Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

ORF and EBU have finally released the rehearsal schedule for the Eurovision song contest 2026 in Vienna according several sites yet I haven't seen an official release when writing this. Finland's first 30 minutes rehearsal is scheduled on May 2 at 15.40-16.10. The second one, 25 minutes instead of the usual 20 btw it seems, is scheduled for May 6 at 15.00-15.25. Oddly the Big4 + Austria have  25 + 25 minutes rehearsals on May 7 and 9, which  But what happens in these first and second rehearsals and what are they for?  If things haven't changed much since I was there the first 30 minutes rehearsals is mostly technical. The acts get to the stage for the very first time after the stand in rehearsals have practiced the lighting and camera angles, props and all that . Usually they get to go through the song three times, four if you are lucky and happy how things progress and changes can be made after each run through as the delegation watches on screens how it all looks like. ...

Here it is, already traditional Blogilkar's Eurovision Home Jury results. This year we had a total of nine people in the jury from teenagers to 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, most every one just people who do watch Eurovision but aren't any fanatic fans, just tv viewers who don't remember who won two years ago or sometimes even last year, don't have a clue about the polls and odds but just score the songs to their liking. We used 1 to 10 scores. Tie breaks were settled by highest marks and if still a tie by my preference. Here we go! 12. UNITED KINGDOM -  LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER - EINS, ZWEI, DREI   49 13. ALBANIA -  ALIS - NAN    49 14. AUSTRIA -  COSMO - TANZSCHEIN    49 15. LUXEMBURG -   EVA MARIJA - MOTHER NATURE    49

  Here it is, already traditional Blogilkar's Eurovision Home Jury results. This year we had a total of nine people in the jury from teenagers to 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, most every one just people who do watch Eurovision but aren't any fanatic fans, just tv viewers who don't remember who won two years ago or sometimes even last year, don't have a clue about the polls and odds but just score the songs to their liking. We used 1 to 10 scores. Tie breaks were settled by highest marks and if still a tie by my preference. Here we go! 16. ISRAEL -  NOAM BETTAN - MICHELLE   47 17. LATVIA - ATVARA - ENA    47 18. GERMANY -  SARAH ENGELS - FIRE   47 19. UKRAINE - LELÉKA - RIDNYM    46

  After touring the US and doing Coachella (!!!) with Joost Klein Käärijä's next step is to reconquer Sweden (and not only) with Basshunter and Ja eller nej. Yes or no? Late May he will have his very first arena concert and most likely Basshunter will join all his countless collaborators so far from BESS to Hooja, from Baby Lasagna to Joost Klein and Bojan/Joker Out, Rekami (the other fresh single with video shot infront of the famous Cha cha cha murales  Mun mestoi ), Lord of the Lost and who knows who else shows up

  Here it is, already traditional Blogilkar's Eurovision Home Jury results. This year we had a total of nine people in the jury from teenagers to 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, most every one just people who do watch Eurovision but aren't any fanatic fans, just tv viewers who don't remember who won two years ago or sometimes even last year, don't have a clue about the polls and odds but just score the songs to their liking. We used 1 to 10 scores. Tie breaks were settled by highest marks and if still a tie by my preference. Here we go! 20. DENMARK -  SøREN TORPEGAARD LUND - FøR VI GÅR HJEM     46 21. POLAND - ALICJA - PRAY    46 22. GEORGIA - BZIKEBI - ON REPLAY   45 23. CZECHIA - DANIEL ZIZKA - CROSSROADS    45 With this set of songs we have settled out finalists as Czechia is the highest scoring song not to make it to the final. Our nn qualifiers from the first semi-final are San Marino, Croatia, Serbia, Belgium and Lithuania, and from the se...

