Album of the Month

Afternoon bloggers....

Unlike most other blogs around the world (i.e. sport, music) its a 365 day a year thing, but with eurovision song contest virtually two/three weeks after the contest has finished the news all goes quiet....so whats the answer? Have a long holiday, get back to normal, or maybe pretend you work for the Sport and make up a load of drivel like:

'Serbian singer in three-way love triangle with Dana International and Big Brother's Kemal'.

Hmmmmm Perhaps not!

Talking of Big Brother, Ive often thought maybe its time for Straighteurovision to give big brother a go in aid of fame and fortune, and to plot a possible eurovision 2008 entry????

Again...........perhaps not!

In the meantime lets reflect on a great new eurovision-related album; Mans Zamerlow or whatever, has released 2007's 'Stand By For'. Its basically something Robbie Williams would have distributed about 5 years ago. Seriously, its actually a very credible album from the highly popular Swedish popstar. The only negative is that it is basically a album of covers, which is something which seems to happen a lot nowadays!

Check out the second best track 'Miss America' which was Fredrick Kempe's track recorded on his 2005 album, which he has clearly passed onto Mans.....bless him! Must have been Mans' birthday...(choking!!!!)

The best song is obviously Cara Mia - winner of NFSC 2007 by a clear mile!

The other song of note is 'The Prayer' which has the lyrics 'theres a boy I used to know' in a haunting tale. Is Mans' trying to tell us something secret about his sexuallity or is he simply reminiscing of the man he used to be? Its all a bit cryptic isnt it!

Finally, check out 'Maniac' from the film Flashdance.

If you want to buy the album, then you better google it cause frankly Im not going to give you everything!!!! Im not that generous! Oh you could always LEGALLY download it :-)

In actual eurovision news, yet not too credible, Hugh Grant has said quite candidly that he would consider taking part in eurovision for the UK. Yes, he may consider it, but I might also consider swoping lives with Hugh Grant...It doesn't mean it will actually happen though does it! The guy can't sing, and although he may watch eurovision, its only a throw away comment that the media have taken a little too seriously!

The incredibly nice Mr Bobo who I almost made late for one of his rehearsals, has stated that Serbia was the right song to win eurovision! How very thoughtful of him, especially as he is clearly ready to stake a claim for next year's eurovision. I hear he will offer his services out to various countries!!!! The slut!

The return of Esctoday

Hello all....

After much digesting and conjetating over the eurovision results, it appears that both albania and andorra used juries as their votes. Whats even more interesting is that both juries gave points to three of the big four. OK so the UK didnt get any points, but with Juries I think it would be safe to say all of the big four would have been top 10.

I really think the voting procedure needs to be reviewed. I harped on about going back to only allowing countries to vote who are actually in the final during my eurovision week, and to be honest I think im right on this. Here's why:

1) In the semi final, ex-Russian and ex-Yugoslav states can't vote for their neighbours or ex-pats can't vote for their country of origin....because they are not in the semi themselves...

This is not to isolate the ex-russian and ex-yugoslav states, as it could be agreed that all 10 of the songs qualified deserved to?!?!?!

In the semi and final you have more of an open-field in this case. Picture a situation where an citizen of Georgia (for example) knows of all the russian, ukrainian, belarusian, macedonian, croatian, romanian singers (basically they are all well-known in Georgia)...combine this with loads of ex-pats voting for their country of origin....and let's throw into the mix that the individual also likes the Danish song! What chance does Denmark have of scoring? If they do it will likely only be a maximum of 5 points at best....

If you ensure that countries participating in the semi-final can only vote, then it stops all this nonsense, and potentially results in songs which are UNIVERSALLY preferred to qualify, not singers/songs that are already well-known before the contest...(example TATU)


2) Bring back the jury - but only 50/50

If Svante is hell-bent on ensuring that the voting income is secure, then why not ensure a 50/50 split of jury and televotes. That will ensure that there is a smoother playing field. Often juries are fans, and therefore the neighbourly voting isnt always so prevalent....not always the case, but probably not so much!

Frankly, this is the weaker choice of the two, but it strikes me that you could probably predict that Russia and UKraine will be top 5 again next year, almost 1 year before they choose their song!!!!!! Also, that Macedonia will make the final, and Croatia will either just make it or narrowly miss out! It all frankly sucks, and gives the BIG FOUR or any other western nation vitually no chance!!!!

Why????

Because the western side of europe generally votes for their favourite song without too much bias....Svante has maybe five more years until ALL of the big four pull the plug. This mess must be sorted out, but dont expect a change until at least 2009 (where we enter two semi-finals)

Two semi-finals????

That wont make any bit of difference. You will still see the same country guarantee qualification from the semis, while the countries who should have qualified miss out. How many people felt Andorra were mugged of a place in the final?

Finally, Daz (of Daz Sampson fame) text me to basically rub my nose in it in a kind of 'I told you so...' kind of way. Bring back Daz. I really hope we send him again next year.

By the way, I noticed Jonathon Kind in Helsinki......Lets hope he is not sniffing around the Beeb again!!!! Shock Horror!

Oh and esctoday.com has reappeared as if it had never vanished, in a sort of bermuda triangle sort of way!

Unsubstantial Blues

How crappy is it when you realise there is no more eurovision until Albania decides in December just in time for Christmas? OK so nobody gets excited about the albanian final, but hey at least we know that the season will soon be upon us!

