Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Today after their second rehearsal the Big5 and Ukraine draw their half for the final, except the hosts United Kingdom and Ukraine of course that were sorted out already in March. United Kingdom will be the very last one out on the grand final as 26th, while Ukraine  got also very good 19th. Germany will join them in the second half, as France, Italy and Spain all got the first half!

Who will it be? Will it be Ukraine after all or despite all will they not win? Is it Sweden? Italy doing a double? Spain? My bet is United Kingdom if it's not Ukraine. I would like to believe it's not Ukraine but if it is it's all fine, I like the song and performance and it would be anyways one of my favorites this year. Then again I would hand over the trophy to Italy and be super happy, it is after my favorite song this year. Sweden's win would be a huge let down for me, and Spain just isn't strong enough song wise even if Chanel herself is a real star and a winner.  Norway was a joint winner with UK in my own Home Poll but I don't think it's a winner come Sunday early hours. I had a strong feeling about the Netherlands when it was released but somehow it hasn't convinced me on stage after all which is a shame. Fan favorites Poland and Serbia won't have the European wide appeal to win either I think so I suppose it really is between those who hav...

It's been two long years and four days since Duncan Laurence was crowned the Eurovision champion in Tel Aviv. Meanwhile his winning song Arcade has gone viral and on Tuesday night he received a platinum record for a one billion streams globally. Tonight he was meant to perform the song again and hand over the Chrystal microphone to a new winner. But no. On Wednesday he was tested positive for Covid-19 and instead will be watching the show in quarantine in his hotel room.... Sometimes destiny just plays tricks on us. (Not to mention some other tricks played by another Destiny's delegation to anger the fandom...) This said I can only say it's going to be a great show and the strongest line up I can remember, and also the most open contest I can recall, and I have been watching since 1976. Usually at this point I have firm favorites to win, 2-3 of them, and I can't remember when last time one of them didn't win. Maybe Marie N? Quite often I have had a winning candidat...

Here it is, the running order decided by the organizers based on draws for the first or second half, and the host country's drawn place at 23.  Some fans go over analyzing the order when in the end it may have less impact than we think, after all Turkey won from number four. This said, all was different back then, even more so back in the days with the juries only when a song performed first won several times.  But as a Finn it's good to see Finland and Italy are almost as far as possible even if both draw second half. And San Marino closes the show. Those three being close to my heart as countries it's going to be exciting night! The main odds favorites are Malta sixth between Russia and Portugal, both countries that were not so much considered pre-rehearsals but have risen to heights since. Switzerland and Iceland are back to back surrounded by Greece and Spain. A bit odd combination I must say.  Finland comes after chaotic Germany at 16 and is followed by Bulgaria, tha...

Let's have a look at the finalists and their placings in the final. The whole Top-3 trio Portugal , Bulgaria and Moldova made their best result ever, which I find wonderful. It's always a pleasere when a new country wins and some other breaks the previous record. Winners (finalists) Belgium can be happy, their third  consegutive Top-10 finish, and second in Top-5. Romania scored its best in six years. Hungary was its 3rd best ever. Sweden scored sixth Top-5 in seven years..... Croatia scored its best since 2006 Norway got it's fourth Top-10 in five years...  Netherlands was again around 9th-11th, third time in five years (add the silver in 2014) UK got its best since Blue in 2011. Germany gets better every year: 27th, 26th and now 25th.... :-) Losers (finalists) Italy was expecting better so 6th place might be a let down but we have to remember  it's their 5th Top-10 in seven years.... France got their 2nd best since 2010...

How times flies. Two weeks of rehearsal madness is gone and dramatic semifinal, too. Here we are. The final night. Besides the 26 entries we can expect  performances from all of the Ukrainian Eurovision royals (except Ani Lorak (2nd in 2008 but she's apparently on the Russian side of things, you know). The winners Jamala (2016) and Ruslana (2004) both are performing, and Verka Serduchka (2nd in 2007) reappears with her mom and Zlata Ognevich (3rd in 2013). Instead of self eliminated pro-Russia Ms Lorak we have ONUKA, an Ukrainian electro-folk band.  The hosts have showered and are ready, are you? ISRAEL POLAND BELARUS AUSTRIA ARMENIA NETHERLANDS MOLDOVA HUNGARY ITALY DENMARK PORTUGAL AZERBAIJAN CROATIA AUSTRALIA GREECE SPAIN NORWAY UNITED KINGDOM CYPRUS ROMANIA GERMANY UKRAINE BELGIUM SWEDEN BULGARIA FRANCE I will publish my prediction table later tonight.....

Here goes.... for once the bottom two boxes are the hardest ones, which country where? But it's a lottery.... Countries below are in their slots in alphabetical order. 1-5 Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Portugal, Sweden 6-10 A rmenia, Australia, France, Romania, United Kingdom 11-15 Azerbaijan ,   Croatia , Hungary , Israel, Moldova 16-20 Austria, Denmark,   Poland , Belarus , Greece 21-26 Cyrpus, Germany , Netherlands , Norway , Spain, Ukraine

One hour and 10 minutes to the start of the show, Portugal has climbed again to #1 in odds, Italy second.

The news from the bubble tell EBU has banned Portugal's Salvador Sobral's S.O.S. Refugees jumper he has been wearing - and talking about the refugees, as apparently it send s a political message. This just one year after in Stockholm the interval act was all about refugees.... I'm buzzled.... Meanwhile Portugal also loses the #1 spot in the odds as Italy returns to number one after some 12 hours or so.... :-)

The 62nd Eurovision song contest airs from Kyiv, Ukraine tonight 9PM CET. 26 countries made it this far and are competing for the glass trophy. The odds are telling a battle between Italy and Portugal, followed by Bulgaria, Belgium and Sweden to complete the Top-5. We will see how this ends.... Should Portugal win it will be it's first while their entry is their 50th since 1964. Their best placing to date is 6th in 1996 so whatever happens Portugal is set have its best placing ever. Portugal skipped last year to "think it over" and it worked. Bulgaria has participated ten times before but reached the final only twice placing 4th and 5th, so when they do final they do good. They also skipped a couple of years before returning last year with their best placing yet, 4th. Will they also do better tonight? Italy is after its third victory (1964, 1990) after the disappointment in 2015 when the they won the televote but juries pushed Il Volo to the third place. They...

The voting order has been created by the results of the last night's jury vote that counts 50% of the final result. What does it tell us? I don't even try to think what it means, who could be the runaway winner or if there is one at all this year. The early countries would indicate big votes for Italy but does that mean it will lead and then drop? Big favorites Italy and Russia are among the lasst ones to vote, thus not getting any points at that point while Norway is the last one... giving 12 to Sweden that might catch up with Italy that didn't get any points just moments earlier? I'm not try to guess, we will see tonight. Here's the order (and you can see all the spokespersons here ) Montenegro - Malta - Finland - Greece - Portugal - Romania - Belarus - Albania - Moldova - Azerbaijan - Latvia - Serbia - Estonia - Denmark - Switzerland - Belgium - France - Armenia - Ireland - Sweden - Germany - Asutralia - Czech Republic - Spain - Austria - Macedonia - Sloven...