performances. Fan-daby-dozy.

- Anonymous are just winning more and more support to suggest that they may be anything other than anonymous come Thursday.

- Marija Serafovic admitted today that her song, Molitva, was a prayer for everything in the world and sex. Jeez...

- Nobody could give a flying Fabrizio Faniello about Czech Republic.


Not much else happened today - Belgium was looking a bit stronger, Turkey was looking good... in fact most songs seem to be coming across as solid. Quite who will qualify on Thursday is still very much a mystery.

But from tomorrow we need to put our mind forward to the Grand Final as Bosnia&Herzegovina-Armenia rehearse tomorrow! How will Ireland transfer to the ESC stage? Will The Ark glam out the stadium? And just HOW will Scooch get on? All shall be revealed in about 24hrs time...

Missing: 6 Latvians In Top Hats

In a bizarre stunt, and we're all hoping it IS a stunt, bonaparti.lv have gone "missing".

All press have been given a MISSING poster containing the faces of the six Latvian rascals and there is a reward (an a capella sonata perhaps?). Now this may just be a stunt but it's been reported that eurovision.tv ARE taking this seriously - it even appears on their website! All that we seem to know so far is that Roberto was seen stumbling out of Montenegro's party last night and this morning none of them were in their hotel rooms. To put this in perspective, the Latvian delegation have no idea at all where their act is.

Obviously we hope for their safe return. It's a shame that Kabat didn't go missing instead. And didn't come back. Ever.

Storm In A Tea Cup?

Third day of rehearsals began today with the first fourteen semi-finalists going again. Iceland turned up though this time, Eirikur donning a full head of hair sadly. The biggest drama of the day, though, came from Teapacks of Israel who have threatened to disqualify themselves unless someone does something about the way the song’s presented. This is odd as I heard there was lots of crazy camerawork going on making it a manic onscreen performance. Apparently though, Teapacks weren’t happy and expressed so in today’s Israeli press conference. I doubt they’ll pull out at all and suspect it’s for publicity. But they don’t need to worry about presentation ‘cos it’s very popular in Helsinki! Ah well, let’s see what comes of it. In the meantime, here’s what else happened today…

- Bulgaria’s apparently pretty solid and safe now and not much more can be done.
- Cyprus has a good performance, not being helped by Evridiki appearing to have been possessed by someone who makes her do very strange jerky leg and arm movements. Could be distracting.
- Belarus’s wall trick is looking very good I hear and everyone is saying that this will definitely qualify.
- Eirikur’s singing and performing well for Iceland, but the song’s a bit pants.
- Georgia, like Bulgaria, seem to have their performance nailed, but people are still unsure whether this will go through. The swordfighting is getting mixed reactions.
- Montenegro’s still Montenegro. Faddy is now going to go into the audience in his performance, no doubt to drum up some support! Must be a Scottish thing.
- The vampires are still alive, the vocals are still a bit ropy, the jury’s still out on Switzerland. The models are also in a bit of a better position today, less distracting, but the stage does still look rather busy.
- Moldova is still very strong. Apparently Natalia’s vocals are still very strong and this is a real contender.
- Netherlands is getting more and more support but nearly everyone is saying that the song just isn’t good enough! Still, Edsilia’s pleased, she said that she had a beautiful “butt” today at the press conference. It may be her only consolation.
- One website reported that Albania’s backdrop is a ‘river of tears’. How appropriate. Good vocals but this will not qualify at all.
- Denmark have dropped the white fans for now and only have purple ones which means that the stage is coming across as PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE. Camp indeed. He’s looking very nice in his dress too so I hear.

- Croatia is just a big load of rubbish really with a soft effect on stage to make it even more forgettable…
- Poland is supposed to be getting stronger and stronger and is looking rather good with its cage and backdrop of blood red chains. It’s getting to be a borderline qualifier, although many worry that they could be 11th place in the semi-final for the third year in a row which would be rather upsetting…

Serbia-Latvia again tomorrow. Well if they can find bonaparti.lv that is...

Rehearsals Day 2

Things roll on in Helsinki...

