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May. 21st, 2005 @ 12:14 am Evening Dress Rehearsal May 20th 2005
Ok, just back in press centre.

Hall about a quarter full, if that so difficult to judge by audience reaction.

Here is a quick synopsis of what I thought of each performance.


1. Hungary - Great opener. Gdod vocals in the ahll anyway this time. Good reaction
2. UK - mmm, not a good Javine performance, ropey vocal and this is not coming across as strong when following Hungary
3. Malta - this was a fantastic performance from Chiara. Just hope Malta does not peak too soon. HUGE reaction in the hall and great camera shots on this. Faultless vocals
4. Romania - Again, this was performed well, good reaction in the hall.
5. Norway - Great performance ( I hate the song but it is so going to be up there and I will be so happy, personally, top be wrong on this!), went down a storm in the hall.
6. Turkey - Gulseren has her hair tied back on this one. They have dropped some og the OTT acrobatics. Good reaction just not sure how this will do overall.
7. Moldova - Lead singer bare chested now. This got a fantastic reaction. This could pull off the big surprise.
8. Albania - This was the forst one to really let me down. Very flat. Has no impact after all of the songs before it.
9. Cyprus - Now, this came across very well to me. Better than I had expected. Elina is in a white outfit with long flowing sleeves that is very effective and Constantinos is in a white T shirt that makes we wish I had gone to the gym for the last 20 years!! Good perfopmance, good reaction, not a winner but could do pretty well.
10.Spain - This , IMHO, will have the highest finish of any of the big 4, based on tonight's performance. Again a good reaction in the hall.
11. Israel - I really thought that Shiri was excellent tonight. It is hard to think that there are only 3 ballads in the final, malta, israel and latvia so, if a lot of ballad lovers vote , their votes will on;y be split over 3 songs. I'm not saying a ballad will win but it is obviously a possibility. This was a powerful and emotional performance. As each day goes by, this one keeps rising in my estimation.
12. Serbia & Montenegro - now, i do not rate this but it got a great reaction in the hall, so what do I know!. Silly dance routine but vocals were good.
13. Now to the unlucky after the break Denmark. Now, i really hope this does not get struck by the after the break curse as it was an excellent performance. Jacob is getting better and better and my sister has a bet on it weeks ago at 80 to 1!
14. Sweden - Now, people who know me will know that this was my favourite song in the Swedish final this year(I was in the minority) Great performance tonight by martin just not sure if it will have the impact to win. It is different to anything else in the contest so it could happen.
15. FYR Macedonia - Dreadful! Very weak performance but they liked it in the hall!!
16. Ukraine - Great performance and , understandably, the best reaction in the hall. I don't think this will finish as low down as many think but it wont win!
17. Germany - Gracia has the unenviable task of following the host country. It was a competent performance of an Ok song but I don;t think it will fare very well.
18. Croatia - Now this was another one who went down well in the hall. Vocals were faultless and the song really built well. If ethnic is en vogue????? maybe.
19. Greece - Now I will probably be lynched for this and the next phrase will probably come back to haunt me tomorrow night but, IMHO. Greece is NOT going to win. It was a good performance but I didn;t like the braces gimmick and the song did not stand out for me. It would not surprise me if Cyprus finished higher than Greece this year. Now this is just my opinion. I could be wrong!!!
20. Russia - I've never been a huge fan of this but it was sung well and it got a great reaction in the hall. Just donlt think it will do anything. However, wuith the experience of last year, it;s possible Russia may get neighbourly support which might get them a top ten placing.
21.Bosnia and Herzegovina - This is the song for traditional Eurovision fans. A good foot tapper. This was a great performance that should be top 10 but I don't think a winner
22. Switzerland - Excellent performance for me by Swisstonia. The best missed photo opporunity of the week was this morning when I saw one of the members of Vanilla Ninja eating a Toblerone! :)) This is definitely a possible winner. great perfrmance, great vocally and great camera work
23. Latvia - now Walters was ordered by his doctor not to sing today so we only had one of the duo singing. With it's draw, this has become the proverbial 'dark horse' for me. A lot will depend on the vocal performance tomorrow night though but the hall gave it one of the best reactions tonight
24. France - Finally, Ortal gave a good vocal performance, not perfect but the best by her so far by a mile! Don;t rate her chances though. I honestly think that a lot of kettles will be put on around Europe before the song finishes.

Overall, this is a very strong final, IMHO, especially at the start. Most people tonight seemed to narrow everything down to either Malta or Norway (NOOO!)but, I don't think it's as clear cut as that. Even with neighbourly voting that we know and love, there are a number of osng that I think could win.

