Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  There was a saying that hell will freeze over before Finland wins Eurovision but then came the monsters from hell and stormed to record breaking victory that night exactly 20 years ago in Athens.... And even cows did fly! (At least I saw a cow balloon the day after hanging in a three infront of my window anyways....) I remember being at home alone, as I always do watch Eurovision alone and as I was a lot more inside in the bubble back then I had had my spies in Athens telling me Finland had won the semi-final. So expectations were high and all along I had said since Lordi won the national final that they would either win or be a total flop. After the Swedish vote I remember my excitement turned into calmness: We will win. And oh boy did we win! The Finnish commentators Jaana Pelkonen and Heikki Paasonen with Asko Murtomäki lost it completely somewhere around the third 12 points. You can watch the voting here , starting around 2h10) 8 points from Slovenia..... (We got first point...

  Bulgarian odds There's been a lot of talk about odds being wrong and not seeing the bangaranga effect almost at all, and how last year KAJ was leading the odds all season and finished 4th just like Linda & Pete this year didn't win but finished 6th. On the other hand in the semi-final two odds predicted the ten qualifiers 100%. But how different it the odds vs. final results really were? The losers Sweden is the biggest loser dropping a total of 12 places from 8th to 20th. Malta dropped 7 places and favorites Finland and Greece both 5. UK and Cyprus dropped 4 places, another favorite Australia 2 as well as Czechia while France and Germany did pretty much as expected dropping only one place. The winners The biggest climber was Poland with 7 places higher than expected followed by Albania 5. Moldova , Ukraine and Belgium climbed 4 places while Romania 3 from 6th to 3rd, another surprise. Norway and Serbia also did 3. The winner Bulgaria climbed 2 from 3rd ...

I must say I pretty much nailed it with Estonia and Switzerland being the 11th ones in their semi-finals. Georgia and Azerbaijan finishing last were expected. Bulgaria scored highest already here among all semi-finalists but Poland and Norway scoring so high is a bit of a surprise after all. Judging the results this year next year's national finals will be filled with insane nonsense bangers, violins and rock.  Finland was second for the juries and fifth for the televoters and third in combined. Semi-final One 1. Israel   269 (jury 106 + tele 163) 2. Poland   247 (137 + 110) 3. Finland   227 (127 + 100)  4. Moldova  208 (62 + 146) 5. Serbia  187 (56 + 131)  6. Croatia 175 (85 + 90) 7. Greece  159 (88 + 71) 8. Lithuania   101 (46 + 55) 9. Sweden  96 (79 + 17) 10. Belgium   91 (81 + 10) 11. Estonia   79 (33 + 46) 12. Portugal  74 (39 + 35)  13. Montenegro   71 (26 + 45) 14. S...

Oh dear, that was a bit unexpected even if Bulgaria rose to the Top-3 in odds the day of final and had its momemtum rising after the rehearsals. Bangaranga everyone indeed. She was fuegoed. And it won both jury and tele , that didn't happen since 2017! Israel was beaten, maybe that's what matters in a way. Next thought is can they afford to host next year? Weren't they away for financial reasons mostly anyways until this sudden return just when other countries stayed home? Another returnee Romania finished third - who would have thought? Makes one wonder how come these two returnees did so well all of sudden and if they were too broke to participate before how they ended up in 2026? Just saying.  Australia and Finland and most of all Greece as well as Denmark bombed a bit. Is it the time of the odds being right is over? Last year the clear #1 favorite finished 4th, now 6th. But then again Finland 6th place is our 4th best placing ever (compared to number of participants) Th...

The moment is here. Three hours before the start odds are saying Finland (38) , Australia (24), a new entry on top Bulgaria (8), Greece (7) and Israel (6), Romania and Denmark have dropped, Italy, France and Malta hold their positions below.  Who is going to win? Will we have a compromise winner who doesn't win either jury or televote?  The televote will be probably won by Israel again as they have started their campaign en force today it seems. Bulgaria and Greece could be the next ones, or even Italy. And where that puts Finland? In the jury votes Australia, Finland, France and maybe Bulgaria should be on top. Where will Italy land?   I think we have three scenarios here: Or Finland wins Lordi style winning both , or as a compromise not winning neither but ending up on top in the end. Or we have a total chaos of voting and the Top-5 is all messed up by very different votes from the juries and the public. And we have a winner no one expected, like Italy :-) This sai...