• Serbia got a very big applause from fans and journalists alike I believe! She's backed up by five ladies in what appear to be black dungarees and white shirts underneath, or something like that anyway. Simple performance, vocally strong, a serious contender for the title now it seems. 'Shivers' and 'goosebumps' are words I've seen describing this one.
• Nothing unexpected from the Czech Republic. Rock performance of a rock song, but it doesn't float my boat.
• Portugal seems to have gone up in people's estimation after today. A light breezy performance with fans and a touch of Strictly Come Dancing! Yep, clever choreography and she's not singing badly either. This is a definite splash of fresh air and could contrast well to the noise that precedes it.
• FYR Macedonia will qualify for a few reasons. 1) She's got a wind machine. 2) She's singing well. 3) There's some "moody business with chairs. 4) It's FYROM.
• Norway have decided to use the old Eurovision stripping technique that faired Buck's Fizz and Marie N so well! Lots of moving and a nice build-up of the performance. But alas people still think this song isn't strong enough to qualify. Hmm, still unsure.
• Malta also has fans on stage, a very active and topless fiddler and a gong! It seems they're going for the full dramatic effect. I've heard good reports about Olivia's vocals but having heard it all it sounds very messy to me. I'm worried that all the action on stage will make it look messier! Hope this one doesn't implode on itself.
• And now onto two real dark horses. Andorra apparantly went down a storm with the Busted like Anonymous doing a simple, teenage-like performance of their song. Their backdrop is numbers which cleverly coincide with the '54321' countdown in the song -clever! For the first time, Andorra look like being serious contendors.
• And as for Hungary, well I saw the video clip and her vocals are amazing. This could do really really well. Simple performance, she's standing by a bus stop with a suitcase and the song tells a story which is conveyed truthfully onstage. Sounds impressive, this could qualify.
• Estonia is much of a muchness really...
• Belgium was getting an OK reception, but I think that the general consensus is that it needs a bit more improving. The vocoder was a problem apparantly. I really want this one to do well and it needs to bring that 'fresh' feel that Portugal seems to be doing at the moment. Vocally he sounded OK, but I think there's room for improvement.
• Alenka Gotar of Slovenia apparantly went down a storm being vocally perfect and entering the stage with arms upraised to suggest "yes, I am here, Slovenia will qualify"! And they may just do that you know! Simple back drop of purple bars, backing singers become more prominent as the song builds, looks good!
• The main complaint with Turkey was that Kenan didn't engage enough with the camera. Otherwise a very good performance I hear with good vocals but perhaps missing some spark?
• Austria is ridiculous. A massive red feathery AIDS ribbon in the centre of the stage lying upon which are backing dancers (also in red feathers) and in the middle of it all, Eric wearing a silver baby boomer. It looks silly. Surely this won't qualify, although it was said to be a strong and memorable show!
• Latvia has not changed much since their national final. Coming on one at a time in their top hats, the singers appear on the stage to give a solid performance although very cheesy so I've heard. I would still think this should go through...

So biggest surprises of the day seem to be Hungary and Andorra, whose odds have now dropped massively! Serbia disappointed some with its simple stage performance and I'm hoping for better things from Belgium on Sunday. But now that all 28 have rehearsed... anyone want to call a top ten? Cos I don't!

Rehearsals Day 1

It seems all go in Helsinki as today the semi-finalists began rehearsals! One minor change was that Estonia was rehearsing instead of Iceland cos Eirikur Hauksson was busy apparantly, hopefully getting his haircut. Nevertheless, I've been reading loads about the acts today and seen little video snippets too, but before I comment, here are three things I'd like to say...

- The stage is awesome
- The sound quality actually sounds good
- The stage is really awesome

Yup, the stage with its ability to morph into anything you want thanks to those massive and crystal clear screens is looking to be the best stage ever! But what of the 14 countries today? Well...

