A Swede who lives in Finland and who is lost in Euroland - the wonderful world of Eurovision
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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Semi 1: and the results came in

The first results are in, the first ten envelopes are opened and it for a while it felt like I got half of the finalists wrong. In the end I got seven countries right.

I had to count back to get that. The sequence were the finalists were revealed was the single weakest point in the entire show.

You have two hours to stage a semi final of 16 songs. The entries are done with quite quickly and then you throw in everything and the kitchen sink in order to fill the rest of the show.

You fill and you fill and you fill and suddenly you filled a bit too much and what should be the climax, full of suspense, is something you rush by with no time for any excitement to build. Nul points for that. It must change for the second semi. Be a bit professional.

Albania, Armenia and Greece made it to the final while I thought they would be out. What can I say about that? Arbitrary, like I said in my prediction earlier. It could have gone either way. Albania delivered a fine vocal performance but Armenia was messy and Greece dull. It's a mystery to me how either one made it.

Finland, Moldova and Netherlands are out while I predicted them to be in. Already yesterday I was on the verge of predicting a Dutch flop, during the broadcast I felt sure it wouldn't work. Static and without a trace of charm.

Also Moldova came across as really charmless and probably lost all their chances by performing first. And by selecting a performer as void of radiation as this particular one. As for Finland - Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät didn't quite shine when their big moment came. For them and their career it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter for me either. After seeing all 16 entrants tonight, only two things stood out as truly important to me: to have Belgium and Estonia in the final. I was never really worried, I guessed they would save Belgium for one of the last. Being the very last could very well indicate that Loïc did very well tonight indeed.

I won't start chanting for Bruxelles 2016 just yet. I'll just conclude that all is well that ends well, and with Belgium in the final it ended very well from my point of view.

4 comments:

  1. I think one of the main reasons why Greece qualified - the sparkly outfit. It was one of the very few exceptional outfits, different from all the monochrome boredom. You can never underestimate the visual effect. If this semifinal had a lot of bonkers, colorful outfits - she would have not been noticed at all.

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    1. I find the Greek song a real grower a touch of Katy Wolf glad they made the final

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  2. Feeling a bit smug that I got 9/10 right. Sorry.
    I chose Moldova, thinking it could be with them and perhaps Belarus or Denmark, but didn't think Albania would take the spot. A nice surprise!
    I'm soooo happy for Belgium. I was losing all hope when they weren't announced as the first nine countries.
    Estonia was very good, better than I expected. Those were the two I was rooting for most.
    Even UMK did the result announcement better than ORF tonight. Very bad television.

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  3. I am glad for Albania. I was hoping for Belarus to qualify - a better entry than in previous years. Both the Netherlands and Denmark were dissapointing.

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