Eurovision 2008

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:20:47 GMT

Everyone quite finished now?

Turkey I

Fri, 04 May 2007 16:18:19 GMT

As I need to get away, this'll be a very short sharp single listen assessment. It's very much an ESC song of the 2000s, as Wogan will probably say - simple chorus which is nearly repetitive enough to grate but not quite, lots of movement on stage, that sort of Aegeanpopstil that we've heard a lot of lately... Kenan's got a lot of fans here and looks like he's going to have a good go at this thing. As for my own opinion? I really haven't seen enough to form one! Looks alright though, generally speaking.

Slovideo

Fri, 04 May 2007 14:50:37 GMT

There's a reason why I normally let the other fella do these...



"Slovenia with a rubbish camera" on Google Video
That which it claims to be...

Slovenia with a rubbish camera

Fri, 04 May 2007 14:48:39 GMT



"Slovenia with a rubbish camera" on Google Video
That which it claims to be...

Serbia I

Fri, 04 May 2007 07:02:25 GMT

Good morning! First, the administrivia - we're not sure why the Poland video has been removed, but rest assured that our technical support team is working round the clock to resolve the problem. Aren't you Phil?

Now, I believe it's traiditional at this point to ask climate-related questions regarding the capital city of the country whose song is being played. In spite of my raddled cynicism, I think I've seen something I didn't see yesterday - a genuine potential winner. It's strongly Balkan-tinged, yet still accessible to the wider audience, like me. You need big points from every corner of Europe to win this thing, and Marija is well placed to get them. I'm also a sucker for Titanic-flutey bits... Ooh, I think I just had my first Eurovision goosebump of the season!

Croatia I

Thu, 03 May 2007 17:19:15 GMT

I have to confess that I didn't have huge expectations of this one, and I haven't been surprised - except possibly by the sheer depth of dullness that it achieves. It's really a piece of restaurant music, by which I mean that it's making me want to go to a restaurant in preference to being here suffering a slow death by electric guitar. I feel that I have to hang around for Poland, otherwise we'd be eating already probably.

On the positive side, oneurope, who has given up trying to attach his laptop to t'wireless around here, thinks the set looks fantastic.

And a final wah...

Thu, 18 May 2006 12:45:03 GMT

Evil Phil's finally about to stop making my dress rehearsal review fall off the page. How kind!

Treble wah! (appropriately enough)

Thu, 18 May 2006 12:16:56 GMT

Evil Phil's *still* making my dress rehearsal review fall off the page. How rude!

Double wah!

Thu, 18 May 2006 11:54:32 GMT

Evil Phil's still making my dress rehearsal review fall off the page. How rude!

Linas and Simona take 2

Sat, 08 May 2004 08:33:31 GMT

We're seeing them in full costume now, and I'm more impressed with her than with him. He starts off in a white vaguely military jacket which he takes off at a key point (how original!) to reveal an underjacket with a big pink heart on it. Prior to that he does a little bit of Acting and throws his single red rose on the floor and repeatedly asks Simona what happened to her love and... oh, I don't know. I think I've gone all tired and jaded, but this doesn't impress me much at all really. Not ruling it out as a cauliflower for the final, but it'll be borderline if it does.

I'm bored

Thu, 06 May 2004 12:06:38 GMT

It's all down to that Ivan Mikulic bloke. He's boring. Even he looks bored. He stretched for a few notes which was slightly interesting, but other than that... I'm just bored!

After Lunch

Thu, 06 May 2004 10:33:47 GMT

Well, I call it lunch... it was more of a brief pause, really. Interesting to hear the call to prayer during the break. There's a certain amount of culture shock here, but a good kind.

Platin are rehearsing in white suits, and the backdrop has some big pink and yellow flowers falling down behind them. It's all a bit Planet Latvia, really. It's yet another song that seems to have a certain something that I hadn't noticed before I got here. They look nice and sound good and I like them. Whether they're a finalist I wouldn't quite like to say.

The jury spokespersons...

