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.

Another Look At The Betting Odds

In the last two weeks we have looked at the odds for Eurovision 2012 in the semi-finals but today we will now look at the odds overall. I'm using PaddyPower for this because they are fairly large (and accurate) and oddschecker is not always accurate. 

Unsurprisingly Sweden is up front by a long chalk. 2.25/1 is the odds, I'm holding out til rehersals until I put a bet on Sweden as I suspect the odds will start to widen at that point. In second are Russia and Italy on 7/1, which is more like the kind of odds I'd expect at this point of the year. I think both of these entries are risky and could conceivably drop much lower than this on the night. They'll still be on the left of the scoreboard though. Serbia is a far safer bet, and aside from Sweden the only country that I am pretty sure will be in the top 10. PaddyPower allows you to bet each way on four places. I'm not sure that Serbia will be one of these. 

Then we move out a little to 14/1 in here we have: Denmark, UK and Ireland. There can be little surprise that Ireland is doing well with an Irish bookmaker. Denmark is about right at 14/1, I think they might not break last years 5th place but top 10 is well within the reach of Soluna Samay. The UK might be a little overhyped given the risk could be associated with Engelbert's performance but also [far more importantly], the UK has a fairly poor running order position.

Next we come to Spain on 18/1 which is no surprise given that Pastora Soler is an excellent performer with a pretty strong song. I actually think that the odds are a poor reflection of this song, I don't expect that it will rip forward into the top 3, but given the songs strength and good running order, I'd say that top 10 should be with in reach. At 20/1 is Germany, which I cannot see making the Top 10 let alone winning and Turkey. Turkey is interesting because reports from Netherlands Eurovision party were not good, but I will await further reports from Baku before I decide what to make of it.

Iceland is at 22/1, which some might argue is a good bet, then Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Norway are at 25/1. Norway might also be a good bet, Romania is pretty accurate but Greece and Cyprus look a bit a ahead of themselves, particularly Cyprus. Then there is a substantial gap to Azerbaijan at 40/1. To be honest it's a poor song but Azerbaijan are Azerbaijan and they will leave a mark on the scoreboard no matter what. Being the hosts will also help. Then at 50/1 are Slovenia, Estonia and Netherlands. Netherlands are the odd men out here. I think this might be caused by a couple of fans putting on money but we shall see.

I shall refrain from going beyond here as to do so would be pointless, suffice to say I don't think that the others have much of a fighting chance.

Surprise!: More points to Sweden

While we have been giving some coverage and opinion to the results of the OGAE votes. However as the results seem to be pointing in one direction it seems aimless to continue giving coverage to Sweden winning each club. Full results are available over on www.escxtra.com.

It is very unsurprising to see that Iceland is coming second either, fans have been behind both of these entries since the start.

The most interesting trend is the fact that the Netherlands came second in the UK but didn't score so well in many other fan clubs. I suspected that this would be the case as it seems that the fans would love the entry are mainly British. That is not to say that other fans [including myself] do not really like it but I think it is mainly peaking in the UK.

LESS THAN 4 WEEKS TO EUROVISION

I know that things are falling behind here but while Eurovision may be just around the corner, for me, that corner is called college exams. Anyhow its going to take another ten days and then a further 3 days to get over the after exam party hangover. Anyhow there is a small bit of business to be talked about:

• I've only just realised that the first semi-final of Eurovision is less than 4 weeks away. YAY
• The good people running West-End Eurovision this year are going to streaming it live tomorrow night on their website.
• Spain and the UK have announced the results of their OGAE votes, full results are over on escXtra. Unsurprisingly Sweden received both 12's. This leaves Sweden in the lead. Italy and Netherlands got the two sets of 10 points. UPD: As I was writing this I noticed that Finland and Croatia have also awarded 12 points to Sweden and Loreen. This now puts Sweden on course for a landslide victory - It's all starting to remind me of Norway 2009.
• Finally Eurovision Croatia sent me over a video which I actually think is very heartwarming and nice to see fans out and about rather than simply on the internet. You can see it here.

Serious+Eurovision+UK= ?

As strange as it seems these three words all appeared appeared in an article on The Guardian blogs. The word "not" does not even appear in the sentence. Anyway without mention of the word Melodifestivalen, the blogger makes the vaguest possible terms they basically ask questions I've had for ages.

The Article is available here.

All credit to ESCNation for finding this.

UK Finally Reveals Their Song

At long last we now have all 42 songs, and we now know the UK entry.