Personally, ive lost eurovision and now the football season, so its really crappy for me!

It now means that when going online there is f**k all to look at!

Most websites and blogs take a few months out to decide what to do with themselves. Straighteurovision has lots of ideas for the future, but have decided to take four or five weeks break and restart in the summer....so please check back now and again. The changes will be fab (in a kind of DQ double dress change fab, and not a aging old norwegen double dress changing kinda way!)

BTW what the ruddy hell has happened to www.esctoday.com?? Its been offline for simply days now, and there is no word on its return!!!

I look forward to see you all very very soon. In the meantime check out the schlagerboys blog! (see my links)

Flying the Flag home with Scooch

So another eurovision finale ends, and it was all sadness sadness sadness all over Helsinki yesterday. For me, frankly, I was glad to get home...I was simply gutted on Saturday evening and am not too sure whether I can take much more euro-humiliation!

Congrats and all that bollox to Serbia; frankly they deserved it, and Ukraine did not! Uk deserved top 5, along with Germany, France and Spain, although I liked Turkey, Bulgaria and Armenia.

So the aftershow party was good, Magdi won the songwriter prize...thoroughly deserved, although Scooch came a close second!



The bulgarian girl (who is smaller than a nat) seemed extatically happy with Bulgaria's best ever result! Rumour has it she wore the same costume all week; to rehearsals, to home and to bed and out again! Dirty cow!



The presenters were seen at the after-show party; their first fan appearance of the week! In my opinion the best presenters of eurovision ever!



What did worry me was this, which some of us found walking down the street...



Not quite sure of the eurovision connection, although it was probably something to do with the Serbian entry.

Finally, talking of Serbia, she was very charming at the press conference, saying she said a little prayer before the contest that she would win only if god wanted her too. She came over well and hopefully Belgrade will be ready for a eurofest next year.



Oh yeh, almost forgot the point of the title. Scooch, the beeb, Paddy O'Connell, Sarah Cawood and the backing dancer/singers were all literally behind me on the plane home. In keeping with their character, Caroline bent down to pick up something she dropped down the isle, and David (the man behind 'anything to suck on for landing?') said in a carry on eurovision moment 'while your down there', to which Caroline replied 'oooh wrong end'.....Magic!!!!!!!!!!

Bless them, they gave away scooch t-shirts, pads, and flags! Straighteurovision didnt ask for one, as we had no-where to stash it to hide the embarassment!

Interestingly, Terry Wogan was suposed to be on the flight but didnt turn up....hope he didnt enjoy his eurovision just a little too much!

So, 2nd bottom and the worst UK eurovision result since Jemini....Bring back Daz!

Serbia Was Absolute Rubbish!!!!

Ok only joking!

It was a superb song and an equally superb vocal! Shame for the UK though, and from the after party Russ was in good spirit, while Caroline seemed very down! Oh its all Jemini again isn't it!

To be fair, the UK did give a performance of an OK song, while following my TXT to mrs straighteurovision after song 14 that Ireland and France were going to do well, I seem to have taken them with me! Oh well at least our neighbours went with us!

The EBU need to look at the voting proceedure, and I would suggest returning to voting from only the countries who have qualified for the final, and a same system in the semis....it's much fairer that way! Serbia would still have won no doubt, but maybe Sweden, Finland, France, Ireland and maybe the UK would have had much more respectable scores....

Talking of respectable scores, Olivia Lewis' blog the other day was all doom and gloom, and one could be accused of suggesting she was close to the edge; well it doesn't get better for Olivia. The news broke out that Malta finished 4th last in the semi, while Austria also only managed 4 points...Switzerland finish 20 out of 28, while Portugal narrowly missed out...thats right Portugal finished 11th...shocker!!

But the voting is neighbourly, or political whatever you want to call it...Croatia (the dire, vomit enducing, elevator music) finished 16th...not because it was any good, because countries like Bosnia, macedonia and serbia all voted for it!

Anyway all in all a great week, but I am not looking forward to Belgrade next year in the slightest. I would have prefered a flight to St Petersberg! Gotta go, am flying later on this evening...hope to see you all soon as I have some aftershow party pics to upload tomorrow.

Finally a word for those who chose to boo during virtually every song last night....MAKE LOVE NOT WAR! Or Alternatively your a bunch of pathetic w##kers!

X

All done!

Right thats it all 24 have been played and if the Uk could vote for ourselves, Scooch would have at least one set of 12 points. As it stands Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Serbia and oh and the UK....lol....

(BTW) the Norwegens to my right conceded the UK song came over well!

Final Dress-rehearsal - Moldova

Watch out for the outfit. It seems to be the talk of the town! Plus the serbian girls got her eye on it, or maybe Natalie Barbu herself! Yikeeesss!

The song is a rock anthem, much like evanescence. Some other rumours had this winning the semi-final...I seriously doubt it, but it could go top 5 and be the big surprise of the night!!! Certainly a top 15!

Final Dress-rehearsal - Armenia

Used tissues, radio-controlled trees and a dark red set describe Armenia. Its also a very good ballad with an excellent draw. This could be the surprise of the night. Possibly creeping into the top 10 for the second year running!
Watch out for the tree suddenly becoming possessed and trying to attack Hayko during his performance...