Sat, 24 May 2003 13:47:35 GMT

Theyļl hand out anything around here...

Iceland - Eva Maria Jonsdottir
Austria - Dodo Roscic (though rumour has it that it might not be)
Ireland - Pamela Flood
Turkey - Meltem Ersan Yazgan
Malta - Sharon Borg
Bosnia-Herzegovina - Ana Vilenica
Portugal - Helena Ramos
Croatia - Davor Mestrovic
Cyprus - Loukas Hamatsos
Germany - Axel Bulthaupt
Russia - Jana Churikova
Spain - Anne Igartiburu
Israel - Michal Zoharetz
Netherlands - Marlayne
UK - Lorraine Kelly
Ukraine - Lyudmyla Hariv
Greece - Alexis Kostalas
Norway - Roald Oyen
France - Sandrine Francois
Poland - Maciej Orlos
Latvia - Girt Licis
Belgium - Corinne Boulangier
Estonia - Ines
Romania - Leonard Miron
Swededn - Kattis Ahlstrom
Slovenia - Peter Poles

Also, the official list of passive participants is:

Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, FYR Macedonia, Lithuania, Switzerland and Serbia/Montenegro.

Bulgaria are a bit of a surprise, and membership of that list may or may not affect the list of countries eligible to enter the semi-finals next year.

Italy, Kosovo, and Australia are named alongside USA, Armenia and Puerto Rico as Participants Supplementaires

To avoid repeating myself...

Sat, 24 May 2003 12:01:06 GMT

I've reported on the final dress rehearsal on the oneurope Live Journal. That might well be it from Latvia, until after the contest (in which case, that might well be it from Latvia until I'm back in Britain!)

Oh, I don't know...

Fri, 23 May 2003 20:02:26 GMT

I haven't relly got time to do a full review, unfortunately - desk space is at a premium and Phil wants to go back to the hotel. It's just an absolutely fabulous show, you will laugh out loud at the presenters, and for once it will be for the right reasons.

Last year I came out and named the winner. This year I can't. I've had Sweden, Turkey, Austria(!), Ukraine, Poland, Estonia and Latvia all quoted at me since I left the hall, and that might not even be all of them. All are serious possibilities though.

Some notable omissions though - Iceland didn't really get noticed as the first song, surprisingly. Germany were professional but overshadowed, Netherlands really does have the problem draw after the break. Portugal, whilst fab, wasn't remembered by the end.

And then there's Russia.

There was only one of tATu tonight. The other one has a doctor's note and didn't perform. The one got booed on and off stage, which was rather unfair as the poor girl looked completely lost trying to put on half a performance. Apparently, they didn't complete a performance at the technical rehearsal either. If they don't complete tomorrow, all they have to cut to in the event of... well, in the event of needing something to cut to, is half a performance. We're racking our brains to work out whether there's grounds for disqualification - there surely must be... mustn't there???

Nonetheless, the whole show is fabulous, and I simply can't call it, or even narrow it down to a small number of candidates.

Tomorrow I'll see the second dress rehearsal on screens here in the press centre. It should be interesting.

Hello again, public...

Thu, 22 May 2003 13:58:53 GMT

Where have I been? I haven't done an update for ages!

Apparently Israel were terrible last night. However, I didn't see a runthrough, my sources only saw one, so it ain't necessarily so.

I also had my first taste of ESC parties last night - Norway and Israel. Norway's was a rather dull affair where Jostein did three songs and we got free food. Israel's was rather like a wedding reception in a village hall, Lior and Lynn Chircop each did their song live, there was lots of old ESC music, and we got free food. We did, however, decline Karmen Stavec's invitation to share a long slow Nanana at the Euroclub.

Onwards.

Netherlands looked great *again* this morning. The draw damages it so much, but I think it may be the best of the year. Nothing really new to report, they still look like they're having tremendous fun being on stage though.

The UK weren't as embarrassing as on Tuesday. They were in their stage outfits, in spangly reds and whites, the choreography seemed slightly toned down, she's still singing better than he is. It actually might not finish last.