Here it is, already traditional Blogilkar's Eurovision Home Jury results. This year we had a total of nine people in the jury from teenagers to 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, most every one just people who do watch Eurovision but aren't any fanatic fans, just tv viewers who don't remember who won two years ago or sometimes even last year, don't have a clue about the polls and odds but just score the songs to their liking. We used 1 to 10 scores. Tie breaks were settled by highest marks and if still a tie by my preference. Here we go! 24. CYPRUS - ANTIGONI - JALLA    44 25. ROMANIA - ALEXANDRA CAPITANESCU - CHOKE ME    44 26. AZERBAIJAN - JIVA - JUST GO    39 27. ARMENIA - SIMÓN - PALOMA RUMBA    38

Here it is, already traditional Blogilkar's Eurovision Home Jury results. This year we had a total of nine people in the jury from teenagers to 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, most every one just people who do watch Eurovision but aren't any fanatic fans, just tv viewers who don't remember who won two years ago or sometimes even last year, don't have a clue about the polls and odds but just score the songs to their liking. We used 1 to 10 scores. Tie breaks were settled by highest marks and if still a tie by my preference. Here we go! 28. MONTENEGRO - TAMARA ZIVKOVIC - NOVA ZORA    38 29. PORTUGAL - BANDIDOS DO CANTE - ROSA  36 30. SAN MARINO - SENHIT FEAT. BOY GEORGE - SUPERSTAR   35 31. CROATIA -  LELEK - ANDROMEDA    34

Here it is, already traditional Blogilkar's Eurovision Home Jury results. This year we had a total of nine people in the jury from teenagers to 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, most every one just people who do watch Eurovision but aren't any fanatic fans, just tv viewers who don't remember who won two years ago or sometimes even last year, don't have a clue about the polls and odds but just score the songs to their liking. We used 1 to 10 scores. Tie breaks were settled by highest marks and if still a tie by my preference. Here we go! 32, BULGARIA - DARA - BANGARANGA    33 33. SERBIA - LAVINA - KRAJ MENE    32 34. BELGIUM - ESSYLA - DANCING ON THE ICE   30 35. LITHUANIA  - LION CECCAH - SÓLO QUERO MÁS   26

An era ended in Hungary last night and hopefully that was a first of many changes to come in also some other parts of the world ! I don't get to politics usually but this one links to Eurovision as well as the new elected prime minister has stated in some interview that he wants to connect Hungary to Europe again in every way including the Eurovision song contest, that he didn't agree with the non participation, so... Welcome back Hungary in 2027? All these years Hungary have been missing from Eurovision they have still continued with their national competition  since 2012 A Dal that provided the entry for Eurovision as well. Below you can hear the entries we missed. However it's worth remembering the line up and therefor also the winner might have been different if there was the ticket to Eurovision in store for the winner. This said, I would have been quite ok with most every entry that won A Dal in between. Maybe not all so Eurovision friendly but then again the songs do...

  I have no idea what these (AI things) are but oh Lord do these versions work?  (This said I am still against Ai use) What a great song this is in the end and works in every way! Just like Hard rock hallelujah from swing to acoustic to choir and everything in between back in the day. 

  Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen - Liekinheitin (Orchestral Version)**** As usual acoustic version, remixed versions and all that jazz is being released of the Eurovision songs also this year. Here are some or most of them worth mentioning. Enjoy! Delta Goodrem - Eclipse (Steve Anderson Remix)*** Akylas - Super Ferto *** JONAS LOVV - YA YA YA (with The Norwegian Radio Orchestra) *** Alis - Nân (Piano Version)**** Monroe - Regarde ! (Piano Version) *** JIVA - Just Go (Rock Version)*** (... but what an earth is that styling??!!) Satoshi - Viva Moldova! (Hardstyle Remix)** SENHIT - Superstar (Acoustic Version)** Atvara - Ēnā (Acoustic Version)**** Tamara Živković - Nova Zora (orchestral version) **  LELEK - Andromeda (Choral Version) Eva Marija - Mother Nature (Folk Version)** LELÉKA - Ridnym (Live with Strings & Bandura)*** FELICIA - My System (Acoustic Version)**** ESSYLA - Dancing on the Ice (Piano Version)* LAVINA - Kraj Mene (English Version) **  Bandidos do Cante...