This year the UK managed a fair achievement of becoming the most  hyping up a selection process solely on Twitter and by giving fans a little information was humanly possible [which makes us all seem fierce intelligent really]. Rather than spending half my evening writing up my thoughts the good people at JOYEurovision have a good podcast on it [It's only four minutes too].



I think they are broadly right in their thoughts and their fairly similar to my own. I like the song itself, but like Albania it's not something that I desperately want to see at Eurovision, it's more something it'd listen to in my own private time. [I can't figure out why I think that way though].

While it might be a good song it just doesn't sound like one for Eurovision. I also suspect that this could be a bit like France last year. France's classical opera style song was broadly liked by fans, but ultimately was a dive on the night. While we can talk about poor on the night performances and being draw beside Italy. My Dad [a huge classical music fan] heard it on the radio on the radio before the contest and thought it was pretty boring. I think the UK could end up the same way. Largely because the song does not draw you in fast enough.

The fact that it really is meant to be anthemic but then goes and does not build in the second verse really doesn't help the song. I would also lower the guitar sound and bring in a little more orchestra to add the real British touch. The trouble is because the UK have left it all so late, they cannot make real changes at this stage. It would have been better to present this song and take a look at fan reaction, make changes then produce a final version.

The UK had the chance to produce something really strong but this could fail because of the draw (That's tomorrow). But everything about the UK has surprised me this year, so maybe the result will too.

Eurovision Overload!

It seems that much has happened in Eurovision since I left on Friday and to be honest I'm hardly able to keep up with it all but here are my thoughts:

• May as well start on a positive note. Azerbaijan have presented their Eurovision entry sung by Sabina. I really thing this is good. It might not win (it has an outside chance) but really it is quite nice. You can watch the video here.
• The widely anticipated entry from the UK was released today, you can listen to it here. I will have much more on this in a later post. 
• As many videos arrive in we are seeing a couple of songs being tweaked a little bit. I don't really pay much attention to this as the changes are rarely noticeable. However Belarus have done a pretty big overhaul of their song which does help it a small little bit. You can hear there song here.
• Albania have cut down their song to three minutes and presented it in a video that to be honest looks like is out of a horror film. I still think that it is a strong song. The video is here.
• Belgium have presented their song Would You by Iris. It's a fairly basis ballad and I can't see it going to far but we'll see what juries do in semi-final 1. You can listen to the song here.

Finally I hope you all enjoyed St. Patrick's Day while some people decided to do some odd things (Green Ice Tea and Jedward?, seriously). I had a more traditional one involving buying 20kgs of seed potatoes. 

The Highs And Lows Of National Final Season 2012 Part 3

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. Part 2 continues our series. #

As I should be back tomorrow so we will be back to normal but just to point out that tomorrow we should finally hear the UK entry and any others we have not heard yet. But in the meantime our series continues.

The Best Song Of The National Final season
I was one of the few fans who felt that this was song of national final season 2012 but here it is (feat. the amazing Sara Li):

Jedward's Fans
Forget Jedward they were soooo yesterday's post - they have fans lots of them - and they are about as nutty as them. Follow a few on Twitter and find out.

Greece Holding Their National Final in a Shopping Mall
I know things in Greece are bad but seriously I didn't think that a shopping center would be the best option to film a national final but anyhow that's their choice. We only need to panic about them if they win Eurovision and they propose a variety of farms with barns on which to hold their national final.

Sarah Dawn Finer - Comedian? 
I don't think anyone expected something so excellent in terms of humour from the Swedes but by God did they do so. This was such a great sketch that we had to share it once again.

Our Eurovision Friends
Without going for a big cheesy ending we just would like to say that the greatest trill of all was having so many people to talk to on Twitter or otherwise for national final season. Thank you all so much.

Did we miss something? Yes, we did, but we didn't see every national final. If you think that their was something that we missed do get in touch via the Contact Us! section and if we think that it is worthwhile we will put it up in a Part 4. (Obviously giving you full credit with a link).

Melodifestivalen Is Over. What Are We Waiting On?

Normally the end of Melodifestivalen usually occurs the Saturday before the HOD [Heads of Delegation] meeting. This year they decided to play with us fans a little and have it a week later. This means that there are a couple of songs missing still. So to round up what we're waiting on:

1. Montenegro - Song Presentation - Thursday 15th March 8:00pm CET.
2. Bosnia&Herzegovina -  Song Presentation - Thursday 15th March 8:00pm CET.
3. San Marino - There is a variety of rumours coming from San Marino about who will represent them. The latest one is that local singer Valentina Monetta and will be written by Raleph Sigel. [We're not saying that it is correct.] We suspect we will get a confirmation either today or tomorrow. 
4. Belgium - We patiently await the final national final of the year in Belgium. I'm not going to be watching it as it is St. Patrick's Day and I will be with my family but hopefully they will pick something good.
5. UK - The UK has caused many a fan to rip out a parts of their hair. But Engelbert Humperdinck's song will be revealed on the 19th March - the day of the deadline. That's cutting it fine.