Ukraine do put on a good show, I must say. It's impressing people in the hall, but it's just sooooo Eurovision-by-numbers... it's not a 66/1 shot, but I'm not sure that anyone's going to win money betting on it.

Greece I didn't see. My stomach is important to me and it was lunchtime. Sorry guys... my professional journalistic streak is slipping away as the week progresses!

Norway were looking better than on Tuesday. I don't like Jostein's voice much, but I accept that that just goes with the song. Also had our first glimpse of the captions, complete with spelling mistakes. Tsk.

France aren't really doing it for me. Lovely song, very well sung, but she looks like Joy Merryweather from Drop The Dead Donkey dressed up as Sally Smedley from same. Sorry. It kinda distracts me!

Poland is still goosebumpy, but Michal is struggling to get the end of the performance right. He hasn't really got enough time for the amount of charging about he needs to do, and could quite easily wind up looking stupid if he's unlucky.

Russia. Ho hum. They rehearsed, the backing track was softer, they didn't really do anything shocking... I fear that if there's nothing shocking, there's not very much left to make anyone vote for it.

Belgium, poor souls, had three men and a dog watching their rehearsal. They did seem to be having a few problems again, there was lots and lots of vocal gymnastics going on between their few runthroughs. It isn't really interesting enough, I don't think.

I'm biassed regarding Estonia. I think they're great, they still have a fabulous devil-may-care attitude to the whole thing, and they're perhaps the only ones in the contest who look like a real pop group. Vaiko coped admirably with the Romanian backing tape accidentally being played... it looks like something that could survive outside of ESC, perhaps more than any other of this year's entries.

Finally, Romania. See Tuesday. Still singing well, but still far, far too busy onstage.

Now, must go and stalk Ruffus at their press conference! :-)

We restart with...

Wed, 21 May 2003 14:18:47 GMT

Cyprus continue to fail to impress. There are changes at the back end of the dong, he goes a bit more "freeform" at times, but it's still not really making things happen.

Germany still looks like a big danger, although I thought it was a little weaker today than on Monday. Perhaps I'm getting more attuned to this thing now. Lou sounds very good, but I'm not so sure about the backing vocals. All the same, they look good as a group and people are whistling it around the complex.

Latvia still aren't quite there either, though I reckon they're getting closer. I wonder whether I maybe know the song too well at this stage, given that I first heard it back in December. It also struck me that it's maybe better suited to being an opening number than an entry, perhaps? I'm also irritated by a little bit of camerawork at the beginning... far as I'm concerned, the first time the camera should see Yana is when she pushes between the two guys - not walking into position behind them. No matter. It's still a chance, but I can't see myself back in Riga a year from now.

Spain is in progress, and I'm here doing write-ups, so you'll need to trust my esteemed colleagues as to how that one's going.

In gossip, apparently the Bosnian delegation slated the way their song's being presented in their press conference. There's always one... but it didn't look very good. I haven't heard a peek on the tATu situation since yesterday... there seems to be a consensus that something will happen leading to a disqualification - but no-one's quite sure what it will be!

Round we go again...

Wed, 21 May 2003 09:00:22 GMT

Second rehearsal time - Arrived a little late for Iceland, so only saw a couple of runthroughs. She's still looking good and confident, but possibly due to my now jaded eye she was maybe not as strong as on Monday? Not sure whether it's me or her.

Alf Poier, on the other hand, is getting into his stride. He's singing like a dream (specifically the sort of dream you have if you eat a quatro formaggi pizza just before bedtime), he's slightly toned down his stage act but without lossing the essence of it (no more crotch holding), and the thing's starting to get some momentum.

Mickey Joe - still not great from what I saw, although he's looking a bit more confident. In fairness, I only saw two runthroughs and with one he was clearly having technical problems with his earpiece - it might well have improved subsequently.

I left early because I needed to see Alf Poier's press conference. The man is a miracle of modern science, honestly. He concluded by leading us all outside for a "demonstration of energy", which consisted of running over a row of seven eggs without breaking any of them.