Im sure they must have pinched those used tissues from malta's Olivia Lewis's dressing room on Thursday evening

Final Dress-rehearsal - Turkey

As 'shake it' appears on the backdrop the show starts, and what a show! Turkey are clearly in a great position to hit europe with a bit of mediteranean r'n'b and pop!

Kenan gives a great show and the overall performance looks particularly polished. This could slide into the top 8, and at this point in the show were thinking potential winner!!?!?!

Final Dress-rehearsal - Bulgaria

Back to the drums. This ouses ethnicity and passion. The wailing only enhances this moody performance. Expect this to go top 12 tonight. Every year something purely ethnic does very well, and I expect Bulgaria to do this.

Final Dress-rehearsal - Romania

This has really dropped in the betting lists. It comes across a bit desperate and as straighteurovision reported it was written in 3 days, it really shows. It gets going towards the end, but by then everyone has lost interest. Prediction 20-24th

Final Dress-rehearsal - United Kingdom

Come on Scooch!

Fabulous...enough said! They are going to win! LOL

Final Dress-rehearsal - Ukraine

This is bizarre, camp and car-crash television.

If the UK sent this we would be ridiculed! OK we have been anyway....

I only hope it doesn't win! In fact it doesnt come over as good on TV as many fans would have you believe! In the real world this comes last, but this is eurovision...probably top 3.

Final Dress-rehearsal - Serbia

Serbia is as always mean and moody. I don't care what anyone says, its not lesbian chic. At one point during the song it looks like the 5 girls are stoping the serbian lesbian from falling down. If only they would let go!!!!!

This song is a grower, but I have a problem with the lead singer who is a cross between Harry Potter and itv's Sue Perkins.

I also heard a rumour that she may be choosing to wear the Moldovan singers costume for tonights performance. How frightening!

Final Dress-rehearsal - Germany

Roger Civero is a massive star in Germany. His voice is superb, and for some this is a deserved eurovision winner. Its too niche for my liking to appeal to a wide audience, but it does have its fans...Not enough to propel it to the top 10 though. 15-20th for Germany this year.

Final Dress-rehearsal - Russia

Three sugababes with a slick routine, which is slowly creeping up the betting list. Vocally they are miles better than in earlier rehearsals, and don't be surprised if this wins tonight. If Russia can achieve a top 8 with 'believe me' a few years ago, this is going to definately be top 5.

Final Dress-rehearsal - Latvia

If strong rumours are to be believed - this won the semi!

It is very strong operatically, except instead of starting last, it now starts in 14th. I think it is a strong contender for top 8 now.

Final Dress-rehearsal - France

France is bizarre to say the least!

The performers have all the charismas that was lost in Greece. Unfortunately like the rest of the big four this is doomed.

I suspect a bottom 5 position.

Final Dress-rehearsal - Sweden

The Ark look great behind a whirling black and white followed by a pink background. This probably should win the whole damn thing if not for the neighbourly voting!

If only eurovision was a song contest!

Top 5, or if the voting goes mad, top 10!

Final Dress-rehearsal - Georgia

Sopho meets the Ghostbusters!

This comes alive towards the end of the performance. Sopho look gorgeous on screen, while the performance is very atmospheric.

This could be top 10 tonight!

Final Dress-rehearsal - Greece

Good song, rubbish singer and an even worse performer!

Clearly this guy can't dance! Apparantly its a swedish song, but its going down like a lead balloon. The greeks who are in force today love this....I wish I had their enthusiasm. Sarbel has no charisma!

12-18th for this!

Final Dress-rehearsal - Lithuania

The setting is dark and moody. The singer appears to be sat performing at a jazz club. The four backing accompanyments are behind a white screen. This is agin dull as dishwater, except there is a certain charm about it!

This is heading for relegation, prediction - 18-24th

Final Dress-rehearsal - Hungary

This poor girl must be having some serious relationship problems. She has packed her bags sooo many times its unbelievable! The song is dull but her performance is amazing and the only reason it qualified on Thursday. This might just avoid relegation for next year. Prediction 8-15th

Final Dress-rehearsal - Slovenia

Opera Dance!

The singer dressed in black leather and feathers operates a hand light throughout the performance which she uses to build an eery setting.

This could go big tonight. Im not sure its a winner, but Slovenia does deserve some success following years of failing to qualify for the final. Their best result in 2001 with Energy.

Top 15 placing for this, maybe top 10!

Final Dress-rehearsal - Macedonia

This song is sung by the sultry karolina. She has had a face like a smacked arse in the euroclub this week...which is surprising as Macedonia are heading for a top 15th place this year. The song is acceptable on the ears, but doesn't really go anywhere and the engish lyrics half way through are messy.

Karolina appears in dark green and her male dancer gets a bit of a feel-up which the camera doesnt catch!

Im more angry that this song qualified above Andorra!

Final Dress-Rehearsal - Finland

Hannah has been likened to Jill Johnson in 1998 Birmingham in terms of looks. Its similar to Moldova in terms of song, except not as good! This for me is heading towards to the bottom!!!!!

The norwegens tell me 15-20th..

Its a rock ballad, but Hannah appears to have virtually no charisma!

Oh Shit!

Good news, Im not sat with two Norwegen reporters who think UK will get Nul points.....Just what i need

Final Dress-rehearsal - Ireland

Personally I think this is great. Its Irish ethnicity. It has a real appeal, and we all know how Irish songs tend to do. I think this has been written off too early and stands a chance to reach the top 10.