Sorry? Engelbert Humperdinck You're joking!. Oh your not...

It's finally official: BBC has lost their minds. Send Engelbert Humperdinck to Eurovision.

Time has come to give a reaction. I never have spent an hour after an announcement think about this one. This is a most strange move by the BBC and will divide people. Personally I think that it that he is a little to old for the contest. I'm not saying that in the sense of his age it's more his music style that is old. At the grand old age of 75 he will be one of the oldest performers ever on the Eurovision stage. While he may have the world's greatest songwriters behind [no seriously, they actually could be the world's greatest], he will come across as just a little has been.

I accept the arguements of both sides of the debate. I'm quite a fan of the old music myself. I think the Engelbert [full name to long to write] is quite a distinguished name from that era. However I am unsure that despite the great era of music it may not be fit for the Eurovision stage. I also am unsure whether or not juries will perceive him as being a little to yesterday or not. It is perfectly possible that they would not. But if they did it would really kill the UK. My guess on the whole issue is that BBC picked someone who the tabloids might actually treat humanely thus raising the basic public perception of Eurovision.

I have noted the many comments on Twitter in regards to his selection my favorite coming from Danny Lynch:  "If this was my laptop I'd probably have smashed it against the wall in sheer annoyance". However after the intitial shock most fans are now giving more logical reactions and less emotive reactions like Ian Howell who pointed out that "My objection is that he doesn't represent a popular strand of British music. No top 20 hit in UK in 40 years"  On a macro level I am noticing that the very young generation of ESC fans [i.e. 20 or less] are tending to be disgusted with the news. The mid range [20-30] seem to vary and older than 30 seem to support him. Of course this is just a rough outline and there are many in different categories.
Finally I accept the argument that people over 30 watch Eurovision [like my parents and grandparents]. I just believe that they don't vote very much compared to younger demographic groups. However over-30's won't be enough. Judging reactions I think that you would need to be over 67 to really like him.

As a Commerce [fancy word for Business Studies] student I would really love to know the long term BBC Eurovision strategy is and what they have identified as the core points of competition between entries to justify such a decision.

But anyway we leave the last word to Eddie Izzard [thanks to the EscInsider for reminding me of this one.]

Silence of the UK Could Be Starting To Do Damage

The quietness of BBC Eurovision department is rather annoying for fans but more than that, it really is starting to do the UK Eurovision damage the UK's creditably and their entry. I have long argued that the UK has either one of two things: 1. They cannot find anyone worthwhile to send to Eurovision and are frantically trying to trying to find someone or 2. They have got someone really big and are keeping them under wraps. So what is the problem here? What are they doing?

The problem is simple. Last year the UK sent Blue to the Eurovision Song Contest and did very well for themselves coming 11th (I know some fans complain but given the song and the jury performance it was respectable). The BBC had sent out a flare to the rest of Europe. We're going to take this seriously and actually try and get a win in the next few years. Or so we thought. If they actually hadn't got a singer that would be a ery bad sign. However I think that the second theory is more than likely the correct one.

Last year many fans may remember that three names started to circulate around about the BBC Eurovision entry. Once we knew there was no national final, names started to appear and were quickly brought down to three suspects: Pixie Lott; Katherine Jenkins and Charlotte Church. In the end it was Blue. So what was the fuss all about?

Well this time last year the Beeb knew two certain things. 1. The Queen holds her {Those who know insert number here} anniversary on the throne. 2. Britain is to host the Olympics. 2012 really is the year that Britain has a huge opportunity to wedge itself toward the front of international recognition. They will not have this kind of chance again. So why not top it off with a Eurovision win while your at it? Ewan over on the podcast said at the time that many of the names in circulation were to big and would have to be booked a year in advance.

Exactly, a year in advance.

Could one of the big names be off to Eurovision for the UK. Did they sign the contract  Based on the points above we suspect this is the case. However here is where the problems arise. While us romantic fans like to believe that it is all down to the way the song goes on the night of the contest is what is important, the reality is that promotion is always a good thing and generally will merit a song a higher place on the table than it could have got without promotion. This is where the UK's silence is really starting to hurt. If they had come, armed with a big artist and song in Janurary, they could have launched a whirlwind national final tour. Because they have delayed their press and promotion they have lost out just in being mentioned by people discussing Eurovision on TV.

