LIVE: UMK final

Follow the final with me blogging live right here from 20.00 CET. And watch it here. The show comes from Helsinki Ice hall and is presented by Joona Kortesmäki and Anne Lainto. The Rasmus, Anna Abreu, Robin and Paradise Oskar with Felix Zenger will be the guest stars. The process until now has ben long and confusing but it all comes together tonight. Maybe. There will we televote and superfinal with top-3 with a new televote. Judges have no say whatsoever anymore.

21.00 Here we go! The show about to start in a very snowy Helsinki! We start with a short clip of how we got this far. Anyone was able to participate and 540 demos were sent in. Then the process is recapped in short as no one understood a thing about it before... and now we enter the Helsinki Ice hall where dancers are on stage amonhst dry ice. We already saw the stage last night but now it comes alive with the lights and the audience.

21.07 This is more like classic dancing than disco dancing it seems. And the three ladies are wearing tops in Italian colors. A good omen to Nina Zilli perhaps? And here enters The Rasmus! World premiere of their come back single I'm a mess. And it sounds very good indeed. The Rasmus at their best and back to their roots after the American adventure with Desmond Child produced album and lauri's solo effort.

21.11 while The Rasmus is still singing the contestants enter the stage and are presented in running order. They go to the green room that is situated in front of the stage.

21.13 The presenters enter the stage and welcome also the international on line viewers and explain what's going on later tonight. And then again another clip to explain what it is all about.

21.17 it's time for the first act, Iconcrash. The introduction postcard recaps their journey to the final.

Iconcrash - We are the night

I expected a stronger effort from them. The vocalist isn't that good and the whole thing seems like The Rasmus light to me. One of the favourites in early stages but has lost its charm since almost totally. Shame. But the lead singer seems to be happy with his performance even if admitting being nervous. The gimmich was a spotlight in the end of the catwalk. We'll see. And we move on....

Pernilla Karlsson - När jag blundar

She sings a song written by her brother to their mom. In Swedish. Pretty and nice but I don't see why we should send this to Baku? Only remarkalble thing would be it'd be the first Eurovision entry in Swedish since 1998 and Jill Johnson. She's wearing a long green dress, her brother is on stage playing cello and there's a crazy dancer jumping around wearing a dress alike to hers. Nice three minutes but nice isn't enough in Eurovision I'm afraid. Big applause though. And she's happy with the performance as well.

Mica Ikonen - Antaa mennä 

He has a backgroud in boyband but he's a very good vocalist and very confortable on stage. The song's good but I'm afraid I seem to be amongst the very few who like it. If he was sent to Baku 2012 at least we would be sure he will manage on stage without problems. He told before he tries to tune down his performance and not "let it go" as the title suggests. And then he sings happy birthday to his dad in the audience. He says they have rehearsed a lot but he feels very relaxed on stage. And it shows.

Kaisa Vala - Habits of human beings  

Kaisa is my favourite that's no secret. She has changed her catsuit to a light grey minidress and also she's been inspired by The Rasmus: she had feather in her hair. She's got stage charisma, the song is catchy and she sings well. La la la... She had to face the last elimination last night and sent Freeman home (thank you for that!). She tells she's over being nervous and excited at this point and just enjoyed performing... I hope people will see that and vote, vote, vote!

Stig - Laululeija

A good song ruined by a bad performer. His voice is very mediocre, his visibly nervous and if they have filled the stage with all sort of national romantic furnitures it doesn't help. I hope Finns will see that. No further comment. The Eurovision fans in audience Boo, me thinks?! The only sensible thing is he refused to take any pre-contest favourite label.

Ville Eetvartti - Lasikaupunki

Ville has changed from smart suit to casula jeans and picked up the guitar and looks much more confortable. Vocally strong as expected and finally he convinces also me... ooops, he dropped the microphone! Autch! But he continued like nothing happened. Good boy! He should reach the top-3. He wa also an early favourite by many foreigners, so let's see if he could save us from a Stig disaster?

21.54 time for recap. My top-3 is Kaisa, Mica and Ville but what do I know (or count)? I write that knowing I might score a 0/3 but that's my favourites, not prediction. After recap we go to the greenroom. Mica Ikonen says his worst enemy is Stig as he is so cute. Kaisa Vala counts on cow votes from Carelia. And then Stig thinks the hottest performer is Mica. And then we have some humour with a fake DJ and enters Anna Abreu..... Was that funny? Not really..... and we go for another recap.

22.02 the televote is now closed for the first round. And it's time for the Anna Abreu show. Let's see if it's worth all the pre-hype. ... Running nuns, lots of dancers, oversized dress and so on.... Anna is singing her latest single Stereo.
22.09 and here we go, the superfinalists are: Pernilla Karlsson....
22.10 and the second one is..... Stig....
22.12 and the last one is.... Ville Eetvartti!
Ok, I got one at least! So now I have no choice but go all for Ville!
22.13 so this it feels when all your hopes and wishes are crushed? I guess nothing stops Stig. But I still keep a little hope alive for Ville Eetvartti. Or Pernilla, but just because she's not Stig.

22.15 Pernilla sings again. Why people like this piece of ywan so much? I don't get it. Or is it that all the Swedish speakers are voting for her? She's sweet and all that, but this song gives me zero emotion. It's just not for me I guess. Oh well. I doubt this would go anywhere in Baku 2012. Oh, the brother is not on stage but someone else, I understood wrong earlier.

22.20 and it's Stig time. I can only repeat what I said before; the song isn't bad and the  fasionable whistling is a nice hook but Stig can't sing. He did even worse than the first round if possible and has that infamous "rabit in the lights" look on his face all the time. If sent to Baku 2012 will be labelled as novelty act and taken as a joke. So much for the face lift of the Euroviisut......

22.25 time for the saviour of this farce in my books, Ville Eetvartti. Again very good. He has come alive on this big stage after the rather shaky performances in previous stages of the selection. I hope Finns prove once again (remember Eläkeläiset?) that they are not so predictable voters and choose Ville. But the chances are slim I'm afraid.
22.31 time for recap and some small talk with the judges. And the voting is over....

22.33 and then it's Paradise Oskar's turn. They are making fun of the poor guy. And it's not funny. Better he goes off to stage and does what he knows to do, sing Da da dam. How come this sounds all of sudden so good now?  Where were the Paradise oskars of 2012? Ah yes, they were kicked out by the judges... Beat boxer Felix Zenger joins in with him.
22.40 and the current number one, teenage sensation Robin on stage next. He got over 3 million views in Youtube in a week. One can only wonder why?
22.43 the moment of truth.... the winner is.... PERNILLA KARLSSON! Phew...

22.48 and Pernilla sings again. Well, I guess I have to thank you finlandsvenskar, tack!