LIVE: Euroviisut 2011

LIVE: Euroviisut 2011 - Semifinal 3

Live from Tohloppi studios in Tampere the third and last Euroviisut 2011 semifinal. Get ready for a black and white evening with a hint of red! Also YLE's wildcard to the final in two weeks time will be revealed along with the three qualifiers. Come back for live blogging at 20 CET and watch the webcast here.

The show has just stared again and Tom and Jaana are on stage welcoming the audience and explaining the prodecure. Tom has a wild hair tonight and Jaana a wild dress: turquoise leopard! Hmm....
Hanna Pakarinen presents the first act tonight.

EVELIINA MÄÄTTÄ - DANCING IN THE DARK

First of the black acts tonight, lighten up with some neoncolors designed by Teuvo Loman. Very 1980's act in everyway, she sings ok, the choreography's nice enough but most likely the neon vampire act won't get people voting her and she will follow the fate of other dance acts this year and won't qualify. We will see.
Anneli Saaristo presents the next act.

SAMI HINTSANEN - TÄÄLTÄ MAAILMAAN

He is wearing a casual shirt and worn jeans and looks like he forgot this is live TV and not the rehearsal. That aside he sings very well, strong and tender at the same time making good eye contact with the cameras but then he's a professional TV show host. He also has one of Waldo's People's backing singers with him. Hmm... me thinks he will qualify after all with the granny vote. And after all it is Antti Kleemola ballad.
Katri Helena aka The Cougar is presenting the next royal act.

TOMMI SOIDINMÄKI - SEIS!

Tommi sounds and looks very good in his black and blue outfit and hair. Well presented in look and staging and the song's a perfect Eurovision standard by Petri Laaksonen but is the time of these kind of songs over? And it's not Sata salamaa, Eläköön elämä or Oot voimani mun unfortunately. Still, a sure qualifier for the final. Biggest applaude tonight so far. And as he is a tango king he has a real tango queen with him on stage, Jenna Bågeberg. And two dancers.
Markku Aro presents the next one.

SAARA AALTO - BLESSED WITH LOVE

She's a real Eurovision fan and at it for the fourth time but for the first time as solist. And with a self penned song and she qualified from the open internet selection. Big vocals from her and her backing singers, too, and this song has a lot of fans but I wouldn't be surprised if it won't make it to the final after all (wildcard?). A ballad without a memorable hook but some high notes and Saara's somewhat strange facials at times... We'll see! Ami Aspelund presents the last act for tonight.....

STALA & SO - PAMELA

Ex-Lordi Stala and his glamrock group set the stage on glitter fire with boas and it's very good! He succees where Jimi Constantine went all wrong. The song's a insanely catchy 1980's glamrock song with strong chorus and even if vocally he isn't the best of singers he can make it up with the show factor. Me likes. This must qualify.

Therem it is. Time for the recap.And then we remember a bit Helsinki 2007 Eurovision..... Did you know Hanna Pakarinen's act was supposed to include rain at some point but they had to skip it for the lack of time. Erik Saade and Melodifestivalen, where did you get the idea?? :-) And now time for the dreadful "humour act" (read: toilet break...)

Now it's time for the famous lightbump. Green or red? First Sami Hintsanen.... green! Next Eveliina Määttä... red! Stala & So next.... green! Then Saara Aalto.... green! Tommi Soidinmäki is out!? Must be the lyrics that put me off the song as well....

Time for the wildcard......It is Eveliina Määttä??? Now I'm puzzled....

Comments

SONGS OF THE YEAR 2015: #5 KRISTA SIEGFRIDS - ON & OFF

Krista Siegfrids is delivering nice pop tunes one after another and this one is particularly catchy and soon you will be singing along..... Hopefully her Melodifestivalen entry will be equally good!

ESC 2016 WISH LIST: MARGARET FOR POLAND

Małgorzata Jamroży aka Margaret has also been tipped for Eurovision and apparently she did turn it down but she'd be perfect. She's got a look and persona you can't unnotice nor forget, she's got hit songs, she has been voted or nominated for everything from Trendy artist to the Hope of the Year, Fashion Icon and Glamour Woman of the year besides the usual best video, song, album, debut..... Oh she's also a fashion designer! She's very clever with social medias and would surely use it to her advantage if selected for Stockholm 2016. Her debut album is titled Add the blonde , do we need to say more? Except it includes mostly Swedish written pop tunes like Tell me how are ya , Wasted , Start a fire and Heartbeat . And of course her debut single and internationally noticed Thank you very much that you can enjoy below with all its anti-textil feel. I think she's Eurovision perfection, she's cheeky and fun, can we have her?

ESC 2016 BELARUS: NAKED WITH WOLVES?