Akylas - Rise Like a Phoenix (Conchita Wurst cover)*** Once again the #EurovisionALBM series gives us cover versions of Eurovision classics by this year's artists. Here's a little collection (to be updated) Bandidos do Cante - Saudade, Saudade (MARO Cover) *** Alexandra Căpitănescu - Fuego (Eleni Foureira Cover) *** AIDAN - Per Sempre Sì (Sal Da Vinci Cover) ** Satoshi - Rim Tim Tagi Dim (Baby Lasagna Cover)** ESSYLA - Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son (France Gall Cover) *** Monroe - Tattoo (Loreen Cover) ** Eva Marija - Eins, Zwei, Drei (LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER Cover) ** AIDAN - Per Sempre Sì (Sal Da Vinci Cover) ** SENHIT - Occidentali's Karma (Francesco Gabbani Cover)*** JONAS LOVV - Arcade (Duncan Laurence Cover)**** Eva Marija - Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi (Céline Dion cover)** LELEK - Wild Dances (Ruslana Cover) | Croatia****w Atvara - Fly On The Wings Of Love (Olsen Brothers Cover)*** Tamara Živković - Euphoria (After Dark)  (Loreen cover) ***  JIVA - We Could Be The Same (maNg...

   I wasn't planning on doing personal reviews this year either but here we go after all. Truth to be said I have listened the entries 0-2 times before sitting down now to comment them. Let's go! The usual Blogilkar's home jury will reunite later and the results revealed in due time. meanwhile, my thoughts and comments on the entries of Eurovision song contest series is right here.  And I saved my beloved Italy and the my biggest surprise of the season to last. Enjoy! Italy - Sal Da Vinci - Per sempre si ***** Oh Sal. I'm so happy he's back on top, a Sanremo winner finally, having the success he merited already in the mid 1990's! Tjis song may be corny and old fashioned but there's the charm. This year especially with so many weird strange songs that aren't really songs in the true meaning of the word. This is. A proper melody, proper lyrics, performed with emotion and passion and flawless vocals. Could you ask for more? And yes, there is a remix coming ...

Here they are, a lot anticipated running orders. Finland gets the best there's to have after the allocation draw while Sweden... well, thrown under the bus . Considering Azerbaijan got the number 2 in the semi-final two switching Sweden and Portugal wouldn't hurt much in the first one. Except Portugal being the only slow tempo in the first half... Oh well. Nu gör ni! Finland comes after Italy and before Montenegro, it is what it is. And the fate in first semi-final is all the favorites are in the first half except Israel and after them we have only one in current odds among top-20 while the others are bottom-10 for the moment..... And they saved Serbia last not to scare the kids and the elderly..... The second semi-final two Top-10 favorites in the odds (Romania, France) are in the first half and then in the second one we have three in a row in the second one: Denmark, Australia and Ukraine and again we finish with three songs in Top-10 with one in the bottom-10. 

    I wasn't planning on doing personal reviews this year either but here we go after all. Truth to be said I have listened the entries 0-2 times before sitting down now to comment them. Let's go! The usual Blogilkar's home jury will reunite later and the results revealed in due time. meanwhile, my thoughts and comments on the entries of Eurovision song contest series is right here.  Croatia - Lelek - Andromeda ** We have had similar entries in Eurovision before from Latvia and Poland with variable results. Great vocals and harmonies, good melody... but I am a bit tired of these. I would like to like this a lot more than I actually do. Right now I have it in final at the bottom five but we'll see.  Finland - Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen - Liekinheitin ***** I guess I have said all already in previous posts about them and UMK. Seeing them #1 in the odds with a huge margin week after week is quite incredible. I guess I just sit back and enjoy the ride. Itäs going t...

