Eurovision 2011 - 10/12/14 May 2011

Same could be said about pretty much the whole contest.

In pretty much every respect Oslo was better last year. Oslo sounded better, looked better (acres of flat LED isn't a stage), the Norwegian presenters were better (though Anke was good - Stefan and Judith were cardboard) and I liked more of the songs last year (though that's not exactly Germany's fault!)

Be interesting to see if Azerbaijan call in Sweden or Norway... Apparently they won with a Swedish song, Swedish backing singers and dancers and a Swedish choreographer.

I'm gutted for Sweden - Eric's vocals were non-existent in the balance I heard at home (did he not sing or was it badly mixed?) - and over the moon for Italy. Great result for their first appearance since 1997.

In fact a not-bad result for old Eurovision.

Semi-final 1

Georgia 6th? I'm disgusted. Croatia (15th), Norway (17th) or Portugal (18th) deserved their place, all were 1000x better than Georgia. Georgia's entry was a monument to drivel. Thank God it didn't win outright, it should have finished last with nul points tonight.

Semi-final 2

Moldova 10th? Not as bad as Georgia 6th in SF1 I suppose, but it still shouldn't have been in the top 10. Belarus (14th) or Israel (15th) deserved their place, both were 1000x better than Moldova.

Why?

One good thing is that Azerbaijan will be host the Junior contest later this year, which could be a small test to see how well they will cope.

Edit: Oops got my Armenia and Azerbaijan's mixed up, Armenia are hosting JESC.

I've just heard from Graham Norton. He says your opinion isn't necessary any more and you can leave.

Best

Tumbly: Why are you still going on about the semi finals anyway?

As is well known, the UK goes straight to the final because they are one of the 'big five' who pour lots of money in to fund the event.

But who funds the Eurovision Song Contest in the UK, the BBC or all UK members of the EBU?

(This question is promted from discussions elsewhere stating that the UK should pull out to save the cash straped BBC licence payers money)

And yet people still complain about "block voting".

Do you mean if it was held here or the cost every year of the coverage and entry?


It would cost the BBC a lot more a year to pay for all the other things that membership of the EBU gets them

There's never been such a thing. It's changed a lot now there's juries but even in the days when it it was all televoting there was no collective conciousness amongst the millions of viewers in each country.

Countries will always vote for other countries that they have a cultural or historical connection with (the former USSR/former Yugoslavia/Scandinavia etc) or those with a lot of migrants from another country. However no one country has a universal connection with all or a majority of the others. Therefore the results always even out to select the most popular song

I thought Germany ended up being a lot better than I though it would be from the semi's but I think you're right in that Norway 2010 just about edged it.

The stage and venue this year was pretty good I thought. The LED backdrops did steal the show on many songs but it just looked great on many others. The only problem with the stage was that the main performance are was a bit too high and seemed a bit too far at times. The long walkway and secondary stage was nice but a shame only one act actually used it.

The interval act was disappointing, especially after last year's epic. A real lost opportunity for them to show off something great

Have to say, this is possibly the WORST winner for many, many years. In my opinion.