Today's funniest Eurovision related story comes from Belarus. Some sources claim Ivan wants to perform on stage naked and with live wolf or wolves. It surely would be a first on Eurovision stage! We have seen some forgotten underwear over the years, and some cardbox animals though..... Is it time to take things a bit further? No, according the rules live animals are not allowed, and Eurovision being a family show nudity won't do either. (It seems to be ok to be half naked if you are a dancer though..... )

JEDWARD GETS NAKED FOR THE FANS

Well, almost. The boys celebrated their 650.000th follower on Twitter by being photographed fresh from shower as promised. It's not the first time they drop their clothes as you see here . Meanwhile their second album is nearly here and the title track Young love is hitting the charts....

Rumors, rumors, rumors....

While the national selections for Junior Eurovision are going on around Europe and Ani Lorak's been confirmed as host all sort of rumors about the real thing are beginning to be the order of the day. Austria returns - or then not. Andorra stays home - or then not. San Marino returns - well, most likely but not surely. Luxembourg should make a come back - or then maybe not. Liechtenstein is still in the running - or has it ever been for real? Has the local TV ever confirmed anything? Is it just wishful thinking by the fans? Poland on the other hand has confirmed they will be in Oslo. And Italy will be still out. And apparently there will be no ban or such for Azerbaijan nor Spain for the irregularities in and after the 2009 edition. EBU had to change the text in the rules to make it sure nothing like that what happened in Azerbaijan could happen again. Or if it will they have means and rules to back up a ban or sanction.... Katerina Avgoustakis has been rumored to be in Oslo...

CAROLA'S BOOBS STEAL THE SHOW, SVT APOLOGIES

Update! Another thing got Swedes talking last night: Carola's boobs when she was giving away an award. This is not the first time her boombs cause headlines; her misfortunate adventures in the 80's in Japan wer explained with her boobs being too big for Japanese market. Ok.... Or was it the song ? Anyways, Carola apologies and says she thinks the dress is stylish and elegant (even her friends said so) and she's a mature woman in her 40s, not a 16-year-old girl and looks like one. The Swedish Oscars, Guldbagge awards were given out last night. Carola was there as a guest star to sing Barbra Streisand's The way we were when honoring the movie stars who passed away during 2012. However, the cameras were too much on Carola, not on the stars showed in photos in the background and that upset many viewers as that part of the show was to celebrate them, not Carola. Oh well... The producer of the show tells in Aftonbladet the part of the show was made the sam...

Russia recycles the video

Here is the video for Alexey's previous hit Бам Бам! and here is the video for his Eurovision 2011 entry Get you as Alex Sparrow as he likes to be called now abraod. Looks like he potreys the new rich Russia well.... The only problem is that he can't play the bad part convincingly not even a second. And did I say the song is crap? And of course as he is a Russian star he must have nude fotos of him flotaing around internet trying to be sexy and he fails there, too, big time. If you are not bad nor sexy you shouldn't push it. Maybe he should stick to singing jolly little numbers like the Kalinka rip off instead....

GREECE: HELENA PAPARIZOU HITS AGAIN WITH HAIDE

Eurovision song contest 2005 winner Helena Paparizou has been enjoying Top-5 hits every year since 2003 with the exception of 2010 and 2014, this latest one being already her 27th! And Haide is charting also in Bulgaria and Finland, of all places. The catchiness of her hits has changed less over the years than her face.... Here's the English version , below the Greek version.

UK: Naked Blue

The boys of Blue have posed nude again. This time for the Attitude magazine's annual Naked issue and they are also in the cover. Watch the video of the shooting here . Band member Duncan, who is bi-sexual, recently told The Daily Star : “We are getting our kit off for Attitude magazine like the McFly boys did. I’m up for showing everything off. I’m happy enough about the size of my manhood. ” Extra media attention won't hurt their changes in Germany to win it for the UK for the first time since 1997... They will and they can!

GOODBYE, FAREWELL...

The time has come. After all these years, 5,7 million visits, 12.000 articles I guess the time has come. As much as I love and care for Eurovision it just doesn't feel the same. The Corona years took their toll and the past two years and certain decisions have helped me to mature the idea that next year I will hear the songs for the first time in semi-final just like any so called local. The bubble has burst. Add the toxicity in social medias and fandom. The arrogant teenagers who saw their first contest somewhere 2017 or even 2021 who think they know it all and only their opinion matters. Did I mention the toxic atmosphere on social medias? I'm too old for that sh*t. It's been a long ride that took me to various Eurovision on spot as a fan and tourist, as a journalist, as a delegation member. I met some great people, made memories of lifetime. In stressful, sad periods of my life this blog has been my safe place, a place to escape and forget everything else for an hour o...

Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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