YLE is kind enough to treat as 20 minutes of the most memorable moments in Euroviisut history before the show; the best and the worst, the scandals and mistakes and most of all the most controversial jury decisions.... Well now that was fun! But the serious stuff is about to begin....
And it starts with karaoke Te deum conducted by Sami Hintsanen! Jaana and Peltsi take the stage while the greenroom is on the stage, too. Well, next to it connected with a catwalk. The voting has been just opened and we are readyt to start....
Maria Lund – Sydän ymmärtää ***
Maria made it to the final thanks to YLE’s wildcard only, which was maybe a bit surprising. The song basically tells how men are stupid and women just have to understand them. Love forgives and forgets everything and heart understands as long as he remembers to bring you roses…. The 50’s/60’s inspired look match the song perfectly and Maria with her dancers breathe life to this song that sounded a bit boring on record. No changes to the semifinal performance it seems.
Looks like someone has stolen the award, the infamous Viiskuavain or Eurovision Key!
Antti Kleemola – Sun puolella *****
Antti has been suffering from stomach flu and had to skip the rehearsals and sits behind his piano and performs his song based on the semifinals only. He made it to the final surprising many but I think this is maybe the finest song in the offering, a true Eurovision ballad based on a story how his grandfather used to conform him as a kid by “being on his side”. No frills power ballad. A little change to the semifinal performance; he won’t sit down again after the keychange which works much better! Great performance considering he’s ill and had no rehersals.
Jaana and Peltsi are running around Helsinki now in search of the award. Could some bitter ex-winner have stolen it? Fredi perhaps?
Linn – Fatal moment *
I totally disagree this song being here but it seems to have fans. It will be interesting to see how these three songs the Swedish speaking population backed will do in the final now that their vote splits. Fatal moment indeed. Starts of rocky but then gets more into mainstream pop reminding me a bit of Moldova’s Fight in Helsinki 2007 – only that one was much better! And besides Linn seems to be rather off key tonight.
Next stop in the search: Marika Krook of Edea... but no. She doesn't have it either! Next on stage Pentti Hietanen with Il mondo é chi, if you believe Peltsi's prononciation. Didn't he learn it in 4 weeks?
Pentti Hietanen – Il mondo é qui *
Granny mafia must have voted this one here. Totally useless, boring and dated song. Nothing wrong with Pentti and his family based backing group (with minor changes in line up I hear and dresses), the song is a sugary sleeping pill, not worth of a b-side of some Sanremo artists single, like Albano or Massimo Ranieri. The world is here, as he sings, but his world has stopped turning about 25 years ago…. And the ladies sung a bit too high I suspect....
Jaana and Peltsi visits Marion next, after all she was close twice.... No! But she hints someone who won twice but was never sent but replaced before going to Eurovision could have taken it... Hmmm...
Heli Kajo – Annankadun kulmassa *****
Heli is fresh, happy, joyful, funny, perfect! This would be a nice break in the string of Finnish Eurovision tunes and could attract votes in Oslo for being genuine and not tailor made for Eurovision. For Finns it might be a bit too Helsinki centred with the story of Saturday night at the bar and relationship problems. She has a following in Facebook urging everyone to vote for her to stop Eläkeläiset instead of voting various artists so let’s see… Identical performance to the one in semifinal but maybe just not so spontaneous?
Marjatta Leppänen! And no, she didn't take it either.... Another hint from her: a duo but not CatCat....
Nina Lassander – Cider Hill ***
Nina has to fight the Swedish votes with Linn and the Twisters but her song is clearly the best out of these three. I still don’t like the staging but this princess fairytale is not bad at all, but maybe not strong enough for Oslo 2010? Has she changed the dress and hairdo a bit? Looks younger and fresher somehow now, and the mixing seems to be better and her voice more audible this time. YLE should hire Mikki Kunttu every year to do the lightning as it looks he is the only one who can deal with them…. ladies white dresses get lost in the light in TV, that’s not right.
Jarkko & Laura.... their PR material was found only when they were on plane back from Madrid in 1969 but no, that's not good enough a reason to steal the Award... Who has it?
