twitter.com\/ewanspence<\/a>) and tagging with #eurovision \u2013 please do the same if you join in. <\/p>\nRight then, on with the notes.<\/p>\n
Playing second<\/em> is the United Kingdom<\/strong>. As one of only five countries that haven\u2019t been bloodied in combat by the semi-finals (the others are Germany, France and Spain, who pay for the contest, and Serbia as the hosts) we\u2019ll be at a disadvantage for not having been heard previously, and not had the rush of a live performance. Oh and we don\u2019t supply oil to anybody, or have a collection of former states to give us a block vote. Expect 12 points from Ireland, and not much else. Which is a shame, in a genuine contest this should be mid tables, but Eurovision is more than just the song.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s quite a slow start this year, and the UK is going to be leading in people\u2019s minds, but then it\u2019s time to open with the first strong true \u2018Eurovision\u2019 Song, in this case Armenia\u2019s<\/strong> Gele Gele, a mix of traditional folk sound mixed with a nice ready for the dance floor track. They\u2019re playing fifth<\/em>.<\/p>\nRight after that in sixth<\/em> place is the delightfully quirky Laka, representing Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/strong>. If Tim Burton ever decided to choreograph a music video, it would look like this. Ireland, take note, this is how to do a quirky song with amazing visuals on stage. This is Helena Bonham Carter \/ Johnny Depp mad.<\/p>\nIsrael <\/strong>is seventh<\/em>, and probably the best time for your first run to the kitchen for more alcohol.<\/p>\nBecause Finland <\/strong>is eighth<\/em>. For years the Finns sent traditional folk music, and got\u2026 nowhere, which was going to leave them abandoned in the semi-finals if that route continued. So the metal-heads influenced the voting, and they sent Lordi two years ago. And won. Last year\u2019s power rock ballad threatened a more moderate tone, but they\u2019ve come to their senses and sent Terasbetoni, a nice hard rock, galloping stadium rocker. No masks, no intricate pyrotechnics, but a very satisfying foot on the amplifier number.<\/p>\nAnd then ninth <\/em>we have 75 Cent \u2013 and if you\u2019re thinking isn\u2019t that just an older 50 Cent but with a Croatian <\/strong>flavour, you\u2019d be right. Enjoy it, this is a delightful euro-pop mix of folk, Las Vegas lounge lizard and someone really enjoying themselves in their old age.<\/p>\nSkip Poland <\/strong>(I scored them second last in their semi) and delight in Iceland\u2019s <\/strong>return to form. The band is called, I kid you not, Europop, and when the clubs pick up songs from Eurovision to play next weekend, this should be there. Don\u2019t forget that Iceland is, to all intents, a part of the Scandanavian Block Vote \u2013 more on that in a moment.<\/p>\nBecause Turkey <\/strong>happily pops up in slot number 12<\/em> with a song that is rather Muse\/Chemical Romance\/Pop Punk but has a very strong performace. That really helps the song, especially as it is sung in Turkish. The emigrated Turks got this comfortably out of their semi final and this is is going to be the one that gathers the \u2018he\u2019s a bit of rough\u2019 vote. And they use the most pyros of any act!<\/p>\nAnd then there\u2019s Latvia<\/strong>. Or as everyone else describes them\u2026 the pirates! Quite simply, if Johnny Depp had been replaced in Pirates of the Caribbean by Steps, you would get Wolves of the Sea. I love this track and was really upset at their performance in the semi finals \u2013 nerves seemed to get the better of them and the audio lost all the bass that makes the song work. But they still qualified (hey they are<\/em> pirates!!!) so on that strength, I\u2019m saying top ten for them<\/p>\nFirst potential winner in my mind now, in the form of Sweden\u2019s <\/strong>Charlotte Perrelli. She\u2019s won the contest before (incidental she was playing fifteenth <\/em>in that final, the same slot she occupies tonight – is that a sign?) and this hits all the right notes, it\u2019s pop\/dance, it sounds like Abba, it\u2019s catchy as hell, has a fantastic key change, and if the Scandanavian Block gets behind this one there\u2019s 48 points in the bag without even trying. If Western Europe falls in line as well she can do a Johnny Logan.<\/p>\nOne of the surprises from the Semi finals was from Denmark<\/strong>. All Night Long, the sort of song you could see Robbie Williams singing (except it’s Simon Matthew here) and getting everyone bouncing in their seats. In a weaker year this would do very well, but I think there’s too much quality (and Balkan states) to allow more than one challenger from the older countries.