It's Eurovision time

It's that one and only night that we as little kids could stay up late...
that only night that I watched as a kid with open mouth...
that only night that I taped on video and watched over again (hah my young innocent foolishness)
that only night that for more than a decade I felt way too good to watch ...who wanted to admit to watch and love that kitch huh?
that only night I amuse myself in sharing my random opinions with the world as they cross my head when I watch this show full of (lack of) talent and horrendous costumes, funny dances and surprise acts. It's truly the only way I can survive this long evening with 25 competing countries. By chatting, commenting on everybody commenting on FB, twitter and blogs. Fun and entertaining in one big interactive community :p


Azerbeidjan:
this one of the favourites? really? in what way would this plain song stick out?
Jan thinks she didn't have enough money to buy a complete set of gloves.


Spain:
oh gosh, Leuven in scène seems to be on tv...I see ballerina's, tin soldiers and clowns posing on a stereotypical circus tone. It would be pleasant and charming in a circus tent but here on Eurovision? Can they seriously think this can win? Eurovision is one big maddness, but circus is weird anyway.
Aaaah haaaa that weirdo without circus costume but with a funny red hat wasn't part of the act. hahaha someone got on stage. Brilliant.
(bravo for the commentators who immediately know that this has happened as well in '63...how many facts and figures would they have in front of them to look up.)


Norway:
oh a singer in suit with lot of pathos, with a serious face and with big arm gestures reinforced by the backing vocals. and there's fireworks at the end and a long long final note. Back to the eighties I think with boring songs. Seen this a thousand times and I've forgotten the song already. Next

Moldavia:
a violonist on a turning plate? how dizzy can you get
oh it's that lady with half a face of blue eye shadow again that I've seen in the semi-finals. I think it said 'eye & sheek shadow' on her make-up box, hence the result. And she stole her hairstyle from Pink while her dress is some sort of iron cast ballerina dress.
Weird weird I can see the punk hyperactive violonist running around and sticking out his tongue, but I can hardly hear that violin.
Pfff lets forget this act quickly.

Cyprus
a guy with a guitar, hence a competitor for Belgium it is said.
Baby face boy.
the backing vocals do the stereotypical "i switch my balance from left foot to right foot and swing my arms alternatively forward". Pretty annoying if you start watching that.

Bosnia Herzegovina
foggy stage, lots of guitars (only one visible)
some background dancers making big catwalk steps forward in slow motion
I think this group could be a good rock group but they've also added a bit too much pathos in their song and too little rock.

Belgium:
the little lonely boy on the little stage among the people, he almost looks shy in his slow start as if he doesn't dare do this. His sore throat doesn't seem to effect his singing fortunately.

Oh yeah audience applauds again in the mid-song. They don't do that for all, can we feel proud now?
"Come on Oslo" ...who Tom seeks interaction...not shy after all.
The audience truly seems enthousiastic or am I biased now?

Serbia:
I love that intro...it sounds like Shantel. I'm a sucker for Balkan gypsy influences.
But then that singer comes out...how stereotypical gay can you look? He should fire his hair stylist right away! Turning a flower pot upside down on someones head and then cutting the edges of hair is truly not a best practise to cut one's hair!!

Come on balkan, hop hop....yep I can live through this song with my eyes closed.

(intermezzo announcement: Spain can bring their song again at the end as they had been interrupted)

Belarus:
right, it's time for that butterfly act.
intimate piano / singer start. the dresses from the backings are too glittering with those lights on them.
BOOOOOOOOORIING 5 static people waving a bit with their hands is boring even if you move your arms nicely up when you say "fly up"

ok there they are, the dresses open up into hideous huge butterflies. In case someone couldn't understand the text I suppose but if you've seen it already in the semi-finals.

Ireland:
One redheaded singer in some sort of purple sausage dress, opening up a bit at the feet
She does smile genuinely as if she's having fun
a bit of traditional flute as intermezzo which sounds very Irish. Look look I see some green hills in front of me.

oh an entire crew of backings has marched up, they almost missed the party. Glad they could make it.
And the windmachine made it in time as well

Greece:
My favourite in the semi-finals....let's party in Greekish style. Hoppaa...5 white dressed man with black boots jumping around . It sounds very energetic & very Greek. They would be very popular as act in one of the many hotels.

"Hey", "Ho" "Whoappa" some drumming...oh there's fireworks coming out of the drums. They really deserve a 5-star hotel.

Opaaaaa....I'm awake again.

UK:
one of the 5 direct finalist since they pay enough to the Eurovision organization not to need to go through the semi-finals.
Huh? they are locked up in a closet. Nice visual stage set.

Oh gosh Stock Aitken & Waterman are back again. Back to the eighties in a 13 in a dozen song. (oh my and it's true...it is written by Stock & Waterman)
Yikes the backings are out of tune.
They must realise this makes all of us sleepy since they are already waving some sheets.
Good, they go back into their closet, what a relief.

Ouch ouch my ears.
(the vocals were even messier than the golf of Mexico at the moment according to our commentators :p)

Georgia:
oh really, does Georgia take part in Eurovison. Every year I have the feeling that the concept of Europe grows drastically.

the wind machine has already been turned out from the start...the poor girl risks to get a cold if they exaggerate!
can someone tell the director not to take those airshots as the spots in the floor are way to reflecting and I don't have my sunglasses nearby? Thank you!

Girl girl, you don't need to yell so much, you do have a microphone on. I hope you realise that.
You have a good voice ...I recommend applying for a musical part.

