Eurovision Song Contest 2024

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121994543#Comment_121994543

Great news about Ireland alright!

Dazler97

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121994591#Comment_121994591

Yay last time I checked 4 days ago Ireland where placed 13th so here's hoping we get through to the grand final 🙏

saabsaab

This is only the second Cork entry for Eurovision! Hard to believe..

supereurope

Feeling rather disappointed that we don't have another classic Eurovision replay to look forward this week - I appreciate that last week's visit to 1974 was solely because it was to celebrate 50 years of ABBA, but it would have been a lovely idea from the BBC to mark the run-up to Eurovision 2024 with a weekly revisit to a previous BBC-hosted contest, complete with an introduction from Hannah Waddington.

If the BBC continued chronologically, then next would be the 1977 contest from London. A completely chaotic event, and, along with 1980, probably the closest the contest had come to being cancelled until the dark days of 2020. When it was finally took place a few weeks later than planned, the chaos continued - Angela Rippon was a fairly hopeless presenter, and she clearly lied about being able to speak French; the postcards had to be scrapped at the last minute for reasons never made clear; most of the audience looked completely bored; the voting was a mess with France and Greece both awarding points to too many countries; the scoreboard was faulty and the end credits never appeared. Some great songs, though, and very nearly an Irish win.

Welsh Megaman

She’s back! 😀

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5qgSxaCZl4/?igsh=MTFsdnE2YXUzd2Vubg==

squarecircles

The revamp is even better…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWTXM_AbFH4

delboy85

Recap of this years 37 songs in Lego…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqGIEVY4fUg

jaffa20

Be interesting to hear the "crooner" version. Betting odds looking a bit better too.

https://www.thesun.ie/tvandshowbiz/12724027/irish-eurovision-bambie-thug-song-change-doomsday-blue-rte/

yerwanthere123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121951854#Comment_121951854

And now to predict Semi Final 2

Qualifying

Norway
Netherlands
Switzerland
Israel
Belgium
Greece
Armenia
Malta
Austria
Georgia

NQ

Albania
Estonia
Denmark
Czech Republic
San Marino
Latvia

Countries in bold could go either way.


Norway through to Belgium on my list above are safe as houses, shouldn't be any worries there. I don't really like Greece or Armenia very much, the former in particularly seems to quite an acquired taste, but both should still qualify with ease. After here it gets a bit tricky.

Most have Malta as a NQ, but I think it's more than good enough to make the final and eventually finish around 21st. Austria is basically Halo 2.0 but should have enough to make it in this low quality semi. Georgia is basic but might scrape through, despite the lack of many voting allies.

I've been very impressed with the Albanian revamp and think it more than deserves to make the final, but I feel it'll unfortunately get forgotten in the #2 slot, not helped by the fact it precedes both Greece and Switzerland. I initially had Estonia as a qualifier but I think it'll come across far too amateur to make it through, particularly as it's surrounded by big hitters and Eden Golan's impressive vocals. I think it'll end up being the sole NQ from the final six songs.

I reckon Denmark will be too beige to motivate anyone to vote for it, while Czech Republic, San Marino and Latvia are almost certainly dead-on-arrival.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122017867#Comment_122017867

And here's Bambie performing in Amsterdam last night…..great stage presence here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6tQij2zIbk

Libertine07

Great performance from Bambie.

The odds are so strange. We're 13th for the contest overall (with only 3 other SF1 songs ahead of us) but only 9th for the semi final itself.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122019665#Comment_122019665

I think it's because winning the contest and qualifying from the semi are two completely different variables (and there are different voting systems in the semi and final). Also, the betting market isn't necessarily saying that Bambie will finish 13th in the final. But it's good to see Ireland do well in both markets.

derb12

I like it! Less screamy at the end.

Getting very excited now!

Dazler97

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122017867#Comment_122017867

Hope we get through and get a few points

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122019665#Comment_122019665

Crept up to 10th favourite overall, good signs!

delboy85

I'm not a fan of wiwibloggs generally but there is a good interview with Petra Mede that they posted recently. She comes across as a very likeable lady (which is no surprise really).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30J2u1ttT0w

supereurope

Today marks 44 years since the 1980 contest in The Hague and Ireland's second Eurovision win.

