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Review of 2011 Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final - Saturday 14 May 2011 (continued)
The Songs
Song 19: AZERBAIJAN - Ell/Nikki "Running Scared" (Winner, 221 points)
During semi-final 1, I said this deserves to be in the final, I'm so glad it qualified. A beautiful, soothing ballad with flowing arm movements. This song grew on me after the semi-finals; by Saturday evening's performance I rather liked this. Part way through I started copying the arm movements, it's a pity I didn't have my camera recording at the start. I think it deserved to win. For some reason, this reminds me of East 17 "Stay Another Day".
Song 20: SLOVENIA - Maja Keuc "No One" (13th place, 96 points)
One of my preferred ten qualifiers among the preview videos, but come the live semi-final 2 performance, it became one I preferred not to qualify. Verses were below par, chorus was borderline. I joined in with the arm movements. Grossly over-rated at 13th place and 96 points (helped by its ex-Yugoslav neighbours), it deserved to be bottom six.
Song 21: ICELAND - Sjonni's Friends "Coming Home" (20th place, 61 points)
A tribute to the late Sigurjon 'Sjonni' Brink who wrote this, and composed its tune, before he passed away on 17 January 2011. Hardly surprising it was cheered at the beginning and end. A gentle group ballad with a catchy chorus, this was one of my "maybe" qualifiers in semi-final 1. In retrospect I'm 'm glad it qualified, it deserved better than 20th place and 61 points. It should have finished top fifteen; it was certainly better than Slovenia and Germany.
Song 22: SPAIN - Lucía Pérez "Que Me Quiten Lo Bailao - They Can't Take The Fun Away From Me" (23rd place, 50 points)
The fifth and final Big Five song. For the third year running Spain proved its amazing knack of bringing us adult kids a Boogie Beebies big video, with an irresistible-to-copy dance routine; muchas gracias España. I danced along, how appropriate I was wearing my Ibiza T-shirt which my Mum gave me Easter 2008 (she bought it for me on a holiday to Ibiza some years earlier). A bouncy, Flamenco style dance song (sung in Spanish as usual). Grossly under-rated at 23rd place and 50 points; it deserved top ten.
Song 23: UKRAINE - Mika Newton "Angel" (4th place, 159 points)
This was on my "prefer not to qualify" list in semi-final 2, and no better in the final; I'd sooner Israel or Belarus had the place this took. A below par song with the gimmick of the sand artist. Was the sand artist really necessary? Just like in the semi-final, an overhead view of the table was shown on the illuminated screen at the back. Not a patch on Verka Serduchka in 2007. 4th place and 159 points was absolutely ridiculous! This deserved a bottom six placing.
Song 24: SERBIA - Nina "Čaroban" (14th place, 85 points)
A below par song on my "prefer not to qualify" list in semi-final 1, I was still unimpressed with it Saturday night. It was a bouncy song with arm movements (which I enjoyed copying). Definitely one to be valued more for the dance routine than the song itself. 14th place and 85 points was about as much as it deserved, indeed it might have been better if this had just missed the top fifteen.
Song 25: GEORGIA - Eldrine "One More Day" (9th place, 110 points)
Graham Norton said "save the best till last". More like save the worst till last! If any song was worse than Moldova's, it was this nauseating garbage. I'm disgusted this was chosen to represent Georgia, let alone reached the final. This was the one I least wanted to qualify from semi-final 1. Was the rap really necessary? I've said before, rap never does well in Eurovision. Did it really need strobe lighting? I shouted "boo" and "off" several times. It's diabolical this finished 9th place with 110 points; I wanted it to finish joint last with Moldova on nul points. Norway, Croatia or Portugal deserved the place this took.
Tele-voting and Recap
Although the lines opened before the first song, viewers still had 15 minutes to vote. A brief recap of the songs was shown to remind viewers. I liked the way they said "UK VIEWERS CAN NOT VOTE FOR THE UK ENTRY", with the Graham Norton saying "Come on United Kingdom, how drunk are you? You can't vote for them. Please, I can't tell you again." Were any UK viewers foolish enough to try dialling the stem with 14 on the end? I wanted to vote for Ireland and France, but when I tried phoning, the lines were engaged. I retried both a few minutes later, still the lines were engaged. Concluded a lot of people must be voting for those two countries. Meanwhile a repeat showing of all the postcard sequences and a second recap of the songs were shown. Eventually there was a countdown to when the lines closed. It said "LINES ARE CLOSED – DO NOT CALL" on screen. Bother, I never had chance to cast my vote after all! Perhaps I ought to have voted for Finland instead; it too was quite high on my score sheet and I might have got through on that one.
