The Many Flavours Of Ukrainian Culture
Eschewing the recent trend for opening the first Semi Final with a reprise of last year’s winner, this year the Tuesday show kicks off with a video showcase of traditional Ukrainian fashion, followed by a performance by what we assume to be a popular local rapper. Your guess is as good as ours, answers on a postcard please…
Bromantic Hosting
Wisely avoiding a doomed attempt to recapture the Petra and Måns dynamic from last year, Kyiv’s hosts are taking a more relaxed approach. The Daily Mash-approved script leans heavily on tongue in cheek banter and low-key innuendo. There’s nothing to match ‘Love Love, Peace Peace‘ for viral potential (yet) on display so far, but the three hosts are comfortable enough with the script to make a reasonable proportion of the jokes land.
Oleksandr Skichko, Volodymyr Ostapchuk and Timur Miroshnychenko will host the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest
Ballads, Ballads, Ballads…
Fans of musical romance and heartbreak can look forward to a veritable feast of tortured – and occasionally torturous – emotion in tonight’s show. There’s the Bond Ballad (Georgia), the Sam Smith ballad (Australia), the Screamathon Ballad (Albania), the West End Ballad (Finland) the Jazz Ballad (Portugal) the Adele Ballad (Czech Republic) and the Theme Tune to a Straight-to-Video 90s Disney Sequel Ballad (Slovenia). Truly something for everybody…
Questionable Choices
In the grand Eurovision tradition, this year’s competitors are showcasing some highly variable outfits and accessories. Montenegro’s airborne Dothraki hair is the obvious scene-stealer of the night, but dedicated followers of anti-fashion should also keep their eyes peeled for Albania’s sacrificial virgin look, Azerbaijan’s tribute to Bojack Horseman, Czech Republic’s space oddity/juicy couture combo and the ever-reliable Moldovan bridal shower.
Montenegro’s Slavko Kalezić is making a memorable impression with his styling choices this year.
The Return Of Jamala
She may not be opening the show, but last year’s winner Jamala can still look forward to a hero’s welcome when she performs 1944 one more time during the interval. She’ll be back in the Grand Final to perform the inevitable slightly disappointing new single, and presumably give the Ukrainian broadcaster one last chance to show the moment that Russian hearts broke at the climax of the final televote reveal last year…
Surprises
Even by the usual standards, this is a remarkably difficult semi final to call. Nobody has totally dropped the ball, but with some of the big hitters underwhelming in rehearsal while less fancied entries raise their game at the eleventh hour, there’s bound to be a few shockers when the virtual envelopes open. Needless to say, here at ESC Insight we’ll be going through the results with a fine tooth comb online and on the podcast. Until then, have a great show and remember to drink responsibly…