OnEurope_Live.. from Moscow - from May 1st!

The sun is up.

2009-07-06T13:45:11Z

I'm feeling great! I'm just enjoying life, right here in the shade. So get up, get out of bed, all night long, and if your life is like a sad song maybe you should celebrate.

Who writes this stuff?

Just letting you all know

2009-06-30T20:22:23Z

*I* am still alive - if the rest of this blog could make other assertions - that would be kewl as well!

It's Summer Kiddies ;)

Phil

Still not actually on holiday.

2009-06-02T21:33:26Z

Remember the eBay auction of one of the Belgian backing singers' stage outfits?

Didn't sell at 100 Euros.

So the poor old duck relisted it with a 50 Euro starting bid.

Still didn't sell.

Awwwww. I feel slightly bad about supporting Belgium now. That really didn't work out well, although they *did* beat Gipsy.cz.

I promise that I'll almost certainly never do it again. :-(

A couple of things that I have noticed while I am supposed to be on Holiday.......

2009-06-02T10:48:38Z

Firstly, there was a very good article in the Cyprus Mail on-line edition recently berating their selection procedure at
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=45976&archive=1

Secondly the results of the UK jury and Televote are out at http://www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision and the televote is diaspora-tastic! - Thank the lord for the juries I say!! - even though by their results, they were clearly having too much free BBC hostility!!

Apparently I'm supposed to be on holiday.

2009-05-28T20:22:54Z

The last video I watched was this one:

Before that, this:

Before *that*, this:

And before *that*, this:

So that's pretty much how my mind works, there. They say of the Acropolis where the Parthenon is...

We're all off on Holiday!!

2009-05-24T12:58:57Z

Well apparently we couldn't have one between May 1 and May 17 cos you lot wanted servicing (ooh-er) so we are going to take June off!

Now the site says that we are going for a new look - in fact, we aren't. I was considering it - but decided to tinker with how things look on the site as opposed to a complete new look - the mantra of KISS (Keep it simple, stupid) comes to mind and am going to try and put more pics and vids and stuff up. Am also going to try and update more often. Content, they say, is key!!

The blog, too, will be updated more often. I'm gonna try and speak to Nick to see if he is willing to write a bit more on here and, this time, I might even contribute more - but it's gonna need YOU to help us...

Any links that you need adding to our new links section - mail me at oneurope@ntlworld.com and I can stick them up in the next update on July 1st.

More pics, more vids, more blog - can you ask for more?

Phil

A couple of naughties from last night

2009-05-17T12:03:47Z

Both of these have been reported by posters on the ESCNation messageboard since the show ended - I haven't tried to verify either, but if they're true expect tons of bricks to be falling on certain people.

* During the televoting in Azerbaijan, the lines were closed for Armenian song and there were no number to vote written on the screens for Armenian song during the recap.

* Did you guys know that the French commentators interviewed Patricia Kaas during 2 minutes of the Moldovan song! We literally couldn't hear the song properly until near the end of the performance.

If either are true, that's just not on; the allegation against the Azeris particularly is very serious indeed, and *if* it's proven to be correct, it makes me think they shouldn't be allowed to take part in the competition because they Just Don't Get It.

I'll end this post on a positive, though - Graham Norton as new UK commentator. Breath of fresh air, right up there with Wogan in his 1980s heyday - and it was almost miraculously good to have every second of every song uncontaminated by commentary. We'll have him back next year, thanks Auntie!

Boys and girls around the world, let's meet next year in %winning_country!

2009-05-16T23:19:39Z

So congratulations Alexander on a wipeout victory, and to Norway for becoming the only country to win the contest in the 80s, the 90s and the 00s. You'd have got pretty good odds about that back in 1981!

How did I do with the final prediction (not breaking points ties)?

25 (I said 10) Finland 22. Massive score to come last with.
23= (25) Spain 23
23= (13) Lithuania 23
22 (22) Malta 31
21 (21) Sweden 33 (I guessed 46 points. Tsk, way off!)
20 (24) Germany 35
19 (23) Romania 40
18 (18) Croatia 45
17 (20) Albania 48
16 (16) Israel 53
15 (14) Portugal 57
14 (15) Moldova 69
13 (17) Denmark 74
12 (6) Ukraine 76
11 (11) Russia 91
10 (7=) Armenia 92
9 (12) Bosnia-Herzegovina 106
8 (4) France 107
7 (3) Greece 120
6 (9) Estonia 129
5 (5) UK 173
4 (2) Turkey 177
3 (7=) Azerbaijan 207
2 (19) Iceland 218
1 (1) Norway 387

I'm very very proud of that. Horrible miscalls on Finland and Iceland, and a bit wonky on Ukraine and Lithuania, leaving 21 called within 4 of their final placing, 7 bull's eyes and another 3 only one out. Ukraine was, of course, the miscall that I put money on. Hey-ho.

Semi results also out, and Czech Republic posted the first NUL POINTS since Switzerland in the 2004 semi; only a single point from Armenia saved Belgium from the same fate. Jury picks were Finland in 12th to take FYR Macedonia's place (FYR Mac missed the safety of 9th by 22 points, behind Romania), and Croatia in 13th to take Serbia's place (another 7 points would have seen the Serbs pull clear of Lithuania, who took 12 from Ireland and 7 each from Estonia and Latvia).

Looking at Semi 2, Norway won on 201 points and was in the top 3 acccording to every country except France, who placed it 8th. 79.7% of the available votes is just shy of the all-time record percentage for any Eurovision event; that's still held by the Brotherhood of Man whose 164 points from 17 juries in 1976 represented 80.4% of the maximum.

Semi 1, meanwhile, is a scoreboard I would have *loved* to see unfolding vote by vote; Iceland eventually overcoming Turkey by just 2 points for their first ever Eurovision event win. Bosnia-Herzegovina were some way behind in 3rd, and Sweden saw an impressive 105-point 4th place in the semi totally collapse in the final, as mentioned above. This ties in with its experience in Melodifestival, where televoters fell in love with the song but juries were entirely unmoved.

Oh, I suppose I should link to the full scoreboards, actually: Semi 1, Semi 2, The final

(NO) MORE TO FOLLOW. At least until tomorrow. Night all!

Et finalement - the Grand Final "Let's Have A Heated Debate".

