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.

Reviews: Hungary

Anyone who has spent as much of the day writing for college as I have will understand that I cannot look at the blog without feeling unwell. So I wrote this up a couple of days ago, sorry if it is not fully updated. 

Hungary

Hungary had a huge overall of their selection process this year moving from last years’ internal selection to a three show, 20 song process. I’m not sold on the whole idea that the bigger show the better the song ultimately picked. I think that has more to do with the country.

Ultimately to my surprise they selected Compact Disco to represent Hungary in Baku. The song The Sound Of Our Hearts, is quite a good one. It has a great piano intro and develops into a strong anthemic rock(ish) song. Lyrically this could do with changes in a few spots and maybe even a little Hungarian in spots to cover up some rather strange English lyrics. This would not be an unusual for a Hungarian entry. The song could be better helped by a better arrangement that would take the monotone sound out of the song and involve the audience a bit more. Vocally this is pretty poor and they have not had a good vocal throughout the selection process. This does not fill me with confidence that they will have it together in Baku but a lot can change in three months. As a performance this is reminds me a lot of Greece in 2002 (the robots, remember).

One of the biggest issues with assessing this song is there is very little like it that has been in Eurovision before. My gut would normally tell me that if it is unusual to Eurovision, and is rockish then it probably would be unlikely to qualify. However there is something in this song that I think would make it stand out in a huge stadium it hardly would win but qualifying might be made a little easier.  Personally I like this song even if it is not good enough vocally. I think overall the poor vocal performance may stop it from doing well with the juries who might actually like it otherwise.

Verdict: Qualification rests Compact Disco’s ability to improve their vocal performance, which I suspect will be unlikely. It is a nice song though. Unlikely qualifier.

Grade: C

At Least Iceland Got It Right

So after the big night of Nordic finals and some others it is time to take stock again in what seems to be my Saturday Night routine.

• Hungary have selected Compact Disco for Baku with the song The Sound Of Our Hearts. There is nothing to complain about barring the rather flat performance, review will follow in due course [think weeks not days though].
• Lithuania did something and our friends over at escXtra have a wonderfully concise report here. 
• Sweden - the problem with Sweden is that they have some excellent songs which they then don't pick. This annoys me. We were not remotely impressed with them sending Timoteij to Andra Chansen. Neither are we impressed by who they did send - Ulrik Munther [understandable] and David Lindgren [aimless] but continues the male theme of their final so far. I am starting to think they might send Loreen or if we are extremely lucky Love Generation <3. I am wondering if there might be a lot 
• Iceland provided us with some delight by sending Greta Sálome and Jonsi with their amazing ballad which I cannot spell. Anyway we think it is extremely good and are very happy that they avoided rather poorer songs. Full review in due course [like Hungary, think weeks not days though].
• Norway (sigh) - well let's just say I think they missed a massive opportunity to send a song that would be original and authentic. Instead they send Eric Saade Mark II. Tooji won the vote with 40%, with Nora Foss in second (21%), Bobby Bare and Petter Oien (20%) in third and Plumbo in fouth (15%). This is exact the opposite to how I wanted it to go. Better luck next year Norway. We would also like to briefly say a huge well done to Reidun Saether whose performance was amazing.

 So that concludes tonight but next week will be manic so we will be post regular updates. Azerbaijan will select the representative that has to do the least travelling to Eurovision tomorrow but we don't tend to pay to close attention to that.

A Look Ahead To Tonight

All times mentioned in this article are CET for GMT subtract one.

There is a huge amount on this evening with 3 song selections and 2 semi-finals there is little reason to be bored. 

• Norway kicks of in about an hour at 19:55 for their final pausing at 21:10 and restarting for the super final at 21:40. We are expecting a result from Norway around 22:45. We are hoping for a Reidun Saether/Plumbo victory.
• Sweden gets going at 20:00 with their semi-final until 21:30. I think I speak for many fans by saying vote for Timoteij Sweden.
• Iceland have a two hour show from 21:30-23:30 they will be the last country tonight to give us a song and we sincerely hope that it is by Greta & Jonsi.
• Hungary kick off at 20:15 with a result expected around 22:00.
• If your watching Lithuania their show is from 20:00-22:30.

So we have a long night in store. Time to get the dinner eaten and popcorn on and enjoy every minute of the  biggest Scandinavian weekend of the year. 

Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta and Dublin vs. Kerry

[Skip this paragraph if your not interested in sport] So as we look forward to a great night of national finals we also notice that Dublin is playing Kerry tonight in Gaelic Football which is just a little bad timing but we will keep the Irish people watching Melodifestivalen updated with the score. A little Irish trivia: Dublin bet Kerry last year in the All-Ireland Football despite not being expected to do so. This is a league match which is not so important but being a rehash of last years All-Ireland people will have good expectations.


Moving on to more interesting matters primarily concerning Eurovision:

• Malta picks their Eurovision entry this evening. It is to be done on a 75% jury and 25% public basis. You can read our review of the final here. However to cut it short we are supporting DEBORAH C feat. LEILA JAMES for Malta with their song You Make Me Go Uh Uh. 
• Sweden holds the first semi-final of Melodifestivalen tonight. Read our review here. We are looking forward to seeing Loreen and Marie Serneholt as well as Abalone Dots and Sean Banan. But we have to throw a big shout out to Afro-Dite also. We suspect due to the rather low quality of songs that this could go anyway and we expect a surprise or two.
• Norway holds it's final semi-final tonight in anticipation of their final next week. They will also be giving out a wildcard from the jury but we do not know when they will do this. Our reviews of Norway are here.
• Hungary and Lithuania are also holding semi-finals tonight but we are not covering them for the moment. Our Hungarian reviews can be found here.

So if you thought that tonight was going to be quiet or without a few surprises think again.

And as always our twitter @besteuroblog will be in full swing tonight. Things should be kicking of around 19:00 GMT/20:00CET

We gladly welcome your comments on what you will be watching tonight.

Update: I forgot to do a look at the odds for this week: In Norway Tooij is favorite to qualify to the final. Followed by Lise Karlsnes and Petter Olson & Co. In Sweden Loreen is the favourite to go directly to Globen with either Sean Banan or Dead by April bringing up the rear is Thorsten Flick and The Moniker depending on which bookmaker you use. We cannot find any odds for Malta at the moment but if you know someone offering odds do let us know through the usual communication. 

Girly, Pink and Folk Rock

This was another busy weekend in National Final season. So lets start the bulletpoints:

• Norway held their second semi-final and surprised us by sending Malin through to the final with Tommy Fredvang and Plumbo. Her song is very girly and camp; it was not very good vocally but I think that this is just fabulous. This was badly predicted by us. Plumbo we saw coming and still think that we are expecting to see them in Baku. Tommy we didn't expect but the staging was simply wonderful even if he looks like he comes from Take That. Though Rikke Nordmann didn't make it through we suspect she could be in the running for the jury wildcard.
• Iceland held the last semi-final which saw Greta Sálome & Co. go through to the final with Magni Ásgeirsson. While I am not  a fan of Magni's song, I really liked Greta & Co. In addition the jury wildcard annnounced was as Rósa Birgitta Ísfeld who I was never overly impressed by. I had hoped they would give the wildcard to Íris Hólm.
• I'm not paying any attenion to what is happening in Hungary so I will let The EscInsider fill you in. (She's the most objective of Eurovision Bloggers out there.) Our review of the songs is here.
• France revealed their song today and you can watch by looking at the post below this one. 

The Exciting Weekend Ahead - And I'm Not Around

So from the top this weekend:

Finland hold their first show of UMK - can't pronounce what it stands for. I never was big into talent shows of this nature when it comes to Eurovision, so I'm not put out that I'm missing it.

Norway - Semi Final 2 tomorrow evening. While I may not be watching I will be supporting PLUMBO who I think are simply excellent. Minne-Oh and Malin are also favourites of mine. I think there is a good chance that they will all get through but I would be prepared to bet that Rikke Nordmann may get in over Malin. You can read our review of Semi 2 here.

Iceland - Iceland's third and final semi-final is on Saturday, we are hoping to see GRETA SALOME go through to the final with a second song. I can't call the second finalist but we are sure the later will make it  through. Our review of the show is here.

Hungary holds Semi 1 tomorrow also. We are unimpressed with their songs so far and don't particularly look forward to it. Our review of their songs is here.

Finally France will present their song on Sunday (16:00) from the bit that we heard of the song we are largely unimpressed with it.

While I may not be at home I hope to be on Twitter a little bit over the weekend and will try my best to see the results and have a full piece of reaction by Sunday evening.