<\/p>\nUkraine <\/strong>plays eighteenth<\/em>, and the Shady Lady of Ani Lorak is one of my picks for success this year. The song is a driving dance number, and the on stage performance appears to have been organized by Penn and Teller with a dash of Baz Lurman. Pay close attention to this one, and expect the Baltic countries to decide if their loyalties are going to this or Russia.<\/p>\nFrance <\/strong>is singing in English. That\u2019s big news\u2026 in France. Next!<\/p>\nQuick roll out Eddie Izzard, becase Azerbaijan<\/strong> is singing in twentieth<\/em>, proving that a good stage show can make up for a rather predictable man on man duet. White Angels, Black Devils, and a good stage show will give them a respectable result.<\/p>\nGreece <\/strong>comes up with a catchy number in Secret Combination. Its probably a strong song to make a chart appearance after the event, but on the night, with only Cyprus and potentially Armenia in a block vote cabal it\u2019s not stand out enough to stand on it\u2019s own. Mid table, which is a shame.<\/p>\nThere\u2019s not much to say about Spain <\/strong>apart from it sounds like it was performed on a Commodore 64 and has \u201cDance like Robocop\u201d as a lyric.<\/p>\nWatch for an absolutely massive reaction in the stadium from Serbia <\/strong>\u2013 coming after the quirk of Spain will help this song immensely although the appeal outside the former Yugoslavian states is not going to be enough to see us return to Belgrade next year.<\/p>\nRussia <\/strong>is our penultimate track in twenty forth<\/em> and they\u2019ve got two strong advantages. The first is that singer Dima Bilan is an absolute hearth throb across all the Baltic states and is going to gather a huge vote on the strength of that. And they have a portable ice rink. Oh and Russia supplies a lot of oil to a lot of countries. Not that this would have any effect on the result at all. You\u2019d be a fool and a communist to suggest otherwise. Err\u2026<\/p>\nAnd we finish up <\/em>with Norway <\/strong>and a belter of a diva in Maria, who\u2019s under doctor\u2019s orders to not talk or risk loosing her voice before tonight. If there\u2019s a song I\u2019ve been singing in my head out of all 43 entries this year, it\u2019s this one, so I\u2019m kinda glad it\u2019s playing last. I think the Scandanavians are going to go for Sweden as opposed to Norway but there\u2019s absolutely no chance of nul points here. If (and it is <\/em>a big if) Sweden messes up on the night, there\u2019s a fighting chance Maria could just sneak into contention.<\/p>\n—<\/p>\n
And there we have it, twenty five songs, a mass of culture and fun (and Terry Wogan hitting the bottle just after Bosnia and Herzegovina take the stage). It’s going to be fantastic! Once the songs are up, a group of us, by tradition, will pick our favourite three songs, and whoever gets the highest scores by adding the three countires scores together is informally declared the winner. If you’d like to join in, then once it’s all over just submit your three countries on Twitter (include #eurovision in the text). And assuming it stays up, I’ll be commentating there all night!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tonight\u2019s the night! While the semi-finals are both an acquired taste and require true dedication to watch (or perhaps wondering just what the frak Ewan is twittering about\u2026) the final (tonight, Saturday 24th May) pulls in absolutely stonking viewing figures (last year topped eleven million in the UK). For all the media sniping, it is genuinely popular, and does unite Europe through the power of song; which was one of the original goals back in the late fifties. Anyway, I\u2019ve got the contest inked into my Filofax (yes ink, not pencil, it\u2019s that much of a landmark), sat through the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[27,26,54,685],"tags":[5506,286,287,290],"class_list":["post-1515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-music","category-multimedia","category-politics","category-twitter-web-20","tag-5506","tag-commentary","tag-eurovision","tag-final"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p58Gl0-or","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewanspence.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewanspence.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewanspence.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewanspence.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewanspence.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ewanspence.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68491,"href":"https:\/\/ewanspence.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions\/68491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewanspence.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewanspence.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewanspence.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}