A real fine performance from Dervish. The backing doesnt change, which actually enhances its chances as it comes across as REAL music!

Final Dress-rehearsal - Belarus

This looks really classy with almost hidden James Bond theme. The singer is still quite shaky on the high notes, however Mrs straighteurovision back in the UK thinks this is going to do well...

Personally im not too sure, except she is not a fan of eurovision so there will be some merit of what she is saying!

This could be one of the top 5 come tonight!

Final Dress-rehearsal - Spain

D'Nash all in white look great with a blue background setting. The song is clearly too feminine for a macho boy band, however D'Nash do get it some welly. I will predict a mid-table finish for this.

At least Spain are finally sending pop rather than flamenco!

Final Dressrehearsal - Bosnia

Marija is lovely on stage, but its a boring start and frankly enough to make you want to use your first toilet break right at the start of the show!

I can see this gaining some points, but not enough to avoid the semis next year

Lets Not Kid Ourselves Here

Swedish newspaper votes are in after two dress rehearsals and UK is 2nd from bottom with around 0.5% of the vote. F**k!!!!!

This isn't looking good is it!

Note to self: Must remain positive!!!! Yikes

Final Rehearsals Almost Complete

Morning All!

Knackered again this morning; Mrs Straighteurovision woke me up to tell me that either Belarus or Turkey are going to win....bless her, she hasn't seen Ukraine either. Not only that I have a bet with her mother that Scooch will finish top 5....whereas she is convinced that they will finish bottom ...aaaagh must remain optimistic, must remain optimistic!!!!

Having said all that Mark is dangerously near having his clothes removed tonight, and dancing naked down around euroclub. Ukraine may very well win, but for me Russia, Turkey, Serbia & Belarus are serious contenders. I think following thursday's voting, it could be a case of big four, bottom four!

Right a great press conference with Lordi yesterday, except for the twats who kept asking 'what do you think of the georgian song?' or 'How will France do?' It was obvious the poor guys didnt have a clue about anything, but they did look great, and noone can underestimate what these guys achieved for Finland....








Also, the finnish singer for 2007 Hannah was doing the rounds in the press centre. I just can't get Finland this year...and I think its destined for around 20-24th place which won't be fair to the finns who have simply outdone themselves this year. The organisation for fans is incredible, except their inability to give out tickets for the euroclub or to make the whole accrediation elitist thing feel just that little bit more elitist!





So the UK to be top 5, a visit to kiev next year, and Mark to lose his clothes....sounds like a good night!

P.s. I bumped into Ed last night, and as I had removed the camera from my pocket, he had vanished into thin air....he is so elusive! Straighteurovision promises to continue the search! If you see this man, please photograph him and send to sdjwild@hotmail.com asap

Aftermath

Straighteurovision is rather shattered this morning!

The night's party at the euroclub went on until 4.30am this morning, so as you can imagine were feeling quite delicate at this precise momento!

Gutted feeling was how most of us would have reacted last night. Frankly its a f**king disgrace all this block voting, and having Kosovo and Azerbajan join the party next year is only going to worsen the situation....Talking of block voting, I think its odds on either Russia or Ukraine will pretty much walk it on Saturday, unless another visually sexy act comes to the foreground. I guess the only other songs which could affect the voting is Sweden or Germany; Sweden would probably have been top 3 if not for Lordi last year, so its probable it could come down to Sweden VS Russia VS Ukraine on Sat night. The big guess is which or Russia or Ukraine will be there, as they can't both be top 3 with all the neighbourly voting.

Many of us are hoping for Ukraine now, as a friend of ours has promised to streak naked across Helsinki, which dodging the cold air, trams and the police! Of course we will try to capture video footage of this when it happens on Saturday!

No 'where's ed watch' today as we couldn't find him anywhere!??!?!?!

Right, talking of last night, the euroclub was amazing and we were lucky to be invited. Inside were a few of the qualifying performers; karolina made a second appearance. Portugal were there, looking quite down however Sabrina did say she was happy with her performance, and that she felt dissapointed that more western european countries did not qualify this year. Dusty Cowshit were in the audience, and yours truly took it upon himself to get really pissed and start singing 'chicken rodeo' at the one with the huge beard, who responded by joining in...all great stuff!!!

Sabrina from Portugal was very nice and welcoming.



Dusty Cowshit proud to be Norwegen



The andorran boys dissapointed, not degected!



The Herreys popped in for a bit of diggy loo diggy ley...great!

Todobobo

Straighteurovision caught up with todomondo....lovely boys! They mentioned that they had created their song in under 3 days....3 minutes more like! They should be top 10 on Saturday, that im convinced of!




I also go to meet and greet DJ Bobo too...I happened to make him late for the third rehearsal which of course wasn't at all the plan. Maybe he could have sprouted wings and flown to the arena. Whats the dummy shit all about? They look like a bunch of twats who are trying to rob marks and spencers one evening...

Everyone is talking about Verka winning on Saturday. Im hoping she finished around 24th place. What eurovision needs is a good ole' knees up...followed by some duty free!!!!

Sopho of georgia has her fans. watch out for those with faces painted as england flags...bless them! I remember having my face painted with england colours for a football match once; its not nice when your team loses, and youve had your face painted for the occasion...I think you get my jist...Georgia is not going through on today's effort...

