Reaction To Rehearsals: Day 2: Part 2 Russia - Ireland

So unfortunately due to other commitments I missed most of the last ten hours meaning that I have missed a lot of rehearsal time. Anyhow here is a quick look at the last five rehearsals which I managed to miss.

Russia - Rehearsal Video
This has been flagged as one of the most interesting performances to watch in this years contest. Personally I never had put Russia down as a potential winner but after today's performance this has come roaring into the competition [albeit on a Zimmer frame]. This was vocally spot on and the performance is effective but still fairly simple relatively speaking.

Hungary - Rehearsal Video
Hungary today have produced a credible vocal performance which was a huge concern in the national final. The general staging is petty good but at the same time I think that this might be a bit dull to qualify.

Austria - Rehearsal Video
This was very much as expected. For me this is one of the strongest songs in the contest this year but many people are somewhat disappointed with the general the rehearsals today. They feel that the staging is too messy for the song. I really do not agree with them but I am disappointed with the lack of a tractor onstage. I think that one of Trackshittaz strengths is that they are not you common or garden rap duo and I think they should play that up a bit.

Moldova - Rehearsal Video
Moldova had been in doubt in up until today's rehearsal as being unfortunately sandwiched between Austria and Ireland in what would have to be the maddest end to a semi-final yet. But today Moldova really is standing up vocally and in general the song is looking like a very strong one in this semi-final.

Ireland - Rehearsal Video 
Ireland, well their is less to talk about than I had hoped but all the same this is still working really well onstage but I am going to join many other bloggers in saying that this needs something extra onstage to really lift it. Jedward are about as good as they can be vocally, however there appear to have been some mixing problems with the backing vocals. All the same though Ireland look like near certain qualifiers at this point in time.

It's The Russian Grannies!

After three years of trying, fans finally had the delight of being able to say that Russia had sent Buranovskiye Babushki to Eurovision, aka The Russian Grannies. I was delighted to see them win – especially when they beat Dima Bilan. But what is so great about a couple of over-60’s getting up on stage and singing, well like every entry in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest it must be dissected by my good self, so hopefully through this review I will try and find out.

Buranovskiye Babushki will represent Russia in Baku next month. They won the Russia national final by a considerable distance and their selection has been broadly welcomed by fans [except maybe Dima Bilan fan’s –but there are very few of them. Their song “Party For Everybody” is a mixture of ethnic music and dance pop. As a song it has a reasonable melody, not an amazing one though. Lyrically it is very funny however as much of Europe does not understand the language they are singing in it will most likely be lost on them. While the song may not have limitations and not be the strongest Buranovskiye Babushki’s performance will most likely be well flagged and highly anticipated. I think the performance will make people sit up.

While I may have a huge amount of praise for this song it is difficult to imagine that it is good enough to win Eurovision. Eurovision is ever changing, as is entertainment in general. Since the “Susan Boyle effect” took place back in 2009 it has become more acceptable for older people to sing pop music. Buranovskiye Babushki rose to fame on YouTube, which probably means that they are well liked by a younger generation. The problem arises here. Semi-final 1 is wall to wall entertainment acts with very little room for ballads and midtempo songs. Buranovskiye Babushki will be competing against acts such as Trackshittaz and Jedward. I am not convinced that any of these countries are going to steam ahead, collecting all of the votes, I think that the votes will be evenly spread.

I also am concerned about how the juries will react to Buranovskiye Babushki. Juries tend to be very conservate by nature with little room for anything without talent. While I consider Buranovskiye Babushki to be very talented I am not convinced that the juries will see it that way.

Verdict: I think that this is going to be one of the strongest entries and performances in this year’s contest. I think that Buranovskiye Babushki have a large enough fan base to push them into the final but how they do there will be largely dependent on the reactions of juries to their song. Their song is not overly strong so it is conceivable that juries may overlook what is a fantastic entry.

Grade: A-

Russia Surprises Everyone (And Something Happened In Slovakia/Armenia)

Tonight Russia selected the most surprising entrants for Eurovision 2012 - Buranovskiye Babushki.

(I suspect this could be a serious question in a Eurovision spelling bee.) Anyway I am delighted with the Russians choice. This everything you want from a  Eurovision entry - something that represents the national music tradition, something that's current and something that is very entertaining.

If I was in the BBC right now I think I'd be puking. After all their smart moves they now don't have the oldest lead singer at Eurovision and now they are going to be squzzed by a branch of the Over-70's club. Anyway it all makes the contest more interesting. Semi 1 is shaping up to be a very interesting semi-final in contrast to the rather dull semi-final 2. Usually when this occurs the winning song comes from the more interesting semi.

Overall I think this could go either way for them. They will most likely score heavily on the televote but the juries may not go for them. This will either sink or swim.

There will be more on these wonderful elders at a later stage when I don't feel I am going to fall asleep.

Elsewhere Slovakia presented their song - it's not quite as amazing. This sort of rock has been seen in Eurovision before. It won't be expected to do overly well. 

This morning we found out what I had suspected all along when Armenia withdrew from ESC this year. This was no big surprise but it still reflects badly on Azerbaijan and the EBU despite assurances from both of them Armenia withdrew. I think though that while nothing can be done this year, the EBU should reflect on whether it is right for a country to host the contest when other countries are unwilling to travel to the host country.