What A Week!

So as the technical rehearsals draw to a close we now have had a really fun week so I'm going to use this post to look back on that as well as to tell you my top 10 for semi-final 1 and to look to the week ahead.

Rehearsals Week 2012
Sunday (last week) saw the beginning of the rehearsals with the first half of semi-final 1 starting. The big winners here were Iceland and Romania who both went from being likely to definite qualifiers. Belgium also perked themselves up as possible qualifiers. There was one car crash which was Greece who raised a couple of eyebrows with their performance, particularly vocals.

Monday saw people actually consider that there was a mild chance that San Marino could qualify. Denmark and Russia both gave us performances that leads me to believe either could win the first semi-final. Moldova seems to have come across well on stage and Pasha showed us he had some vocals. Ireland managed to underwhelm everyone but everyone still thinks that it is sailing through to the final. Austria was Monday's car crash.

Tuesday saw the rise of Macedonia and the fall of Bulgaria but was by far the dullest day we had.

Wednesday was Sweden's day as their march to victory began. Loreen certainly has her critic's though and there is certainly an anti-Sweden vibe coming through from Baku. It's in many blogs but it seems especially prevalent in the press reports from Baku. Other highlights included Norway's off key rehearsal [well if your like me and don't like Tooji]. Bosina & Herzegovina also fell in many peoples expectations.

Thursday and Friday saw second rehearsals begin. Austria and b redeemed themselves a little, and Ireland got the fountain working. Russia proved that everyone still loves the Grannies and Greece showed they can make marginal improvements to a vocal performance.

Saturday and Sunday saw Sweden take to the stage and finally nail the performance [depending on whether you think she mumbles the song or not]. Norway also managed to get the vocal performance back together. The Big 5 and Azerbaijan also showed us that they are able to take the lead at Eurovision. Italy showed they might not have cared about Eurovision but that they can still do there best to try to win it. Italy now in moved as a strong favourite, probably second to Loreen. Germany showed that Stefan Raab can still produce a good entry and Germany has exceeded expectations to become one of the potential winners of the contest. The UK left us all a bit worried after the first rehearsal but we all calmed down a bit after the second rehearsal. Clearly Engelbert can pull this off live.

My Top 10 [Semi-Final 1]
So that was rehearsal week, but how do the songs stand now? Well I will publish my thoughts on the semi-final 1 qualifiers on Monday Night/Tuesday Morning after I get reports for the dress rehearsals and more importantly the jury final. But for now my Top 10 favourites [and my votes are]:

• 12 points - Denmark
• 10 points - Iceland 
• 8 points - Finland
• 7 points - Austria
• 6 points - Romania 
• 5 points - Russia
• 4 points - Belgium
• 3 points - Albania 
• 2 points - San Marino 
• 1 point - Greece

So that's my Top 10 I expect some of you might disagree with it but unfortunately you cannot change my music tastes.

Tomorrow

Though the will be no live shows tomorrow, it is an important day. At 3pm CET the first full run through of the dress rehearsal will begin and, more importantly, at 9pm CET tomorrow evening the jury final will take place. I will have a blog post assessing what happened in that. See you all tomorrow.

Reaction To Rehearsals: Day 8

So today might be the last day of rehearsals but that doesn't mean there are a lots of second rehearsals to get through today.

Estonia - Ott had a great rehearsal today but he is playing around with the notes in the song a lot which might be a little risky. I haven't seen this on the screen but it does look very static on stage, unless camera work is really good this could be a bit dull looking on stage.

Slovakia - Some corrections were made which is a relief. I'm not sure if this is a qualifier but I'd say it still has a chance.

Norway - Vocally this is back on track. He is using a backing singer to get him over the harder notes though, which is something that don't agree with. Tooji is really going to have to make sure he doesn't over perform this.

Bosnia & Herzegovina - This does remind me of Eurovision entries of old. I hate the dress though and I'm not hearing anything overly positive from Baku though.

Lithuania - This song is growing on me (well the last 90 seconds anyway).  This was a good rehearsal but the blindfold really must be dropped.

UK - There have been some very good changes in aspects of the performance but most importantly this was vocally good today. This is looking like a strong entry from the UK.

France - This still looks messy today but it is vocally good again which is a massive concern dealt with.

Italy - This was done as a full dress rehearsal and all is looking perfect on stage, there are very few faults in this entry.

Azerbaijan - All very similar to yesterday's performance but they are deliberately trying to lose this by throwing in the wailing man in the middle. Bit dull but anyhow.