2009-05-16T16:51:16Z

Heck, leave as many comments as you like! We need the content... :-)

Right, that's my lot for the year too.

2009-05-16T16:49:49Z

No liveblog tonight, I've been optimising my resources to provide a better service to YOU and something had to get downsized. Nah, seriously, it was immense fun on Tuesday and Thursday, but I couldn't help but think I was looking at my laptop screen instead of the TV screen for far too much of the time. This is my night.

If you win tonight, well done! If you go close to winning tonight but just miss out, still well done, because there are going to be MIGHTY songs in the top 5. If you have a disappointing night tonight, come back next year and well done for being in the final. If you come last tonight... remember that you don't have to be "bad" to come last in the Saturday show anymore. If you didn't even make it to tonight's show, thanks for sticking around because that's the true Eurovision spirit and you can enjoy the show without pressure.

And if you're in Qatar... well, it's a lovely idea, but I think there's an Asiavision contest in preparation which will be more your thing...

Keep a close eye on euurovision.tv tonight, because that's the first place you'll see all the detailed results of the semi-finals and tonight's voting. And THAT will give us something to talk about!

The Queen's Eurovision Message...

2009-05-16T15:36:57Z

Good Evening...

As one sits here at this time of common joy I tend to think of those that are sadly missed...

Chig, NickD, Julie - You are with us in our hearts, if not our minds...

One's thoughts turn to the Eurovision Song Contest which takes place this evening - I am reminded that Europe will choose it's best song this evening.....
(or failing that, Norway)

On a serious note.... Thank you for visiting, including the smart arse who said we were more like Standby Europe as opposed to ON Europe ( Cheeky feck - we are on holiday too you know - as you rightly pointed out before trampling over my dreams, YOU BASTARD!!!).. We should have gained about 5-6% readership on last year - so go us!!

My thanks also go to Catherine and Roy and Franko for actually doing the work that you like (as I know I can't write for shite!!) and a special shout out for Deller, who has been missed and will be in Oslo/Stockport/Kyiv next year!

Have a good night tonight whatever you are doing and wherever you are watching it from and, again, Thanks for visiting!!

PhilC

A footballer's guide to Eurovision

2009-05-16T14:35:13Z

Kicking a piece of leather over grass has oft been associated with our favourite international relations music event from the fact that Eurovision Saturday always used to coincide with the day of the FA Cup to the proximity of both UEFA Cup final and Champions League to Euro week. We at On Europe and our many friends have also been know to partake of the appreciation of the sport in whatever country is unfortunate enough to be hosting the clearly bigger musical event. In Turkey in 2004 waving a Ukrainian flag everywhere for Ruslana confused the locals as they were the same colours as the Fenebace strip. Both Ruslana and Fenebace triumphed that year.

Back in 2005 we debuted our football search by watching Dynamo Kiev. Their real ground was undergoing serious renovations so they moved their match to a scabby looking affair next to the Eurovision venue with stone seats covered in pigeon poo. We did as the locals and sat on newspaper watching them eat poppy seeds. The venue can't have been more than a quarter full but Kiev obliged with a win. Greenjolly fell on their arses whilst the Greeks romped home.

I passed in 2006 as one big Greek fest was enough for me in one year, but Roy got himself into a couple of matches featuring local teams. Nuts from all accounts, but hardly as nuts as what was taking place in the ice hockey stadium. Lordi proved that Finland didn't need friends to win.

In 2007 possibly the most bizarre of all, Finnish premier league football. Two sides apparently of good merit met in a "stadium" in the middle of a forest in the middle of nowhere. The "pitch" was really a patch of grass and the play was more Sunday knock around in the park than serious football. Half time refreshments were provided courtesy of a tea urn on a table and the weather being typically Finnish was miserable and wet. Verka Seducka managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and lost to a Serbian Velma lookalike who proved you don't have to be beautiful to win.

2009 and off to Locomotive Moscow this afternoon. The ground has a big train in it and the opposition Terek Grozny from Chechnya have all of 25 fans cowering in a lowly corner. The home team have several thousand. The match begins with fireworks (well there had to be some excitement) and the unfortunate Chechens were outgunned on the pitch as well losing 4-0. I feel for them as my team have undergone several such humiliating experiences this season.

And so onto the biggest football match of all tonight with 25 teams. Traditionally a high scoring fixture. The record number of goals was 292 for Finlandia Lordi back in 2006. Tonights front runners are Rybak Norway, Kass Francais, Laboda Kiev and Ewen United. Outsiders are Regina Bosnie and Greco Rouvas. It will probably be a high scoring fixture and there's bound to be a few fouls along the way.

May the best team win!

For what it's worth - My Top 5 predictions

2009-05-16T09:32:39Z

In No particular order.

Norway - Well it *has* to be in the top 5 doesn't it?? - The bookies say it must, the fans say it must - but then again, *is* it the kind of thing the juries and televoters like... You would think that this would be the top 1 - but it's not a done deal.

UK - Yes, this song has its failings - but it also has its strengths. Finally a UK entry to be proud of!

France - This has been a revelation for me!! - I just stare at the screen, or at the stage - and stare, and stare... Patricia is Mesmeric!!

Greece - God I hate this song.... But I can see why this will end up top 5 - It has populist appeal ( damn the public!!)

Ukraine - This is a mess visually, but Europe aren't going to vote against a pretty woman and scantilly clad men are they?!!

It's my time, our night, and it has to be done.

2009-05-16T00:19:04Z

The big prediction. 25 songs, 25 different numbered final placings, and no questions - except one. You haven't actually watched Deal Or No Deal since 2007, have you?

25th - SPAIN. Because I've spent all day unfairly sticking the boot into Spain just because RTVE are a little bit inept and I may as well carry on. No other reason.

24th - GERMANY. Because Dita von Teese is comically pointless if she's not allowed to get her norks out.

23rd - ROMANIA. Because it's utterly dead in the water in that draw slot, and wasn't that good in the first place.

22nd - MALTA. Because one of the ballads just plain *has* to die horribly on the scoreboard, and it might as well be this one.

21st - SWEDEN. Because 46 points is a 21st place kind of score.

20th - ALBANIA. Because it's after Turkey and before Norway and midgets are easily overshadowed.

19th - ICELAND. Because it's the 724th slow song in a row, and half of Europe didn't see the first semifinal.

