Eurovision Semifinals #2...

[bovil]

So I missed today's semifinal webcast, but the results are posted:

The following countries are going on to Saturday's finals:

• Ukraine (dance pop)
• Croatia (retro dance pop)
• Albania (ballad)
• Iceland (ballad, video is WTF? but the actual performance isn't)
• Georgia (ballad)
• Denmark (alterna-rock)
• Sweden (dance pop)
• Latvia (dance pop, WTF?)
• Turkey (alterna-rock)
• Portugal (ballad)

So we come out of the second semi ballad-heavy, with a pair of relatively mad entries, some dance pop and a bit of good alterna-rock.

Then there are the "Big 4" who get in because they're paying for most of the contest:

• France (WTF?)
• Germany (ballad)
• Spain (WTF? seriously, WTF?)
• United Kingdom (motown)

So we've got more mad, a ballad and, well, another ballad.

Comments

[howeird]

Had to check out the two WTFs. France is pretty slick, if you ignore the alleged music and watch the video. It's quite a trick to keep up that mike-throwing gag through so many cuts. The video looks to me like a satire of MTV's in-house one second per cut technique.

Spain is also amusing - it's like a Spanish version of Weird Al spoofing all the inane dance fads of the last generation.

If the goal is to produce a unique video, I can see the point. If the goal is musical excellence, then not so much.

---

Albania's entry is awesome! And she's only 17. Wow.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

See, there's one problem.

It's not a video contest. The videos are only up there to give people a preview of the songs; you'll notice that some videos are high-production music videos and some are just concert videos from the national selection contests.

The actual contest is for live performances (pre-recorded instrumentals are allowed, but all vocals must be live) with no more than 6 performers on stage for a number. The first semifinal is up in the Eurovision.tv medialounge. (http://www.eurovision.tv/medialounge/video/1063) It will give you a better idea of what people are being asked to vote on.

johnnyeponymous is going to be running the live-stream of the finals in the fanzine lounge Saturday at noon.

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

You really should pipe in the Latvian entry for the LoEG party at some point given this year's convention theme.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

I've already got all the songs. Besides, johnnyeponymous is streaming the show live in the fanzine lounge on Saturday.