Eurovision Song Contest - Semi Final 1 (Tuesday 20th May 2008)

[Corki]

And it is less than 15 minutes until the big start - Eurovision 2008 will be underway. And I will be your host for this evening's entertainment, passing my glorious comments on tonight's proceedings. Of course, we have the much anticipated Dustin the Turkey, representing Ireland, up tonight as he aims to book a place in Saturday's final.

 

And just a quick rundown on how tonight is to work. 5 countries (Serbia, UK, France, Germany and Spain) are all guarenteed a place in the final. However, the remaining 38 countries have to battle it out for the remaining 20 places. So tonight is the first of the semi-finals. 19 countries are competing, aiming to get one of  those 10 places.

 

So to begin with, I don't like the change in format for this year. What was wrong with the Big 4 plus the best 10 placed countries reaching the final, with the remaining countries fighting it out for the last places? I am sure some good songs will miss the cut...

 

Oh well, 'tis the joy of Eurovision.

 

So, go and grab something to drink and eat, and let's enjoy the evening's entertainment. Oh, and I will also be pondering how I can get my other laptop to work so I can watch the grand final on Saturday.

 

Not long to go now...

[Corki]

And off we go from Belgrade!  ;D

[Kara_J]

ooh! *grabs the popcorn and waits*  ;D

[Majsju]

Thoughts so far...

 

Montenegro

Meh, I do not like this at all. Pointless song, and not very well played.

 

Israel

After last year, things could only improve. And that they did. I really liked this song, think it might go top 10 in the final.

 

Estonia

Rumour has it this is supposed to be a humour group. I am not amused. The Eurovision audience has tolerated a lot throught the years, but they actually booed at this one.

 

Moldova

The Swedish commentator called this the Moldovan version of Norah Jones. And yes, it is every bit as boring and pointless as Norah Jones.

 

San Marino

A rookie. This song annoys me. It could be good, if they had only worked a bit more on it.

 

Azerbaijan

Oh my, an attempt to make updated version of 80s Heavy metal. Does not quite work. Could have worked though, if the song had only had a good chorus.

[Corki]

6 songs down so far...I'll try and get my views as I can!

 

OPENING SCENE

- Medlee of previous winners by a Brass Band --> how Serbian is that?

- huge cheer at welcome to Belgrade

- big cheer at official opening --> surprise surprise!

 

1. MONTENGRO

- not much of a stage prescense

- standard pop tune

- nice to see song in its own language

- what teeth! --> looks liek Carlos Tevez

- nothing special

 

2. ISRAEL

- song sritten by previous winner, Dana International

- Boaz is their Pop Idol winner --> only 20

- Powerful voice --> able to rise above music when it started

- had an exotic feel

 

3. ESTONIA

- JOKE ENTRY!!!

- What the hell were the dancing girls doing? --> what were those signs?

- a cross between Amarilo and Madness!

- Just glad I don't understand them!

 

4. MOLDOVA

- nice looking sofa!

- a teddy bear --> does Dustin have competition?

- standard song --> nothing special

- nice powerful voice --> lots of gusto

 

5. SAN MARINO

- Debut!

- can't see why this had such long odds to win

- good tune

- easy to nod along to

- something like Coldplay

 

6. BELGIUM

- a made up language --> hasn't Belgium done this before?

- easy to clap along to --> catchy

- crowd seemed to link it

- reminds me of the Wizard of Oz for some reason

- folk song

- biggst cheer so far

 

 

More to come!!!!

[Mayleigh Aes Sedai]

Dustin just sang omg it was the funniest thing ever! but you'd have to get irish humour to think its funny!

[Corki]

7. AZERBAIJAN

- another debut

- screechy or was it good control of high male octaves?

- some pyrotechnics at last!

- best visual effects so far --> contrasy of devil and devil/dark side

- alright tune

- did some machine gun like at stages

 

8. SLOVENIA

- a former Miss World contestant

- electro europop tune

- catchy beat

- removal of clothes at last! --> removal of cloak to something skimpier

- style that has proved popular and successful in the past

- good vocals --> can see why potential winning material

 

9. NORWAY

- best singer/vocalist so far, on my opinion

- has a voice similar to Pink (in places)

- good all-round song

[Corki]

10. POLAND

- sounds like she has a classically trained voice

- pop meets classical music

- commanding voice

- a bit screecy in places

 

11. IRELAND

- DUSTIN! DUSTIN!

- Comic lyrics --> "Europe, where did it all go wrong?"

- trashy euro-pop

- novelty --> possible winning material because of this

- booing!

- UK commentators questioned number of people on stage --> does puppeter count? were there 7?

 

12. ANDORRA

- what hair!

- pop --> traditional European entry

- reminds me of winning Greek entry from a few years back

- quoted as being "old fashioned song"

- got a good cheer at the end

- will qualify

[Corki]

To finish what I was posting on Tuesday when DM crashed...

 

13.BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA

- what on earth is the washing line all about?

- didn't think much of the isnging --> too much action on stage

- personally didn't think much of song even if crowd did

 

14.ARMENIA

- song received a good cheer at the start

- nice pop song --> had a good strong voice

- thougght she had a good stage prescense

- catchy

- again, reminded me of the winning Greek entry from a few years back

 

15. THE NETHERLANDS

- thought she had a good voice

- what thighs --> and yes, I was listening to the song!

- catchy tune

 

16.FINLAND

- appears they are relying on the "Lordi effect"

- a metal song that appears to have a twinge of pop

- reminded me of Rammstein

- thoroughly enjoyed by the crowd

 

17. ROMANIA

- balled --> different to Finland before

- thought he had a good voice

- not so sure on her voice

- though they both complemented each other

- growing on me

 

18. RUSSIA

- one of the favourites --> easily seen from the reaction of the crowd

- good voice --> liked his control and variation

- nice and simple

- crowd loved it!

- didn't he have some kind of skater when he entered 2 years ago?

 

 

19. GREECE

- thought it had a very Greek feel to it

- it did remind me of a previous Eurovision song, but I can't put my finger on which one

- good tune

- really liked her vouce

- couldn't resist some belly dancing!

- got a massive cheer --> I would say the biggest of the night

[Corki]

I had picked 10 songs to go through. They were:

 

- Andorra

- Netherlands

- Armenia

- Slovenia

- Norway

- Poland

- Finland

- San Marino

- Russia

- Greece

 

I managed to get 6 of the 10 right. Not bad, I didn't think. The 10 songs that actually made it through were:

 

1. Greece

2. Romania

3. Bosnia-Herzegovina (it must have been the washing line...)

4. Finland

5. Russia

6. Israel

7. Azerbaijan

8. Armenia

9. Poland

10. Norway

 

And so much for the new way of voting to get more western European countries into the Grand Final...