Eurovision 2010 - 25/27/29 May 2010 - Norway

2004 to 2007 inclusive there was only one semi-final. The Big 4, and 10 best non-Big 4 countries from the previous year automatically qualified to the final, the rest had to enter the semi-final from which the 10 best won one of the remaining 10 places in the final.

I said on another forum after the 2006 ESC that practice was unfair, because for example in 2006, those who qualified via the 2006 semi-final won their places based on their 2006 entries, whereas non-Big 4 countries directly qualified for the 2006 final effectively on the basis of their 2005 entries. In particular, I thought Latvia, who were top 10 in 2005 (with a good song), directly qualified for the 2006 song with what I thought was worse than some of those who failed to qualify from the 2006 semi-final. I said then I'd like to see two semi-finals, so only the Big 4 and host (previous year's winner) go directly to the final, every other country must enter one of the two semi-finals to reach the final.

I was glad when my wish became a reality in 2008 with the introduction of two semi-finals: Big 4 and host qualify directly to the final, everyone else enters a semi-final to win a place in the final. That's the best thing the EBU has ever done, it means all countries (bar 5 direct qualifiers) enters the final on the basis of their entries that year, not the previous year.

Well you win some you lose some don't you Tumble Tower - but keep on at the BBC about those channel name changes!

Frankly the Eurovision is now such a size there will never be a solution that is absolutely perfect, and it's only this year really I think the two semi-final structure has now bedded in, though as I said I would like to see a few more auto-qualifiers by having the top 5 + big 4 qualify automatically then eight from each semi. That makes it a bit fairer IMO and also means a few more new performances in the final.

I also think the two semi should go by western block and the Eastern bloke thus cutting down even more so the chance only voting for its neighbours....

No no no no, it's one organisation, you cannot introduce apartheid into the Contest.

Review of 2010 Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final - Saturday 29 May 2010

Host country: Norway. Venue: Telenor Arena

The Opening
The final began with a whistle stop tour of the Eurovision Song Contest history. Names of host cities and years were shown, from Lugano 1956 to Moscow 2009. Finally they zoomed in on the venue. Alexander Rybak performed "Fairytale" in a reworked key which I didn't like much, it would have been much better if he'd sung it exactly as last year. I sang along with "Fairytale".

The Songs
Ten minutes in, and the singing began.

N.B. Just like two years ago, the EBU separated all tied positions. There was only one tied position to separate under tie-break rule: Cyprus (21st) and Moldova (22nd) on 27 points each. I've taken all points and placings from the official 2010 scoreboard, which I believe and trust as the only official source.

Interestingly the gaps between songs seemed shorter this year than even recent years, let alone back in the 1980s. Is this the EBU's effort to speed up the overall show?

Song 1: AZERBAIJAN - Safura "Drip Drop" (5th place, 145 points)
After bringing us a lively dance-along song last year, they chose a ballad this time. That said, they did have a man dancing about. Any reason for that? This is one I wanted to qualify from semi-final 2. A good bouncy, catchy chorus, and very well sung. This was the bookies' favourites to win. Not sure it merited winning, but it certainly deserved 5th place and 145 points

Song 2: SPAIN - Daniel Diges "Algo Pequeñito (Something Tiny)" (15th place, 68 points)
The first of the Big 4 songs. Seeing Daniel Diges reminded me of former Doctor Who Jon Pertwee. He had four others around him: one a ballerina standing on one leg, another who liked bending over and rolling on the floor. There were some funny hats, one with two points. A bouncy song, with a dance routine which was so irresistible to copy. The song itself was below par, though a lot better than Spain's last few efforts. 15th place and 68 points was about right, perhaps it could have come a little higher, but certainly not good enough for top ten.

Song 3: NORWAY - Didrik Solli-Tangen "My Heart Is Yours" (20th place, 35 points)
Now for the host entry, a ballad by a male soloist. A first class performance of a first class song. What an insult that it only got 20th place and 35 points. It should have been top ten, it was way better than the depressing dross from Russia.