Turkey:
yeah rock on Eurovision, more of that please!
Guitars, a drumset & a dj table....what a relief to not see a stereotypical arm-waving backing vocal group behind a long dressed singer in front for once!
Quite an 'un-Turkish' act though s ince they usually sound quite ethnic and usually I like it. But this is good too.

Ooh look look robocop came alive and spits fire. And of course they had to have some fireworks as well in order to be taken seriously.

Albania:
another song with some energy and rhythm. Good good, Jan might even wake up again if this continues.
A femme fatale rocking against a crazy violin playing Einstein....it's catchy.
Look look , my foot is tapping along. More of this.

Iceland:
oh yes I remember her from the semi-finals. Big lady with a big impressive voice.
hmm it seems to swing more than I remember. Or have I watched this show already too long that it affects my judgment?

Ukraine:
A big cape
A low voice that sounds uncomfortable and a blond girl coming out of the hood. I think she's telling some sort of fairytale but I don't know if it has a happy ending yet or not. Seems to be quite dramatic...wide arm movements again.
And a wind machine as well, but that's kinda obvious in this Eurovision edition. Although it's a bit stormy, her hair & dress is going to fly away. Wouldn't that be something?
Strong impressive voice, but not a song that sticks around.

Too much eye shadow again...would they sell the same brand of make-up as in Moldavia?

France:
Ollez ola olé ....Senegalese soccer song for the world championship in a few weeks in South Africa.

Allez allez, lets all dance and swing our hips on the beach under a coconut tree. Shake shake .
Here's a big summer hit... we are going to hear this so much in the coming weeks I bet until we are so sick of it.
I even bet the aerobics class will use this, it has the right stepping rhythm; Ole olaaaa

Hey drumming on imaginary drums with some fireworks on the background is a bit silly but we forgive you because you got me moving.

But yes it's a hit for sure.

Romania:
Look look there's a transparent double sided piano on stage.
pfff square marching rhythm and I don't fall for ladies in a skintight leather suite. I wonder how they'll peel that off her tonight.

Not my piece of cake.

Russia:
there's snow falling on stage! or would it be some ashes from Iceland? After all Oslo isn't too far of the vulcano right?

This must be part of some Doctor Zhivago musical

I told you the wind machine was too hard, the poor guy needs to wear a scarf!

Armenia:
An ethnic flute
help, the dress is too tight for this pretty girl, her boobs will pop out any moment! There's a difference between push-up and painfully looking pressure that is no longer attractive.

What's the price of extensions lately? They've made quite an investment in that hair below her bottom. Pretty annoying if you need to make a ponytail before you can go to the toilet!

Germany:
I heard this on youtube a couple of weeks ago and loved it right away. Catchy ear worm, happy and spontaneous. This will get my vote tonight. I think that just for once Germany will not end on the bottom of the result list where they usually keep Belgium company.
she's a mixture of kate nash and Lilly Allan with a funny accent.

Yep, I still like it

Portugal:
Too much arm gestures. Seems like a girl doing an audition in layered wedding dress for a musical part. Boring.
one more to go we can move on for another year....oh damn, that's not true, the Spanish circus gets to go on stage again because of the dressed streaker from Catalonia who managed to get on stage.

Israel:
Another ballad with piano
Is it because there's a professional jury again that there's so many ballads this year? Surely a record amount of people are truly singing again this year. Except for fireworks and wind machines there's been strangely little weird acts this year. Who would have thought we might miss the abundance of kitch? Ok not quite but now we have an overload of musical type songs!!! Give us some rhythm please.

Denmark:
oh a blind date stage with a wall between the couple
this sounds familiar, the guitar line is known...cheaters

oh look the couple came from behind the wall, walking hand in hand and they hopefully live happy for ever more...but first we need some fireworks and a wind machine obviously.

Spain:
the walzing circus again....no more audience who decides to join them on stage




update after half of the votes:
Germany takes a healthy lead
Belgium & Turkey take turns on nr 2 and 3
Denmark& Greece seem to complete the top 5

hmm funny Belgium gave the maximum score to Greece.


Final result: Belgium ends in 6th place. The last ten countries voting all of a sudden stopped giving us high marks so we lowered a bit but it's the best Flemish result ever.
Germany wins again after 28 years...hurray for them and next year we'll go to Berlin.

This edition was definitely better than before with the fresh German pop song winning, some rock from Turkey scoring well etc and more attention to singing and less exuberant acts....good evolution. Now a little less pathos and more fun & spontenaity and I am all for again



Plaats Land Puntentotaal
1 Duitsland 246
2 Turkije 170
3 Roemenië 162
4 Denemarken 149
5 Azerbeidzjan 145
6 België 143
7 Armenië 141
8 Griekenland 140
9 Georgië 136
10 OekraĂŻne 108
11 Rusland 90
12 Frankrijk 82
13 Servië 72
14 Israël 71
15 Spanje 68
16 Albanië 62
17 Bosnië-Herzegovina 51
18 Portugal 43
19 IJsland 41
20 Noorwegen 35
21 Cyprus 27
22 Moldavië 27
23 Ierland 25
24 Wit-Rusland 18
25 Groot-Brittannië 10

Comments

felicity said…
Dear E, We are watching it as I type - Belgium is DEFINITELY the best - we hop you WIN!!
Snooker said…
Whoo hooo! Thanks for your vote!
Finally a great song to get past all the politics.

Come to see it LIVE in Germany next year.

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