Eurovision Song Contest - Semi Final 1 (Tuesday 12th May 2009)

[Corki]

And it is less than 30 minutes until the big start - Eurovision 2009 will officially be underway. And I will be your host for this evening's entertainment, passing my glorious comments on tonight's proceedings. I haven't had a big look into the songs tonight, but I know there are a lot of ballads this year - is this because the last two winners have been ballads?

 

And just a quick rundown on how tonight is to work. 5 countries (Russia as last year's winners, UK, France, Germany and Spain) are all guarenteed a place in the final. However, the remaining 37 countries have to battle it out for the remaining 20 places. So tonight is the first of the semi-finals. 18 countries are competing, aiming to get one of those 10 places. 9 are picked by the general public of Europe, while the 10th is chosen by a jury of musical experts.

 

So, go and grab something to drink and eat, and let's enjoy the evening's entertainment. Not long left to go now!

 

Not long to go now...

[Corki]

And if you haven't done so already, check out some of the Band's Eurovision activities, including:

 

1) The latest "Tune or No Tune", featuring Johnny Logan's 1987 winning song, Hold Me Now for Ireland:

http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,43213.0.html

 

2) "It's A Knockout" - two threads up, splitting Eurovision somewhere roughly down the middle. And the winner of each thread will then go head-to-head to claim the title of DM's best Eurovision song.

http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,43128.0.html (1956 to 1982)

http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,43129.0.html (1983 to 2008)

 

3) And a general discussion thread covering all things Eurovision

http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,43120.0.html

 

Once all 25 finalists have been confirmed, the Band will be hosting it's very own Eurovision Song Contest to see who we would pick as a winner, and whether we agree with what Europe has to say. Look out for that in the coming days.

[Corki]

And we're off...well, on BBC 3 anyway. Moscow, here we come. And I am trying to see if I can get the live streaming from the official website working for those who don't have access to BBC 3 or a channel in their country.

[Corki]

I have to say, what a strange opening. Some narration of a story about some girls. I'm guessing it has something to do with Stravinsky due to the mention of the Firebird. Some fireworks going off. I have to say it is quite an impressive lighting feature for the Firebird, which is bringing the hosts in. No, I am mistaken - it isn't the hosts. And finally that is over, as our hosts enter.

 

This is the link to watch the Semi-Final live from the official Eurovision website:

 

http://www.eurovision.tv/esctv/live

[Corki]

The cry of "From Russia with Love" - *face palm* Really??

 

And we're off...

 

1. FYR Macedonia - Just Get Out of My Life performed by Andrea Demirovic

- some lively Europop to start the evening off

- quite catchy

- not a bad start

- gets the thumbs up

 

2. Czech Republic - Aven Romale performed by Gipsy.cz

- what the hell is he wearing? He looks like a cross between Freddie Mercury and Mr Muscle

- a definite comic entry

- I don't think much of it

- gets the thumbs down - it's awful!

- and he has supposedly performed at Glastonbury...

 

3. Belgium - Copycat performed by Copycat (Patrick Ouchène)

- The King is aive - Elvis has landed!

- nothing special

- so-so

[Corki]

4. Belarus - Eyes That Never Lie performed by Petr Elfimov

- what the hell is that person doing wearing a white catsuit?

- a catchy tune - I think a possibly better voice would do the song justice

- the hall seemed to like it

 

5. Sweden - La Voix performed by Malena Ernman

- opera meets dance music

- a fantastic voice

- she seems to be enjoying it

- gets my thumbs up

- crowd loved it

 

6. Armenia - Jan Jan (Nor Par) performed by Inga and Anush

- an interesing mix of musical sounds

- don't think much of the vocalists

- I find it annoying

- thumbs down!

[Corki]

7. Andorra - La Teva Decisió performed by Susanne Georgi

- It's Geri Haliwell!

- much better than the tripe from Armenia

- ABBA sounding?

- good vocals

- a nice tune

- thumbs up!

 

8. Switzerland - The Highest Heights performed by Lovebugs

- some "rock" music - a Eurovision rarity!

- quite soothing...

- ...and I like it!

- a mix of Coldplay and U2

- some crowd interaction!

- another thumbs up

 

9. Turkey - Düm Tek Tek performed by Hadise

- belly dancing --> surprise surprise --> well, the clothes seem to indicate there will be some!

- sounds similar to Turkey's winning song from a few years back

- and there's the belly dancing! lol!

- I'm guessing a lot of belly dancing, but my streaming keeps freezing! grrr!

- crowd seem to like it

[Corki]

10. Israel - There Must Be Another Way performed by Noa & Mira Awad

- a multi-faith group from Israel

- crowd seem to like it

- good vocals, but I do think the dark haired one has a more dominant voice in the duet parts

- I like it

 

11. Bulgaria - Illusion performed by Krassimir Avramov

- what is it with capes?

- has good vocals, but shame about his backing vocalists!

- well, that was before he hit the high notes - OUCH!

- not that great

 

 

12. Iceland - Is It True? performed by Johanna

- ah, a nice, soothing ballad

- lovely vocals - best of the night so far

- a powerful performace and strong stage precense

- a definite challenger to win

- biggest cheer of the night

[Corki]

13. FYR of Macedonia - Nesto Sto Kje Ostane performed by Next Time

- more rock music

- it's Brian May singing - well, the hair indicates that!