Interval Act
Jan Delay sang two lively songs, accompanied by a live stage band and dancers. The first one was "Oh Johnny!", I'm not sure what the second one was called. Part way through I began dancing along and continued to do so until the end of the interval act; I filmed myself dancing along. Tame really compared to last year's "Glow" by Madcon in which viewers across Europe were expected to join in and share the moment.
Voting Time
Just before the voting began, the 1970s/80s Eurovision ident appeared on the backdrop, along with the classic version of Te Deum. After that the backdrop split in two to reveal the Green Room. It now became clear, the backdrop was two giant screens side by side to make one screen; now they were slid either side of the Green Room. Hereafter the scoreboard appeared on the left screen and spokesperson on the right screen.
All 43 countries, including the 18 which failed to qualify, voted in the final. The voting order was:
Russia, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Italy, Cyprus, Ukraine, Finland, Norway, Armenia, FYR Macedonia, Iceland, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Denmark, Austria, Poland, Sweden, San Marino, Germany, Azerbaijan, Slovenia, Turkey, Switzerland, Greece, Georgia, France, Serbia, Croatia, Belarus, Romania, Albania, Malta, Portugal, Hungary, Lithuania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ireland, Spain, Israel, Estonia, Moldova, Belgium, Latvia.
Italy were fourth to vote. Their 10 points to the UK put the UK at the top of the leader board briefly (with 26 points), even after they gave 12 to Romania. Graham Norton said "Take a picture!" Cyprus were next to vote and their 12 points to Greece pushed the UK to second place (UK total now 30 points having received 4 from Cyprus). The UK never regained the lead after that. Still it was nice to briefly top the leader board for once.
The voting was very inconsistent this year, with no clear runaway favourite. 20 of the 25 finalists received at least one 12 point vote. Bosnia & Herzegovina received the most 12 point votes: five altogether, but still only managed 6th place and 125 points. Italy received 12 points from four countries. Winners Azerbaijan received 12 point votes from three countries; so did four other countries Denmark, Georgia, Ireland and Ukraine. Six countries received two 12-point scores each: France, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. Finally seven countries: Austria, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Moldova and United Kingdom received one 12 point score each. Just goes to show, the country with the most 12 point votes doesn't necessarily win, and the winner doesn't necessarily receive the most 12 point votes.
Bloc voting occurred as usual. Starting with the three ex-Yugoslav finalists, Bosnia & Herzegovina gave Serbia 10 and Slovenia 12. Serbia gave Slovenia 10 and Bosnia & Herzegovina 12. Slovenia gave Serbia 10 and Bosnia & Herzegovina 12. I notice Bosnia & Herzegovina and Slovenia gave each other 12; is this a new Greece-Cyprus marriage? As for the other two ex-Yugoslav countries, FYR Macedonia gave Serbia 8, Slovenia 10 and Bosnia & Herzegovina 12. Croatia was more interesting: Bosnia & Herzegovina 7, Serbia 8, Azerbaijan 10, Slovenia 12.
There were some interesting points exchanges between Baltic and other ex-USSR countries, too many to go into here.
In the Nordic area, Norway gave its top four scores to the four Nordic finalists: Denmark 7, Iceland 8, Sweden 10 and Finland 12. Iceland gave 12 to Denmark, but Denmark only gave 6 to Iceland (they gave 12 to Ireland).
The UK gave Ireland 12, but Ireland only gave the UK 6. Ireland gave its 12 points to Denmark; was that in return for the 12 from Denmark to Ireland? Why the sudden generosity between Ireland and Denmark?
Cyprus gave their usual 12 points to Greece, but since Cyprus didn't qualify, Greece couldn't give 12 points back to Cyprus; this time they gave 12 to France for some inexplicable reason.
As expected, Portugal gave 12 points to Spain. France also gave 12 points to Spain. In return Spain gave France 10 and Italy 12.
San Marino gave its 12 points to Italy; hardly surprising considering it's a tiny separate country on the Italian peninsula.
Germany expectedly gave 12 to Austria, but Austria gave Germany 10 and Bosnia & Herzegovina 12 for some mysterious reason.
Georgia and Lithuania gave each other 12 points. Romania and Moldova gave each other 12 points. Two more interesting, albeit rather inexplicable top score exchanges.
Azerbaijan won with 221 points. With a possible maximum of 12 points from each of the other 42 countries (including 18 semi-finalists that failed to qualify), i.e. 504, Azerbaijan thus won with just 43.8% of the maximum possible score. Quite low really under the current voting system (used since 1975).
Reprise
Once voting was over, Ell/Nikki performed "Running Scared" again. Mid way through the closing credits began to roll at the left hand side of the screen. Once the song finished, the show ended with the modern Eurovision ident and Te Deum, just like at the beginning. The Contest ended at 23:30 BST, 15 minutes later than billed. A fifteen minute over-run wasn't bad going, if I remember rightly the last time the ESC was held in Germany (Munich 1983) it over-ran much more than that.
