The Russian grandmothers! I remember that. You didn't stay for the Polish milkmaids, then, Besleybean (suggestively churning butter)? I've been a little bit disappointed with the Eurovision 24/7 thing on the BBC as it seemed to be just repeating the same bits over and over.  But have loved following everything on the social media channels that I don't normally use like Instagram.

I'm OK with who got through to the final last night. I was hoping Latvia would make it, but I suppose on the night they maybe weren't memorable, and I didn't think much of their song on first listen.  Funny that you find Finland annoying, Yitzock, although I can see why it could be annoying!  The first part of the song seems to be about being really stressed and woundup with work and having to get drunk and I think the sound of it puts you on edge, which is a slightly uncomfortable feeling. Then the second part of it seems to be about finally being drunk and feeling happy and dancing, but it's kind of a false happiness as alcohol induced (at least that's what I get from it, with the dancers' fake smiles and manic energy). It's definitely a bit unsettling, and I'm really interested to see what other people think because although it seems really popular here I think some people won't like it at all! 

I'm not a fan of Malta or the Netherlands, but I know people who love Malta (but we couldn't vote here in the UK).  I saw a really cute video of Brunette from Armenia watching the live performance and singing along so enthusiastically to Norway and the Netherlands! (She's one of my favourites for Thursday). I agree about Mia's hair!

I really liked the postcards too, liked the way they tied it all together with an interest of the acts, like art or fishing. I also really liked Hannah Waddingham as a presenter.

I saw a really nice message from Croatia complimenting the acts who didn't make it through. (I've removed my comment about another of the acts who were sore losers, as they've now removed those posts from social media!).

I've watched videos of the Lord of the Lost (Germany) Cavern Club show and it was so good, so sorry that I had to miss it due to work! Looked so fun and so emotional, Pi the lead guitarist was crying at one point. They seem such genuinely good people. It turns out that the singer's mum spent a lot of time with the Beatles when they were playing in their part of Hamburg back before the Beatles were famous! I don't care if they win or not (although would love for them if they did) but I'm so looking forward to seeing them live!

Last edited by Liberty (May 10, 2023 8:47 pm)

It's tonight! I'm having a mini Eurovision party with my son and daughter-in-law.  I've been shopping for food and obviously couldn't get something from every country but have got bits and pieces from some of the easier ones to find at the supermarket (France, Italy, Poland, etc.  If only Greece was still in the running as there was lots of Greek stuff!).

Lord of the Lost from Germany are still my favourites and I'm still obsessed.  I won't post hundreds of videos, but they have such a fantastic body of work in different genres. The lead singer, Chris Harms, started with classical cello and still plays that, and they have done recordings and performances of their work with classical instruments.  The singer is also a music producer, sound engineer and songwriter.  He has produced music for lots of different artists (he mentioned that he produced about 200 Turkish albums!).  He has a gold record award for his songs for with Czech band Dymytry.  Also he has cat pictures on his social media.  Between them all they play lots of instruments and have loads of videos and a massive discography.  I really love their songs, I'd mentioned a couple but I keep finding more and more that I connect with!

I suppose they are not going to win as not to everybody's taste, but I'm sure they will be excellent tonight.

I have sorted out voting and did manage to vote on the app after Semi Final 2 so am ready to go! There are lots of other songs I really like in the final too, even though a couple of my favourites didn't make it, but I'll probably give all the votes to Germany. I voted for Voayger (Australia) in the semi, as I was fired up after their performance at the end, but wish I'd put a vote in for Iru (Georgia) who I would have liked to qualify! The lead singer of Voyager, Danny Estrin, is an immigration lawyer, a partner in an award-winning firm, who has appeared on TV in that capacity and speaks German, French and Russian. Such a multi-talented bunch this year!

It has been a perfect storm of opportunity this year as my cat was unwell, and then later so was I, so I had much more time than usual to look at Eurovision in more depth and I have had a such a good time doing that (despite thinking that maybe one year I'll just wait for the actual competition!).   It's a shame I couldn't get tickets as I doubt it will be back in the UK next year, but I think I'll get in early again next year and obsess a little.  I've had such fun, including getting hooked on some of the entries that didn't make it (particularly Gladiator by Jann from Poland, and Venom by Ollie from Estonia).
 

Last edited by Liberty (May 13, 2023 12:37 pm)

I agree with you about "imagine"! I also didn't like the arrangement and didn't think it suited Mahmood's voice.  I did like some of the other performances.
Belgium did really well!
Finland did win the televote, and definitely a more interesting and memorable entry whether people like it or not!  It was the favourite at my family gathering.
I gave 20 votes to Germany! I saw some figures for the televote from different countries - they were not in the bottom with any country and actually did quite well, but not high enough to get the scores (11th place scores nothing!). So I suppose the odd scoring system didn't work for them.
Just rushing this, will come back when I've got more time!
 

Yes, the televote scores did seem low and I think it was because a lot of people were voting  for Finland, because it had a chance to win and was really impactful on the night.  There was a massive gap in the televote between Finland and everybody else (including Sweden even!). I think it didn't feel that way because Sweden had such a massive jury score. But Sweden didn't get any 12s on the televote, probably because half the countries gave 12 to Finland!

It's great that you voted for Belgium! It was never a favourite of mine, but one I'd find myself singing and dancing along with.  It seemed people were rating it really low weeks ago, but he gradually worked his way up and I think he deserved the higher placement very much: great singer, lots of charisma, great staging, great performance, and he seems like such a nice guy. Also nice to see an older competitor doing well too, as they seemed so young this year! Although Loreen is actually quite old, as Eurovision winners go!

I didn't like Tattoo as much as Euphoria, but I do think Loreen is a great performer.  I'm getting a bit frustrated with the hate directed towards her.  It's not her fault the jury voted her so high! But I suppose that's the issue with following anything like this closely: you get caught up in so much drama!

One performer that really went up for me on the night was Marco Mengoni (Italy)! I did really like the song but I think because he wasn't involved in the pre-parties and so on, I didn't feel very engaged with him, but then I was drawn to him at the turquoise carpet as he was so awkward and anxious, which I found very lovable!  Then he came out with a rainbow flag at the flag parade (and I'm sure I'd read that he is not "out", so it was a kind of coming out moment, maybe)! And his performance was really, really good, so emotional. He seemed to be crying at the end and kind of collapsed.

Lord of the Lost seem to be doing fine despite last place! As I said it turns out that it was an issue with the way the votes are scored: they actually did really well across the board in the televote, but not high enough to get on the scoreboard, so basically had zero points from all those countries who had voted them eleventh, twelfth place, etc.  That is an issue for all contestants, of course, but it seems that this year it was very exaggerated for that one entry.  If they'd done a placement average, they'd have been about 15th or 16th, above several fan favourites and acts that we considered potential winners.  However ... I was on their livestream the other day, and they have had a huge influx of followers, the stream was really laggy with so many people, their shop was selling out of things and the website kept crashing, their Spotify streams had gone up massively, their gigs were selling out, etc. So I think they have hugely increased their fanbase across Europe.  I'm just glad I got in and bought my tickets to see them before Eurovision!





 

Last edited by Liberty (May 17, 2023 2:11 pm)