Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Angelo De Nile travels throuth time and space and was born in Ninive 2768 years ago. Right. Actually it's a project by Kimmo Blom, currently also in the Voice of Finland, and already in national Eurovision selection as a member of Boys of the Band in 2010. He's a history freak and as Angelo promises to bring the big names from the past alive again, so get ready! Behind his song are guys from some hardrock bands like Leverage and Urban Tale. His incarnation as significant men from the past will provide us a spectacular soundtrack in the future, should he have success with this. Maybe. His hero is Marcus Aurelius and if he could do whatever he'd sneek into Vatican museums at night and spend the night with the masterpieces. All for victory then? Being an emperor in a real world isn't always easy....  Jack: Angelo de Nile's song is rather dramatic but boring at the same time, if that's possible. It wouldn't sound out of place in a theatre production b...

Well, Amadeus and Nina deserved a place in the final but Pentti absolutely not in my opinion.  So called granny mafia has striken again! Boys of the band and Bääbs need to wait for YLE's jury's decision later on. Bääbs commented right after: "We won ourselves and did our best even if we had some vocal problems. And Amadeus is fab!"

Jaana Pelkonen (ESC 2007 hostess) and Peltsi Peltola are hosting the show live from Tampere. It might be -22C outside but the fans are hot as usual inside the venue. Renewed show with  new tricks and looks is  in store for tonight. Televoting only will take three songs to the final on January 30. YLE jury will provide a wildcard to one of the drop outs of all three semifinals. The show has just started. Jaana and Peltsi conduct the show from greenroom and after a very quick introduction to the rules off we go: the postcards! Funny ones with the (childhood) photos of the artist. 1. Amadeus - Anastacia Amadeus  is the first one on the triangle stage with three dancers and his sister Miritsa playing violin, another sister Gilda joins in later as a dancer, too. Vocally good, simple performance . 2. Nina Lassander - Cider hill The cembalo introduction of the songs must have given the idea for this staging as it's very liaisons dangeroux... dresses, hairdos, coreograp...

Tonight at 8pm CET it finally starts, the Finnish Euroviisut selection. Unfortunately there won't be a webcast after all (YLE blames the Finnish copyright laws as usual) so you have even better reason to come back here and follow the live report! Will Bääbs outshine everyone in her mirror dress? What is the role of burlesque artists Mimi de Froufrou in the act? I think Amadeus, Bääbs and Nina Lassander will qualify but can the fans of Pentti Hietanen and BOB change that? PS. Don't forget the cool remix of You don't know tomorrow here !

So here we have them, the 15 songs that will fight over the right to fly the Finnish flag in Oslo 2010. The first hearing left me a bit disappointed as there is very little "Eurovision friendly" songs there. Half the songs are in Finnish and propably will stay so if they win with the exception of Amadeus and Maria Lund I suspect. Most of the songs also seem to have not been written Eurovision in mind but are just radio friendly future hits to their performers and that in the end is not a bad thing! Here are the songs from the first semifinal: AMADEUS - Anastacia I think we will hear the winner first. If Jari Sillanpää managed to win with similar but much more mediocre Takes two 2 tango Amadeus shouldn't worry. He is also more popular than Sillanpää was back then so the televotes will be flying. The song falls though to the usual Finnish use of rather bland arrangements. Someone remix the song, please and we have a killer! He will bring his sisters along, one as backin...

BOB has been playing together since 2008 but the various members have been palying together or separately in different bands since 1998. The members are Kimmo Blom (vocals), Pekka Rautio (guitars), Teijo Jämsä (drums) and Janne Antikainen, whose parents Jarkko & Laura sung for Finland in ESC 1969! Teijo Jämsä also has Eurovision connection: he played with Russian Natalia Podolskaya in ESC 2005. For me they are completely unknown as a band.