The Odd Mix: Hungarian Reviews

This year Hungary opted for a national final format of competition, which surprised me just a little not because the held a national final but the rather strange bunch of songs they put together for it. But this post is already to long so I shall begin.....{I don't know the which songs are in which semi-final by the way}......

Caramel - Maybe it's just me but I don't go for the Hungargian lyrics here. This is so boring in comprision to the song I just heard from MGP. However I will respect professionalism here. Grade: E+

Kállay Saunders András - In spite of the strange opening this builds into a pleasant song. The I Love you is a bit repetitive and unorginal but the music to the song is good. I don't like the rap but overall this is pleasant. Grade: D+

Anti Fitness Club - A bit average but anyhow. Grade: D-

Nika - A slow builder but I think this sounds like it is the most likely to go to ESC. I like this one. Grade: B+

Compact Disco - This song is very modern sounding. The verse is good. This could look well on a stage for the national selection. Grade: D+

Dancs Annamari - This is not schlager but it does it's best. The beat in the background is pretty distracting but could look good if there was on stage. Grade: D-

Gina Kiss - This is a gentle ballad with a female singer (this appears to be a motif of the national final season so far). However there is just something extra that works and makes this song stand out from the others. Her confident vocals are impressive. Grade: C-

Linda Király ft. RH3 & Pras - I am not entirely sure that the song I am listening is the right song but no matter. This is a very modern song and is completely different to many of  the songs that went before it. The rap works well in the the song. Grade: C-

Tibor Gyurcsík - This sounds just a little out of place here. The sound is a little old fashioned. We have heard it a lot in this national final season. I still like it but I don't think that will pull it through to Eurovision. Grade: C-

Juli Fabian & Zoohacker - Very modern song once again, the song develops into a more fast paced song but does this so gently you hardly notice. The vocals are intergral to the song and would need to be excellent on the night for this to carry. Grade: C-

Attila Kokény & Tamara Bencsik - While this sounds like an attempt at Running Scared part 2, it is weaker, a lot weaker. The Hungarian lyrics are not fully doing for me here. Grade: D

Monsoon - This is modern sounding and could do well at ESC but there is something that I just cannot figure out, but I don't love it as I should. Grade: D-

Sophistic - Not that we are big fans of critising females, espeically three rather good looking ones. I think that this song is just a little generic. It doesn't have the power that we need for a pop song to stand out. Grade: D+

Renáta Tolvai - At the start of the song I thought we had a Jungle Book  remake on our hands. (Not that that would be a bad thing). I like this one. It straddles the line between overly pop song and dull pop song well. There definitely is going to be some strange theme with this song. I wish I could understand the lyrics. Grade: B-

Tóth Gabi - The problem with this song is it is very good but there will be a huge tempeation to oversing it. The overstrong choruses might not play well to the ESC audience. Grade: B+

Krisz Rudi - A very orginal jazz  song. I like this it is a bit strange but nevertheless it is still good. Not sure how it might stand out in the final. Grade:C-

Gallusz Niki & Vivy Márton - This is a pleasant song that should stand out in it's semi-final but I can't help but think that this would have struggled in ESC in 1995. Grade:C-

Heinz Gabi - A very pleasant summer song. This might struggle in the semi-finals because it sounds a little out of place for a winter competition but at the same time I think that this may be the most apporperate song for ESC in the summer. Personally I really like this. Grade: B+

Pély Barna, Pál Eszter & Pál István  - A more traditional approach to the Eurovision Song. I don't to know if this actually will stand out to the Hungarian people. Grade: C

Puskás Péti - Not a big fan of this. It doesn't appear to go anywhere. Grade: E

Hungary

.

Kati Wolf
Szerelem, miért múlsz
What about my dreams (Bilingual ESC version)
What about my dreams (Karaoke version)
What about my dreams (Long English version)
What about my dreams (Long Karaoke version)
Szerelem, miért múlsz (Long version)
Szerelem, miért múlsz (Bandesz remix)

Szerelem, miért múlsz (Gábor Deutsch reFix)
Szerelem, miért múlsz (Antonyo & Andreas Short Club mix)
Szerelem, miért múlsz (DJ Dominique remix)
What about my dreams (Videoclip)

Szerelem, miért múlsz (Videoclip)
Szerelem, miért múlsz (Live video at NF)

What about my dreams (Live video at semi 1)
What about my dreams (Live video at Final)
.