Well, that’s going to rip up the form book for the Eurovision experts. The ten countries to go through from the first semi-final to Saturday’s Grand Final quite simply qualified because they were good songs.
All thoughts of countries going through because of political reasons, diaspora voting or huge marketing spends. The simple songs went through, the quirky numbers and over-produced gimmicked performances are all left behind on Tuesday.
Let’s be honest, this is brilliant news for the Song Contest, because what everyone wants, more than anything, is a level playing field.
So now we go on to the second semi-final, and the only word I can think of is bloodbath.
The Qualifiers and Running Order
- Finland (will open the show in 1st)
- Lithuania (drew 4th)
- Hungary (drew 5th)
- Greece (drew 9th)
- Russia (drew 10th)
- Switzerland (drew 13th)
- Azerbaijan (drew 19th)
- Iceland (drew 21st)
- Serbia (drew 24th)
- Georgia (drew 25th)
The winners for the draw in this are Azerbaijan and Iceland. A late run with a power ballad duet is going to keep Ell and Nikki fresh in everyone’s minds when it comes to the voting, and the simple presentation and emotional lyrics of Sjonni’s Friends is going to strike home.
The Swiss song has probably boosted the chances of the UK, while Alex Sparrow singing next to Amaury Vassili may well have dulled the favourite’s chances, but only slightly.
Still, the over-riding thought in the press centre is simple.
This is going to be a fascinating Grand Final!
Agreed; great news for the contest, BUT telling that the first five countries to perform didn’t make it through.
Greece really polished a bit of a turd with the stage presentation and elevated their song, but that last place in the running order really did the business for them.
I’m far more shocked that Turkey didn’t make it through.
Turkey. Did. Not. Make. It. Through.
Now, they had a good song. And they’re Turkey. We’ll be discussing what happened there for years!
Shock result, really but I saw Lithuania coming, just with Switzerland and Iceland. At the moment based on 15 countries in the final I think you could book a hotel in Baku.
Ireland are still the one to watch, more importantly if they get out of SF2 then, they get drawn 20/23……I’ll send you a list of cheap hotels in Dublin………
Mysterious Stranger got 7/10. Not bad with a result like this.
I had originally thought that Georgia was a better candidate for the rock vote than Turkey, given the more contemporary NuMetal feel. But various sources convinced me that it would not be well received — and it does fall short of the best in it’s genre, so I gave up on it.
That’ll teach me for trying to be objective!
Yes, a good result for the contest.
Others were also deserving, but the ten qualifiers have enough going for them to justify their place even without politics. There’s no Armenia, just a sampling limit.
I selected 8/10 – on par with previous years. I only thought 5 were good enough for the final – Hungary, Iceland, Finland, Azerbaijan and Serbia. No one seems to be championing Finland but I think it’s got potential.
I don’t share Sean’s confidence about Ireland, it might scrape through but won’t be a top ten finish.
Otherwise I agree with the article, but there was one very over-produced, gimmicky song that got trough – Azerbaijan. It’s not much of a song, just very over-produced, and admittedly well presented on stage. But that shouldn’t have got them trough… Disappointed in that.
Some surprises – Armenia and Turkey not getting in was a huge surprise. Alternately, Switzerland and Lithuania, as much as people dislike them, a welcome surprise.