The Songs
Song 19: AZERBAIJAN - Ell/Nikki "Running Scared" (Winner, 221 points)
During semi-final 1, I said this deserves to be in the final, I'm so glad it qualified. A beautiful, soothing ballad with flowing arm movements. This song grew on me after the semi-finals; by Saturday evening's performance I rather liked this. Part way through I started copying the arm movements, it's a pity I didn't have my camera recording at the start. I think it deserved to win. For some reason, this reminds me of East 17 "Stay Another Day".
Song 20: SLOVENIA - Maja Keuc "No One" (13th place, 96 points)
One of my preferred ten qualifiers among the preview videos, but come the live semi-final 2 performance, it became one I preferred not to qualify. Verses were below par, chorus was borderline. I joined in with the arm movements. Grossly over-rated at 13th place and 96 points (helped by its ex-Yugoslav neighbours), it deserved to be bottom six.
Song 21: ICELAND - Sjonni's Friends "Coming Home" (20th place, 61 points)
A tribute to the late Sigurjon 'Sjonni' Brink who wrote this, and composed its tune, before he passed away on 17 January 2011. Hardly surprising it was cheered at the beginning and end. A gentle group ballad with a catchy chorus, this was one of my "maybe" qualifiers in semi-final 1. In retrospect I'm 'm glad it qualified, it deserved better than 20th place and 61 points. It should have finished top fifteen; it was certainly better than Slovenia and Germany.
Song 22: SPAIN - Lucía Pérez "Que Me Quiten Lo Bailao - They Can't Take The Fun Away From Me" (23rd place, 50 points)
The fifth and final Big Five song. For the third year running Spain proved its amazing knack of bringing us adult kids a Boogie Beebies big video, with an irresistible-to-copy dance routine; muchas gracias España. I danced along, how appropriate I was wearing my Ibiza T-shirt which my Mum gave me Easter 2008 (she bought it for me on a holiday to Ibiza some years earlier). A bouncy, Flamenco style dance song (sung in Spanish as usual). Grossly under-rated at 23rd place and 50 points; it deserved top ten.
Song 23: UKRAINE - Mika Newton "Angel" (4th place, 159 points)
This was on my "prefer not to qualify" list in semi-final 2, and no better in the final; I'd sooner Israel or Belarus had the place this took. A below par song with the gimmick of the sand artist. Was the sand artist really necessary? Just like in the semi-final, an overhead view of the table was shown on the illuminated screen at the back. Not a patch on Verka Serduchka in 2007. 4th place and 159 points was absolutely ridiculous! This deserved a bottom six placing.
Song 24: SERBIA - Nina "Čaroban" (14th place, 85 points)
A below par song on my "prefer not to qualify" list in semi-final 1, I was still unimpressed with it Saturday night. It was a bouncy song with arm movements (which I enjoyed copying). Definitely one to be valued more for the dance routine than the song itself. 14th place and 85 points was about as much as it deserved, indeed it might have been better if this had just missed the top fifteen.
Song 25: GEORGIA - Eldrine "One More Day" (9th place, 110 points)
Graham Norton said "save the best till last". More like save the worst till last! If any song was worse than Moldova's, it was this nauseating garbage. I'm disgusted this was chosen to represent Georgia, let alone reached the final. This was the one I least wanted to qualify from semi-final 1. Was the rap really necessary? I've said before, rap never does well in Eurovision. Did it really need strobe lighting? I shouted "boo" and "off" several times. It's diabolical this finished 9th place with 110 points; I wanted it to finish joint last with Moldova on nul points. Norway, Croatia or Portugal deserved the place this took.
Tele-voting and Recap
Although the lines opened before the first song, viewers still had 15 minutes to vote. A brief recap of the songs was shown to remind viewers. I liked the way they said "UK VIEWERS CAN NOT VOTE FOR THE UK ENTRY", with the Graham Norton saying "Come on United Kingdom, how drunk are you? You can't vote for them. Please, I can't tell you again." Were any UK viewers foolish enough to try dialling the stem with 14 on the end? I wanted to vote for Ireland and France, but when I tried phoning, the lines were engaged. I retried both a few minutes later, still the lines were engaged. Concluded a lot of people must be voting for those two countries. Meanwhile a repeat showing of all the postcard sequences and a second recap of the songs were shown. Eventually there was a countdown to when the lines closed. It said "LINES ARE CLOSED – DO NOT CALL" on screen. Bother, I never had chance to cast my vote after all! Perhaps I ought to have voted for Finland instead; it too was quite high on my score sheet and I might have got through on that one.
Interval Act
Jan Delay sang two lively songs, accompanied by a live stage band and dancers. The first one was "Oh Johnny!", I'm not sure what the second one was called. Part way through I began dancing along and continued to do so until the end of the interval act; I filmed myself dancing along. Tame really compared to last year's "Glow" by Madcon in which viewers across Europe were expected to join in and share the moment.