Song 4: MOLDOVA - Sunstroke Project & Olia Tira "Run Away" (22nd place, 27 points)
A lively, catchy ABBAesque song with a bit of Tom Jones' "She's A Lady" (the middle eight) thrown in for good measure. This too was grossly underrated, it should have been top ten.

Song 5: CYPRUS - Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders "Life Looks Better In Spring" (21st place, 27 points)
One of the semi-final 2 participants I didn't want to qualify. There was the lead singer playing the guitar, person on the drums, person on the grand piano and a couple of others. 21st place and 27 points was about as much as it deserved.

Song 6: BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA - Vukašin Brajic "Thunder And Lightning" (17th place, 51 points)
A rock song with the gimmick of strobe lights to resemble lightning. I was appalled when I saw this first on the list of qualifiers from semi-final 1 last Tuesday evening, as I didn't want it to qualify. To me this type of song is to Bosnia and Herzegovina like a fish out of water, it's not their style. It only sounded marginally better in the final than the semi-final. To be fair to it, it is better than the nauseating trash from Turkey. 17th place and 51 points was more than it deserved (and Turkey should have come below Bosnia). Bosnia & Herzegovina should stick to ballads sung in Bosnian, such as "Laila" in 2006.

Song 7: BELGIUM - Tom Dice "Me And My Guitar" (6th place, 143 points)
One of the semi-final1 songs I was in two minds about qualifying, I'm now glad it did as it's Belgium's first time of appearing in the final for a few years. A simple ballad with one male soloist playing a guitar. This should have been in the top three, Turkey didn't belong there. No strobe lighting, if Belgium could manage without it, why did Bosnia & Herzegovina and Turkey need it?

Song 8: SERBIA - Milan Stankovic "Ovo Je Balkan" (13th place, 72 points)
Last Tuesday evening I felt the song is below par, and more to be valued for the dance routine than the song. I didn't really want Serbia in the final, but am happier about them having qualified than Bosnia & Herzegovina or Russia. Trying to sing along whilst sitting down was my mistake, the best I could manage was "Beograd, Beograd". I wish now I'd learned the dance routine off my semi-final 1 recording and copied the dance. 13th place and 72 points was about right, I'm so glad it did better than Bosnia & Herzegovina because Serbia's entry was definitely better than Bosnia's, a catchy song without the silly gimmick of strobe lighting.

Song 9: BELARUS - 3+2 "Butterflies" (24th place, 18 points)
One of the entrants from semi-final 1 that I wanted to qualify, a group ballad, with the gimmick of the butterfly wings near the end. Graham Norton said "this band is inexplicably called 3+2". That's pretty obvious, 3 ladies and 2 gentlemen (plus pianist). I sang along with this, regretfully I didn't video film me doing so. It's such a sweet, soothing song that I've liked more and more watching it a few times since. Second from last and 18 points was an insult. Although not worthy of winning, it deserved to be top ten. It was so much better than Russia (which undeservedly finished 11th). What went wrong? Could it be the first few lines sounded a bit dull after the lively Serbian entry?

Song 10: IRELAND - Niamh Kavanagh "It's For You" (23rd place, 25 points)
Niamh previously won for Ireland in 1993 with "In Your Eyes". Personally I think this was better than "In Your Eyes"; a first class ballad and first class performance. Why then did it only achieve 23rd place and 25 points? This should have been in the top ten, if not top five.

Song 11: GREECE - Giorgos Alkaios & Friends "OPA" (8th place, 140 points)
Now for a lively dance song, with powerful lead voice and beat. One that I definitely wanted to qualify from semi-final 1. Graham Norton said "Get ready to dance". I was ready to boogie at the start of this song, and danced along throughout. Performance was excellent. I'm glad this finished in the top ten, I think deserved top five. In fact I'd have sooner this had come second, it was so much better than Turkey.

Song 12: UNITED KINGDOM - Josh "That Sounds Good To Me" (25th place, 10 points)
Now for our entry, a ballad. I didn't think this was as good as "My Time" last year, but it wasn't so bad it deserved last place and just 10 points. Thank heavens it didn't finish with nul points as some feared. It ought to have finished about 11th to 15th. One gripe: the two blokes dancing about was totally superfluous, as were the ladies on the steps behind. Was it necessary even for Josh to go up and down the steps at the back? He could have just sang this in a standing position throughout, just like Tom Dice for Belgium and Niamh Kavanagh for Ireland.