Finland's Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen and Liekinheitin stormed to the top of odds as soon as the song was released and has stayed there unbothered with a huge margin ever since. The runner ups have stayed at large in odds; France, Denmark and Greece mostly, only Greece having a tiny spurt just before rehearsals and then Australia climbing to second place after semi-final 2.. The news of Linda playing  her precious Gagliano violin from 1781 live only boosted the chances odds going from 30 to 36, and later the day before final up to 43.  Also the fan clubs back Finland, apparently with the second biggest margin ever. This poll has had its hits and misses but usually gets it somewhat right. Mostly, Not necessary the winner. EuroJury pretending to be the indicator for the jury vote has had it apparently pretty much right mostly, the winner placing in Top-2 in most occasions. Also INFE poll was won by Finland with a huge margin. The biggest fan site, more or less, also backs F...

While the rehearsals for the grand final are going on in Vienna let's have a look at those ten who didn't make it to the end. In my personal order of preference. Latvia being the one I am most sad about.... Portugal ended its run of five consecutive finals Azerbaijan NQ'ed for the 4th in a row Switzerland NQ'ed after a win and a null points from the televote the year after. Georgia NQ's for the second year in a row Overall they have qualified only once in the past 10 years! Armenia NQ'd for the first time in 5 years San Marino NQ'ed for the 4th in 5 years Senhit NQ'd for the 2nd time Estonia NQ'd for the first time in 5 years and after last year's 3rd place Montenegro has qualifed only twice before: 2014 and 2015 Luxemburg NQ'd for the first time. Both ever and after its comeback in 2024.  Whichever way you want to count it. 

I'm so excited. Why? That being one of my favourite songs of all time what an earth had it to do with Eurovision? They just may have destroyed that song for me. I am not going to see or hear that bit ever again, that's for sure.....Borrowing the Finnish commentator the Viennese waltz bit was the best interval act so far... Enough said! The quiz show for example is horrendous waste of time.  Tonight, Bulgaria indeed was boombastic, Armenia worked surprisingly well, too. Romania in the end was a bit meh, Cyprus too. Australia indeed dated and a bit overworked, even by Delta herself vocally and in manners. Sad. Albania was touching, I may have shed almost a tear when the glasses were gone.... Luxemburg had nice visuals but the song is what it is and I think Eva Marija performed a lot better in the national final. Aidan clearly gave it all to Bella but was the national final staging better anyways? And yes, I loved the UK, France wasn't staged as well as I expected but Austria ...

Two ESC legends, two classics, one project: Logan and Lordi in the studio to record their respective songs. The Irish singer and three-time Eurovision winner Johnny Logan an the Finnish hard rock artist Lordi, winner of the Eurovision Son Contest 2006, have realized a joint project in which both reinterpreted the other’s Eurovision winning song. Logan recorded a pop-rock version of Hard Rock Hallelujah, while Lordi, together with singer  Noora Louhimo aka Motherbeast, produced a new metal-ballad version of Hold Me Now.  "The idea emerged during a spontaneous phone call. We immediately hit it off", says Logan. "The original idea of a duet for 20th. Anniversary of Lordi’s ESC victory was quickly discarded in favour of a song sway. When I heard Lordi’s demo of their winning song tailored to me, I knew right away that I wanted  to do it." Both songs will be out tomorrow May 15, 2026. So, as it seems Johnny Logan was invited to Vienna Eurovision but declined the invitati...