It also occured to me that there will be 18 unhappy delegations tonight...must bring my camera! :-)

Right, time for shit, shower and shave and off to the semi-final, while passing go and collecting 200 euros....

Predictions for tonight!

Sat around the press centre watching the final dress rehearsal, a few of us have our predictions for tonight:

DJ Dave:
Belarus
Moldova
Netherlands
Serbia
Macedonia
Andorra
Slovenia
Latvia
Austria
Malta


Singaporesteve:
Belarus
Georgia
Moldova
Serbia
Macedonia
Malta
Andorra
Slovenia
Turkey
Austria

John:
Belarus
Georgia
Moldova
Serbia
Macedonia
Malta
Andorra
Slovenia
Turkey
Latvia

Straighteurovision:
Switzerland
Turkey
Estonia
Austria
Macedonia
Serbia
Denmark
Slovenia
Andorra
Belarus


So looks as though Belarus, Andorra, Serbia and Turkey are looking good to qualify, we will see how near we are tomorrow morning; normally the fans get it wrong!!!!

Second day in euroland

Morning all!

Just sat in the press centre awaiting the final dress rehearsal, so thought I would bring you some photos from straighteurovision's second day...How fab!



The stage is set for eurovision. This is one of the best f##king stages ever, and as DJ Dave said to me yesterday 'isn't the smoke screen absolutely fabulous?' He's f**king spot on!



Some of the Finnish delgates; steve williams, juha repo and Tina K.

Dancing at the fan centre last night. At one point the room was filled with drama queen(s).



First edition of 'where's Ed watch?'



Then it all went soo wrong; the albanian singers sister decided it was a good time to get in some all important karaoke practice...yikes!!!



Schlagerboys dance off!



'Where's Ed watch' part 2



Finally, how fab is it that all along the streets of Helsinki we have eurovision videos...

F##king Fantastic!

What a brilliant evening at the euroclub last night. Straighteurovision was not a pretty sight this morning, but nothing an alcazelter couldn't sort!

It was the first rehearsal of the semifinal yesterday, and I am very concerned for two things:

1) The show is too long for a semifinal
2) The first 10 songs will be lost, no matter how good they are!

I am very concerned for Belarus, Switzerland, Cyprus, Moldova, Bulgaria and Israel. From yesterdays showing I expect the following to qualify:

Estonia
Austria
Turkey
Slovenia
Serbia
Macedonia
Denmark
Switzerland
Andorra
Malta


Macedonia and Serbia due to the block voting, Turkey because it is deserving, Switzerland because although it is early on, it is still very memorable. Austria, Estonia, Andorra will qualify as they have great performances. Denmark may just scrape through, while Slovenia and Malta will be bottom of the 10.

I hope to catch the final dressrehearsal before the semifinal this evening, so I should post later on.....I need to go back to bed for a while now, or failing that, a fatboy bean bag in the press centre will do!!!

Semi-final Rehearsal - Take One!!!

Morning.

Following feeling rather queezy when I woke up this morning, I decided it was a good idea to go and get some breakfast. A word of advice to you all, two chocolate muffins, a croissant and two glasses of orange juice does NOT go down well after a night of booze and partying.....

Right were all excited as today is the first semi-final rehearsal. Most of the participants performed last night at the big four party in the euroclub, so hopefully they took their mother's advice, and had an early night!

Im looking forward to seeing exactly who stands out, and who is the next Kate Ryan!

It seems the ebu have put all the OGAE fans together for rehearsals; the afternoon rehearsals. So, it looks like being off to euroclub again afterwards; its a hard life isnt it!!!

Euroclub - Oh what a night!

Just back from the big four party...

Im writing this with a very very sore head, so please excuse any mistakes that might be made. On the first eurovision party night since arriving in Helsinki, it was the Big Four Party. What a party it was!!! The majority of the participants were present, while BBC commentator Paddy O'Connell was introducing the acts along with a delegate from France, Germany and Spain.

First up was Croatia with a good accoustic version of their eurovision entry.






Next up was Evridiki, who many think may just miss out of a final position on Thursday. She sang both acoustically and with a backing track. The crowd seemed to love the cypriot diva.



Andorra were next; my tip to qualify against all odds on Thursday, and they were very well supported by the large Spanish crowd. Little Nicki is from Guildford remember, so UK vote andorra!



Olivia Lewis was next on stage; by this time the Greek singer Sarbel had stormed off as there was a queue for slots. She sang Vertigo to the enjoyment of the fans. Olivia clearly knew her audience and pleaded to the crowd to vote Malta to the final...



France were excellent. If there performance tonight was anything to go by, they are still in with a chance. They have a little bit of 'brainstorm' in their performances, while the lead singers resemble Jamiroquai and Right Said Fred.






Scooch came on to a huge ovation. Following today's rehearsal they are still very much in with a shout, and even Paddy O'Connell couldn't resist thinking it would be either a top 5 or bottom 5....Top 5 Paddy, lets remain positive!



Bonaparti.lv followed scooch with a good rendition of Questa Notte. Its not my cup of tea, but it is certainly good enough to just scrape in, and its draw of last place will help it.

Roger Civero blew the house down. He was excellent and his voice is incredibly strong. The guy could be an international star in the making. Even if his song doesn't do exceptionally well, he will still make it.



