Eurovision Song Contest 2025 - Mod warning in the OP

Celebrity chefs, doling out pearls of wisdom post RTE hospitality… is no basis for a system of Eurovision song selection.

(I'm backing Skehan in this spat though!)

genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if the audience boos the song when it is performed - due to the overt Russia link.

i know a lot on this just hear the simplistic euro dance style of the song and are sold on it but - the Russia link is a huge disadvantage and especially the WTF factor of it being Ireland’s entry.

I promise I won’t gloat on the thread when the song comes nowhere ….

Diversity!

Just catching up on all this nonsense. Has anyone actually quoted or gave an example of this toxicity from the panel? Like others have said, I felt that they all were desperately reaching for good things to say about each song.

I wouldn't be a big Donal fan by any means but he was correct in all he said the other day.

I think it might have been Bambi who most flippantly said 'You can lose the dancers' after Arthur suggested it. (Again something Arthur is surely qualified to talk about).

NIYL is the one thats growing on me, although it is maybe a bit indistinct.

Many years ago, we used to have a "proper national final" to choose the entry for the Eurovision. It was called the Irish National Song Contest.

That was how our winners from the 1970s (Dana) and the 1980s (Johnny Logan) was chosen certainly. I found this article after doing an internet search. For a while, there were actually heats before the final!

https://www.irish-showbands.com/irelandsongcontest.htm

Exactly, primordial would suit better

“Gaelic doom metal” or whatever nonsense it is, will not be winning the Eurovision any time soon.

I think it was 1967 that we actually had semi-finals before the grand final. Imagine that..three standalone shows to choose our song. There was some controversy though, because the winner was chosen by the public who voted via a voting form in the RTÉ Guide, the controversy being that if you didn't buy the Guide, you couldn't vote.

We came second in 1967, btw, albeit a long way behind Sandie Shaw.

Because I'm a helpful sort, here is the voting form in question:

Im watching a bit of the San Remo festival on RAI Uno at the moment. Semi Final 2, I think.

Live orchestra, fantastic artists, some really strong songs.

I have just heard a recap of 15 of the songs and I think we'd be happy with any of them for Ireland.

But, feck me, the filler presentation between the songs is not far off a Liveline "funny Friday" type of thing.

Veteran personality Carlo Conti is the presenter and artistic director of the festival. There's a bang of Marty Whelan off him.

Still better than that Late Late panel the other night.

I tuned in last night as well, and will probably do so again tonight. All 29 performers sang on Tuesday, then half again last night and the other half tonight.

The first year I watched Sanremo (or rather, watched some of it, I don't have the stamina for five nights at five hours per night) was 2022, so this is the first time I've seen one not organised by Amadeus. Carlo Conti has taken over, and it feels a little more staid and dated this year. It's also a very ballad-heavy year. But as others have said online, Sanremo firing at 70% is still far superior to any national final (though of course Sanremo isn't a national final in the usual sense.)

It seems the competition this year is already done and dusted, and Simone Cristicchi is going to win with his song Quando sarai piccola, a heartfelt ballad about his ageing mother. If he wins, he'll have first refusal at going to Eurovision, and in a year that is becoming very unserious, with songs about space dogs, c*nts and orgasms, this type of song could really stand out. While Slovenia is also going down the "dying loved one" route this year, Italy is doing it so much better, though I'll admit Quando sarai piccola wasn't my favourite song from last night.

All 29 songs Tuesday night, half Wednesday, half Thursday, then Friday is "covers night", where all 29 performers sing again, but instead of their competing songs, they sing a cover of a well-known song (I don't think it to be an Italian song) and they're accompanied by a guest performer. All 29 sing their competing songs again on Saturday.

To further complicate matters, there's also a "Newcomers" contest. The semis of that were last night and the final is tonight. There's also lots and lots of guests, mainly Italian but some international (Duran Duran are appearing this evening) and an awful lot of talking!

It is a whopper of an event. I don't speak Italian so most of the time I don't know what's being said, but you hear some phrases a lot, like "in gara" which I have learned means "In the competition/In the running", used to distinguish the competing songs from the many other songs we'll hear.

Perhaps it's time to bring back the Castlebar Song Contest and make it an Irish Sanremo!

Poland selects its entry tonight. They're not in our semi-final so no interest that way, but what is interesting is that Justyna Steczkowska could win the ticket to Basel, 30 years after she represented Poland at The Point. This would make her the singer with the longest gap between Eurovision appearances.

Hopefully Linda Martin won't feel inspired to return if she hears of Justyna winning.