- not that bad

- quite good

 

14. Romania - The Balkan Girls performed by Elena Gheorghe

- "Europop"

- I'm guessing the backing dancers are meant to be tree nymphs, from the set...

- good song until the chorus

- but I do like her vocals

- a tentative thumbs up

 

15. Finland - Lose Control performed by Waldo's People

- very different to Lordi!

- dance music - was a chart topper!

- catchy - I do like the chorus!

- growing on me

- another tentative thumbs up

[Corki]

16. Portugal - Todas As Ruas Do Amor performed by Flor-de-Lis

- I'm going to say ut us folk music

- another soothing song, but has its upbeat moments

- stage looks very psychedelic!

- 2nd best vocalist of the night after Iceland

- thumbs up

- another popular song

 

17. Malta - What If We? performed by Chiara

- will it be 3rd time luck for Chiara after a 3rd and 2nd place finish?

- another singer!

- a big voice

- a simple but effective performance

- if ballads are Eurovision 2009 winning material, it's up there to challenge

 

18. Bosnia & Herzegovina - Bistra Voda performed by Regina

- the end is in sight!

- have supported the Rolling Stones

- a military feel to it

- not that bad - grows on you

- has a very sombre feel to it

 

 

And that's it!

[Corki]

I know 8 of the 10 that I would send through. It's just working out the last two, but here is my list to make it through to the Final.

 

1. Iceland

2. Portugal

3. Israel

4. Sweden

5. Malta

6. Montenegro

7. Andorra

8. Switzerland

 

9. Finland

10. Romania

 

The last two are ones I am not that happy with. Turkey, Belarus, FYR Macedonia, Bosnia are possible others to fill the last two spots.

[Corki]

While we went behind the scenes with the BBC, we missed the Russian controversy that is better known as t.A.T.u. - remember that video??

[Majsju]

I am glad to hear that Malena sang the pop parts better than in the Swedish final, she was struggling a bit with those, as opera singers tend to do.

 

Anyone other than me that heard traces of 'Somewhere Over The rainbow' in Portugals song, especially in the beginning? Still, love the song.

 

 

[Corki]

And here we go...the magic button and the qualifiers:

 

1. Turkey

2. Sweden

3. Israel

4. Portugal

5. Malta

6. Finland

7. Bosnia & Herzegovina

8. Romania

9. Armenia

10. Iceland

 

So that was 7 correct qualifiers. And how did Armenia get through?? Seriously, it was tripe!

[Majsju]

I would have prefered Belgium to go through instead of Armenia. Not that the song was very good, but it did provide a good chuckle, and every Eurovision needs a bit of that.

 

Other than that, I am ok with the results. I do not care too much for Iceland or Malta, slick radio-ballads does not cut it for me. Finlands europop sounded like it could have been an E-Type single ten years ago, but it still worked. I missed Romania, because I had to take a phone call. Seriously, who the hell calls during Eurovision?

[Majsju]

While we went behind the scenes with the BBC, we missed the Russian controversy that is better known as t.A.T.u. - remember that video??

 

You did not really miss anything, except for the worst lipsynch this century.

[Haxorsist]

Yeah, they didn't make out or anything. Thumbs down.

 

The Iceland song has been stuck in my head all day. My favourite song was Portugal's. Sweden was not bad, but I don't think it will win.

[Corki]

Who else found the two hosts thoroughly annoying?? They were awful and there wasn't much chemistry between them at all.

[Haxorsist]

They're always annoying, that's pretty much the criteria to become a host. :)

[Corki]

True, but this year's pairing seem worse than normal.

[Haxorsist]

Yeah, it seems like the guy wants to bang the chick, and the girl has noticed it and is a little freaked out.

[Ludmian]

Who else found the two hosts thoroughly annoying?? They were awful and there wasn't much chemistry between them at all.

 

The man has always been annoying. You should have seen his talk shows.

 

I agree that the hosts were the worst thing about the show. They should have chosen somebody else.

 

I have to say, what a strange opening. Some narration of a story about some girls. I'm guessing it has something to do with Stravinsky due to the mention of the Firebird.

 

The Firebird is a magical creature from numerous Russian folktales. I guess it had more to do with adding some national flavour to the show rather than with anything or anybody in particular.

 

4. Belarus - Eyes That Never Lie performed by Petr Elfimov

- what the hell is that person doing wearing a white catsuit?

- a catchy tune - I think a possibly better voice would do the song justice

- the hall seemed to like it

 

Once more we didn't make it to the final. I didn't have much hope we would. Petr Elfimov might be a good enough singer to win contests judged by "professionals", but IMHO he lacks both charisma and good songs, necessary to win the audience. Though I liked his performance at the semi-final better than his previous ones. Don't know why. The song seemed OK this time as well. Has it simply grown on me, or has Petr really improved in recent months, or is it simply due to the fact that there's a serious shortage of Eurovision performances that I would like to watch or listen to again, so Petr was not bad in comparison to others?

 

A paradox that I mentioned on the general Discussion board. We usually got good results at children's Eurovision. Actually, we've won it twice. But our results at the main Eurovision contest leave much to be desired.