Song 13: GEORGIA - Sofia Nizharadze "Shine" (9th place, 136 points)
One that I didn't want to qualify from semi-final 2, it sounded only marginally better in the final than the semi. I fancy Sofia's voice went a bit off-key when she was lifted. 9th place, 136 points was more than it deserved. To be fair to Georgia though, I still think it was an order of magnitude than Turkey and Russia.

Song 14: TURKEY - maNga "We Could Be The Same" (2nd place, 170 points)
What on Earth was this rock song doing here? I was disgusted that it qualified from semi-final 2 last Thursday evening, thereby taking a place that the far superior Netherlands, Sweden, Bulgaria or Croatia should have had. The song itself was terrible. Why were maNga so obsessed with using strobe lighting? Every chorus I had to close my eyes due to strobe lighting, therefore couldn't see what happened on stage (e.g. dancing) then. Strobe lighting was a pointless gimmick which ruined a terrible song still further. It's diabolical that it finished 2nd place with 170 points, when it should have come 2nd last, or better still not qualified. Thank God it didn't win.

Song 15: ALBANIA - Juliana Pasha "It's All About You" (16th place, 62 points)
A lively power ballad that I wanted to qualify from semi-final 1. This was deserved better than 16th place, 62 points, more like 11th or 12th.

Song 16: ICELAND - Hera Björk "Je Ne Sais Quoi" (19th place, 41 points)
I saw this win the Iceland national final which I watched online, and wanted this to qualify last Tuesday evening. Grossly underrated at just 19th place and 41 points. Its catchy chorus with French included, should in itself have earned extra Brownie points from French speaking countries Saturday night. Performance was first class. This should was one of the best songs of the night, it should have been in the top three, indeed I wanted it to win and voted for it. Why did it do so badly?

Song 17: UKRAINE - Alyosha "Sweet People" (10th place, 108 points)
Another song I was disgusted to see qualify last Thursday evening, at the expense of the far superior Netherlands, Sweden, Bulgaria or Croatia. Three years ago Verka Serduchka represented Ukraine with "Dancing Lasha Tumbai", which was several orders of magnitude better than this. So good some of my mates in the RCCGB performed it at the 2008 RCCGB Blackpool Bash. This year's offering was dull by comparison, and sounded like a cat screeching at times. No way did it deserve 10th place and 108 points, having undeservedly qualified it should have finished bottom three.

Song 18: FRANCE - Jessy Matador "Allez Olla Olé" (12th place, 82 points)
The third Big 4 song of the night. Merci beaucoup to our neighbours across La Manche for their adult kids' Boogie Beebies big video to join in and copy. I got up and danced along to this Caribbean beach style song. The song itself was below par, it was definitely one to be valued more for the dance than the song. 12th place and 82 points was about right, it wasn't good enough for top ten.

Review of 2010 Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final (continued)

The Songs

Song 19: ROMANIA - Paula Seling & Ovi "Playing With Fire" (3rd place, 162 points)
A catchy power ballad that I wanted to qualify from semi-final 2, clearly sung with the gimmick of the double piano. Top three was a bit generous, I expected more like 5th to 10th, but when the voting progressed as it did, I wish this had come 2nd pushing Turkey to 3rd. It's several orders of magnitude better than Turkey.

Song 20: RUSSIA - Peter Nalitch & Friends "Lost And Forgotten" (11th place, 90 points)
Oh dear! Why was I forced to endure three minutes of this depressing dross? It didn't belong here. I was disgusted this went through last Tuesday evening, taking a place that the far superior Slovakia or Finland should have had. To rub salt in the wound, it finished 11th place with 90 points. This song should have finished last with nul points.

Song 21 ARMENIA - Eva Rivas "Apricot Stone" (7th place, 141 points)
A beautiful eastern European ballad, with a catchy chorus. What was the significance of the dancer with the vase? A great song, well sung but I think 7th was a bit high, it should have finished just outside the top ten (11th or 12th).