18th - CROATIA. Because it's the 722nd slow song in a row, and Andrea still didn't get the memo about dress code.

17th - DENMARK. Because Europe hates Irish people, so I gather.

16th - ISRAEL. Because Draw Slot 2 is still cursed.

15th - MOLDOVA. Because they stopped me getting 10/10 in the second Serviette of Death and I therefore hate them.

14th - PORTUGAL. Because it's really quite nice enough... yeah.

13th - LITHUANIA. Because there are really quite a lot of slow songs at the start of the contest.

12th - BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA. Because it's scarcely going to score a point west of the Alps.

11th - RUSSIA. Because they don't want to win it again, and would you want to argue with Prihodko and Putin?

10th - FINLAND. Because there's nothing remotely like it in the final, it has a superb draw, and their only good performance so far in Moscow came when it mattered.

9th - ESTONIA. Because it's the right song at the wrong time.

7th= - AZERBAIJAN. Because it would be a great two minute song and Aysel and/or Arash can't sing for toffee, apparently.

7th= - ARMENIA. Because nothing will p*ss the pair of them off quite as much as finishing tied for position.

6th - UKRAINE. Because I win money if it comes in the top 3 (ignoring Norway and Greece).

5th - UNITED KINGDOM OF STUFF. Because all the fates are conspiring in its favour and Lord LW must be wishing he'd actually spent a bit more of his time on writing the song.

4th - FRANCE. Because I had to place Ukraine 6th for the sake of a cheap laugh.

3rd - GREECE. Because someone has to be third, and it might as well be Sakis.

2nd - TURKEY. Because 100 million people will text their mate during Germany to say "You want to see this mad woman with her norks out!". And by the time they actually turn the telly to the right channel, they'll be watching Hadise and will think "Oj, I must have missed the norks. I shall vote for this in order that I get to see some reprise norks later on".

1st - NORWAY. Because Keith and the bookmakers haven't been significantly wrong about the ESC winner for well over a year.

So there you go. You don't need to watch it now! Unless you want to, obviously.

Let's have your predictions for the final!

2009-05-15T16:30:20Z

Seeing as you did so well in the two semis, we're after one last set of predictions from you. And they are this...

Who do you think will make up the top three - in order - and who will come plumb last? This one's going to be a little trickier - but we trust you to get near the real result. So for the last time of asking - c'mon, let's be having you!

Semi-Final 2 - the OnEurope poll results

2009-05-15T16:27:13Z

Well would you believe it... 23 of you voted, and while not one of you got the full ten, your accumulated votes actually picked out the complete top ten!

Good work!

Every one of you picked Greece, Norway, Ukraine and, rather surprisingly, Moldova, and most of you had Azerbaijan, Estonia and Albania on your lists.

As far as the suspected jury vote, it was a pretty even spread between Denmark, Ukraine and Croatia - although a couple of you reckoned Norway were the saved nation.

And rather heart-warmingly, every country got at least two votes - even Ireland, Slovakia and Poland!

Nice work, you kids!

Around the environs - the continuing story

2009-05-15T16:07:02Z

Back by popular demand apparently. Forgive my radio silence the last couple of days but I've been rehearsal bound and also had a day off yesterday to go to the Cosmonaut museum. So not much online time and we do all work quite hard over here in the land of Eurovisionia and do occasionally need a bit of time off. Two and half weeks is quite intense, if fun a lot of the time.

So back to the cosmonaut museum and a case of ooh you've got a big rocket there. Very nice but once you've seen all the dried food stuffs and been in the shuttle cabin there's not that much to see. Worth the 100 roubles entry fee though and something you're probably not going to see many times in your life.

Surrounding the museum is a park so bizarre that it beggars description. Full of buildings and monuments that are completely different to each other. Nothing in this park fits in with anything else there. There are what look like Soviet monuments and buildings sitting side by side with portakabins and bars. A lake with stone swans nestles in the middle. It's like someone picked something from every town in Russia and decided to put them all in one place. The Soviet monument has a door. We go in and surprised that it's actually a mini shopping mall where you can buy oversized Russian mugs and pants with hammers and sickles on them. Well it beats union jack boxers I guess though I'd probably be quite choosy about who I showed my hammer and sickle to...

The evening was taken up with a slightly more traditional Russian restaurant than we've been used to where one can enjoy the delights of bear and elk ravioli and fried pig's ears. Hmm tempting but I opted for "beef in a frying pan with firm meat sauce" basically a kind of ghoulash in a sizzling plate and very delicious. To accompany I'd ordered stewed cabbage with bacon but our dear waitress misunderstood and brought me spinach tart which was somewhat blander than I was looking forward to. Nice restaurant though and had I been here longer I'd have been tempted to revisit.

You've all heard our adventures with the chilli spirit which apparently was not vodka after all. The taste was so bad, that it was impossible to tell anyway. We did however try the unique pine cone flavour vodka and catkin vodka. I'm not quite sure how to describe these substances but it wouldn't be positive if I could fine the words. After several of these we are so drunk that we down the rest of the bottle of the chilli substance. The chilli hits first and then a pain I can't describe spreads downwards in my body and doubles me up in agony. It's hard to imagine why anyone would drink something like this for pleasure. We have an antidote for all of this in the shape of a large gateau. Cutting it open it's full of seeds and looks like something they would have made for Petra on Blue Peter or perhaps hung from a tree for passing birds. It tastes amazing though.

And so back to the music. I don't propose to review the dress rehearsal for the final. Others have done this in their droves and there's only so many accounts of the same thing you can read. There are some good performances and some not so good. You all have your own favourites and nothing I say is going to change that no matter how unrealistic some of them are :-)

If I don't get the chance to tune in again before the contest, I'd just like to wish you all a happy Eurovision and to thank you for your loyal readership these past two weeks which gives us a reason to be here. May you all get the result that you deserve :-)

oneurope_live @ 2009-05-15T16:13:00

2009-05-15T15:19:07Z

Rightyho!

2009-05-15T15:12:06Z

I'm off for another exciting night playing Scrabble, because the drama and tension from Moscow just isn't enough to keep me going any longer. :-)

Let's see if any more interesting Eurovisual stories break while I'm away... back tomorrow, maybe even late tonight!

OnSpain Again.

