Eurovision Song Contest 2008 – 1st semifinal

Posted: May 20th, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: eurovision | No Comments »

ETV has pissed me off again, Marko Reikop is commenting and being obnoxious as usual so I just try to ignore the blabber. He should move to a deserted island with people like Andri Maimets and other Estonian press people covering the event.

Here are my comments about the songs, because it is all about the songs and not countries or even perfomers:

1. Montenegro – OK performer (looks a bit like Pete Wentz gone a bit fat), boring, unremarakble song

2. Israel – Very nice performer, again a boring song;

3. Estonia – Peeter OJa’s voice had not recovered, but the song was so different from the regular Eurovision song so it might even work. It is catchy, but then again I have heard it too many times;

4. Moldova – I thought at first that she does not sing in English, because of the accent. The song is too complicated for me, a mess. She was very nice, though;

5. San Marino – Little David Copperfield. The voice is quite powerful, the song also has power. I quite like it, especially the guitars they put in there;

6. Belgium – Cool outfits, the song is strangely addictive, very melodic. The live instruments are a nice touch. Best song so far.

BREAK – Why are they performing in an empty hall? Where are all the people? Too expensive tickets, boycott? I hope there will be more people for the finale, otherwise it will be quite embarrasing.

7. Azerbaijan – OMG! This is what Eurovision is about. Angels and devils, soft pop-rock and gyrating dance girls. It is like a light musical version of Lordi. Brilliant and welcome to Eurovision, Azerbaijan!

8. Slovenia – Green woman in captivity, this is scene from some sort of S/M disco, is it not? I have not been so I don’t know. But no, everything turned all colourful and bright, a regular disco (I have been). Great perfromance, shame about the song not being very good;

9. Norway – Great song. The performance and the performer did the song justice. Classy, laid-back and pleasing. One of my favourites.

10. Poland – Too big cleavage and abnormal skin colour. I am sorry, but it disturbs and distracts me. Boring and empty ballad, the voice is too thin and weak. The whole things seems fake for some reason.

BREAK – The hall is completely empty! They should have given tickets away for free. “Large Eurovision family” which the hostess referred to seems not to be present (or were the tickets to Belgrade really so expensive?). Seriously, there are like 100 people watching the show in the hall.

11. Ireland – The singing turkey. I like it, it is catchy and not nearly as creepy as Kreisiraadio. Irlande douze points, indeed.

12. Andorra – Disco queen singing a disco song, and it is not such a bad song either (perhaps a bit generic). I guess it will go on to the finals, but not really my taste. The singer is really feisty an energetic.

13. Bosnia & Herzegovina – Really interesting, but it is more a conceptual performance than a song. It does not stop me liking it though, it is something really different and also strangely addictive. A favourite.

14. Armenia – Paula Abdul lookalike. Nice and energetic song, and properly sung. Decent performance, but nothing earthshattering (although the fireworks were great).

15. The Netherlands – Nothing remarkable. Generic arabic rhythm, especially after the more powerful and original Armenia.

16. Finland – The Finns have fallen into the let’s try what worked once trap. However, poppy hard rock is no longer a novelty and singing in Finnish does not help. Again, nearly not enough and the song is a bit boring.

17. Romania – There is always one sugary sweet romantic ballad. Too bad I do not like them, especially something so ordinary as this one. The more energetic midsection does not help, it feels out of place.

18. Russia – Dear Dima, what happened? You used to have great songs. Now you come with this mediocre Timbaland production. I expected more and even gyrating on stage barefoot and ripping open your shirt cannot hide my disappointment. It is better than much of the songs in this contest, but this is so selling out even by my very very low standards.

19. Greece – Nothing special, but not too bad either. The song was OK, but nothing too memorable.

I hope the following songs will go on to the final (in no specific order): San Marino, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Norway, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ireland, Andorra, Russia (and Estonia).

Novak Djokovic seems nice, he will throw the huge tennisball at the audience to begin the vote. Is this really safe?

So the voting starts…

So the finals will include (my favourites in bold): Greece, Romania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Finland, Russia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Poland and Norway



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