"Oh. It didn't work."

Vote for Alf. For me!

I'll miss Sertab's second rehearsal, unfortunately, but I needed that press conference!

Phew! Made it!

Tue, 20 May 2003 17:35:56 GMT

I'm pleasantly surprised by the Romanian performance - it was the one that I thought might be killed live, but it actually works surprisingly well. Nicola is dressed up in red and just does her bit fairly straight - in the background, three dancers and someone pretending to be a mastermixer get up to various shenanigans with huge "coloured vinyl records". Garments are shed, as well. They've been doing their homework, but I wonder if it might just be a bit too busy?

Sweden are, well, just Sweden. No qualms at all about how the performance is going to sound, they're fearsomely competent singers. They don't quite seem... I don't know, they sort of look like they're just singing the words but not putting any kind of feeling into it. The performance, again, is nothing we've not seen many times before.

Finally, Slovenia. Apparently if four reports say she's wearing puce, it becomes true - so she'll be wearing puce. :-) Again, it's nicely performed, well choreographed, absolutely nothing wrong with it - but as for having something extra? I don't think so. The silly lyric is really starting to grate, too.

Tomorrow and Thursday we do it all again, but quicker (no need for soundchecks, camera checks etc). All the same, I might well be struggling for material this time tomorrow!

I can't pick a winner out. Reading back, Iceland, Germany, Netherlands and Estonia seem to be the big contenders so far... dark horses might be Ukraine and Romania, while the likes of Latvia and Russia have kept their powder dry and can't be disregarded yet.

It's been predictably chaotic around here...

Tue, 20 May 2003 15:05:00 GMT

Finally found a terminal to work from!

Norway's rehearsal was a bit of a mess, really - so much so that he was allowed an extra couple of runthroughs later on. Looks like there were masses of technical problems. As for Jostein himself, it's hard to say. I thought he was pretty much replicating his national final performance - but that means flat and uninteresting. I'm not prepared to stick my neck out, really.

France is a lovely song, and Louisa... well, again I'm not sure. Something wasn't really there and I can't think what it was. It was five rehearsals ago - you have to make allowances for me!

Poland's rehearsals were fabulous. Michal looks and sounds as scary as ever - sort of like Lou's evil twin - but it works. The stage looks fantastic, and he uses it well too; he's the first person to start off standing on the ramp behind the stage, and he tried out several options for charging around in the later part of the song. Eastern votes will get this into the Top 10. It's not out of the question that Western votes might take it higher than that.

Then we come to Russia. Nobody's ever seen that many people at a rehearsal, and it started to look like they'd have nothing to see as the girls were late turning up. They missed their soundcheck, the floor manager had terrible trouble keeping assorted hangers-on off the stage, and the net result was one and a half incomplete runthroughs which told us next to nothing - except the lighting director seems to have completely lost any sense of self-control, and that tATu aren't all that fabulous as live performers.

Belgium was bound to be a comedown after that, but it's a nice song, they perform very much like the trad music group they are, the girl sings well, and I'm quite happy with it.

I was dragged kicking and screaming from the Estonian rehearsal by my esteemed managing editor who wanted food (I think he wanted to get away from the Estonian rehearsal though). I still like this bunch of herberts. They've lost the overly busy ending from the preview version, and much to my delight they will be wearing the shirts and ties. Therefore, so will I! I've regained my keenness for it, I really have. It's likely to threaten, you mark my words.

And after the dustcart...

Tue, 20 May 2003 09:52:10 GMT

I didn't see too much of the Ukraine rehearsal as I was busy slating Jemini and recovering my wits, so I only got back for the last runthrough. He sings it magnificently, there's enough going on in the background to keep people interested - this does seem to be exciting people around here. Not that that necessarily means anything!

Greece - well, it was competent. Mando seems to be holding back a bit, but it's first rehearsal so fair enough. Not really anything new and exciting to report about it - perhaps Thursday she'll show more of her hand.