Edsilia followed Roger, which was a tough ask...She looked stunning and her voice was equally good. She performed an acoustic version of 'on top of the world', followed by chaka chan's 'ain't nobody'. Fab! Verka followed and was as camp as usual. I must concede after watching the rehearsal, it comes over very very well on TV....bugger!



Finally, Karolina from FYR Macedonia and Marija from Bosnia concluded the show. Karolina started with some macedonian folk songs, which if im honest, was the worst piece of drivel ive ever heard, so to the bar I went. Marija was superb. She looks great on tv during her performance, and her voice is brilliant too. I soo hope she does well; not as well as scooch mind! She was even nice enough to take this snap with yours truly



Finally some candid shots of the usual suspects. More tomorrow most probably, and start of dress rehearsals!!! Yippeeee...where is that paracetamol!!!









Oh look DJ Dave again...

Arrived at last!

Afternoon to you all!

Just arrived at the eurovision press centre and how fab, managed to catch the end of the shitty verka, followed by a press conference with Roger Civero, who by coincidence is sitting about 5meters left of me at this precise moment.

Right, scooch is on the big tv in the press centre. Looking rather fine in full costume. The backing LCD panels have changed, we now have a UK flag throughout the performance with little red aeroplanes flying around it. It looks miles miles better....

This is still looking like a top 5, and maybe even a victory to me. Just armenia last I believe, then its off to the big four party, where straighteurovision will be bringing you photos of tomorrow morning, while severely hungover!

Tschus!

We're gonna win!

Having watched pretty much all of the rehearsals at least once, the UK is looking particularly good, and we will have to wait and see whats on the back of those dinner trolleys too!

Watch out for the UK this year, it may be that we still have a big chance!!!

Who's Hot, and Who's Not!?!?!

Morning

Tomorrow I go! - Thats right in the words of the 2nd ever albanian eurovision song, straighteurovision is expected to land in Helsinki around early evening ready for the Big Four Party at the euroclub. See you all there!!!!

So, thats it for the semi-finalists, and its now time for Scooch to prove to everyone why straighteurovision is right to keep the faith and deliver the goods! We shall see today....Anyway, the semi-finalists have finished their pre-dress rehearsal warm ups, and according to 300 journalists present here is who they think will qualify on thursday evening:

Belarus
Switzerland
Serbia
Turkey
Cyprus
Denmark
Iceland
Georgia
Bulgaria
Malta

Interestingly, no andorra, poland, moldova, Israel or austria!!?!?!

Im not convinced by Cyprus and think it may bomb big time...On the same topic, Israel is a certain qualifier for me! Turkey, Belarus, Switzerland and Malta are pretty safe, while Iceland, Bulgaria, Serbia and Georgia must have big question marks. Georgia is a personal favourite of mine, but even I haven't been particularly impressed with the rehearsals, and Sopho has been somewhat offkey throughout!

Having said all that, if this 10 do qualify it will certainly compliment an already strong final, which could be considered the greatest eurovision final of all time; or certainly one of the hardest to predict a winner! I say that because there are just so many styles in eurovision this year; there are very few ballads, but those that are there are pure quality, very few schlagers; but again the quality is present, and different style rock and pop songs.

What is evident is that everyone has their own opinion on who is going to win eurovision this year. If I was to name those who I think are in the running it would be:

Sweden
Malta
Greece
UK
Germany
Russia
Belarus
Switzerland
Turkey
Armenia

Others say Serbia will be in there....I remain unconvinced....Its not a patch on Bosnia last year, and the performer just doesn't have that sparkle in her eye either!

The ones to watch are Turkey and Armenia. Turkey is the best performance of the semi-final and has the potential to win eurovision, while Armenia is one of the best ballads to reach eurovision for years, ticks all the boxes, and if eurovision is ever won by a ballad again, it just might be this, especially as their is so much up-tempo quality this year which might cancel itself out.

I just can't wait..

P.s. I may or may not be able to bring you a post until late tomorrow evening....Or I might just sneak one in at the airport....

Love to all...Don't forget to come say hello whenever possible. Check out my myspace page if you don't know what i look like!

Contenders

Morning all!

Final day of semi-final rehearsals today; and for me the best five performances have been from Switzerland, Turkey, Iceland, Belarus & Poland. What has become apparant is that this years entire Eurovision Song Contest is far better than last years overall, and fans and non-fans are in for a fantastic show.

Switzerland


Turkey


Iceland


Belarus


Poland


Tomorrow is the start of the finals rehearsals and frankly, I am really excited to see Scooch's performance....straighteurovision will as ever keep you posted throughout the day...

In other news, Israel act the Teapacks have claimed they are considering 'pulling the button' on eurovision as their act is being tamed down by the EBU!?!?! Of course the EBU have no history of this do they? Wasn't it Alf Poier who was told not to grab his cock during his performance, and wasn't Tatu asked not to snog during their performance? Hmmmmm....im sure it will be alright on the night!

Latvian group Bonaparti.tv have reportedly gone missing in Helsinki! What a laugh!!! Maybe they have gone for a nice warm sauna amongst the cold cold weather?!?!

Oh and appararantly Sopho from Georgia is giving away free T-shirts and booze to fans in Helsinki. If that isn't a reason to stalk her, then what is???

Contenders

Morning all!

