Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  The running orders for the semi-final were revealed today and we see we will have the very first non-English opening number since the producers have decided on the running order when Iceland rows it away come Tuesday May 13. Cyprus will end the first semi-final.  The second semi-final is opened somewhat surprisingly by Australia and ends with not at all surprisingly with Finland.  And for the first time - FINALLY!!!! - the Big5 and host country will perform among the semi-finalists and even not in the end of the show separately but spread evenly here and there in the line up! This should have been the case ever since the Big5 or back then Big4 were introduced. Let's see if that stands also for the rehearsal schedules!

Benidorm fest returns for the fourth year as the relaunched Spanish national selection for the Eurovision song contest 2025. As usual it is three nights affair with two semi-finals and the grand final on January 28 and 30 and February 1, 2025. A threesome jury will send four out of eight semi-finalist to the grand final with 50% professional jury, demoscopic panel 25% and televote 25%. The 16 semi-finalist have been chosen among the almost 1000 submissions.  Below are my first time hearing ratings as usual. Sadly there isn't much to get very excited by. Spanish pop by numbers and their own style added with some Latin flavor but very little imagination or originality. Shame. Most fall into *** meaning harmless and listenable but nothing special I'd listen outside Eurovision national finals. This said I know further listening will surely change ratings for some but in the end it's the first impact that matters in Eurovision. The staging and live performance will be crucial to...

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...

Save the best for last is the case in the Eurovision song contest 2023 semi-final one running order: Finland with Käärijä's Cha cha cha will close the show with a bang! Norway's Alessandra will open, as I took for granted and Sweden's Loreen is buried 11th between Moldova and Azerbaijan. It's looking good. Not so good for the division of the two semi-finals as most every favorite is in the first one that is also stronger in the betting odds. Only three songs shouldn't make it to the final from the first semi-final, while eight shouldn't make it from the second! Below in brackets the current position in the odds for comparison (March 22, 21 CET):  Semi-final One 1. Norway (4.) 2. Malta (31.) 3. Serbia (15.) 4. Latvia (35.) 5. Portugal (27.) 6. Ireland (26.) 7. Croatia (16.) 8. Switzerland (14.) 9. Israel (5.) 10. Moldova (17.) 11. Sweden (1.) 12. Azerbaijan (25.) 13. Czechia (8.) 14. Netherlands (19.) 15. Finland (2.) Semi-final two 1. Denmark (30.) 2. Armenia (1...

Today's news about the change of voting system went through fandom like an earthquake and showed once again the Eurovision song contest has the most passionate fandom ever. In good and bad, especially in bad. The truth is the youngsters don't remember - or know - the voting system has changed about a zillion times over the decades from on spot two member juries to televote to 20 member juries to anything in between. The televoting (since 1998 only) has been from five minutes to 10, then 15, after songs or during songs, depending the year. Even the scores given kept changing most every year from one to ten given out in various combinations until 1975 when the infamous Twelve points system was invented by a Finn and has been in use ever since. Even that has had a minor change as first the votes were given out in running order before they were changed to the more exciting one from one to 12 we know today instead. These days of course we only get to hear the 12 said out loud when f...

  Here it is. Not so sure about the running order as some choices seems rather surprising....... And Finland kicking off the second semi-fnal, didn't quite expect that at all!