Structural Problems With The Crystal Arena?

As reported by ESCDaily problems have been found in the construction of the Crystal Hall in Baku. The faults largely lie in the glass of the arena. It is though that the amplification systems needed for the songs in the Crystal Arena could actually shatter the glass. A friend of mine studying Engineering said that being located so close to water puts the structure in danger with high vibrations from an amplification system.

Azerbaijan explained to the they have low building safety standards and really don't see what the problem is 75% of all structures in Baku completed in the last 10 years are still reasonably sound. The EBU is unhappy about this.

It is understood that further tests will be carried out but it is rumored that the EBU have alerted Rome to prepare contingency plans in the event of an emergency. It is understood Rome simply said that the same plans from 1991 will be good in 2012.

Fan Favourites?

Before any of the OGAE results come in, before everyone completes their reviews we take a look at who might be doing well across the amazing world of Eurovision Fandom.

This year there is no shortage of songs for die hard fans. I think that there is quite a number of strong songs in Eurovision this year and recently EscToday launched their polls of fans. This a good gauge because the readership of the website is so huge that they give a fairly accurate view of fans thoughts on the songs. So I took a look at the results coming through, and then twisted them around in a simple but bizarre formula to get the fan favourite.

So aside from the limitations of the model so lets have a look at the bottom two on the list.

10 Cyprus

11 Netherlands

12 Romania

So this is a interesting batch of songs. Romania are probably correctly gauged and Netherlands look about right in 11th but as you will see as we go up the list there are surprises. Netherlands don't hold a commanding number of 12's in the poll but as we look at 10's they have quite a few. For me Netherlands song as gotten a surprising reaction from fans. Cyrus being in tenth is a surprise as I had assumed that it would come out in the top 5 of this. I firstly thought that the mathematical model might be wrong but no, it only has around 26% 12's.
We now move on to the next couple of songs.

7 Norway

8 UK

9 Germany

I guess the only surprise here Germany, whose song is slightly too inoffensive, in my opinion. I was surprised to see it do so well as it is not being heavily talked about. Norway and the UK is expected, the UK has been gaining as a fan favourite country over the last number of years. Norway, well, is Norway.

4 Spain

5 Italy 

6 Serbia 

On these figures Serbia might seem a little low but it got more 12's than Italy but a lot less 10's therefore Italy is a bit higher. Spain is a bit surprising to see up that far, with no disrespect to Pastora I still think that it isn't a strong enough song to do as well on the night.

1 Sweden

2 Iceland

3 Slovenia

Sweden is certainly no surprise, the only surprise is the amount of 12's they have received. Sweden scored about 56% of the 12's. Iceland also surprised me by scoring just over 50% of 12's, while I had expected them to do well and indeed in second, but the scale of the 12's really surprised me. Really and truly Slovenia is a shock to see it do so well.

In comparison to last year fans appear to be a lot happier with the songs. Last year in EscToday's polls few songs broke 25% of 12's. This year many songs are breaking 25% (about 12 of them). Last year France and Estonia both were touching 40% however this year the top 2 are breaking 50%.  

So this might not be the OGAE, but this is a first look at fan votes. The OGAE usually delivers a highly conservative vote, so it will be interesting to see how it shapes up. Of course I will be keeping a close eye on how these countries vote. Until then we will keep the reviews flowing.

At Least I Like Her Heels, Greece: The Review

On our whistle stop tour of Europe leaving shredded songs behind us we arrive in Greece who this year just about managed to find the cash to get them to Azerbaijan. Anyhow, they saved money on the staging by having it in a shopping mall, well actually, it wasn't half as bad as it sounds. Frankie Boyle suggested to ensure that they did not win Eurovision, Greece should send "The Pedophiles". Well they did not exactly send that, but what they did send it a bit more risky.....

Anyhow, as what regularly happens in mediocre national finals the last song which was above average won. So Greece sent Eleftheria Eleftheriou to the contest with her song Aphrodisiac. So how to describe the song? Think of any Greek entry sung by a female from the last decade. I am confused between whether Greece sent this because it was a safe bet or do they think it is a potential winner. Eleftheria has definitely a song that could be compared to the songs from 2005 and 2008. While I think that this is true there is interesting things to be discussed.

Overall this is a very average entry from Greece and has the usual ethnic-pop styles. The song does not overly change much through out the song, a tangible key change or something that would draw you in a bit more. For me it feels very superficial. There are problems that do go against the song. First and foremost this has been a pretty bad draw for Greece. The third slot is not a good one. They also are sharing a semi-final with Cyprus, which does makes one set of 12 points a near certainty for Greece. However both songs are very similar, maybe Cyprus is not quite as ethnic but it does have a much better place it the running order. Both songs for me are borderline qualifiers, so this will be an interesting one to watch. The only other problem with the song is that Eleftheria has never performed this live. As she is largely an amateur in the singing world, I am not really  convinced that this will be one of the vocally perfect.

