Reaction To Rehearsals: Day 2: Part 1 Israel-Denmark

A very good morning to everyone! (Or Afternoon if your in Baku). It is time to start viewing the tapes again and go back to the rehearsals in Baku and see what is coming out of the Crystal Hall. This post will be updated as the day goes on.

Israel - Rehearsal Video
There has been a definite lift in support over the last month for Izabo, who have gone from being a marginal qualifier to a likely qualifier on some peoples lists. While the song might be good I think that the performance might just be lacking the killer blow to push this into the final. It remains a very strong song but there is something more that the performance needs. That said the staging is still good with lots of strange clocks in the background and the backing singers are very strangely positioned which might aid the entry.


San Marino - Rehearsal Video
No one is expecting San Marino to really improve their odds of qualifying drastically. The song is still pretty poor, but the general reaction to her first rehearsal is that it was rather strong, it still was not quite to the standard that we've seen from Iceland and Romania yesterday but overall I think that this vocally good. This song is 7/1 to qualify to the final - surely those odds will shorten just a little today. The problem I felt that was there today was I wondered would people really "get" the song if they are not told explicitly that it's about Facebook?

Cyprus - Rehearsal Video
Vocally I think that this has certainly proved us wrong. Vocals are still a bit lat but it is certainly not the car crash that was expected. The backdrop does have echos of their 2007 entry. I don't fully understand why people are so into this entry and I think that it is one of the weaker entries in this semi-final however there does seem to be a broad expectation that this will qualify. I'm unconvinced though. I haven't seen the camera angles and when there is so much choreography involved you really need to see how it looks on camera. I'm going to sit on the fence for a bit on this entry.

Denmark - Rehearsal Video
There is a very interesting choice of background here and it is a good improvement on the national final. Vocally I think that this is great. The whole package has come together really, really well and I suspect Denmark are most likely going to win this semi-final at this point in the rehearsals. Some have complained that there is too much going on onstage but I think that this is a spectacular performance. Anna Bergendahl comparisons might be on the rise but I think that they are totally out of place here. 

Do You Wanna Have CyberSex Again? Did I Ask For It In The First Place?

So San Marino have made what we call a booboo. What is that? Well its where you decide not to worry about Eurovision until two weeks before the deadline, bring in Raphal Sigel,  then hammer something that looks like an entry but with a few fatal mistakes. College students will be familiar with this approach.

The worst mistake you can make at Eurovision is believe that you need to be contemporary, and this exactly what San Marino have done.

Facebook The Social Network Song, is a total load of rubbish, sung by the wonderful Valentina Montetta who actually a great singer and this song sadly completely undermines her talent. It really is that Eurovision song that goes nowhere. Lyrically it is just dire.

And yet I have a certain affection for this song. It bounces along, it is a real guilty pleasure. But only at times, at times I really haven't the heart to listen to it.

In semi-final 1 there will be considerable competition for places in the final I really cannot see this going anywhere other than home.

Verdict: Far from my favourite but because it can be a guilty pleasure I'll give it a fair grade. Hasn't a hope.

Grade: C+

A Lyrics Change, Is That All?

So we finally have a full and complete song with mention of a certain social media site. As we have already have discussed this could be a problem in the future. Anyway here is Valentina's new song. We think this could make for a great game of spot the difference.

I only just found out that it would seem that Valentina is not actually as young as she seems. Believe it or not she is 37. That concludes my jaw dropping moment of the week.

As regards the song, it's a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. It probably won't go anywhere and I completely understand why you would hate it.

More and More News

So as the National Final season 2012 draws to a close everyone is rushing to get news out before the HOD meeting in four days time. At this point all songs must be finalised. So for those of you who feel you need a machete to get through all the news here's our less sharp machete - bulletpoints.

• Montenegro were first to release their Eurovision song today, sung by Rambo Amadeus the song is Euro-Nuero. To be honest I think this is the worst so far. You can watch it here. 
• Bosnia and Herzegovina were the other song revealed today. To be honest I am disappointed by it. I had hoped that she would be a bit more lively. Instead - it's another piano ballad. You can listen to it here.
• Zeljko Joksimimovic has confirmed that he will sing in Serbian. This is not surprising when you consider how lyrically poor the English Version was. Nina Badric also has confirmed she will not sing in English.
• Tickets for the final went on sale today interestingly they did not sell out which is surprising. This may be caused by Eurovision being so far away this year. I wouldn't be surprised if many fans (like myself) choose not to go.
• San Marino have confirmed that Valentina Montetta will be going to Baku for them. We will wait to hear song before we make a verdict.
• Lots of videos are appearing online for this years Eurovision. I am not going to link to them but most major fan sites will have them.
• We now know that in Belgium they will have the delight of picking between to ballads.
• And finally - there is a multitude of fan videos out there but sometimes the actually catch your eye so much that you actually care about the content. I spotted this excellent video for Jedward that was really impressive. If this doesn't light your fire - why are you reading this blog? [Created by @ed_witha_zzz]
  
  

So that's the round up for the moment. I might not be posting over the weekend as it is St. Patrick's Weekend and that means returning to internet free rural Ireland. So until next time, Ciao.