2009-05-15T14:11:19Z

[EDIT - The blog in question has now removed the details of the Spanish jury vote last night, which is a strong indicator that they were accurate. I've kept the version that was online as at 15:05 UK time on here though.

Babblefish translation of Jury Chairman's blog

We are already all!

Second semifinal with few surprises although some had.

Before nothing a ENHORABUENA COMPANION to Joaquin Guzmán. A debut of acertadísimos commentary, honour degree, impeccable musical reference… we go, as if it took all the life doing it and if in the end it walks aim so we have eurovisivo speaker for many years.

First voting like jury and very positive experience because we agreed almost between us to the 100%. It was easy because as it pointed Neat Toni “is very evident to see as they are the good ones and the bad ones”.

Also we agreed in a 80% with the definitive finalists.

This was what the jury of Spain voted: Norway, the Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbayán, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Hungary, Estonia and Lithuania.

These were the favorites of the board oracle: Norway, Azerabyán, Greece, Estonia, the Ukraine, Moldova, Denmark, Albania, Hungary and Serbia.

So if it is possible to be spoken of surprises these would be:

The Croatia that, no matter how much it has been classified I as much feel, it but as to almost to all the rest of the jury seemed to us an expensive B of single of Julio Churches of year 74.

Albania that was another Eurodance song to the Mónica Naranjo since there are hundreds but is something more Eurovisivo than this?

Nevertheless, we guessed right with Lithuania an original and dangerous mixture of RNB and ballad thing that the board not acertó.´

A pain the one of Serbia because she was orginal and funny.

The favorites did not fail, the especially Ukraine that left with the mouth abierta with an intelligent hunting action and a putting us in impressive scene. Azerbayán, Greece and Norway fulfilled the expectations and Moldova left in the mouth flavor to Top 10 in the End.

We already know to the final order the something most important and that it can command to the limb to some favorite. The great one prejudicada France that has touched to a mortal third place to it. A pain.

The great ones favored and that will be safe in Top 5: Norway (how not), the Ukraine, the United Kingdom (as it does not have a good position is sorpresón) and Turkey that leave in those so substantial positions that they are cerquita of the end… but little or nothing must do against our Soraya… I have a hunch.

SORAYA WE ARE ALL WITH YOU TO BY THEM!

TO THIS WE ARE GOING IT EUROVISION TO WIN!

And in the original Spanish...

¡Ya estamos todos!

Segunda semifinal con pocas sorpresas aunque alguna hubo.

Antes que nada un ENHORABUENA COMPAÑERO a Joaquín Guzmán. Un debut de matrícula de honor, comentarios acertadísimos, referencias musicales impecables...vamos, como si llevara toda la vida haciéndolo y si en la final anda tan fin tenemos locutor eurovisivo para muchos años.

Primera votación como jurado y experiencia muy positiva porque coincidimos entre nosotros casi al 100%. Era fácil porque como apuntó Toni Garrido 'es muy evidente ver cuales son los buenos y los malos'.

También coincidimos en un 80% con los finalistas definitivos.

Esto fue lo que votó el jurado de España: Noruega, Ucrania, Moldavia, Azerbayán, Grecia, Serbia, Dinamarca, Hungría, Estonia y Lituania.

Estos eran los favoritos del tablero oráculo: Noruega, Azerabyán, Grecia, Estonia, Ucrania, Moldavia, Dinamarca, Albania, Hungría y Serbia.

Así que si se puede hablar de sorpresas éstas serían:

Croacia que, por mucho que se haya clasificado, lo siento pero tanto a mi como al casi a todo el resto del jurado nos pareció una cara B de single de Julio Iglesias del año 74.

Albania que era otra canción Eurodance a lo Mónica Naranjo como hay cientos pero ¿hay algo más Eurovisivo que esto?

Sin embargo, acertamos con Lituania una original y arriesgada mezcla de RNB y balada cosa que el tablero no acertó.´

Una pena lo de Serbia porque era orginal y divertida.

Los favoritos no fallaron, especialmente Ucrania que nos dejó con la boca abierta con una inteligente actuación de montaña rusa y una puesta en escena impresionante. Azerbayán, Grecia y Noruega cumplieron las expectativas y Moldavia dejó en la boca sabor a Top 10 en la Final.

Ya sabemos el orden final algo importantísimo y que puede mandar al limbo a algún favorito. La gran prejudicada Francia que la ha tocado un mortal tercer lugar. Una pena.

Los grandes favorecidos y que estarán seguro en el Top 5: Noruega (cómo no), Ucrania, Reino Unido (como no tenga un buen puesto será un sorpresón) y Turquía que salen en esos puestos tan jugosos que son cerquita del final...pero poco o nada tienen que hacer contra nuestra Soraya...tengo una corazonada.

SORAYA ESTAMOS TODOS CONTIGO ¡A POR ELLOS!

¡ESTE EUROVISION LO VAMOS A GANAR!

What are they doing? Are rules only for poor people or something??? You show the semi-final you're allocated to, you show it live, you stage a televote unless there's a massive technical breakdown, and then you keep your results confidential until after the final.

It's NOT rocket science, surely?

OnEurope's Live Final rehearsal blog

2009-05-15T09:53:57Z

1606 - Spain. This is a contender to finish in the bottom 5 if not the bottom one. The Introduction has been slowed down and Soraya clearly can not sing this song and is in all kinds of trouble with this dog of a song....

1603 - Finland - Screechy and Out of Tune - Horrific.

1558 - UK of Stuff. ALW needs to stop gurning at the camera and actually look like he loves the song.... However, having said that it was a good performance of the song but, and it is a big but, The focus of those camera shots need to be of Jade and NOT of him. It was only a rehearsal and she did sing it well... All being well it should still be top 10 and possibly Top 5 - but NOT with that performance.

1554 - United Kingdom - There is a break for no reason!!! ;)

1551 - It's those Bolton Girls again.... This looks a right load of shite on this bit of the contest to be honest. It probably got through by right in the semi final but I think I have been knocked for six by a show of nipple. And so was Elena because she fell over!! - Too much Bolton Drink?!

1547 - Ukraine. After Germany this now doesn't have the impact that it had last night - and yet it's still in with a shout but the camera work needs some sort of improvment. There are too many long shots but it is still one of the best things that is in this contest and with better camera work it will do very well.