  I wasn't planning on doing personal reviews this year either but here we go after all. Truth to be said I have listened the entries 0-2 times before sitting down now to comment them. Let's go! The usual Blogilkar's home jury will reunite later and the results revealed in due time. meanwhile, my thoughts and comments on the entries of Eurovision song contest series is right here.  Armenia - Simón - Paloma rumba ** Oh dear what is this? is this good or bad? Is this chaos? Yes it is. Remembering his last year's performance in the national final I'm a bit afraid. Very noisy. And did I say chaotic? For now I have this as NQ but I have no idea..... Azerbaijan - Jiva - Just go ** When this came out I was phew, finally a ballad among all these noisy acts. First hearing I kinda enjoyed this, maybe the mood was right. The second time little less. Now I don't know. She can sing but the whole production comes across very amateurish, almost demo like. For now I have this a...

  I wasn't planning on doing personal reviews this year either but here we go after all. Truth to be said I have listened the entries 0-2 times before sitting down now to comment them. Let's go! The usual Blogilkar's home jury will reunite later and the results revealed in due time. meanwhile, my thoughts and comments on the entries of Eurovision song contest series is right here.  Cyprus - Antigoni - Jalla ** When this was released I was "on no another of those" but now that we have all the songs this is quite alone (with Germany) in the genre. Which makes it bop up a little. But she's no Eleni nor Chanel. But these always get some points so midtable result on higher part of the right hand scoreboard can be expected.  Denmark - Søren Torpegaard Lund - Før Vi Går Hjem ** This has went to #2 in odds when writing this and it's a mystery to me. For me this song is a bit mess and the staging a better and less horny version of Olly Alexander's. He does a gr...

    I wasn't planning on doing personal reviews this year either but here we go after all. Truth to be said I have listened the entries 0-2 times before sitting down now to comment them. Let's go! The usual Blogilkar's home jury will reunite later and the results revealed in due time. meanwhile, my thoughts and comments on the entries of Eurovision song contest series is right here.  Czechia - Daniel Zizka - Crossroads ** I had high hopes before this was published but sadly it didn't deliver. He's good vocalist but the song would fit better some tv-series or movies main theme than Eurovision stage. As we haven't seen a live performance it could lift this though. But as it is ... juries might support this enough for the lower Top-10 but it could slip a lot lower as well. Let's think about this again in May after rehearsals..... Luxemburg - Eva Marija - Mother Nature ** Another song I don't get. It's not bad, she's great on stage but is this one of...

    I wasn't planning on doing personal reviews this year either but here we go after all. Truth to be said I have listened the entries 0-2 times before sitting down now to comment them. Let's go! The usual Blogilkar's home jury will reunite later and the results revealed in due time. meanwhile, my thoughts and comments on the entries of Eurovision song contest series is right here.  Greece - Akylas - Ferto ***** Ok, this is this years Käärijä/Joost/Baby Lasagna/Tommy Cash but Akylas has what the others have missed since Käärijä: the cute bubbly personality that I can't not adore. The song's also fun, catchy but not studid. The arrangement throws in nice nuances and the ballad bit fits and is beautiful and very, very Greek. Great job. I hope this makes the Top-5. Should this win I wouldn't be too sad but this more of a tyoical runner up like song. Instead of the national final video I want to add here the preview video as it shows best his personality.  Moldova ...

  I wasn't planning on doing personal reviews this year either but here we go after all. Truth to be said I have listened the entries 0-2 times before sitting down now to comment them. Let's go! The usual Blogilkar's home jury will reunite later and the results revealed in due time. meanwhile, my thoughts and comments on the entries of Eurovision song contest series is right here.  Israel - Noam Bettan - Michelle **** This is right my cup of tea of a song: typical French pop that could be for example Slimane's song, even vocally. As I adore Slimane what's there not to like? The French fits nicely and makes sense as he's French but the few lines in English are totally unnecessary and kind of break the magic. Leaving all political questions and voting patters aside this should make the lower Top-10 for its own merits only. .  Lithuania - Lion Ceccah - Sólo quero más * One of those songs this year that I don't get all all. Not the staging nor the melody - once ...