The bookies have slashed the odds on Glasgow now making it a firm favourite.
I have a range of weekends with free cancelleation booked
San Marino are going to have four semi finals!
The Romanian one is a bit of a cracker. Mad as a Badgers tail though.
Interview with John Lydon \ PIL in the Sunday Times Culture, opens with Eurosong bit, some tidbits:
The Irish Eurovision team approached Lydon years ago and his manager loved Hawaii so put the song forward.
That may be his last primetime television appearance and it was to an audience who did not understand him.
We catch up three days after Eurovision. Was it all worth it? “Je ne regrette rien!” He is chipper: Hawaii was heard and people felt moved. He insists that was the point — not winning a competition.
The Croatian entry…
Malta has shades of Epic Sax Guy all over it!
No bad thing :)
I knew I had seen the Croatian entry before....M. Bison one of my faves in street fighter II
Malta...I like!
I must say a tad disappointed with the Denmark entry...and Melodifestivalen so far has been poor.
Haven't actually listened to any of the Melodifestivalen songs yet but the general consensus isn't great.
Very eager to hear what Loreen will have lined up for us. Hopefully she's learned her lesson from Statements and goes for something a bit more accessible.
You really are not missing much so far, no stand out for me.
I loved that song and she performed the hell out of it, but maybe an odd one for Eurovision, I also loved "my heart is refusing me" (mad that didn't make the final of melodifestivalen that year) let's see what she is like this year!
Haven't read all of the comments on the Irish entry. Of those that I have read I'd agree its fairly standard fair and doesn't stand out, it might scrape into the Final.
Also, yes TLLS is not the right place for the Euro Song Contest, time for RTÉ to move it back to its own show. The production of TLLS:Euro Song Special was just plain awful.
Even though it is cheap I'd rather RTÉ did something similar to TG4's Jr Eurovision programme, it is after all produced in RTÉ's studio.
No word on tickets yet...they would want to hurry up!
Saw a comment on Twitter about a vote on reddit, of the songs selected so far I think, 15 songs anyway. 511 people voted in traditional Eurovision style...
we came in with less than half the points of the second lowest scoring song
Edit: here's a link to the reddit post
https://old.reddit.com/r/eurovision/comments/11444vw/results_your_top_15/
Lithuania
I like the gospel elements here, elevates it beyond standard ballad fare.
Monika represented Lithuania with Vaidas back in 2015 where they finished 18th. Think Stay could potentially better that, but not by much.
Seems this might be the frontrunner in Sweden after tonight
Very slick as usual from Sweden. Loreen better have something good up her sleeve or else this is probably the one to beat.
France to come tomorrow!
I like the Lithuania track hope it makes it out of semis.
Don’t know if it’s available in Ireland, but the podcast ‘Eurovisioncast’ is well worth checking out.
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/eurovisioncast/id1668168131
Lithuania song gets the Megaman double thumbs-up, Monika sounds not unlike Self Esteem, no?
France
I like this but don't love it. Bounces along nicely but kind of... ultimately goes nowhere? I'm thinking a mid table place, or perhaps could scrape top ten with a strong performance on the night.
Hosts!
Didn't know who Hannah Waddingham was, googled and see she's the one from Ted Lasso?! Bit random, don't think she's got any presenting experience. Never heard of the Ukrainian host either so no idea what she'll be like.
Wild Youths "We are one" reminds me of the verses in Picture This's "When we were young"
So Graham Norton will be alternating between some presenting and commentating for the final...
Hannah Waddingham has been in West End musicals, in case people were wondering what she was up to before Ted Lasso.
Julia Sania flies the flag for Ukraine.
Singer and TV judge Alesha Dixon, Ukrainian singer Julia Sania and actor Hannah Waddingham will be presenting the semi-finals on the 9th and 11th, when countries and juries vote for which acts they want to see sent through to the final. Graham Norton will join them to present the final on 13 May – though he will also be splitting the live commentary for BBC viewers on the night with comedian Mel Giedroyc.
https://www.thejournal.ie/eurovision-presenters-hosts-2023-6001580-Feb2023/
Mmm…personally, not a big fan of Mel Giedroyc - one of those presenters who likes to think they are funnier than they actually are.
Would have preferred Rylan and/or Scott Mills commentating instead, funny yet less likely to make it about themselves.
The French song is a bit so-so, or ‘comme ci, comme ça’.
sunglasses
Decent catch-rose-between-teeth intro though.
Australia
The fandom reaction to this has been lukewarm at best, but I think it's actually decent enough? In what should be the weaker semi final too, should qualify handily enough.
Australia reminds me of Volbeat if they went a bit mad with synths, I like it.
I could see it getting 200 points off the audience and about 3 off the juries.
In recent times the very opposite has been true, Australia have really struggled for televotes lately. Not sure yet whether it's down to a lack of neighbours or simply just poor songs. They got a lot of televote support initially, but maybe for some the novelty of voting for Australia in Eurovision has also worn off?
Wouldn't surprise if the Eastern Bloc all vote for Ukraine again so they can win it for a second time.
Just the Eastern bloc? Think Ukraine will be mopping up televotes from every corner of Europe again this year. Its a question I've seen discussed a lot on Eurovision fan sites, are we heading straight for another Ukraine win again this year?
I think the sympathy/solidarity vote will have dampened somewhat, but the Ukrainian refugee population has increased significantly since last year, including 77,000 in Ireland. Is it inevitable?
In fairness. :)
So this is the Loreen song...it is...good and catchy enough...but it doesn't sound like a Eurovision winner to me...if this wasn't Sweden/Loreen would people be raving about it? Not so sure.
Unfortunately I think its an impossible task to keep the politics out of it.
Finland
As expected, a landslide victory for Kaarija. I love the song and have been listening to it for weeks, but I think this performance is just a bit too gimmicky and gives off strong novelty vibes. Takes away from the fact that it's a damn good track!
That aside, this'll be a televote magnet but will probably be voted down by the juries. Think this will finish somewhere between 5th and 8th overall in the final.