1544 - Presenter break to get the Ukraine's Hell Machine on stage!!!

1542 - Norway. It has taken him 2 weeks to grow some stubble - but he needs a shave. Being a stage school protege he knows when to turn the charm on and he does that when the camera is on him. I do feel that he was a bit shouty when he first came on stage and there is a look about him as through he is getting bored of his own song. He too is a little off key but it isn't a stand out performance that he needs to win the contest.

1538 - Albania. This performance was very bad and off key, she's probably stunned about Dita as well!!..... She needs to get it together in order to make sure she gets the top 10 finish she deserves!!

1535 - eeeerm... OH YES, Turkey. I feel violated BUT if Germany do something like that, then This one is dead as well because by the time Europe have calmed down this song is half way done. You can almost imagine TRT's phone call to Svante can't you....

1529 - Germany. This is still all kinds of wrong. Alex is wearing the tightest silver trousers you have ever seen and lots of chains around his arms and it just looks daft! and then "she" appears. And strips and nipples are shown. There are gasps of NOOOOO in the press centre!! This will not be the perfomance you will be seeing in 36 hours. Remember the performance can not bring the contest into disrepute!!

1524 - Denmark. Estonia may well have killed this one stone dead as well. Mr Bland gives this one the performance that you all expect and demand from this song - but I feel that he will give nothing extra which is the problem in the final. I suspect that he will not be able to take this song up another notch which it needs to get through to the higher places on the scoreboard.

1521 - Estonia. This is gonna kill Malta STONE DEAD. The first 5 notes were haunting and straight on key. Another dark set for this - but hell fire its a well performed simple song that should be coming in the top 10 if there is any justice and sense in this world. Welcome back to the Final ERR!! ;)

1520 - Malta. Une web problem technique for us there - Malta was sooo off key it hurt my ears.. Sorry Love, Bottom 10 with that one.

1513 - Moldova. Loud and brash contrast after the faux party line of Bosnia. And this might help it though, technically, everything after a break is dead in the water... But maybe Nelly knows something that we dont!!. It does, however, fail to capture my attention which is also a worry!

1512 - Some sort of break me thinks! - but not sure!!

1508 - Bosnia and Herzegovina. This just bores me now. It is still a very good song and has all the usual elements that it had to start with - but I feel coming this middling in the draw is going to work against it - especially with the big guns to come, this could well get forgotten. Performance wise nothing has change but its now just unmemorable.

1504 - Azerbaijan. Oh dear god - The introduction came on and then he almost MURDERED the first note of the song - a palpable "oooooh" came up from our table - and then it just got worse. They have mugged the life out of all the notes in this song - I know its a rehearsal but this neds to get a whole lot better in a hurry and they need to remember which notes to hit otherwise this is doomed!

1500 - There should be Song 11 here - but there is a breakdown it appears!!

1456 - Russia. The 2nd of the ex-Soviet trio in this bit. The home town entry contrasts the 2 that have come before it but in a bad way. This now sounds all shades of wrong and the camera really does put weight on you from the wrong camera angles. It has Glenis Grace written all over it in terms of staging, vocals and results. Whereas in the UK entry it's all about me - in this one there is too much her and not enough song!! - And the ageing version of her in the background is really freaking me out!!

1452 - Armenia. Take note Sakis, this is how a decent song should be performed and staged. They dont do anything they didn't do in the semi final but the combination of ethnicity and another goddamn blue stage set and dancing will mean that the quality of this song which again was performed perfectly will shine through against the overblown self hype of Sakis and his "machine".

1448 - Greece. Even though I don't like the song - It has to be respected for what it is. It is a very big star strutting his stuff across the stage. Beyond that, however, It still looks messy with lots of very bad dancing and, as has been mentioned before, Alex Panayi actually singing the song off camera for Sakis - AGAIN. This will pick up votes from the usual quarters - but It is not going to be anywhere near enough. It is a one trick pony.

1444 - Iceland. 2 Nice songs together, however, could well cancel themselves out - and I fear that this is the case. Johanna is still nailing this song after a shaky start at the start of the week. This is miles better than the one before it - and miles better than the shite that comes after it, It is one of the 3 stand outs of the first quarter along with France and Portugal. This must be put back into contention for a top 10 - they all look and sound spot on - huzzah!

1441 - Portugal. RTP must have been having a collective heart attack when they got through for 2 years in a row. This one though gets through on it's own merit. It stands out in this draw for the same reason that it did in the semi final. It's a nice simple song sung well... She doesn't over sing the song - she doesn't over sell the song and after Sweden and Croatia this may well mop up scores from all over the place. There are no bad notes and the performance is very good indeed!!

1436 - Croatia. This song will have the effect of the nice simple song following the overblown hideousness of Sweden. He sounds very bass heavy and slightly off key and her wailing isn't helping. BUT, it has plenty of friends and plenty of people that will like this kind of thing.

1433 - Sweden. From the sublime to the stupid. Malena is all sorts of wrong after that performace. She looks totally out of place in this contest. I suspect that the Juries have saved her once, but they surely can not save her. On the screen it still looks awful and that 500,000 Euro dress has changed slightly but overall - it has no effect other than going "hahahahah" after France.

1430 - France. She's got me doing it again - She has me mesmorised on the screen - I cant take my eyes off it. Wearing a blue dress on a dark background and in ONE spotlight it is a very simple performance of a very complex and lovely song, sung by someone that knows what she is doing. this will suffer from being early on - but, by god, after the 2 that have gone before and the one that it is to follow - there is a hell of a lot to like about this... Is it too difficult for the televoting public to understand??

1425 - Israel. The draw has conspired against this song if I am honest. I dont think that Noa and Mira will be doin cartwheels. Again, however they forgvet the first notes of their own song - clearly written in a key they cant get. However, the song builds as usual but there are just too many shaky moments in this song to get it remembered or even voted for. It is cynical and sacharin coated and that will not help it in this company. This is stone dead at the bottom reaches of the scoreboard!

1421 - Still waiting - They may be running through the start again - and then there was the Postcard so hopefully we'll get a song, which we do. This song still has too many words for me - but it was lots better last night than it was previously. Sasha still performs the song well, and looks like a performer that believes what he sings. However, after the start which whets the pallette and then the fact that this is at the beginning of the contest means that it may well be forgotten. That is not to say it is a bad song, because it isn't.

