So it's that time of the year again. When people all over Europe unite in a celebration of culture, refinement and general unity and friendship. Or rather the other way around, it's a week filled with camp, questionable musical talent and neighboring countries quarreling over how many votes they gave each other, or Western Europe blaming the former Eastern block for voting for each other the whole time. Now usually I go into ESC week well prepared, I like to listen to the songs in advance so that I know what's coming. This year it's different though, I haven't even heard the Swedish entry, and now with the contest starting tomorrow I've decided to go unspoiled. So here are facts about this year's ESC. It takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark, after their win with Only teardrops. The competition takes place over three nights, two semi-finals and one grand final. Semi-final 1, May 6th,will see Albania, Armenia,Azerbaijan, Belgium,Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Moldova, Montenegro, Portugal, Russia, San Marino, Sweden, the Netherlands and Ukraine battle for the 10 spots in the final. Some extra tension can of course come from the fact that Russia and Ukraine are in the same semi-final. And for those of you wondering Crimea votes will be counted with the Ukrainian since it's all being done through televoting, and the telephone cables are still part of the Ukrainian telephone system. Semi-final 2, May 8th, will see Austria, Belarus, FYROM, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Switzerland will compete for the remaining 10 spots. Then there are the countries that are already cleared for the final. It's the host country, Denmark, together with France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. The last five are called the big five and pay so much money to the EBU every year that they are automatically included in the final. I'm going to miss Bosnia-Herzegovina, some of my favorite songs of all ESC history came from Bosnia-Herzegovina, and even if they haven't always sent good entries, they have usually sent interesting ones. Otherwise from what I've heard it's a year of ballads, and I haven't heard about anything spectacular and/or shocking. Austria is sending a drag queen, but that's not exactly new in the ESC, and won't raise any eyebrows. I mean this was Ukraine's entry in 2007 And yes, I might get inspired to continue my history of the ESC during this week.
Don't forget Australia are represented this year!... Albeit as the interval act during semi-final two. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=australian_superstar_to_sing_at_eurovision "Sydney, Australia - This year, Australian broadcaster, SBS, are responsible for the interval act in the second Semi-Final of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, and they have chosen platinum selling artist, Jessica Mauboy, to take on this unique challenge in Copenhagen." "Jessica is an example of what Australia is all about. Australian TV (SBS) have chosen her because she shows another side of Australia that you maybe have not heard so much about before – she reflects the ‘new’ Australia"
So 2 of the first 3 with Euphoria/Only Tearsdrops knock-offs. And don't underestimate the controversy, Anne. Russia and several other countries threatened not to broadcast Conchita's performance. She's dominated headlines, too. Gesendet von meinem iPhone mit Tapatalk
I'm looking forward to the beard. I liked Latvia, a song about getting as many popculture references as possible in the first 30 seconds and then baking cake, and Iceland, with the bearded teletubbies on stage. The serious entries seem to be ballads, but with problems of lacking memorable choruses.
What are Holland thinking sending people who actually have talent? Gesendet von meinem iPhone mit Tapatalk
Here's a recap of the entries Armenia, slow and boring Latvia - it's about baking cakes, and cram as many popcultural references into the start as possible. That includes Indiana Jones and Sherlock Estonia - more dancing than singing Sweden - power ballad, but at least it actually has power Iceland - teletubbies galore Albania - yet another power ballad, but not so much power Russia - not bad actually Azerbaijan - sooooo boring Ukraine - tried with a bit waterdowned version of Ruslana's winning entry, and a man in a hamster wheel on stage Belgium - it's brave to go up on stage and give Oedipus complex a face Moldova - Daenary's has crossed the sea, and ended up in Copenhagen? San Marino - third time's a charm? The song sounds like a rejected title song to a Bond film. Portugal - finally some uptempo The Netherlands - actually a good country ballad, but they stole the bass from "Every breath you take" Montenegro - this year's traditional Balkan ballad, and since a lot of the other champions of this kind of music aren't taking part this year it's a safe bet for the final Hungary - the one that tries to be the most contemporary/pop hit. And the countries that went on to the final are: Armenia, Sweden, Iceland, Russia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, San Marino, The Netherlands, Montenegro, Hungary. There was quite a lot of audible booing when Russia was announced to be in the final. And since we are not going to hear them in the final, here are the cute Latvians
My roommate (who's from Finland) got me into the Eurovision song contest a few years ago and I look forward to it every year! Unfortunately the Finals this year are on a day I work and we learned last year that if we don't stream it live (so sometime in the early afternoon for us) we have to wait several hours after it finishes airing which means really late. So I think the party at our house will happen live and I'll be at work and everyone will be pretty trashed by the time I get home. I can not wait to see these!!