• I've slagged off Bulgaria a lot but it looks and sounds pretty good. The stage is dark blue with lightning bolts which really suits the song and her singing, which could've sounded awful live, is alright! Maybe I should watch this one closer. I still don't think it's got that appeal though.
• Israel's stage looked super - a blue neon skyline and globe. Their rehearsal apparantly went well and is the stuff of Eurovision novelty songs of years past. Novelty dancing, lots of shouting, sounds like it could do well.
• Evridiki's back for Cyprus with guitarist and drummer on a red stage. The instrumental bit in the middle will allow us to see Evridiki in slow motion which sounds very exciting. Luckily she can still sing 15 years on. It looks like the semi's got a strong opening set of three.
• Belarus has a lot of trickery with walls in which the backing dancers seem to mould themselves into. It starts with a trick with Koldun appearing from behind the screens and ends with a firework. From the video, it doesn't look like he was straining himself and there were some very dodgy notes so I hear. Hmm, mixed reviews on that.
• Estonia is alright. Nothing special. But we knew that.
• She's dumped the blancmange! Sopho from Georgia is sounding good but looks like she's doing some very bizarre choreography, reminiscent of hopping. Her backing dancers also have swords! Maybe they misheard, 'Sailing through my sword-y'. They also broke the stage in true Ruslana fashion - an omen perhaps? Still, it's not bad but may be too shouty.
• Montenegro is supposedly a bit stationery, and Stevan Faddy sounded a bit off at some points on the video I saw. Close but no banana so I hear.
• The anticipated vampires from Switzerland! Bobo and Co's vocal abilities have been criticised and praised. They sounded OK on the video I listened to, but maybe the frantic choreography is putting them off. Some say it will qualify, some say it's missing something. One thing's for sure, I was confused when the photo appeared to show about 12 people on stage, but apparently, there are dummies around the stage. Lord knows why.
• Moldova has a fiddler and three dancers doing things with red handkerchiefs, no doubt dumped by Ledina Celo two years ago. More pyros here on a red stage, she's giving a good vocal performance, this really could be a dark horse but I'm still unconvinced.
• Netherlands performance is like the song - good, but ordinary. There's a podium involved, lots of dancers, but not much spark. She is singing as good as in 1998 though, so there's a bonus! Eddy's admitted that she's singing in English cos she wants more points! Someone should've pointed out that this hasn't worked for the UK of late.
• Albania all looks a bit static - even the backing singers have microphones! But there does seem to be a fiddler on his knees so there's obviously high drama here. Water is on the backdrop for this.
• DQ has not let Denmark down. A very camp performance which starts with him in a black cloak before revealing a very short pink sequinned dress! Lots of dancing, lots of pink and a massive crown onstage behind him. Vocally OK I hear, I think this could qualify!
• Croatia is apparantly very stilted, but no surprise there. Boring song, boring performance!
• Poland involves a lot of moving. Firstly, our singer is trapped in a cage before being released and entering into a lot of moody business with chairs! It all sounds good fun to complement the song nicely, but I'm still not convinced it's a qualifier.

Well, after day one, plenty of mixed reactions! I think the best overall reaction seemed to go to Cyprus as there were critics of the favourites Belarus and Switzerland. I think the only really poor rehearsal seemed to be Croatia and Albania - too static - but this might change. This next batch of songs rehearse on Saturday.

Tomorrow, Serbia-Latvia!

Getting Close...

Ok, so I've been slacking. But really not much has happened Eurovision-wise in the past week. All that's left to go now is rehearsals. Which start tomorrow!

Yes, the press centre is open for all delegations of the 42 countries, the stage is set (and looking fab, best since Riga by the looks of things) and tomorrow the first 14 semi-finalists will do their first rehearsals. Basically, there's nothing left to prepare. Just one week and one day til the semi, and only a week and a half until the final.

Scooch have been spotted in a photograph with Tony Blair which is nice. Of course, Katrina & The Waves won the contest just two days after he was elected. Wouldn't it be lovely if Scooch could win to round off his prime ministerial career and go full circle? We can only hope. The single's out on Monday, but can it sell more than the 50,000 copies that Daz sold of Teenage Life?

In other ESC related news the OGAE polls have continued from around Europe with much success for Belarus, Switzerland and Serbia. Not much success for Scooch though. Never mind. We're obviously the "dark horse".

So, from tomorrow's first rehearsals, I'll try and keep this blog up to date with my reactions to what I'm hearing from other sources around the internet. There's certainly some questions I want answering. Will Sopho Khalvashi perform again as if she's emerging from a blacnmange? How will the vampires look on stage? And just what is Belarus' gimmick?

Hopefully all these can be answered tomorrow. Let the good times roll!