1419 - Lithuania. Very long technical pause before the song starts.

1415 - And then the presenters appear after a short pause! - Alsou has borrowed Malene's dress and has dyed it Yellow. Thankfully they explain 50-50 and Alsou's French is fabulous.

1409 - Well we have a start!! - Lots of Matrioskas on stange and dancing and Cirque du Soleil Dancing - followed by Dima singing the winning song in remix having been brought down from the ceiling on a harness then stripping off and diving through walls and all sorts of things on a treadmill - all of which is suspended above the stage. I have not seen anything like it!

1403 - They are late starting - as you would expect!

1352 - Well I decided at short notice am doing the rehearsal blog. Keep refreshing!!!!

(All times shown are in Moscow time)

OnSpain

2009-05-15T00:08:32Z

All Participating Broadcasters presenting a song in a Semi-Final are obliged to implement the televoting system for that Semi-Final. The five Participating Broadcasters with guaranteed places in the Grand Final shall also implement the televoting system for the Semi-Final which they are required to broadcast. All Participating Broadcasters are obliged to implement the televoting system for the Grand Final.

Each Participating Broadcaster shall appoint a National Jury whose votes shall be used in case of a technical or similar failure in the televoting procedure and for determining the ranking of the songs in the Grand Final as per a calculation method to be decided upon by the Reference Group and communicated during the meeting of the Heads of Delegation. The EBU Executive Supervisor shall decide during the Semi-Finals whether the National Jury votes will be used. In particular, the EBU Executive Supervisor may decide to use such votes in a given country if an insufficient number of calls has been registered in that country.

If a dispensation is requested by 1 January 2009, the Reference Group may make an exception to the compulsory televoting rule and may allow 100 % of the voting by the national jury in accordance with the rules mentioned in Appendix 4.

From the Rules of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest

RTVE appears to have a case to answer. I wonder if the official sanction is "Well, don't do it again!" as it has tended to be in the past. :-)

The official "Let's have a Semi 2 Heated Debate!" thread.

2009-05-14T18:53:01Z

Leave a comment. G'wan g'wan g'wan, just a little one. You won't even know you've typed it. :-)

It's back - and more chaotic than before - the Semi 2 Liveblog!

2009-05-14T18:51:44Z

2353 Full draw, shamelessly nicked from AKOE - thanks guys.

1 Lithuania
2 Israel
3 France
4 Sweden
5 Croatia
6 Portugal
7 Iceland
8 Greece
9 Armenia
10 Russia
11 Azerbaijan
12 Bosnia-Herzegovina
13 Moldova
14 Malta
15 Estonia
16 Denmark
17 Germany
18 Turkey
19 Albania
20 Norway
21 Ukraine
22 Romania
23 U.K.
24 Finland
25 Spain

I'll write more in a separate entry a bit later about this. First thought: 8th is unexpectedly excellent for Greece considering what goes before, Norway's draw is good but slightly tricky, and the UK must be jumping for joy to be coming off a run of six clear-cut uptempos. The huge number of slow songs at the start harms all of them though, and will make Sweden sound like a piece of thrash metal in comparison.

2247 Press conference just getting under way, and I need a break. On-the-spot reporting from our friends at AKOE (bad luck on Sinead, guys, it was a crackerjack of a performance in the end after all the worries), and I'll return later for a chocolate biscuit and a think about what the final draw's done for the price of fish.

2240 Reports coming in to OnEurope HQ that RTVE Spain didn't broadcast the semifinal live as they were supposed to, even having specifically ASKED to be moved to voting in this semi rather than the first one. Apparently the Madrid Masters tennis comes first. I wonder what the reference group will think to that, if it's correct?

2224 Just for completeness, the nine countries we've lost tonight are: Ireland, Latvia, Serbia, Poland, Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Netherlands (The). Commiserations to all - I want to see you back in Eurovisionia next year, bloodied but unbowed by the experience. London's absolutely ghastly at this time of year - you'll love it!

2205 Pity Serbia wasn't in the ninth envelope really, that would have been entertaining carnage. The press conference will be a bit later, and I'm expecting numbers to be drawn in this order: Croatia, Norway, Denmark, Azerbaijan, Greece, Lithuania, Moldova, Albania, Ukraine, Estonia.

Estonia, obviously, will just have to accept what everyone else has left for them - but as it's their first time in the final since Vaiko Eplik and his Amazing Friends in 2003, they'll probably just be happy to be there. It's also the first time Lithuania has made any serious headway at all without the use of megaphones.

Compared with the 2008 final, we lose Serbia, Georgia, Latvia and Poland, and gain Malta, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. Not a massive change, all told.

2159 So who's missing then from my 10 then? Oooh, it's Serbia. There you go, they *can't* send a farting nun on rollerskates and qualify. I'm glad we've cleared that one up. 9/10 is my best ever serviette, which is extremely disconcerting considering my new selection methodology!

2158 GREECE The last two minutes were very very boring. Phew.
2158 NORWAY Guess what's coming next?
2157 ESTONIA I hope the next two minutes are very very boring.
2156 DENMARK Still no Norway or Greece. Ooh!
2156 MOLDOVA Didn't think they and Albania would both. No Norway or Greece yet. Four to go.
2155 ALBANIA Five for five - yay midgets!
2154 LITHUANIA Paddy is detecting an East bias, and I'm detecting a 10/10 serviette :-)
2153 UKRAINE Unsurprising, and my bet riiiiiides!
2152 CROATIA Good. I called that one.
2151 AZERBAIJAN Well, obviously.

2150 Here we go...

2148 FT Leeds 1-1 Millwall (1-2) Despair for the home crowd, and five bookings in the eight minutes of stoppage time suggest they didn't go down without a fight. Trips to Exeter and Wycombe loom. Heartbreak for Leeds, joy for Millwall. Joy for 10 other people is now imminent back in Moscow... but for now, the five direct cauliflowers.

2145 Sarah's on the sofa now with Chiara, Waldo, and a Person. "It's a privilege" to follow Jade on stage, apparently, and Waldo wants to High 5 ALW on the way on stage. I bet he'd rather touch Jade in the backstage area, and I'm going to keep delivering that double entendre until it's funny.

