There’s something amazing yet saddening about the moments after a Eurovision semi final, seeing your friends from different countries celebrate or commiserate, and tonight the are some unexpected emotions. Everyone even vaguely connected to the Sammarinese delegation – and there are plenty of them for a country so small – is in shock, even to the point of physically shaking. I’m so thrilled for them. For others, like the Portuguese, there are tears. Some surprises tonight and I’m also disappointed about Portugal, but this is a harsh contest, especially this year. I called 7 of the qualifiers in the Serviette of Doom, so not bad overall. I’m personally pleased to not have to hear Belgium again after tonight, after all that talk,of possibly wining the whole thing. But it’s time to party, not to navel gaze so we’re off to the Euro Club. We might do an aftermath for you on video you when we get there. I hope Andras is coming out to play…
Monty x
Got 8 out of the 10 and placed Iceland as one that may qualify.
Happy with the 8 out of 10.
Some comments about the vocals:
Armenia-started a bit out of tune and improved as the song progressed.
Latvia-He lost his voice and was completely out of tune.You shouldn’t party too much as it will affect your voice.
Estonia-not her best vocals.She had problems with singing and dancing and you could hear it in her voice.
Albania-A song I didn’t rate, but was actually vocally good.
Moldova- She started too law and was disharmonious to the backing track.It was also a stage mess.
Three surprises for me: (1) The Ukrainian hamster wheel gimmick came across remarkably well on telly and makes the song very memorable, (2) Netherlands a really charming, confident, classy performance which benefits hugely from sounding so different from anything else, (3) Having been told that Andras sings the pants off the Hungarian song I was shocked at how ropey his vocal was; lacking power and control and flat on several occasions. His good looks disguise a mediocre voice.
Also apparent on the BBC’s live broadcast tonight was how poor the original recording of Molly’s song is (the one filmed in London, inside a church-like building). Having seen Norton and some of the Copenhagen rehearsals it’s obvious Molly’s a much better singer than that recording suggests. I wish the BBC would bury it.