So who could it be off the list? Katherine Jenkins is my favourite singer [Yes I have favourites outside of Eurovision] Well, I know for a fact that Katherine Jenkins quit ITV's show Popstar to Operastar [which happens around the time of Eurovision] claiming that it might get in the way of her tour. Here's the thing - there is no tour. She has a big gap in her calender from around March-Oct. this year with one engagement in June. She launched an album last year, so there is no real reason for such a gap.

Of course this is only speculation and I have no doubt you say the same about lots of Artists.

UPD: Where is the UK?

At this stage we've heard from almost every western country with the exception of the UK. As far as we can see there is no evidence to suggest that they will not use internal selection this year. So while I expect this it still does not make sense why the UK are not saying anything. This leads to more questions than answers:

• Have they got some big name artist that they are trying to  keep secret until the last minute
• Can they not get anyone well known and are embarrassed.  
• We know the BBC are not overly happy with ESC being in Baku but are trying to figure out how to deal with it.
• Is there a risk that BBC might not be at ESC this year?

Which brings me nicely to my next question Where is the full list of participates? It really is strange.

Update (and correction): We have had quite a bit of reaction to this piece and would firstly like to thank people for getting in touch. It is the opinion of The Best Eurovision Blog that the UK is highly unlikely to not go to Eurovision. I was actually trying to highlight the fact that I think that they have a good singer up their sleeves. However the idea that the UK may not come to Eurovision is one that comes from a memo to the BBC from the EBU. The EBU claims that the BBC are against Azerbaijan hosting the contest and are trying to hurt their bid by claiming they are violating human rights. The idea BBC may withdraw is utter speculation but part of the aims of this blog is to do so.

So What To Look Forward To.

Scléip boy, things are getting busy. 


I not going into what scléip means but it seems the right thing to say at this point in time. I had planned out the articles required over the next 10 days in the run up to National Final. However looking at the calender we need to get moving now. I had intended to write this piece over the next few days and publish it in due course. However it has crashed forward into this week. Due to the National Finals this week you may find that

What to expect this year:

• Ireland - I think Jedward is definately going to be there for Ireland again this year. I'm not looking forward to the National Final/Late Late Show. I expect very few quality songs. In fact I don't know how RTÉ will scrabble together five songs for The Late Late Show. We should expect them to be together with Linda Martin as their mentor. They are currently staring in the Olympia Pantomime together.  
• UK - I'm not exactly sure what the UK will do this year, everything will be down to who they get to sing this year.
• France - Not expecting them to beat their placing last year.
• Spain - Expecting a strong song that is tipped to win but will come about 8th (Not scoring as well as expected with juries)
• Norway - Not sure if their plan to change MGP (dropping Andra Chansen) will have much impact. Norway usually have one of the best National Finals and I expect that they will deliver a strong song this year
• Sweden - For the love of God: Pick Timoteij. Really you just don't know what Sweden will do next. There are some returning faces to Melodifestivalen but there are also some strong new ones. It's something to look forward to.
• Denmark - I think Denmark are the most likely to win this year, but that is just my intuition (or those random feelings you get in the middle of the night after a few drinks). However Denmark really seem to be going for the victory this year and seem to keep mentioning that they came so close in the last two year.
• Italy - I really am unsure what will arrive out of San Remo this year but I think Italy (if they put their minds to it) have a selection process that could be good for picking a song that will clean of jury votes for the final.

Overall I am expecting one of the strongest line ups of songs given that the Swiss and Albania songs are well above average so far.

Manifesto

As promised I found WiFi (somewhere) so here our ideas. This piece was meant to be about the more surreal aspects of Eurovision and my more mad ideas. However it lead to the development of many other ideas.

Should the UK send the Christmas no. 1 to ESC?
This question is raised given that the earliest a song may be published is now 1st September. So might we see the military wives at the ESC. This might not be possible if no.1 is an x factor winner.
This also could be a problem given the national selection rules due to come in next year. Perhaps, we could have the highest placed original song from the charts at christmas.

Return of the orchestra

I know that not every fan is not hung up about the return of the orchestra. However I believe that the orchestra could return. The main reason that this is opposed is because of the number of songs the orchestra would have to learn. However my solution is to have one orchestra for the first semi final and a different one for the second. Then at the final both orchestras would play. This would have been a problem when ESC was in smaller venues, but now when you are looking at over 20000 seating venues this really wouldn't matter.