However as I alluded to in the title there is one fantastic point where she steps up the backing dances backs with her heels. But enough about any shoe fetishes which I may or not have.  

Verdict:  For me I think that it is a good song but there is limitations to that, I am not going to listen to a bad vocal performance and defend it. I think that this is a borderline qualifier. Overall I think Greece might finally find itself outside of the top 10.

Grade: C+

It's Eric Saade! No, it's Danny Saucedo! No, its TOOJI!

Before I review a song, the first thing that I normally do is go back to the national final and have a look at what I said about it. Just I was reading those I saw all the artists that Norway could have sent. I know Tooji is liked by a good number of fans but sending him to Eurovision was a missed opportunity. In retrospect the song Things Change by Bobby Bare and Petter Oien or else Plumbo would have been the most different choice. I fear that in a stronger year sending Eric Saade Mark II may not have been the best idea but anyhow, that’s what they have given us, now to tear it apart.

The song itself is a strandard Fredrick Kempe style song [even if he didn’t write it] with a strong melody in the background. It does not really build or develop and most of the excitement is hinged on a vocally good bridge in the song. Lyrically it is not overly impressive. Vocally, Tooji has given a variety of vocal performances. They range from fair to very flat. This coupled with the fact he will have live backing vocals at Eurovision may hurt his chances. The performance itself is broadly engaging, focusing on Tooji and his dancing. This may not be the case at Eurovision where the backing vocalists will be singing live and only six people are allowed on stage.

While many fans have been quick to suggest that this is Eric Saade Mark II. I am inclined to agree however that does not mean that he will get the same result as Saade. Generally, for no particular reason songs that are copies of others from last year never do as well the year after. Also the higher standard of other Scandinavian countries will not help Norway, particularly if Sweden goes to the top 3.

Verdict: A missed opportunity for Norway and given that Scandinavia is so this year they may live to regret picking such a generic song. However the strong draw in the semi-finals probably will qualify.

Grade: C+

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.

Lithuania: Love Is Blind, The Song Is Naive

Every year in National Final season we get many “Love Is Insert Title Here” however it is unusual enough to actually see these get to Eurovision. So this year Lithuania decided to change that up a bit and send one of these songs. Cue Donny Montell and his song, Love Is Blind. Which, for me, is not actually a metaphor that I think is true. That aside this is a pretty average sounding song. In fact it is a little bit strange.

The song starts slowly and builds towards a fairly ok chorus and the whole song is very operatic. Part of me is very unsure if it all works together in the first place. Is it an up-tempo song or an operatic song? Who knows? I am also not a fan of the variety of rhythms of the song. The opening and bridge all don’t help the song by being too long. All in all it makes for a rather confusing entry.

So we have all that about the song. Now let’s throw a spanner into the works. The song is drawn last in the semi-final. This position has a great qualification record especially since the introduction of two semi-finals. Only the Netherlands failed to qualify from here in 2009 and let’s face it that needs no explanation. So the question here is can the song qualify? I’m not sure if it can. Semi-Final two is very interesting due to the presence of a good number of Balkan countries, strong songs from the two Scandinavian entries and good entries from Ukraine and Belarus. This will be a difficult entry of pitch here. With so many strong up-tempos and ballads it is difficult to say if Love Is Blind has a large enough base to bring it to the final.

Personally I am not a big fan of this entry. I think that it is just a bit confusing by having so many different rhythms and overly long openings and bridges.

Verdict: This is a rather confusing song that doesn’t have a huge wide appeal. In a strong semi-final it is difficult to see it qualifying but the running order might change that.

Grade: E+

Montenergo, *sighs* The Review

After a minor amount of excitement about Montenegro’s return to Eurovision their choice of their song Euro Neuro by Rambo Amadeus was probably far more shocking. Broadly speaking the medley of this song is dire but we shall strive on to get make 300 words out of this.

The song starts with a rather interesting sudden start which leads into what might be described as a fairly boring and incomprehensible rap. My problem with this song is despite a rather promising start it bursts into this really boring verses. Lyrically this was by no means a success. It is difficult to understand the lyrics largely due to strange pronunciation and the fact that they don’t seem to have any real linear thought or anything. This really annoys me.

We do not know enough about the performance to say what could turn up but I would not be surprised to see Alf Poiner’s animal cut outs or something similar. If Montenegro actually cared about qualifying they might just take into account that by running first in semi 1 i.e. opening Eurovision they may need to be careful to stop people ignoring it as another crazy ESC entry.

As regards qualification it has little chance. Realistically even if it did qualify with the public juries will most likely award this a zero, with no real neighbours in the semi-final (maybe Albania) they probably haven’t much of a chance.

Personally I think this is one of the worst songs sent to the contest in recent years.

Verdict: A dire song but we don’t know enough about the performance to gauge where it might come on the night.

Grade: No Grade – this is because I cannot actually listen to the whole song right through.