The 1980 contest was the last time until 2023 that the winning country from the previous year didn't host, with 1979 hosts and winners Israel unable to afford a second consecutive hosting. After Israel confirmed in August 1979 that it wouldn't stage the contest again, the EBU invited countries to step forward and volunteer to host, but no broadcaster was interested. However, the Dutch broadcaster NOS told the EBU to come back to them if no other broadcaster came forward. With no host by the autumn of 1979, the EBU did just that, saying if NOS didn't take on hosting duties, there would be no contest in 1980. Happily, NOS decided to organise the contest, but only if the EBU agreed to additional financial assistance and to move the contest date forward by a week (the EBU had previously decided on 26 April as the date.) With the EBU agreeing to the conditions, the contest was on its way back to The Hague, just four years after the city last hosted. 

To reduce the cost, NOS reused many aspects of the 1976 contest. Elements of the 1976 stage design were used again, as were parts of the 1976 opening sequence. Thankfully, in the days before home VCRs and YouTube, most viewers would probably not have realised much of the opening sequence was reused footage.

The 1980 contest marked the only Eurovision appearance of Morocco, and the only time to date that the previous year's winning country didn't participate. Despite withdrawing from hosting and the 19 April contest date clashing with an Israeli remembrance day, Israel still hoped to send an entry to The Hague. However, public opinion in Israel was against competing in a song contest on a solemn day, and in December 1979, Israel pulled out of the 1980 contest. Contrary to what's often written, Morocco didn't decide to compete because Israel wasn't able to, as it was already on the participation list for 1980 before Israel withdrew. Monaco also withdrew, and it wouldn't return until 2004.

Another sacrifice in the name of cost-cutting was the postcards, and instead, a well-known television personality from each country travelled to The Hague to introduce their country's entry. Noel Edmonds gave the introduction for the UK entry, and Ireland's song was introduced by Thelma Mansfield. Thelma was a last-minute replacement for Aine O'Connor, who was the original choice until RTÉ1's controller of programmes decided that Thelma was more suitable. 

The 11 members of the public who comprised the 1980 Irish jury were Mary Wall, Bob Kiely, Una Daly, Cormac Twomey, Paddy Folan, Brian Davis, Geraldine Feeney, Frank Craven, Mary Hannon, Ron Isherwood and Mary Lynch. The Irish spokesperson was David Heffernan. The commentators were Larry Gogan for RTÉ1 and Pat Kenny for Radio 1.

The 1980 contest marked the first time each country announced its points in ascending order, starting with one point and ending with 12 points. 

During the early rounds of the voting, it looked like the Netherlands might have been on course for a landslide win on home soil after receiving 12 points from three of the first four countries to vote. No doubt to the relief of NOS, the Dutch entry soon started to lose momentum. By the halfway point in the voting, the Netherlands had slipped to fourth place, behind Ireland in first place and the United Kingdom and Germany in second and third place respectively. 

Heading into the results of the final jury in Belgium, Ireland was 10 points ahead of Germany. If the Belgian jury awarded Ireland three points or more, Ireland would win regardless of how many points were given to Germany. If Belgium awarded Germany eight points or less, Ireland would still win even if it didn’t receive any points from Belgium. However, Germany could still win if it received 12 points from Belgium and Ireland didn't receive anything or only received one point.

As it turned out, there was no anxious wait for the last 12 points of the night. Belgium awarded Germany seven points, ending any possibility of Germany coming through at the last minute to take the win. Ireland had secured its second Eurovision victory, and the 12 points it received from Belgium were just the icing on the cake.

At the end of the contest, a short film clip was shown, accompanied by the caption: “Till we meet again in Ireland.” A nice sentiment on which to end the contest, but it was also a strong hint to RTÉ that it was expected to fulfil its hosting duties for 1981, with none of the drama that surrounded the hosting of the 1980 contest.

Happily for the EBU, RTÉ confirmed within hours of Johnny Logan's win that Ireland would host Eurovision 1981.

Welsh Megaman

Bambie on ‘The Late Late Show’ tonight! 🙂

corkie

Thanks I meant to do a search on that and forgot.

AndyBoBandy

that was feckin brilliant.

Carol25

Wow loved that by Bambie!

Cluedo Monopoly

I really enjoyed that rendition. This lady has talent.

yerwanthere123

Good performance. Interview was strange though I thought, like she didn't want to be there. Kinda weird to ask her about Israel too, particularly when the interview itself barely lasted five minutes.

fitz

Them, FFS.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122040629#Comment_122040629

Very musical theatre - you can clearly Bambie's theatre / performing arts background coming through.

Dazler97

We are in 10th place to win eurovision with a 2% chance , I honestly want Netherlands 🇳🇱 or Croatia 🇭🇷 to win, don't really like the Swiss song

johnire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122040668#Comment_122040668

Why did you find it strange that the Israel issue was raised? Let's be honest that's all this Eurovision is ever going to be remembered for…..

archfi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122040784#Comment_122040784

LOL