And One More Thing

In continuing to recap on the news around Eurovision I shall endure to continue:


The Cypriot song this year will be sung in English. This is not surprising as the singer will most likely bring a very contempory sound from Cyprus, but still they have entered 2 songs in their own language in the last 4 years.


DMGP has won an award for their excellent programme that attracts many viewers each year, and had a 70% share of viewers this year. The album of the songs in DMGP charted well in Denmark. It is one of the best National Finals on the go, both in terms of quality of the music and general staging. Unfortunately due to the high intensity of the National finals I overlooked DMGP in favour of Melodifestivalen. When I came back to it I realised just how good it was and I am delighted to see it receive an award. I'm also delighted to hear DMGP is to occur in late January when there is a less intense national final season.


The big story that I forgot to report on over the last week was that eurovision.tv is reporting that the Spice Girls are considering to try to go to Baku. Normally I would dismiss this as speculation, however Eurovision.tv is quite a reliable source. While I have nothing against the Spice Girls I would warn the BBC and UK against allowing them directly through to Eurovision without any form of National Final. I believe this was key in Blues somewhat failure to break the Top 5 at Eurovision. At least the national final puts artists under an amount of pressure.


Ukraine has announced their plans for 2012, which involves a talent show style National Final. However you never really know with Ukraine. Ani Lorak and Filipp Kirkorov are thought to be involved.


So that brings the news articles to an end. Tomorrow I will continue with the And The Winner Of Eurovision 2012 is........ series. 


In other news, Saturday night saw the return of X Factor on TV. (Being in Ireland I can see it.) I was very impressed with an Irish girl - Janet Devlin. You can see her performance here.

And The Winner Of Eurovision 2012 Is.....?: Part 8

UK

Finally we come to the UK. After finishing behind Jedward in this year’s contest, The UK was less than happy with 11^th place. The UK has by far the most developed and best resourced music industry in Europe. Together with the BBC looking for much more high profile stars the question really should be why they would not win Eurovision. But there are obstacles to be overcome such as the British Tabloids hating Eurovision and the BBC, even with Blue, were not prepared to go all out to support them like their counterparts did in RTÉ for Jedward. The question with the UK is who to send. I think the boy band line BBC seems to follow may give them some success but may not get a win. I think going down the Katherine Jenkins route with real popera such as her version of the song Bring Me Back To Life would go down well at Eurovision. Rebecca Ferguson may not be the obvious choice [X factor contestants have had varying success at Eurovision] but her rather distinctive voice, and ability to sing a pop song well, may go down well in Europe. The UK has so much to choose from they should follow the French and go for something not so seen on Eurovision regularly.

Cardiff 2013? Or whatever city the BBC chooses. Really this is down to who they pick. There is the potential to win the contest in the UK it is a matter of taking the risk rather than settling for a mid-table position.

As with Sweden, I will have a piece on who should represent the UK in August. More news tomorrow.

The Break Up Of The UK

I was wondering what I should write today, however it seems my mind was made up for me. Unusually I seem to have started a little debate over on EscInsight, about the possible break up of the United Kingdom at Eurovision and I shall continue it here. 


Firstly I believe the UK has lost the plot with Eurovision. As the European country with the largest music industry in Europe you'd think they could produce a credible song [cough, cough, Josh]. It is often said that Eurovision is younger person's game, and therefore the BBC decide to send Blue. Allow me to put this in context. I'm a young student and on the night I saw the BBC announce Blue as their choice the first thing I did was look them up on Wikipedia. I never heard of them. 


Blue did do their best. (If their best was what happened on the Friday night jury final.) For me the UK does not work as a Eurovision Country. And this is largely due to the shear size of BBC. Unlike their counterparts in RTÉ who know what all out promotion and drumming up National support is (Jedward are national hero's here), BBC failed to invigorate the British Public. They must do this to try and counteract the infamous British tabloids.


One of my key beliefs with Eurovision is national support for a Eurovision is really important and I believe that national support and how well a country does are strongly connected. I believe that the solution to the problem is to Break up the UK into the four parts. This could lead to some healthy internal competition within the UK. Which may deliver a good result. Some national pride needs to be brought to the table. While this blog is not Political, it would not surprise me if Alex Salmond was to push for this to try and build up the idea of the national Scotland.


As regards the "Big" status I would expect England to take that, with Wales, Northern Ireland andd Scotland in the Semis.