The Highs And Lows Of National Final Season 2012 Part 1

With another national final season over us and me being away from blogging and technology for a few nights, we turn our attention back to remember the highs and lows of the national final season that was. While it is almost over it will leave us with some great memories.

Lys Assia Fever

Being the first to hold it's national final (like the Iowa primary in America) the first national final of the year got a huge amount of attention from fans. This was helped by the return of Lys Assia to the contest. While she have gotten a lot publicity from it her song C'est Ma Vie received only came 8th in a show of 14 songs. I still think it would have been a great choice for Eurovision, considering this appears to be a year of oldies. Then there was also the accusations that she was unfairly treated by juries etc. (It was all great gossip).

DMGP
If national finals with semi-finals and heats are not your thing the best single one night national final probably is Denmark. Therefore they get some praise from ourselves. I loved a great number of songs in that final and am very pleased to see that the ultimately sent Soluna Samay to Eurovision.


Bobby Bare 
While any act can throw itself up in a national final Bobby Bare certainly was a surprise. I loved Things Change, even if it did have the huge irony of being a song about things changing but was from a place where things never change. But of all the people who came across as very nice Bobby came across as the true country gentleman. I also was impressed by how well he understood Eurovision and compared it to a guitar club. This is how Eurovision is meant to be.

Mad Show Boys
This does not need words

Juries Correcting mistakes in Iceland
Imagine if we had to watch Blar Opal on stage at Eurovision when a great song like Mundu Eftir Mer left at home. Well this would have been the case if the public had been allowed to vote on their own in Iceland. Thankfully Jonsi & Greta Sálome are going to Eurovision for Iceland.

Part 2 should be up around the same time tomorrow assuming that Blogger scheduler works.

Latvian Reviews In A Rush

Here is our orginal reviews of the songs in the Latvian national final tonight:

Samantha Tina & Davids Kalandija - At first I thought this was a simiple ballad but the chorus proved me wrong, the fact Davids does not come in until the secondd  verse does nothing for the song. However it is a little complex and the arrangement is good. The piano in the background is very effective. But I am still unsure if their voices actually work together. Grade: D-


PeR - Finally an easy name to spell. This is an odd song. You sit there and wonder just what is going to develop into. The trouble is the song is so repetitive I can't see this actually standing out. Grade: E-


Paula Dukure - That’s better, much better. This is a little different and actually sounds like ESC material,  however it would still need a good vocal performance, but listening to Paula sing she should hold notes on the night. Grade: C+


Ruta Duduma - This stripped back and layed back song could do well if sandwiched between two fast songs. For the genre it is rather good. I am rreally liking the chorus. Grade: B-


Andris Abelite - Another song that came through the internet selection. The retro feel manages to stay on the right side of retro/dated. Though the song has a nice jazzy feel it does have real jazz strenght; think Raphael Gaulazzi. A little over repetitive. Grade: E+

Samantha Tina - While this song is good it just appears to be lacking something. Maybe we will feel it when we see it live. Grade: E

Elizabete Zagorska - Sounds a little more Eurovision. It builds wonderfully well but then….The interlude between the verse and chorus feels just little a car crash that comes out of nowhere. The wind instrument in the background does not help at all. The verse is good though. Grade: D

Mad Show Boys - Oh yeah! Here is a real folk song. However while I enjoy it, all that goes through my head is the Slovenian entry in 2010. I still think this is ok with sentiments from the beatles. Grade: B+

Trianas Park - All of the songs in this semi are just terrible and this really is no different. Grade: E+

Anmary - Despite the title this is not a very beautiful song. The songs lyrics do not make much sense. The song is full of cliques however it seems very average and just needs to shift to another gear. Grade: E-

So hopefully Latvia will select The Mad Show Boys For Baku....

Tonight: It's Another Super Saturday

Today sees a huge marathon of shows across Europe. 4 Acts will be selected today/tonight we know one of those already that is Ukraine who had their final at the ungodly hour of 11:30 CET - here in Ireland that's 10:30 and I wanted a lie on more than I wanted to watch Ukraine. So I didn't see it but I have seen the winner. [full post later].

Otherwise two songs will be presented tonight - that's Italy [who I am very much looking forward to hearing] and Croatia. Croatia will have a special show at 20:00 CET which lasts one hour so we such hear the song around 21:00 CET. Italy will present their song as well tonight and I suspect that it could be very late tonight [after 23:00 CET] before we hear the song I am not sure what I will be watching tonight so I recommend watching the usual channels for information about Italy.

Latvia also will select their entry tonight in a dual final format. The first will be at 18:00 CET [about one hour from now] and the second super final will be at 20:00 CET. I will throw up the review shortly.

Sweden holds the third semi-final of Me.lodifestivalen tonight at 20:00 CET. You can read our reviews of it here.

Lithuania holds a semi-final too at 20:00 CET. Estonia holds one which starts at 20:30 CET. You can read our reviews of the Estonian semi-final here.

This may all be bit  confusing so I recommend the page that escXtra have developed.