Here we go again. I got 8/10 in the first one (and would have had 9/10 if I listened to by brain more than my heart. And that's even more the struggle with this second one. Heart or brain?  In this second one there's even more changes in personal level. Some songs like Bulgaria that I just pretty much hated seems to be delivering quite a show on stage a la Fuego from midtabel to the top after rehearsals and has taken a rent free space in my head. I have been bangaranged.  Also Romania wasn't among my favorites but it has grown on me a lot. I still don't get Denmark. Could it be a shock NQ? Or will it be Cyprus? Czechia and Armenia seems to be delivering on stage while Latvia and Luxemburg are not doing so. Enough at least. What about Norway, this semi's Estonia. Estonia didn't make it, could he do it? Is Switzerland doing enough to qualify? So many question marks.... Sure qualifiers: Bulgaria, Romania, Australia, Ukraine, Albania Most likely qualifiers: Czechi...

What can I say about the show to start with? The hosts? Okeyish, mostly kept to their role, the attempts to be funny mostly were a bit meh and what an earth was Michael wearing?! The graphics were rather unpleasant when the songs were introduced. The postcards kinda nice but weird, an evolution of those in Turin but better. The opening act was nice and pure Eurovision, the interval act also typical Eurovision the little I watched it being busy scrolling Twitter but that Australia/austria thingy was a big yawn really. And it seems Italy and Finland took over Twitter at least in my wall.  But the stage! I love the stage! It looked great to most everyone and some shots were just stunning. One of the best stages for many years! Of the acts Croatia stunned me the most and Belgium looked great, too, as for the songs Israel really steps out in the recaps.  And then the finalist, here in order they were announced except Finland (announced second) that makes the headline of course. Aft...

Here we go again. Every year the prediction of the qualifiers is getting more difficult, this year there's the added re-introduction of the juries in the semi-final and of course the voting pro and against Israel. Also the contest has moved a bit south-east with those comebacks and those who stayed home in west. But here goes judged by the own impressions and the few comments I have read online by those who have seen the rehearsals and not only the 30 seconds video clip and three photos. Update after show with colors: Tbh I never quite believed in Estonia but thought for some reason it might do it after all, Portugal I was hoping for a miracle that never materialized, I'm sure they came 11th :-) I put Montenegro in Maybe category but really it should have been in Most likely out as I never believed one minute it will qualify. I still don't get Lithuania and I'm surprised it did qualify, it will be curious to see if it's all juries work or did people really like it. ...

ORF and EBU have revealed the opening and interval acts for the three shows coming from Vienna 2026 Eurovision song contest and as a Finn one can only be pleased as there are (following Käärijä's two year stunt) again Finns as among the announced acts are Eurovision 2006 winners Lordi and last year's Erika Vikman performing along with other Eurovision royalty like Verka Serduchka from Ukraine, Il Volo from Italy, Go-Jo from Australia and Cesar Sampson and reigning champion JJ from Austria. Here's what we know and has been announced: First semi-final will be opened by 70 member choir performing L'amour è bleu , a song from Vienna 1967 Eurovision that Vicky Leandros sung for Luxemburg and later became a real evergreen and a classic even though it placed only 4th. After all these decades she's back to sing it again! The interval act will feature fun by Austria/Australia by the presenters Victoris Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski joined by Aussie Go-Jo . The s...

The individual rehearsals are over so it's time for the official opening of the 2026 Eurovision song contest with the traditional Turquoise carpet and the welcome party! Fashionistas should follow with keen eye to catch all 35 looks and get in the relaxed party mood before the reality hits tomorrow with the first dress rehearsal leading up to tomorro evening's second one, the one where the  Jury votes! This will be the only time when all 35 delegations appear together in Vienna. In alphabetical order, each will walk from the Burgtheater across the Turquoise Carpet toward City Hall, with Austria emerging last as the Host Country. The Woodstock Allstar Band will welcome each delegation with music that represents their country, while the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra will add a ceremonial touch. The event is set to culminate with JJ’s winning song for Austria, Wasted Love, performed with the RSO Vienna. After so many years the Turquoise Carpet was what it used to be. It run smoothl...