Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

How did it go in the semi-finals? First of all Finland took an easy win in the first one, 42 points ahead of Sweden followed by Israel so the Grand Final's Top-3 was already Top-3 here. Serbia was last to qualify, 3 points of Latvia and then there's a huge cap for the bottom four. Finland was in Top-5 in each and every country with seven 12 points (Norway, Latvia, Ireland, Croatia, Israel, Sweden and Germany). We got 10 points from Serbia, Portugal, Switzerland, Netherlands and Rest of the World. Eight points from Azerbaijan and Czech Republic, 7 from Malta and France and finally only 6 from Moldova. Sweden got only twice 12 (Malta and Netherlands), four times 10, three times 8, twice 7, twice 6, twice 5, twice 4 and 3 from Italy. Australia won the the Second semi-final ahead of Austria and Poland with minor differences. Estonia was the last to qualify with a huge cap to those bottom six that didn't qualify. Romania and San Marino even scored a big flat zero. I guess Romani...

Sweden with Loreen may have won Eurovision song contest 2023 thanks to juries but Finland stormed the televote. Finland won the televote in 18 countries, was second in nine, third in four. The worst score was six points, meaning Finland was 5th. Top-5 in every country! That means Finland scored the second highest televote ever, second only to last year's Kalush Orchestra fro Ukraine - a deserved winner but televote highly powered by the war. So how did countries vote for Finland: 12: Latvia, Netherlands, Ireland, San Marino, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Iceland, Serbia,                  Norway, Australia, Denmark, Spain, Israel, Sweden, Lithuania, United Kingdom 10: Ukraine,Portugal, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Rest of the World 8: Malta, Azerbaijan, Switzerland, Georgia, Czechia, Slovenia, Greece,  7: Moldova, Cyprus 6: Italy, France, Armenia, Albania A total of 376 In comparison Sweden didn't score one single 12 points, let's see ...

Tonight's the night. Will Sweden's Loreen become the very first female (and only second) Eurovision winner to take the trophy again? And bring Sweden its 7th victory that equals Ireland's record. Or will Finland manage to win against all odds after all and take its second victory? Finland's Käärijä with Cha cha cha stormed to top all polls and odds once it was published late January and only Sweden managed to pass it when it was released over a month later. Sweden tops the odds while Finland tops the Eurovision scoreboard app. It is commonly believed Finland wins the televote but Sweden the jury vote. How will it be? It's been all so much about these two countries that other countries have been completely over shadowed by the whole duel. Could we have a surprise winner and in that case who? Here are the song, with the odds top-10 (when writing this) videos displayed, for the other click the title. In brackets the odds placement 24 hrs before the final. 1. AUSTRIA - ...

Tonight the second semi-final took place and got to see who joined Norway, Serbia, Portugal, Croatia, Switzerland, Israel, Moldova, Sweden, Czechia and Finland plus the Big 5 Italy, Spain, France, UK and Germany with  Ukraine in the grand final.  Well, a lot of pink to start with. Why was Estonia having those weird movements as she clarly concentrated at one point only to remember where to walk and rush. How much did Cyprus actually sing live? Iceland was even messier than I expected..... And Greece made it even worse. If these two had kids..... Is it only me but I don't understand Victor's English?! If someone had a sparkle i the eye that was San Marino's singer. And I repeat myself but one of the most secured singers this year. As were Lithuania and Australia, very convincing.  Ok, again 8/10 as I dropped Poland even if I should have known better and I risked with San Marino because as someone once said "Once Sammarinese, always Sammarinese", how could I not sup...

Why this is getting harder every year? This said I haven't seen so little rehearsal material or read descriptions since the dawn of internet back in the 2004 or so. Therefor my predictions are more based on the first impression rather than staging or fandom's polls and stuff. Let's see how this goes! Norway: I still don't get the hype around this but I guess they're surely IN Malta: As much I'd like to see them in I'm sad to say they're just borderline... and OUT . Serbia: Somehow I want to believe they're one of those fan favorites OUT . Latvia: Like Norway I don't quite get it but I think they might just squeeze IN . Portugal: Still a bit confused about this but in the end I believe they are IN . Ireland: How they it nicely? The outfit was the last drop to make them surely OUT . Croatia: On the contrary here the outfits and staging have made them IN , whether you like it nor. Switzerland: The fandom didn't believe so but I have had them IN...

  Käärijä and his dancers really cha cha chaed the Turquoise carpet. It's a good day to be a Finn. He even amde the hosts cha cha cha with him. It's crazy it's party. As was the cha cha cha chant from the public! That's it from the Turquoise carpet. I hope you enjoyed the ride! Cha cha cha!

  Here comes the photo story from the Eurovision song contest 2023 Turquoise carpet from sunny Liverpool! I must say this was the best carpet event ever in sense of presenting the artists well and each getting their moment to shine. In previous years they have nearly missed some while showing the crowds and already passed artists taking selfies with fans and giving interviews. That was now kept in minimum and the focus was nearly 100% on only those artists entering the carpet. Well done BBC! ICELAND LITHUANIA SLOVENIA SPAIN UKRAINE UK

Here comes the photo story from the Eurovision song contest 2023 Turquoise carpet from sunny Liverpool! I must say this was the best carpet event ever in sense of presenting the artists well and each getting their moment to shine. In previous years they have nearly missed some while showing the crowds and already passed artists taking selfies with fans and giving interviews. That was now kept in minimum and the focus was nearly 100% on only those artists entering the carpet. Well done BBC! POLAND ALBANIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA CYPRUS GEORGIA GREECE