Spain - This is as good as yesterdays performance, which was excellent. In spite of people claiming there is no major connection I think that this is the best vocal at Eurovision.

Germany - After Germany's great rehearsal yesterday all that they would need to be able to do, they held their own today and I think that they should be pretty pleased to be able to do that.

So that's all the technical rehearsals done for 2012. Tomorrow evening dress rehearsals kick off in Baku, with the jury final later that night. I'll put up a post later tonight looking back on this week.

  

Rehearsals: Day 7 - I Think

Even though the press claim that you lose track of time in Baku I also have the same problem to report. Despite being here in Dublin rehearsals have started to morph into one long day. However today we have a lot of excitement to look forward to as the big 5 and Azerbaijan take to the stage for first rehearsals. Anyway how are things shaping up?

Slovenia - This rehearsal seems to have gone well, those who have been listening to the ESCInsight podcast this morning may have heard parts of it in the background. All in all Slovenia should be very pleased with this. However the high number of balkans in this semi-final will be a serious problem.

Croatia - This does not seem to be working perfectly on stage. Somethings are going wrong and now we have two Balkan ballads together. This looks like a non-qualifier unless Nina can bring it all together.

Sweden - Sweden appear to have had a great run through. While some might claim that this is looking messy on stage the performance is broadly the same as the one that won Melodifestivalen and that was fairly amazing.

Georgia - Anri is a good performer and had a really good first rehearsal. Today he seems to have really come across well and looks like a possible qualifier, after being previously written off. Typical Georgia.

Turkey -  Turkey did a full dress rehearsal today and it appeared to be really, really strong, which has changed many peoples attitudes to the song. It all has come together really well. So we should be happy with that. BUT I don't think that the song is that great.

Then there was lunch and then started the Big 5 and Azerbaijan rehearsals.

Germany - Rehearsal Video
Despite having a fairly poor song this year Germany has really come up in terms of the staging and performance of this entry. Having come through Unser Star Fur Baku Roman certainly appears to be a competent performer on stage. Vocally this was impressive and the band style performance looks good and makes up for Roman's fairly static performance - but then again could you really start dancing during a song called "Standing Still"? While the performance is good, if it was surrounded by ballads it could struggle.

France - Rehearsal Video
Auggun took to the stage with five dancers who are used a lot throughout the performance. The performance is done with a wind machine and when you combine this with the dancing it all looks a bit weird. Vocally this was not good given that this shouldn't be a problem for an experienced artist. All in all it looks a bit messy on stage. The backdrop is strange and might be to fast moving to look well on the cameras. We shall see what they change tomorrow but I suspect that not much will change. A disappointing rehearsal but there is still a lot of scope to change this.

Italy - Rehearsal Video
I would say that based on what I am reading on the blogs Italy is definitely the favourite of the press over in Baku. Personally I think it is one of the best out there but I see it as a third to fifth place song rather than a winner. Vocally this is excellent, as rehearsals go this was probably one of the best that we have seen however I do think that backdrop is poor and jars badly with the song. I would be aiming for a more Lena-esque performance if I was producing this song. I also think that there is an argument for this song if you compare it to Lena in 2010. However Lena was a more charismatic singer and for this to do well it needs to have charisma thrown in and I'm just not getting this at the moment. But it still is the second most likely song to win. I'll give it that.

Azerbaijan - Rehearsal Video
After watching Italy this pales in comparison. Azerbaijan have done an awful lot right here. The performance is simple and straight forward. The guy in the background is a bit creepy. Overall though this is fairly bland song. However it is Azerbaijan and they are the host country so this will not do to badly. The bridge sounds dire though. This is solid, a safe bet and should give Azerbaijan a reasonable placing.

Spain - Rehearsal Video
Pastora Soler had a great first rehearsal. However it is not personal enough and it needs to make a much great attempt to connect with the cameras. Vocally though this is jaw droppingly good. I think that the overall performance is great but it reminds me of Niamh Kavanagh's in 2010.

UK - Rehearsal Video
The highly anticipated performance by Engelbert Humperdinck, finally took place today. The rumours about the Strictly Come Dancers in the background were correct. The backdrop was an interesting choice and might be just a little moody for the opener to the competition. Engelbert though is giving a really great performance. Although there is a problem with the last notes it is looking well overall and I think that the UK should be able to just about beat last years result.

Germany Plays It Safe

When the curtain was finally drawn of Eurovision 2011 last year, we all knew that it was the last time we would see Lena at Eurovision, at least for a couple of years. So that meant that Stefan Raab had to find someone new for Eurovision. The big question was: Who? Raab decided to return to the same format that Germany had used in 2010. Step forward Roman Lob.