Voting Time
Just before the voting began, the 1970s/80s Eurovision ident appeared on the backdrop, along with the classic version of Te Deum. After that the backdrop split in two to reveal the Green Room. It now became clear, the backdrop was two giant screens side by side to make one screen; now they were slid either side of the Green Room. Hereafter the scoreboard appeared on the left screen and spokesperson on the right screen.
All 43 countries, including the 18 which failed to qualify, voted in the final. The voting order was:
Russia, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Italy, Cyprus, Ukraine, Finland, Norway, Armenia, FYR Macedonia, Iceland, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Denmark, Austria, Poland, Sweden, San Marino, Germany, Azerbaijan, Slovenia, Turkey, Switzerland, Greece, Georgia, France, Serbia, Croatia, Belarus, Romania, Albania, Malta, Portugal, Hungary, Lithuania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ireland, Spain, Israel, Estonia, Moldova, Belgium, Latvia.
Italy were fourth to vote. Their 10 points to the UK put the UK at the top of the leader board briefly (with 26 points), even after they gave 12 to Romania. Graham Norton said "Take a picture!" Cyprus were next to vote and their 12 points to Greece pushed the UK to second place (UK total now 30 points having received 4 from Cyprus). The UK never regained the lead after that. Still it was nice to briefly top the leader board for once.
The voting was very inconsistent this year, with no clear runaway favourite. 20 of the 25 finalists received at least one 12 point vote. Bosnia & Herzegovina received the most 12 point votes: five altogether, but still only managed 6th place and 125 points. Italy received 12 points from four countries. Winners Azerbaijan received 12 point votes from three countries; so did four other countries Denmark, Georgia, Ireland and Ukraine. Six countries received two 12-point scores each: France, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. Finally seven countries: Austria, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Moldova and United Kingdom received one 12 point score each. Just goes to show, the country with the most 12 point votes doesn't necessarily win, and the winner doesn't necessarily receive the most 12 point votes.
Bloc voting occurred as usual. Starting with the three ex-Yugoslav finalists, Bosnia & Herzegovina gave Serbia 10 and Slovenia 12. Serbia gave Slovenia 10 and Bosnia & Herzegovina 12. Slovenia gave Serbia 10 and Bosnia & Herzegovina 12. I notice Bosnia & Herzegovina and Slovenia gave each other 12; is this a new Greece-Cyprus marriage? As for the other two ex-Yugoslav countries, FYR Macedonia gave Serbia 8, Slovenia 10 and Bosnia & Herzegovina 12. Croatia was more interesting: Bosnia & Herzegovina 7, Serbia 8, Azerbaijan 10, Slovenia 12.
There were some interesting points exchanges between Baltic and other ex-USSR countries, too many to go into here.
In the Nordic area, Norway gave its top four scores to the four Nordic finalists: Denmark 7, Iceland 8, Sweden 10 and Finland 12. Iceland gave 12 to Denmark, but Denmark only gave 6 to Iceland (they gave 12 to Ireland).
The UK gave Ireland 12, but Ireland only gave the UK 6. Ireland gave its 12 points to Denmark; was that in return for the 12 from Denmark to Ireland? Why the sudden generosity between Ireland and Denmark?
Cyprus gave their usual 12 points to Greece, but since Cyprus didn't qualify, Greece couldn't give 12 points back to Cyprus; this time they gave 12 to France for some inexplicable reason.
As expected, Portugal gave 12 points to Spain. France also gave 12 points to Spain. In return Spain gave France 10 and Italy 12.
San Marino gave its 12 points to Italy; hardly surprising considering it's a tiny separate country on the Italian peninsula.
Germany expectedly gave 12 to Austria, but Austria gave Germany 10 and Bosnia & Herzegovina 12 for some mysterious reason.
Georgia and Lithuania gave each other 12 points. Romania and Moldova gave each other 12 points. Two more interesting, albeit rather inexplicable top score exchanges.
Azerbaijan won with 221 points. With a possible maximum of 12 points from each of the other 42 countries (including 18 semi-finalists that failed to qualify), i.e. 504, Azerbaijan thus won with just 43.8% of the maximum possible score. Quite low really under the current voting system (used since 1975).
Reprise
Once voting was over, Ell/Nikki performed "Running Scared" again. Mid way through the closing credits began to roll at the left hand side of the screen. Once the song finished, the show ended with the modern Eurovision ident and Te Deum, just like at the beginning. The Contest ended at 23:30 BST, 15 minutes later than billed. A fifteen minute over-run wasn't bad going, if I remember rightly the last time the ESC was held in Germany (Munich 1983) it over-ran much more than that.