They are Malta, Norway, Switzerland, Latvia, Israel, Hungary (except first on is not good), Moldova. Of course this could be turned on its head tomorrow. My heart says Malta, my head says Norway but a little nagging voice keeps telling me Latvia. It's all down to the Bulgarian housewife, the Iceland fisherman , the Spanish Tortilla seller to make their minds up tomorrow. All I know for certain is that this time tomorrow, we will know the winner of ESC 2005.

Back tomorrow!


Peter
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May. 21st, 2005 @ 12:46 pm Final thoughts on the contest on the big day
Thank you once again to Keith and Peter for reporting after last nights dress rehearsal.
It was a great show. Ruslana is on at the start all in white. She also pops up during the interval for counting
the votes all in red. Spectacular both times and look out for the solo male dancer/gymnast who is amazing.
If I was so supple I would show you his routine but alas its not to be.

I will not review each song individualy as its been covered last night by the guys.
But overall it was a wonderful show , definetly the best in years(but i bet we all think that year upon year).
The first half(12 songs ) is real strong. I can give positive thoughts on all.
Uk was still rather weak though compared to others. Hope Javine pulls it out of the bag tonight though.
Turkey was not quite as good though , lots of yelps through the song this time but comes across good visually.
Moldova was again excellent. Albania came across better for me. Spain was superb. Isreal was stunningly haunting.
Macedonia was a lot better , the best I have seen from them yet. Ukraine went huge in the hall(no surprise).
Germany was a lot better this time but it does have to be. Croatia was really good again. Bosnia was a total
transformation. Excellent vocals are back. Well done girls that pep talk we had worked a treat. Go Feminem!!!!!!
Latvia was ok but with only one vocal again. France was also a lot better which I am glad about.
All other countries not mentioned were pretty much the same as previous comments.

So to my Final top 24.

Its a close one to call this year with so many varied and different songs. Some great songs amongst them too.

Any one of 8 countries can win it for me. Alas this does not include UK unless Javine gets over her vocal problems
and ups it 100%. Hungary, Malta, Norway,Moldova,Greece, Switzerland are the ones to watch and my dark horse tips
are Israel, Latvia Spain and Bosnia


1.Norway
2.Greece
3.Malta
4.Moldova
5.Switzerland
6.Hungary
7.Spain
8.Romania
9.Croatia
10.Israel
11.Sweden
12.Bosnia & Herzegovina
13.Serbia & Montenegro
14.Russia
15.United Kingdom
16.Turkey
17.Latvia
18.France
19.Albania
20.Cyprus
21.Denmark
22.Ukraine
23.FYR Macedonia
24.Germany

Its a hard one to call. I still could chop and change this around all day without feeling I have settled on a good rating.
But lets just sit back and wait for all Europe to decide later tonight. Truly a big day and the buzz is building as I sit here.
I am in the fans area right at the front and centre stage. Albeit 11 rows back it will be the best seat I have ever had at
Eurovision. So look out for me getting my head chopped off by a flying camera boom and cheering and dancing like an idiot
with all the guys with flags before, during and after every song. Some day I will be cured of all this.
But not in my lifetime.

Andrew
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May. 21st, 2005 @ 02:17 pm (no subject)
I also attended last night EBU Press Conference.

Confirmed the Semi Final voting went off without a hitch 100%. 3 countries used their backup jury results due to
lack of phone votes. EBU have set a minimum number required for phone votes to count but they will not say what that
minimum is. The countries this applied to were Monaco, Andorra and Albania.

The voting in the Final will include all 39 countries, will start with the losing Semi Finalist in order then the
finalists in order, so Austria then Lithuania and so on till france last.

The Dates for ESC 2006 in Blah Blah Blah country will be Thursday 18th May for the Semi Final and Saturday 20th May
for the final.The limit of 40 countries will still apply in 2006 but will be reviewed after that. Format and numbers.

They will launch an ESC Lottery which will consist of scratch card through each countries main lottery provider.

Some 50th Anniversary Show details were announced.
14 songs will be presented by celebrities/old hosts and performed by appropriate artists.
There will be a 50 piece orchestra and a number of medley tributes put together. Archive material will be shown of
major moments thru the ESC years.
It will be held in the Forum Arena in Copenhagen where Junior Eurovision was held in 2003.
Capacity is 6000 and the show will last 2 hours.
The song will be chosen as follows.
10 songs by the fans on www.eurovision.tv the songs are split into 5 decades and one person nominates 10 songs.
2 songs from each decade. Then the committee will have four additional wild cards to add and will pick big 4
country songs if any of them hasnt already received representation by the fans vote.