2143 Girls, girls, girls in Russia... UK, France, Spain, Russia, Malta... meanwhile, deep into stoppage time at Elland Road now, and the clock's ticking down.

2141 Ooh look, it's Jade Ewen! She's representing the UK, you know. Anything interesting going on in the arena, Mr. SMS Correspondent?

2137 Third can of Tesco Red Bull equivalent of the night. Surprising what a difference one extra song makes to the exhaustion factor, and there are 25 on Saturday. I won't cope. Are we nearly there yet?

2134 Seven minutes to go at Elland Road, and it looks like Leeds may be resigning themselves to another year playing the likes of Norwich, Southampton and Charlton. Hey, hang on a second... that's not much of a languish!

2132 In spite of the fact that "UK VIEWERS DO NOT VOTE IN THIS SEMI-FINAL - YOUR VOTE WON'T COUNT AND YOU MAY BE CHARGED" is plastered all over the screen... and there *is* no phone number to call... Paddy is still emphasising every 5 seconds that people shouldn't call in. My, but the televote scandal hit hard. We do at least get the second set of recaps...

2129 More bigging up of Teh Jade, but then there would be. A bit of general Western bigging up... Spain, France, Iceland all good... and some talk about the 50-50 jury/televote. "It's sort of like Strictly". Yeah, I suppose it is. "Bilan won because that song had been #1 in all those countries... not just because it was Russian, it was a *hit*." Wow. That's a SERIOUSLY new party line!

2127 Well, we're not seeing the reprise clips. I mean, we're not voting in the UK so why would we even care about them? *sigh*. Graham Norton mentions the W(ogan) word finally, and is especially unimpressed with Latvia and Slovenia. He loves Sakis's box, and would like it in his house as a coffee table. "The staging's better than him". Ukraine... not rated, and certainly not worth mortgaging the house to build the set.

2123 GOAL TO MILLWALL Nadjim Abdou shoots into the bottom corner to put the away fans into dreamland and the Leeds support into despair. 15 minutes for Leeds to save themselves from a third season at level 3. Leeds 1-1 Millwall, 1-2 on aggregate

2119 NETHERLANDS, THE My lovely horse riding through the... field. Where are you going with your fetlocks blowing in the... wind. It's more competent than Avramov, anyway, but yeucccch. Horrid. That wouldn't get my televote if I had one. Seriously.

2116 ESTONIA I don't know, I've never gagared. Anyhoo... I want to see a lot more of Sandra than they're showing me here, and that's not even a double entendre. Beautiful, elegant performance. I do like a bit of beautiful elegance in my Eurovision, and that *would* be getting my televote if I had one. I wonder if there's some more beautiful and elegant performances to come?

2111 UKRAINE Apparently Arlene wasn't allowed to float Jade in on a harness. Anyway... I've backed Ukraine to beat everything except Greece and Norway on Saturday. That's ten pounds I'll not be seeing again...! Oh, and the Anti Crisis Girl flag which was the main selling point of the performance has gone too. I expect it'll still qualify, but I'm not sure that it should.

2106 ALBANIA Well, that's not something you see every day. And another one. And another one. That's the kind of dream that normally follows many, many mini Welsh Rarebit canapes before bedtime. That *was* a guy entirely in turquoise and two midgets dressed as The Joker, wasn't it? Arlene Phillips liked it, and yet she didn't like John Sergeant's paso doble. It's just blatant favouritism with that woman.

2102 MOLDOVA Sorry, I got distracted there. Anyone would think I was nicking this format from elsewhere. Yep, liking the Moldova. Good effort.

2100 GOAL TO LEEDS Luciano Becchio with a low shot into the centre of the goal. Leeds 1-0 Millwall, 1-1 on aggregate

2059 LITHUANIA A lot better than I thought it was a fortnight ago, I like the language switch... Never thought I'd say this, but Sasha would be in serious danger of getting my televote if I had one to award. That's so through it's untrue.

2055 GREECE Right, I'll have to watch this. That's... impressive and leaving me slightly cold. There is such a thing as too perfect. It's such a great try, and I can see why it mightn't win. I did think the vocals were being carried by others, but that's not necessarily bad.

2051 AZERBAIJAN Always Aysel and Arash. This year's Azeri entry is brought to you by the letter "A". There are *so* many A's. This is definitely a song that could be improved by being 30 seconds shorter - it does seem to be going round the same loop many, many times. Dammit buttons, this is *that* close to being a great entry, but it's just a smidge too... boring.

2048 HUNGARY Did I ever mention that this was Hungary's third-choice entry? It's all a bit Deen on a Budget, really. And there's some pretty strainy notes in a disco fantasy there, if you ask me. I have to salute the sheer nerve of sending this to an ESC that has a Sakis in it, because chips are going to get sprinkled in condiments in the very near future.

2044 SLOVENIA I'm getting very good at ignoring the presenters here, you know. Is that Slovene that Martina's singing in? Oh, phew, she's switched to English. Gosh, she's not even all that attractive, is she? You get such a false impression from postage stamp sized Youtube. That's three minutes of my life that *I'm* not getting back. And Paddy compliments the stage. Well, yes...

2039 DENMARK He's never had a picture of an ant, you know. It really shouldn't be as difficult to sing the word "I" at the start of a chorus as he seems to be making it. I still think this is qualifying. I still think it shouldn't be. I'd like to hear the real Ronan Keating sing this, frankly.

2035 SLOVAKIA With Ireland's decent showing earlier on, this is now my hot tip to come last in the semi. I suspect that this is the very best the song can possibly be delivered, but she's painful on my ears and... both of them are even *more* painful on my ears. "I'm feeling very proud... you're singing much too loud... that's the way that this song goes... you're standing on my toes". I'm not teh happies.

2031 CYPRUS I can tell after the first verse here that this is transformed from the horrors of the national final (well worth looking up, fans of Avramovesque off-keyness!). Very very sweet, until she starts inviting us to jump, and then it starts to veer off... but it's forgiv(e)able and we might very well be looking at a major surprise qualifier there.

2025 NORWAY Is this the winner? Let's see. It's entirely possible, contrary to scurrilous speculation you may have read earlier today from some no-good blogger, that he really *does* want to win the semifinal. Absolutely knocks spots off anything from Semi 1. Goosebumps. Huge reaction in the hall, but then we knew there *would* be. Paddy and Sarah are wowed by Ireland and Norway so far, and pretty much nothing else.