I'm going ouy for a dinner tonight so I can't promise that I'll be back in time foe the sem-final tonight. Unfortunately Latvia didn't go through to the final, so no cake bake somg on Saturday. I think one of the songs tonight is about cheesecake though.
We get a full 45 minute "Conchita's road to Copenhagen" special. Aren't you all jealous? Anne, as long as you're around for the main event Saturday! Edit: it's also really weird seeing Kasper from Borgen cohosting. Edit2: Off to a pretty good start tonight with Malta. A blatant Mumford & Sons ripoff, but a good one. Gesendet von meinem iPad mit Tapatalk
Yes, yes I am!! Just finished watch the semi-final. My favorites were (in no particular order) Malta - a song that grew on me the more times I heard it on the recaps, Norway, Austria, Finland, Switzerland and Slovenia.
A few random thoughts from last night: Malta: like I said last night, a Mumford and Sons rip off, but a pretty good one Israel - apparently her parents say she was born to sing. My question to them would be "To what species?" She was so far off key so any times I lost track. Poland - My impression was they wanted to make sure they didn't have to host next year so they tried to come up with an act worse than Austria's "Track****taz" rappers a few years ago. The power of cleavage got them into the final anyway. Finland - somewhat typical Scandinavian ESM band. Not really all that great, but good by the competition's standards. Switzerland - Completely forgettable song, mainly memorable for the singer's goofy, "hey, we're happy Europeans! Great!" smile. Belarus - Something about a cheesecake. Far less cheesy than the Estonian cake, but thus also far less entertaining. Romania - I' m kind of betting on these guys to win, much the same way as Azerbaijan won a few years ago. really a third rate pop song, with third rate choreography. Wouldn't get serious airplay on the radio anywhere. But the kind of song that ends up being popular with the voters in enough places to end up at or near the top at the end of the voting. And finally there was Conchita. I thought she nailed the performance, her voice sounded quite good, and the song suits her perfectly. If there is ever a James Bond as a Drag Queen movie, this is its theme song. of course, the judges gave me a heart attack when they announced the finalists, with Austria being named last. I had assumed Ireland would go through. I can't believe that order was random, I think they held Conchita back to the end for dramatic effect. A bit of Chonchita background: The artist's real name is Tom Neuwirth. He participated in Austria's verison of "Idol" several years ago, coming in second (to Austria's ESC finalist Nadine Beiler). In the final there, he actually sung the theme to Goldfinger, the Shirley Bassey similarity of his voice being fairly obvious. He vanished for several years, they participated in Austria's equlivalent to X-Factor two years ago under his new stage name. It actually took a while for people to realize that Conchita = Tom. After making it to the semis, Conchita participated in the Austrian ESC run-off that year to Track****taz, of all people. The latter had also been perennial runners up, and I think people voted for them more out of sympathy than anything else. What a a mistake. EDIT: And how could I forget: not much to say about the Slovenian song, sort of standard ESC fare these days, all I could think about during the performance, though, is what the point of the singer's flute was. I don't think she played it, did she? Maybe she took it to band camp?
I'm definitely putting a side bet on Poland. Best act of the night, though not so sure about the singing. Certainly the best butter churning I've seen in a Eurovision performance by a long way.
Poland advancing is part of a nefarious plot by Putin to bankrupt Poland by forcing them to host next year. That'll teach 'em to ioin NATO. Gesendet von meinem iPhone mit Tapatalk
I caught up on semi-final 2 yesterday, and I must say that to me Conchita is the clear winner. The song is good enough, one of few ballads to actually stand out, the stage show is gorgeous with the phoenix in the background, and don't underestimate the amount of people who might want to show that Europe is about tolerance. Conchita is going to loose points from Russia and its friends, but I think the biggest danger is that there are a couple of ballads that might get people who like ballads to split their votes. Otherwise I must be honest and I can't say that I remember any of the songs, except that I hated Belarus and Romania. I'm going over to my sister's tonight. She's said that she's going to serve Austrian/Italian fingerfood and I have made a big red (beetroot) cake with white frosting, so maybe we should root for Austria just because of that. I'm bringing a lot of sangria though.
Watching with my wife, I'll check in from time to time And, we just caved in to let my older daughter stay up until Conchita performs. Gesendet von meinem iPad mit Tapatalk
Pilou Asbaek Ukraine's song was a decent start, as far as Eurovision goes. This Belarus song is terrible though.
Norway's was intriguing but won't win. Romania sounds more like the type of stuff people might vote for.
I just can't stand the round piano. Iceland was fun, and probably the only song ends with a happy and smiling audience.