In other news, the press centre is getting busy with assorted real hacks taking their positions - there are only three more rehearsals before tATu get their turn, so terminals are at a premium. Hence, I've hijacked Phil's laptop for this write-up!

Yesterday's nice weather has turned to rain, frustratingly. Umm, that'll do for now - I think Phil wants his laptop back! :-)

Oh. Dear. God.

Tue, 20 May 2003 07:54:40 GMT

The phrase sublime to the ridiculous may have been invented for this morning's openers.

The Netherlands are just looking fabulous on stage. It opens up with a floor effect of four meteors meeting in a cross, and Esther puts in such a strong, friendly, powerful performance that it impresses the very socks off of me. If I have a concern about it, it's that it might be a little bit Eurovision-by-numbers - but when you do that right, magnificent things can happen.

When you do it wrong, Cry Baby can happen. I've never been so embarrassed in my entire life. They look and sound as amateurish as hell; Lindsey Dracass looks like Margot Fonteyn crossed with Maria Callas in comparison. There's no charm in the performance of what wasn't that good a song in the first place. At one point the backing singers try to get the crowd going, but what's the point? They'll already be long gone!

We honestly might finish last based on that performance.

Day one comes to a close...

Mon, 19 May 2003 17:24:25 GMT

Observant viewers may be wondering why Latvia is next on the rehearsal schedule - quite simply because t.A.T.u. are arriving by train tomorrow morning and agreed a swap. You'll have to wait a little longer for that one.

Latvia was a real disappointment. I can't pinpoint anything that was missing from the performances that have impressed me so far, but the whole thing really seemed to fall flat. It may simply be that their real draw is tremendously favourable - from this position, it would die the death.

Spain, similarly, seems to be missing something. It's perfectly pleasant, it's quite highly choreographed, but the actual song just doesn't do anything - no big moment, nothing outstanding at all to make it stick in the brain. Performing at halfway, that could be fatal.

Israel... well, it's an interesting one. It seems to be the first to have really taken note of why I Wanna won last year, and you need to keep a close eye on the backing singers. There are five of them, they start dressed as short-skirted schoolgirls (probably in a deliberate nod to t.A.T.u.)... they don't end up in the same outfits they start with. I'll say no more.

It's been a long day (it's only 20:20 local time, but it seems later), and they're starting to blend in together for me. However, I've been most impressed by Iceland, Portugal and Germany and I think I've got Germany down as the best from this half so far.

Where did I get to? Bosnia, was it?

Mon, 19 May 2003 14:58:03 GMT

Portugal really impressed me. I had a lot of doubts about the song (and still do), but Rita really has the experience to sell the entry and looks good whilst doing it. The English lyric comes in in time for the second chorus, and the whole effect is absolute heaven. Very impressed.

Croatia, in its own way, impressed me too. Claudia and five backers are dressed in black and white, and offers choreography reminiscent of a mid-eighties Israeli or UK national final. Third song in a row to unexpectedly break into English midway through. Long odds against this might be too long.

Cyprus, unfortunately, didn't impress me. It's sung perfectly competently, but never really gets beyond competent to have something special that you need around here. I thought it could get lost before I got here, and I haven't changed my mind.

Germany, on the other hand, knocked the socks off me. The staging is just fantastic, colourful and bouncy and absolutely suited to the song. Lou gives no reason for concern either, and although we still have Latvia and Spain to come this evening, I'll be surprised if this isn't the best rehearsal of the day. WATCH THIS ONE.

And the music continues

Mon, 19 May 2003 11:38:32 GMT

Malta looks nice, to me. I don't think my small wager is well spent, but Lynn looks and sounds perfectly comfortable with herself and with the song. She starts sat behind the piano, but soon gets up and spends the rest of the song wandering sround the stage. Nothing significant to note about the arrangement.

Mija Martina for Bosnia has a problem. The whole package is an absolute scorcher for the first two minutes... then she switches into English after the guitar break, and it just implodes horribly. Her and her five backing singers don't seem to make a particularly interesting group on stage either, unfortunately. Not sure wehre it will finish, but on this evidence it won't challenge.