Final day of semi-final rehearsals today; and for me the best five performances have been from Switzerland, Turkey, Iceland, Belarus & Poland. What has become apparant is that this years entire Eurovision Song Contest is far better than last years overall, and fans and non-fans are in for a fantastic show.

Switzerland


Turkey


Iceland


Belarus


Poland


Tomorrow is the start of the finals rehearsals and frankly, I am really excited to see Scooch's performance....straighteurovision will as ever keep you posted throughout the day...

What A Day!

Morning

I'll keep this short and sweet today, because frankly i'm getting seriously jealous of those already in Helsinki.

By the way, when visiting the stadium dont forget it's metro Pasila. You have the press centre and hartwall arena both near the stadium I am reliably told!

Gotta say that Turkey looked amazing yesterday and for me have looked the best of a good bunch over the two days. Serbia has been dissapointing and so has evridiki! My tip to qualify hasnt really changed, but have to say its looking more and more like bulgaria and serbia may not make it, while poland, slovenia and moldova may surprise.

My buddies Andorra didn't let me down, and I think they will sail into the final. Stayin on a rock theme, the vote for the most bizarre vocals of this contest go to newcomers Czech Rep.



Cant wait for today's second round of rehearsals....I shall keep you all posted!

Below is a list of videos of the best performances thus far:

1) Slovenia


2) Turkey


3) Andorra


4) Moldova


5) Belarus

Happy Birthday Mary Hopkin

Happy belated birthday to Mary Hopkin for the 3rd of May. 21 years old again!

Eurovision Contender!!!!

Thats right folks, you heard it here first; count Turkey seriously in the running. The rehearsal of 'shake it up' was absolutely fabulous while it was clear Kenan was holding back on his performance.

I will predict right now this is a top 5 contender for eurovision. Its absolute class.

Thanks for 12points.tv for the video

Watch it people!!!

First Day Of Rehearsals

Morning all!

It seems in the first day of rehearsals most of the first 14 participants have really up-ed their games!

Netherlands were well received in the hall. Im not too surprised about Edsilia; she really can sing, except the song isnt strong enough and won't qualify on the night. Onbeurope.biz agrees and state that the song is boring and the performance isn't all that either! Rehearsal video below:



Bulgaria was generally accepted by many that it is a good starting number, but could be instantly forgettable. It is also important to note that the Bulgarian team seemed lost as for what they should be doing next at times, which doesn't strike professionalism. Rehearsal video below:



Israel are a team that will make it to the final without any doubt, and are using the huge backdrop to include part of their video; see the rehearsal video below.



Cyprus were dissapointing, and this song is starting to move down the betting. Evridiki seemed out of tune throughout and there wasn't a lot of movement on stage either. Rehearsal video below:



Koldrun of Belarus was also unimpressive and out of tune on many of his high notes. I still expect this to qualify and we must not forget it was only a first run through. Rehearsal video below:



Georgia and Montenegro were both OK, and were clearly there to break any nerves for later in the week. There is more hope for Georgia in my opinion though!

Denmark was well received in the hall on its first run through. The song is clearly a fan-fav however. DQ was not top of her game vocally, but with fireworks appearing towards the latter part of the song, this could fly through to the final! Rehearsal video below:



Croatia is not fooling anyone; 3 minutes of pure toilet break!

Poland has really come together, and stands out for being the most modern song in the semi-final. The Jet-setters have strong similarities to the 'black eyed peas', and could grab the few extra votes needed to finally make a eurovision final.

Switzerland has energetic, passionate and firey choreography, and I still think this will be up there with the best come the final night. It is dividing some sections of fans as to whether they think the 'song' is actually good enough, but the performance however, makes all the difference for this!

Oneurope.biz are really bigging up the Moldovan effort; no idea why! Natalie Barbu sings an average rock song well, and her performance really picked up by the fifth run-through. Oneurope has this as a qualifier; we're not convinced! Rehearsal video below:



Finally, Albania performed well with a similar staging format to their song last year. Its all very mean and moody, that come song 29 will have been forgotton. Rehearsal below:



So, first day in and at the moment the outstanding song/performances were Switzerland, Poland, Netherlands & Denmark. Can't wait for later....

Interview with the Teapacks - 03/05/2007

SE: Welcome Teapacks...Many people love your song this year. Will you be singing in your native language or english?
T: Thank you. We get a lot of good vibes from all over the world, people really want us to do our thing without compromising and be the alternative song of this year’s Eurovision. The song did not change since Israelis elected it for ESC, it’s in English, French & Hebrew.

SE: Can you tell us what your song is about?
T: It’s about laughing in face of the insane fanatics that star in our worst fears, Terrorists, creasy leaders etc. It’s about too much power handed to dangerous individuals. It’s about the right to live peacefully on our planet without destroying it. It’s about a big war between reasonable people against extremists all over the world.

SE: Will there be any surprises with your show?
T: We decided not to play the game, no gimmicks, no fancy steps, no big fashion designers; we are a no logo band, we will come like musicians and relay on our unusual song and unconventional look.

SE: How do you think you will do at eurovision this year?
T: Only god knows. We expect to be remembered; we would love to be touring the world with our crazy freestyle ethnic punk pop, if this will happen we will be very happy.

If we will win, it would be a victory of the alternative forces over the saccharin commercial bla bla .

SE: Will there be a full english version available soon?
T: We are a multicultural band, our songs are written in a junction between Muslims, Christians & Jews. We like the sound of languages, we like different accents, it makes us laugh.