Song 22 GERMANY - Lena "Satellite" (Winner, 246 points)
The final Big 4 song. Quite a good song, but definitely not one of my favourites. I thought the song itself was a bit below the quality of Ireland, and Lena's singing was a bit below par. Originally I didn't want this to win, and still think Iceland or Denmark was more deserving of a win this year, with this coming in the 8th to 14th range. As the voting progressed, and there was clearly no hope for Iceland, I wanted Germany to win (against my preference) just to keep Turkey off the top.

Song 23 PORTUGAL - Filipa Azevedo "Há Dias Assim" (18th place, 43 points)
One of my "in reserve" hopefuls from semi-final 1, I'm glad it qualified. A ballad sung by a female soloist, accompanied by someone on the grand piano. Was this an attempt to mimic the UK's "My Time" from last year? If so, it was a pretty flat imitation. 18th place and 43 points was generous, I think it ought to have finished in the 20th to 22nd range.

Song 24 ISRAEL - Harel Skaat "Milim" (14th place, 71 points)
A beautiful ballad by a male soloist, all the better for it being in Israel's native Hebrew. I wanted this to qualify. Its placing was about right, perhaps it could have finished one or two positions higher, but not good enough for top ten.

Song 25 DENMARK - Chanée & N'evergreen "In A Moment Like This" (4th place, 149 points)
Officially the last song in the line-up, and another that I wanted to qualify. Well sung, with a good catchy chorus. I sang along to this. Thank heavens it managed 4th place and 149 points, it really belonged in the top three. So much better than Turkey's trash, it should have been placed higher than Turkey.

The end of Denmark's song should have been the end of the singing. However due to the stage invasion during Spain's original performance, they were allowed a second chance after Denmark. Did that give them an unfair advantage?

Tele-voting and Recap
Although the lines were open before the start of the first song, viewers still had 15 minutes to vote. As always a brief recap of the songs was shown to remind viewers. I was now in two minds about whether to vote for Iceland or Denmark, but decided to vote for Iceland. I liked the way they said "DO NOT CALL FOR THE UK", with the Graham Norton saying "Do I need to tell you? You can't vote for the UK". Was anyone in the UK foolish enough to try dialling the stem with 12 on the end? After a second recap, there was a short speech, and a countdown to when the lines closed. It said "LINES ARE CLOSED – DO NOT CALL" on screen.

Interval Act
A pan-European flash mob dance accompanied by the music "Glow" by Madcon. The idea was for everyone in the stadium and viewers across Europe to "share the moment". How many viewers joined in at home? I did, here's me sharing the moment. I just tried to copy what was on the screen, putting my arms in the air. If I'd known (e.g. from eurovision.tv) Saturday daytime, I could have seen the You Tube video about how to do the dance properly, and learnt it beforehand.

Voting Time
All 39 countries, including those which failed to qualify from the semi-finals, voted in the final. The voting order was: Romania, Ireland, Germany, Serbia, Albania, Turkey, Croatia, Poland, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Finland, Slovenia, Estonia, Russia, Portugal, Azerbaijan, Greece, Iceland, Denmark, France, Spain, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Latvia, Malta, Norway, Cyprus, Lithuania, Belarus, Switzerland, Belgium, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Israel, FYR Macedonia, Moldova, Georgia, Sweden, Armenia.

The gaps between countries was very brief this time. Are they looking to speed up the voting still further, having already taken one step a few years ago (flashing up 1 to 7 points, and calling out just 8, 10, 12)? A count of the number of countries who had voted was beneath the country name, but very tiny. I didn't spot it when watching Saturday.

Bloc voting still occurred. As I predicted, Greece and Cyprus gave each other 12 points. Former Yugoslav countries Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina gave each other 12 points. Is that now another Greece-Cyprus relationship? Portugal gave 12 points to Spain. Iceland gave 12 points to Denmark.

Initially Denmark was in the lead, until Germany put Belgium ahead. Albania put Greece in the lead. Croatia put Germany in the lead for the first time. Thereafter Germany held the lead right through to the end. Georgia gave nothing to Germany, but by then they were uncatchable on 234 points (the best Turkey could have got from the remaining two countries was another 24 points, taking them from 165 to 189 points). Sweden were the last country to give Germany anything: 12 points taking them to their final score of 246. It didn't matter that Armenia (last to vote) gave Germany nothing.