By voting you can win prizes. Top prize is a VIP all expenses paid trip to the show for 2.
Also 25 50th Anniversary Books and 50 DVD/CD from 2005.

Ivor Lyttle from OGAE cast the first votes at the live launch of the voting website.

Andrew
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May. 21st, 2005 @ 05:26 pm Countdown has begun...
Last night's downpour caught a lot of people by surprise, including me. I took a bit of a soaking and I'm sniffling today. Does anyone know the Ukrainian for "Lemsip"?

After 7 nights in a row in the Euroclub, I just had a couple of beers there last night and I did my usual putting people on the spot and asking them which one song (and one only) they thought would win. If the delegates are right it would appear to be coming down to four songs; Moldova, Malta, Norway and amazingly for me Latvia. There is little or no support for some of the other favourites; Greece, Switzerland Bosnia. It looks like the tide has gone out for these. I then went to a club on the outskirts of the city which was pretty scarey travelling at 120kph in the ouring rain and flooded roads. We left at 5.30 and sun was out and the rain had gone. It's been a beautiful sunny day and walking down the main pedestrianised street to Independence Square, there is the most amazing atmosphere. There are loads of little stalls selling every kind of imaginable tat and well as hundreds of different type of unofficial Eurovision souvenirs. Who could possibly resist a big drum with Ruslana and the Klytschko Brothers and a big Eurovision logo on the face? The combination Eurovision pen, bottle opener and corkscrew did me. I'm madly trying to get my hand on the new track by Ruslans and the children's chorus, but it's so new it's not available in the shops.

On my way to the venue, I tried one of the Kyivstar hospitality stalls. These are scattered all around the  arena and city centre and populated by the most helpful and good looking teenagers in Ukraine.  When I explained what I was looking for,  Slava from the booth took me to two record shops and explained what I was looking for.  Unfortunatly, the song is still not generally available, and it isn't part of tonight's interval.

I made it back to the press centre to see the end of this afternoon's rehearsal,  Greece is working much better on camera than in the hall, but Switzerland is the reverse.  Waltars from Latvia sang this afternoon. This  is a great little each way bet, though I don't like the song, it's got a great draw  and is well performed. If you are looking for value for money bets, Moldova and Latvia each way look the best.

They are now emptying the hall and doing the security check. The screen in the press centre are showing the FA Cup final. The atmosphere is electric. Apparently people from all over Ukraine have come into Kyiv to sample the Eurovision atmosphere and they expect a quarter of a million people in Independence Square tonight to watch the show on big screens. There's a live link to there in the show. I hope it works better than last year.

I'm just about to go home and iron my bestest party frock for tonight. Think Sakis 2004, and you'll know what to expect. I'me in the front section, and I've decided to support one of the nicest and smallest delegations here. So "Come On Albania!". Ledina has also changed the lyrics of here song and there's a lot less of the "diki-da" nonsense now. It hasn't a hope, but you have to support someone!

After Thursday I now realise that to predict a winner, you don't need any knowledge of music, you simply need a degree in Eastern European politics. Watch Russia effortlessly sail into the Top 10 tonight, for confirmation.  Other predictions;
  • None of the Big 4 to make the Top 10
  • Sweden to be in the semi-final in 2006 (first time ever)
  • The winner to have been chosen in a national final (first time since 2002)
  • Two of the Top 3 songs to have guitars and drums on stage (first time for ages)
After the show I'm going to try and get back here for a quick blog, before going to the winners press conference and then he after-show party. I leave at 16.00 tomorrow, and I'm flying with the Irish delegation.

 

 
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May. 21st, 2005 @ 07:49 pm Tonight's the night!
Current Mood: excited
Ok, now in the press centre. The countdown has begun! A lot of us decided to get here early in case there were any demonstrations at the venue and in case the traffic was bad!!

At the moment, for me it's Nightmare Norway, Marvellous Malta, Mental Moldova or LongShot Latvia as the potential winners tonight, but with 39 juries to wade through (Vodka a prerequisite for me to cope with that!), anything can happen.

I'll be back , hopefully, after the show, to give you my reactions.

However, the most important thing tonight is , regardless of what people think of particular songs, and no matter who the winner will turn out to be, everybody - ENJOY THE SHOW!!!!! :)))))


Peter
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