2022 POLAND Please let the rehearsal blogs all be wrong about this...! And the first verse is inconclusive, but not "good", exactly. I miss Isis Teeth. This is just making me not happy in not good ways. Rhythmic gymnastics now? Heavens above, save the acrobatics for Frikar! This may well be the best performance she's given in Moscow, but it's still Katie Hideous.

2018 SERBIA Well, this is all the right shades of wrong. I must have overlooked the warnings about the onstage "business" with the bald fellas and the ballerina. This is just very very strange. Good strange, I think. Possibly.

2014 LATVIA I can't see anything at all wrong with this - and yet everything's wrong with it. Stick Intars in a superhero's cape and it's Aven Romale all over again. Probably with the same result. I can't be bothered to report Paddy's utterances this time, as it would mean listening to them. No. It's a good try, it has depth, it's going nowhere.

2010 IRELAND Was that Big Ben in the postcard? *watches carefully* Apart from a slightly off note right at the end, I think that's FAR better than I'd been led to believe, and I'm willing to say that ain't finishing last in the semi. Far from it! Go Team Et Cetera!

2007 CROATIA Ah, he's back. The line went down, apparently. It's a love-in between Igor and the camera here. This is nice. Gentle little thing. I thought it was going to get totally lost at the start, but it might be more Neka Mi Ne Svane than Rijeka Bez Imena. Andrea's contribution (I assume that's Andrea) isn't particularly helpful, really. She looks like no-one gave her the memo about dress code... but yeah, that's nice enough.

2005 Paddy and Sarah are very quiet. Remarkably quiet. SUSPICIOUSLY quiet. Oh, finally he wakes up to mention there's no UK voting tonight.

2004 Fake dancing bears to Believe. OK, so Tingaling *was* only controversial because it had nicked all the Russian's own ideas.

2002 Waterloo and Ding a Dong and Diva all Russianed up. How very... something.

2001 And we start with Volare on an... instrument. It's illegal not to, apparently.

2000 Paddy and Sarah want to see the crowd more agitated. Tell 'em that they're not going to see the interval act, that should do it. Oooh, we get the Te Deum this time!

1958 Or possibly it'll work better if I close the lj-cut tag. That works too.

1956 And the interwebs clearly don't like my preprepared block of bold text tags for the times. How tedious is that? Ooh - a special edition of Pulling on Sunday at 9 on Three. I must remember to miss that.

1954 Real music on BBC Three right now. Phew, I think they're going. Thank Lordi for that.

1949 Here we go again. 19 of the damn things tonight. And feel free to discuss in real time on the discussion thread, or on the majestic ESCNation messageboard if you prefer.

Flesh on the bones - the full Semi 2 Embarrassingly Wrong Prediction

2009-05-14T13:48:34Z

19th - IRELAND. Some years, you just feel that all the fates are against you, and everything's going horribly wrong for the Irish. (Well, it WAS anyway. Apparently final rehearsal went well, but I'm not changing my mind now!) Maybe Denmark will toss a couple of token points Stina's way, but that's about all.

18th - SLOVAKIA. Neither the Czechs nor the Slovaks back in the last century ever got any real toehold in this contest. This isn't a good song either, and is unlikely to make double figures.

17th - SLOVENIA. The poor relation of the ex-Yugoslavia (or possibly the unpopular rich relation, I'm not sure which). What little vocals there are in this are being done badly, and the saving grace of a rather attractive girl on stage is negated by keeping her in silhouette for 75% of the time.

16th - CYPRUS. I'm willing to be surprised by this one. Obviously it'll get at least 12 points, which is probably enough to get it to 16th. It might get more with a following wind, and there's a ghost of a chance that the juries will like the song and turn a deaf ear to the fragile singer.

15th - POLAND. A dull song, potentially the worst singing of the semi-final, and on a notes hit percentage maybe even worse than the Blulgars on Tuesday. However, Ireland, Lithuania and Ukraine are voting in this semi.

14th - LATVIA. Bit of a confusing mess, which could all the same sneak through a gap into an envelope. Good points to come from Russia, the Baltic neighbours and Ireland, but maybe not so many others.

13th - HUNGARY. Deen without the song. Hungary's quite capable of finishing a fair bit lower than 13th, but there are probably 4s and 5s to come here and there for the fella.

12th - NETHERLANDS. The worst thing in this year's contest, or at least it should be. But as the bloggers seem to be slightly warming to it, I'll follow suit.

11th - MOLDOVA. Tenth, really. But you know what them jurors are like. They're all suckers for anything even slightly ballad-shaped. You just need to ask Maribelle and Franco Battiato about *that* one.

- - - -

10th - LITHUANIA. Nice ballad, good arrangement, Sasha does the job well enough, and the juries will be impressed. The televoters will *nearly* be impressed enough themselves.

9th - CROATIA. It just *feels* like the kind of song that comes 9th in a semifinal.

8th - ALBANIA. The combination of midget dancers and the Raston Warrior Robot is virtually irresistably silly. And the song's OK, even if Kejsi's not quite up to the task.

7th - DENMARK. Deserves worse. Sounds like something Ronan Keating knocked up in a tea-break, and it probably is. Nevertheless, it's the kind of thing that Denmark is normally appreciated for.

6th - SERBIA. Yes, yes, I *know*. It's Leto Svet with a flag transplant. But Leto Svet was massively underappreciated, and I remain unanimous in this.

5th - UKRAINE. Could be higher than 5th, though I'm not so sure it deserves to be. Svetlana is clearly Silvia Night with a flag transplant, but even Silvia *nearly* qualified when it was a much harder task than this.

4th - ESTONIA. Because, frankly, who else is a neutral observer who likes a slow song going to vote for?

3rd - AZERBAIJAN. Because it's a good enough song, and well enough performed, and could bank quite a few 10s and 12s even if they sent a flatulent nun on roller skates. Note to AzTV and ITV - this is not a recommendation.

2nd - NORWAY. Because he's not actually all that interested in winning the semifinal. Friday night and Saturday night are where the big performances are needed.

1st - GREECE. This is his night. Saturday might not be, mind.

I'm guaranteed at least 1 out of 10 this time, and I'm pretty confident of at least 3. :-)