Russia took until Turkey gave them 4 points to get off nul points. Eventually they undeservedly amassed 90 points. What a pity they couldn't stay on nul points right to the end. I notice their only 12 points was from Belarus, and their 10s came from ex-USSR Armenia, Estonia, Moldova and Ukraine. Inexplicably Israel also gave Russia 10 points.

Belarus were the last to escape nul points when Russia gave them 2 points. After that they received 1 from Bulgaria and 3 from Moldova. Finally their 12 from Georgia put them ahead of the UK. Co-incidentally, UK viewers like me who watched on BBC Red Button saw a noteworthy text message scroll across the bottom of the screen. Someone mentioned in that message wanted the butterflies (Belarus) to win; for the reasons explained earlier I can see why. I'm therefore glad Georgia felt Belarus was best by awarding them 12 points, and so Belarus finished 2nd last (though that unfortunately put UK last).

Commiserations to Josh Dubovie, who represented the UK. The UK finished last with just 10 points (4 from Ireland, 1 from Albania, 2 from Azerbaijan and 3 from Georgia). At least the UK didn't finish with nul points.

Reprise
Alexander Rybak presented Lena her trophy, and finally Lena performed her song again. The contest finished five minutes later than expected, not bad really. I suppose that was only because Spain had to sing a second time.

And Finally
Altogether another great Contest. It's such a pity that Bosnia & Herzegovina and (in particular) Turkey wanted to use strobes, they are totally unnecessary. Just about all the other countries including Norway, Belgium, Belarus, Ireland, UK, Iceland, France, Israel and Denmark managed without them. Even Greece did without them. Why did Turkey need strobe lighting?

It's such a shame the result was so topsy-turvy. Turkey (2nd), Ukraine (10th) and Russia (11th) all got such high placings when they should have been bottom three, or better still not qualified at all. Norway, Moldova, Belarus, Ireland and Iceland, which should all have been in the top ten (Iceland top three) got such low placings. Even the UK deserved better, 11th to 15th perhaps. Whatever caused this insane result?

Well done Germany, it's their second win to-date. They last won in 1982, which means they have 28 years gap between wins, one of the longest in ESC history. That now means that from 1996 to 2010, there have been 15 years of a different country winning each year.

LMAO! Tumble Towers you clearly have no taste in music if you think Belarus of all countries were better than Turkey! They gave an incredible performance of an amazing song.

Also the Belarussian band was called 3+2 because originally the girls that were on either end were just backing singers while the three in the middle were the main band, though that clearly changed for the actual performance.

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TT - if you were the lighting designer, how would you have lit the Turkish song? Every song should look different, and strobe lighting is one of the tools available to the LDs. It's not a gimmick, it's a valid lighting technique. In the same way as I would be happy using strobe lighting with the Turkish number (and I do lighting operation for a living), there's no way I would contemplate using it for the Belgian ballard.

Harsh & punchy rock songs require harsh & punchy lighting. Slow, soft ballards require slow & soft lighting. If you consider the strobe lighting in the Turkish song to be a gimmick, so was the subtle lighting in the Belgian song.

Finally, I feel the Ukranian song, which you are "disgusted to see qualify" completely deserved the placing it got. It was a powerful song, and was a far better song, and performed better, than the Spanish entry (which the dance routine was completely resitable to copy - neither me or the 6 people watching had any urge to get up and dance), and the Serbian entry (with their gimmick of an invisible loud hailer), which caused everyone in the room to burst into laughter at how poor the song was.

You mean Colin Baker.

Don't argue. You DO mean Colin Baker.

Don't forget that countries have to only show one of the two semi-finals - so viewers in some countries will be seeing entries in the final that went through from the "other" semi-final for the first time. Also - countries like the UK often hide the semi-final on minority channels - so the majority of viewers watching the final won't have seen any of the entries before the final.

That goes completely against the entire ethos of the contest - the split-randomisation of the two semifinals (where voting blocs are split in half) is the less divisive solution - and I think is bedding in well.