I think that Germany’s choice this year was a very safe one. Roman is a solid enough singer and should be reasonable at Eurovision. He is not Lena but instead, more what I would expect to come from the kind of talent show that Unser Star Fur Baku is. The song “Standing Still” is a safe bet. It reminds me a bit of The Fray’s song How To Save A Life, except it is a little duller. The songs faults is largely in the arrangement, which leads to it depending on Roman as a performer, which is not really a great idea. This should have been spotted early on in the USFB format which is very flexible in the arrangement of songs.

As with any of the big 5 countries or Azerbaijan, we don’t know the type of songs that will surround them in the final however because they are in 20^th place we can safely say that this is not a bad position, regardless of what surrounds it. The final will have a very high standard this year – no doubt about that in my opinion. I think that Germany’s song will be seen as being a bit below the standard.

Verdict: While I am not writing this song off by any means, I still think that Germany is vulnerable due to the ballad being below standard in comparison to the better ballads in this year’s contest. They seem to have bitten off more than they can chew, choosing an average singing through a talent contest and then giving him a performer driven song. Lena could pull off that mix but Roman is far from Lena. Personally I think it is a nice song to listen to – a couple of times - and not any more than that.

Grade: C+

Roman Lob is Germany's Star for Baku

So we now no that Roman Lob will represent Germany in Baku. Smart watchers of this blog may notice that I have not given any time to Unser Star For Baku because I find Thursday evening finals difficult to find the time to watch. I guess what we were all looking for was what would Raab curn out after Lena. Roman is no Lena but still I don't think this is awful, I just don't know how it will do in Baku. This song could fade a little but with a good draw should do fine.

We Haven't Had News For A While.

So a belated Happy Valentine's Day to you all. Another Valentine's Day alone for me and...and...*sobs quietly*... now Belarus seem to have lost the ability to pick a good Eurovision song.

• As I have previously mentioned Belarus today at the most annoying hour of 15:00-17:00CET they have not selected Litesound but instead choose Alyona Lanskaya with her rather uninteresting and unremarkable song All My Life. Best of luck to her - if she makes it through the semi's [that'll be the day]. However there are rumours the song may be changed.
• Russia have moved their national final to March 7 (the more midweek selections the better at this stage).
• Georgia will hold their National Final on February 19 [next Sunday] and have narrowed their selection from 13 songs all the way down to nine. 
• San Remo in Italy is progressing this week and the first show should be over that this stage. I don't follow it because I'M NOT SUPERHUMAN.
• Germany holds a final on Thurday and we will hear the song then too. 
• Saturday is a mega national final day with 7 semi-finals/ song presentations and selections. Will talk about that closer to the date.
• And finally two Canadian twins, Patrick and Chris have made an excellent video for Jedward's Waterline Song. Follow them on Twitter @cpVoros.

Here We Go Again: The Odds Check

The good people over at Nicerodds have been good enough to try to tap into the Eurovision fan market by putting together the odds from many Irish, UK and Nordic bookmakers. Many of the countries that have not even detailed about their national final yet are given odds but we are not going to consider most of them yet as it just reflects a countries historic strength at Eurovision.

• Going first to Austria where unsurprisingly Conchita Wurst the favorite to win, with (surprisingly) 3 punkt 5 and Trackshittaz lagging behind. I wouldn't be  surprised if there was a surprise winner in Austria but Conchita and Trackshittaz would be good in Baku.
• Moving North to Germany where we see Roman Lob is the Hot favourite to win, given that he seems to be winning the qualifiers so far this is not surprising. It will most likely be him in Baku, and I do actually need to see him as I have not seen him performing yet.
• Moving further north again to Sweden where Youngblood and Molly Sandén are favourites to progress from semi-final 3 but after yesterday it is clear we need to see the songs first. In terms of the winner of Melodifestivalen 2012 
• So what about ESC? Sweden somewhat surprisingly are riding upfront possibly reflecting the strength of Melodifestivalen 2012. Serbia follows probably because of Zelio Zehomsomethingorother. We will have to hear his song first though. Otherwise the usual suspects are there, Azerbaijan, Armenia etc. Interestingly Ireland is quite high - 14/1 (reflecting Jedward being in our national final). Of the songs picked Norway is 14/1 to win with Denmark behind on 18/1 however one bookie is only offering 7/1 on Denmark making them the clear favorites at this early stage. Cyprus is 25/1. France, despite being well up on fan lists (not mine) is 50/1. The longest odds of a currently picked song is Malta on 130/1.