Amadeus – Anastacia ****
He started off as the favourite with Eläkeläiset but hasn’t featured so well in the polls. However tonight the grannies, gypsies and his fans are watching and voting – they don’t necessarily vote in internet polls, do they? – so we better watch out. He released his debut album this week and tonight will be interesting breaking moment for him: will his fairytale continue or will he flop? In semifinals he managed to avoid camera contact totally, can it do the trick tonight? In that case he will sing in English in Oslo 2010. New look – very tight jeans and white shirt - for him and the dancers tonight plus his useless dancer sister seems to have been replaced, too. The dancers are rather useless after the intro anyways…
Jaana and Peltsi are back on stage explaining the voting once again and no sight of the award... and remimder of things to come: Mikko Leppilampi show and Alexander Rybak (add huge applause)
Sister Twister – Love at the first sight **
A lot of energy and good TV work in this one but can we forget the errors in grammar and the weird pronunciation? The song promises a lot but in the end doesn’t go anywhere while the viewers are lost in their interesting hairdos…. and pyros. Seems like the pyros boom is over as they are the only ones using them.
News about Euroviisut 2011: next year's Tangomarkkinat winner will be in Euroviisut 2011 just like Amadeus this year. Also, the open contest will be even larger next year. More details comes in summer 2010....
Eläkeläiset – Hulluna humpasta *
The ones to beat if you believe the polls. The joke wears off soon and the song’s very boring until the instrumental break. Some Finns might find it amusing for the lyrics but I don’t. Let’s see if they are sober enough to perform and their fans sober enough to vote? Don’t expect an English version if they win – Finnish it is and stays. No raping the keyboard this time, he hammers it down. But the nazi walk is there….Unfortunately the audience explodes, both in boos and cheers.
Kuunkuiskaajat – Työlki ellää ****
The girls have been doing well in both fan polls and the newspaper polls and they could become the compromise winner if the votes slip if and when Eläkeläiset won’t make it. After all this is another kind of humppa song, too. Very Finnish, the girls are charming and chirpy. The guys dance and clap their hands in the background barefeet and audience claps along, too. Great finish for the first round.
After recap and a short walk down the Norwegian Eurovision history, with 10 last places and 4 null points for them we Finns have it pretty good, don't we? And the voting is over!
And now the stage is taken over by Mikko Leppilampi big band show! He is sporting a new look with beard and looks and sounds pretty good! Eurovision 2011? After this delight we have to suffer another chat with the "Norwegian hosts"... Ha ha. Not.
And the superfinalists are: Nina Lassander! And the second one is... Eläkeläiset. And the last one is... Kuunkuiskaajat! I'm a bit shocked. The lines are now opened again....
Nina Lassander is back on stage. Ok, the song's good, she's good but somehow it doesn't touch me in any particular way but I'm perfectly happy if she wins. I guess I just don't like the presentation, umbrellas and all that stuff. On the other hand if she wins I'm afraid this will be A little bit kind of song: no one hates but no one likes enough to vote for it. Not a qualifier from a semifinal in Oslo 2010.
Eläkeläiset now on stage fighting with their keyboards. Ha ha. Not. One can only hope for a miracle. Lots of booing in the audience.
Kuunkuiskaajat next. No I'm in doubt between them and Nina. They should have been my favourites but something tonight... and the fact Nina is in top-3 that I never expected at all. If they win I'll be happy as can be as they'd beat Eläkeläiset and this has the same ingredients but in a good charming way. So... they're my favourites now. Nina will do as well but I rather send these girls. They might bomb completely but with style and just might surprise us all in Oslo 2010. The audience loved this btw.
Alexander Rybak on stage now with world premiere of his new song Europe's skies and Fairytale. with three female violinists and Frikar Dance company. The audience is in delirium! After that he has to suffer a videoclip of Jaana killing Fairytale but hey, he gets an award for his suffering: a gold disc for his album! He has sold gold! Congrats! And the voting is now over.
Viisukuppila.fi's fan award next. The fans have voted and it goes to Heli Kajo!
Hey, superhero Mikko Leppilampi runs in and brings the Award! Stolen by Sami Hintsanen because he didn't win in 1996.... Oh well. Ok, time for real results.
Third place goes to.... ELÄKELÄISET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hallulujah! Amen! The winner is then..... KUUNKUISKAAJAT!!!!!
1. Kuunkuiskaajat 42,0%
2. Nina Lassander 37,8%
3. Eläkeläiset 20,2%
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