So,

No full English version, but we are happy to inform you that our song is being remixed by the Berlin DJ Daniel Haaksman.

SE: OK, so there are different versions due to be released soon...cool...If you don't win eurovision, would you consider doing it again>?
T: We are a live band; we did it to introduce our message and unique sound to Europe. We will never perform with a recorded playback again; it’s shameful to our opinion. We challenge the Eurovision to make the next competition with live musicians.

SE: Live musicians are something us fans have been protesting about for quite sometime now; but only to fall on deaf ears. It seems unlikely this will change in the forseeable future...So you seem like eurofans, if you could duet with any eurovision act from the past who would it be?
T: We loved Amina from France, deep inside our rock & hip-hop music is a very big influence of North African RAI style.



SE: Have you seen or heard the UK song for eurovision. If yes, do you like it? How do you think the UK will do?
T: It’s nice and very professional. We are not prophets just ordinary Jews, so we don’t know about future results.

SE: At least someone likes it...In the UK the standard of our Eurovision songs isnt as good as it should be, would you or international bands consider representing the UK?
T: We admire the UK, you have a wonderful music scene, we wish you would send an energetic punk pop band, or some noisy kick ass musician to make the competition relevant.

You know what? maybe you should send “Cornershop” or “the streets”.

If your outstanding British artists will refuse, we will be glad to take the mission, after all the British mandate over the Middle East was not so long ago. :)

SE: Whats your favourite eurovision song of all time?
T: rendez-vous - Pas de Deux, the Belgium entry for 1983.



SE: whats your favourite eurovision moment of all time?
T: Israely entry for the Eurovision 1974, Poogy (kaveeret) - Natati La Khaiai



They came wearing sweaters and sang a great song. We are big fans of this band, some of them helped us to jump start our Israeli career, we see ourselves as there musical ancestors.


SE: Right well thank you for speaking with us, good luck in your first rehearsals today...any final words for your international fans?
T: The BBC started the scandal of disqualifying Push the Button, but since then we got a lot of support from the UK, grungy fans, noisy teens and people that enjoyed our sound and message. Many of our fans will see the Eurovision for the first time just to see us doing our Jewish mayhem in the palace of kitsch. We hope they will be strong and won’t fall a sleep without voting for us.

To all our supporters:

You are encouraged us to write new spicy and extreme musical stuff, shortly you will find it in our Vibrant MYSPACE page.

Thank you for being on the side of artistic freedom.

SE: Thank you for promoting eurovision to a wider audience, we all hope to see you on May 12th in the final.

Big Party

Morning!

As most of you know tomorrow is the first day of rehearsals and we shall get the first glimpse of whos looking good, who's not and so on....However, straighteurovision's mind is focused firmly on the 'big 4 party' on May 8th. Its the day of our arrival and we can't wait to be smuggled in the back way?!?! :-)

The party is where most participants go to sing accoustic with other participants; so imagine scooch performing a duet with say Verka Seduckha...that would probably be horrible, in fact Verka duetting with anyone would be enough to make you vomit!

The only act who definately won't be attending will be the Teapacks as they are performing their own gig that evening (which I recommend to anyone not accredited!). They are playing at the Virgin Oil Club that evening. Just in case you miss it, here is there eurovision entry below:



Right were days away from the semi-final on Thursday May 10th on BBC 3 at 8pm for all UK fans. Here below is my few tips for the 10 qualifiers in to Saturday 12th May's final...The only ones I think could maybe surprise is Latvia, Denmark, Austria Iceland & Bulgaria, but at the moment im ruling them out!!!

1) Malta


2) Switzerland


3) Turkey


4) Belarus


5) Serbia


6) Norway


7) Andorra


8) Cyprus


9) Georgia


10) Israel



POSSIBLE MAYBE'S OR MAYBE NOTS....

1) Bulgaria


2) Denmark


3) Austria


4) Latvia


5) Iceland

Stage is set!

Morning all

Nice to be back in sunny Hampshire again. Spain was nice, but the weather was on a par to England, so it kind of takes the edge off it a bit...

As you would imagine, delegates and media accreditation will be arriving in Helsinki from today and tomorrow with the first rehearsals set for Thursday. Its starting to get exciting now and in the immortal words of the posh guy off the apprentice 'im getting warm fuzzy's' about the euroweek which is getting closer and closer....

Hope you all liked the interview with Anonymous yesterday. Lovely guys!!! I will be interviewing the Teapacks (Israel's entry) sometime before I jet off to Helsinki, so will post that also...

The stage is looking mighty fine, and seems to resemble the Kiev stage. For me Kiev had the best looking stage of all past eurovisions. This stage seems to have taken the kiev stage and added the Istanbul backdrop of LCD's. Can't wait



Looking at the OGAE votes we are still no nearer to agreeing a winner amongst us fans. OGAE's from all over europe have gone for Belarus, Switzerland, Serbia (no chance!) Greece, Georgia, Cyprus & Sweden. For me I could see Belarus, Greece, Sweden and Switzerland near the top, but I just don't get Serbia...maybe its me!!!

I do fear for the UK however, but while sat in the sun during my week off, I remembered that this really is a song contest, and as long as you are proud of your own entry then the result never matters...I think!!!

TSCHUS!

(photo courtesy of www.eurovisiondiary.com) - check it out!!!