Melodifestivalen kicks off

The big news today is that Melodifestivalen has kicked off with the web joker competition. I was never a big fan of the web jokker so I'm not expecting anything massive. However sooner or later a web joker is going to win a place in the final so it may be worth a look at.

In Finland 540 entries have been entered with the national final in Feb.

I'm also delighted to say ESC 2011 has won an award for Best Entertainment from the Deutscher Fernsephpreis. Well done Eurovision

Also the video of the day is Edsilla Romebly's new song. Note to the schlagerboys: TAKE A LOOK AT THIS:

And The Winner Of Eurovision 2012 Is.....?: Part 10

In my opinion, August is by far and away the quietest month for ESC. Largely caused by everyone being on holidays. The biggest news is that Ukraine has picked their song for JESC 2011 but unfortunately I can't make up my mind about it. So I will have a review for you tomorrow. Until then Germany is up on the And the winner is series.

Germany

You cannot deny that Germany is one of the most successful countries in ESC in the last two years. However, after two years of Lena Meyer-Landrut, the big question is who or what will represent them next year? Assuming they use the same X-Factor-ish format as 2010, there is little question of its ability to find a winner. [Even without Stefan Raab I expect the format to remain largely the same]. However in a country as big as Germany there is the talent, it’s more about whether they can find it.

Dusseldorf 2013? Most unlikely, while Germany may win the contest again in the next 5/6 years the trend is the previous host does not usually do as well as expected.

Just When You Think You're About To Run Out Of News

As summer arrives Eurovision news declines however just when you think nothing will happen till next week BOOM! Lots out news:


News.az have reported that next year Ell & Nikki will take part in the selection process in Azerbaijan for their 2012 entry. Now even if they have to go back though the washing machine that is Azeri selection process you can pretty much take it that Ell & Nikki will be the singers of the Azeri entry in Baku. This is a copy of what Lena did last year and looks like it could start a tradition that the winning entrant from last year will compete again this year. I think that this is a good idea as it gives the artist an opportunity to showcase some of their other music. It also makes them look like they've done something during the year rather than prepare for the opening act. It also means that the host country has a realistic chance of being in with a shot of winning, which would boost Eurvision just a little more in the host country. Personally I can see them finishing in the 5th-10th range. I think they would need a really strong song to be in the Top 3 and my gut instinct for next year is we will have a repeat of 2006 where there were several normal, strong songs - I'm not saying Lordi will win it again.


As regards the controversial move by the Germans to put Lena in the opening act - well if Nikki & Ell are in Baku next year I think they should form the Interval act with a rendition of Running Scared - after the voting lines have closed.


Germany have announced they will follow the same selection format as 2010. Unser fur Baku hopes to try and find Lena 2. I think the chances of this are slim as Lena is pretty unique for a talent show. Nevertheless I think it could throw up a kind of Jennifer Brown type singer who can deliver a song well, which is all you need for a good placing.   


Raphael Gualazzi has become a success in the eyes of a lot of fans [including me] following ESC. He has announced he will do a duet with 3Js from The Netherlands, which i'm looking forward to. In the meantime Paula Seling from 2010 has release a new single. The SchlagerBoys should like this one - and I love it too.

Germany

= The National Final songs are not allowed to be shared !! =

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Lena Meyer-Landrut
Taken by a stranger
Taken by a stranger (Album version)

Taken by a stranger (Karaoke version)
Taken by a stranger (Pop House remix)

Taken by a stranger (Marco Kassim remix)

Taken by a stranger (Depeche Mode remix)

Taken by a stranger vs. Tainted love (Saint Ken remix) (Lena vs. Soft Cell)

Taken by a stranger vs. Tainted love (Saint Ken Radio remix) (Lena vs. Soft Cell)

Taken by a stranger (Live video at NF)

Taken by a stranger (Videoclip)

Taken by a stranger (Live video at Final)
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Final songs:

Lena - A million and one

Lena - Mama told me

Lena - Maybe

Lena - Push forward

Lena - Taken by a stranger

Lena - What happened to me

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Other semi final songs:

Lena - A good day

Lena - At all

Lena - Good news

Lena - I like you

Lena - Teenage girls

Lena - That again

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Cover versions:

Alex - Taken by a stranger (cover)
Haargel - Taken by a stranger (cover)

Michael Schulte - Taken by a stranger (Acoustic cover)

Nadine & Julian - Taken by a stranger (Acoustic)

Simon - Taken by a stranger (Acoustic)

Pad - Taken by a stranger (cover)

Yiğit Çıtak - Taken by a stranger (Rock cover)

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