I'm just the worrying kind...
Various serveral weeks later after a deluge of national finals, semi finals and a spanish selection which had massiel declare live on set that they better pay her more or she was going home to her bed (rumour has it TVE executives stuck their fingers in their ears and went la la la), battered and bruised my musical sensitivities may be but we almost have a line-up... And the good news is that the moments of brilliance:silly mistakes ratio is in the black, and that bold statement comes prior to my indoctrination phase. I feel there is a bit of an imbalance with a lot of strong stuff in the semis with some unworthy ingrates cruising into the final without so much as a wind machine, so undoubtedly there will be some wailing, grinding of teeth and gnashing of bones come semi final night.
But it would seem a timely moment to focus on some highlights (not justin's, the attention would only encourage him, naughty step for erm... 34 minutes... NOW) and the worst cretchins. The earliest bookie odds have thrown up a few surprises and I am delighted to see that Georgia is faring favourably at this early stage. Despite performing with her head only just sticking out of an enormous pink cake with 5 individuals writhing underneath her bottom, sopho overcame these obstacles to bring her bjorky number to national victory and provide my personal favourite eurovision entry in years. Perennial bookie's choice Sweden's glam rock ditty gains so much from the charisma of its performers that I feel assuaged that this will more than compensate for the lyrical mastery lost on europe's non-english speakers. And if it comes to a head to head between frontman ola salo and yer man from the darkness, then i know whose highlights my kroner would be on. With dodgy French and really bad dancing (think recently divorced auntie in da vincis on the gin), Evridiki's song for Cyprus is great electro pop that i might like to wreck the room to some time. Let's just hope they get mando on the case to ensure she can NOT move on the night. Serbia's entrant has been described as a "woman who prefers comfortable shoes", but with a powerful balkan ballad in a field relatively devoid of slow numbers and more friendly neighbours than ever i would mark this as a sure-fire qualifier.
Bad eggs now. At the risk of being found in the morning with stillettos through my eyes, Denmark and Ukraine can slide on. The Danish song capitalises on every stereotype in gaydom to come up with a unique blend of self-congratulatory desperation. Eurovision dear? Gay dear? How VERY dare you. Meanwhile, with Ukraine's demented turbo-folk, you either get it or you don't. I don't. Croatia and Armenia's entries almost made me take up origami, and as for Norway... it's performed by a lady called Guri Scanke, so i don't even have to think up an insult.
Final word on the good ol' radio telefis reworking of the irish entry.... Basically a decent song to begin with, the transition was always going to be less radical that BK's shuffle, but they have predictably done a decent, if not phenomenal job. I think the bass underscore to the whistle intro works well, but the whole thing get too busy too quickly for me. Retaining the sparsity of the opening stanza for longer would give greater impact to the intro break and finale. Bodhran break could have been longer, but the finish is strong and cathy's vocal transplant seems to have worked a treat. But on the whole, this song has a timeless, anthemic quality which undeniably stands out from the crowd. Fingers crossed.
But it would seem a timely moment to focus on some highlights (not justin's, the attention would only encourage him, naughty step for erm... 34 minutes... NOW) and the worst cretchins. The earliest bookie odds have thrown up a few surprises and I am delighted to see that Georgia is faring favourably at this early stage. Despite performing with her head only just sticking out of an enormous pink cake with 5 individuals writhing underneath her bottom, sopho overcame these obstacles to bring her bjorky number to national victory and provide my personal favourite eurovision entry in years. Perennial bookie's choice Sweden's glam rock ditty gains so much from the charisma of its performers that I feel assuaged that this will more than compensate for the lyrical mastery lost on europe's non-english speakers. And if it comes to a head to head between frontman ola salo and yer man from the darkness, then i know whose highlights my kroner would be on. With dodgy French and really bad dancing (think recently divorced auntie in da vincis on the gin), Evridiki's song for Cyprus is great electro pop that i might like to wreck the room to some time. Let's just hope they get mando on the case to ensure she can NOT move on the night. Serbia's entrant has been described as a "woman who prefers comfortable shoes", but with a powerful balkan ballad in a field relatively devoid of slow numbers and more friendly neighbours than ever i would mark this as a sure-fire qualifier.
Bad eggs now. At the risk of being found in the morning with stillettos through my eyes, Denmark and Ukraine can slide on. The Danish song capitalises on every stereotype in gaydom to come up with a unique blend of self-congratulatory desperation. Eurovision dear? Gay dear? How VERY dare you. Meanwhile, with Ukraine's demented turbo-folk, you either get it or you don't. I don't. Croatia and Armenia's entries almost made me take up origami, and as for Norway... it's performed by a lady called Guri Scanke, so i don't even have to think up an insult.
Final word on the good ol' radio telefis reworking of the irish entry.... Basically a decent song to begin with, the transition was always going to be less radical that BK's shuffle, but they have predictably done a decent, if not phenomenal job. I think the bass underscore to the whistle intro works well, but the whole thing get too busy too quickly for me. Retaining the sparsity of the opening stanza for longer would give greater impact to the intro break and finale. Bodhran break could have been longer, but the finish is strong and cathy's vocal transplant seems to have worked a treat. But on the whole, this song has a timeless, anthemic quality which undeniably stands out from the crowd. Fingers crossed.
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