Eurovision 2018

In the arena, yes.
But leaving it up to the individual local delegations to pass the message on about the contents of one of the acts back to their network transmission controllers on the night, is putting a lot of faith in the instructions being correctly passed on.

Pretty sure nothing will happen in any country showing the contest, but just musing aloud if there is a proceedure for acts which have something like this, or say, random bursts of white noise.

Having been lucky enough to go to Stockholm in 2016, it's facinating to watch what happens on stage during the postcards between performances; in 2016 the stage lit up showing "singer stand here, put piano here, place pyro curtain here" etc. It's a pity there's not an alternate feed showing all this going on as it's a really slick operation

I'm off to Lisbon tomorrow and have a ticket in the golden circle for the grand final. I'm a bit worried as I'm going alone and it looked really crowded at last nights semi so I might be cowering in a corner gasping for air

One thing is, I'm sure I read that the fins at the back of the stage move however they seemed pretty static last night

Favourites so far are Israel, Cyprus and Finland. Hope UK get at least on the left side of the board on Saturday. If only we won we'd have months of fun discussing where we'd stage it

I'd love Europe just to take the piss and make us host the first post-Brexit Eurovision. Can just imagine the slogan "Come together - then piss off!"

An interesting fact check article came up from thejournal.ie today. There had been some controversy in the lead up to the semi-final performance of Ryan O'Shaughnessy's entry for Ireland as it was apparently not going to being shown on Russian TV because of gay themes being present in the song. It actually turns out that the performance last night was shown unedited on Russian TV station Channel One. Channel One, which is the equivalent of RTÉ in Ireland, has a much more easier & positive stance towards the LGBT community in Russia. Other media organisations are more hostile towards LGBT people in the country.

http://www.thejournal.ie/russian-tv-...01768-May2018/

I think this year is a real open race and it's for sure not that simple predicting the winner this year and this is clear given the constant swings in the betting odds. Here's what I think could happen:

Israel - has been predicted to win for a while but has slipped. They could possibly win the televote (contending Cyprus) but I don't think it will do as well with the juries. I don't think Israel will win - very likely top three but could really flop against the hype and come 4th or 5th.

Cyprus - has soared in bettings odds. Like Israel, could easily win the televote but not do as well with the juries. Once again don't think it will be a winner but maybe second or third place!

Norway - also soared in odds. Will do well with juries and televote - as it's Alexander Rybak - but the song while catchy is just 'alright' and I don't think it will finish that high.

Estonia - could win. Will do very well with juries and well with televote given the song and the stage performance.

Other serious contenders for the win or top five imo: France, Bulgaria, Lithuania

Countries I think will do very well: Czech Republic , Ukraine , Hungary , and ..... Sweden ...

...I have mixed feelings about Sweden this year. Sweden will do well because it is Sweden. Very likely for another top 10 finish this year, although it could potentially loose out on a top ten placing given the strength of songs this year. The song is a nice pop song but overproduced and cold; which isn't surprising as that also applies to this year's Melodifestivalen. They've thrown everything at the staging and that's really the only thing that stands out for them.

Sweden already used "Come Together" I'm afraid - in Graham's Words from the 2016 final "I would have loved to be in that committee meeting!"

Also post-Brexit wouldn't change much. We've been in the EBU way longer than the EU , and always been a willing standby when countries couldn't afford or wanted to pass on hosting for whatever reason. Not to mention there's a number of non-EU countries in the contest, so already a few potential winners where you would have to spend a bit longer in the passport line. I think would be more interesting to see how BBC handle it, we last hosted it on the cusp of the event moving from the older orchestra performance style to the modern dance party vibe.

I found the following video the other night, behind the scenes of the 1998 contest. Quite an interesting time capsule as mere years later there would be no more orchestras. You also can see the beginning elements of the fan-scene starting to take root in the crowds, more daring stage performances and a cautionary tale of how not to complain when you don't like the direction/producing on your delegations number.



I have a lot of love for Austria personally - but I suspect that will only do reasonably well in the voting.
I do like Cyprus but I think she's only really gone up in the bookies because of a good semi performance and a viral video as it quickly dropped for Norway - which while cute and a great Jam, I don't think it'll go all the way - if only they had put a bit more effort into the lyrics!

I want Ireland to do well, but I think that will only happen if Ryan brings his best voice game. The dance choreography really saved him at the semi-final as he bummed a few vocal notes on the night. He's at least lucky to be in the second half.

But I suspect Estonia is the one to beat as well, I'm not really a fan of a track that's mostly vocal gymnastics though. I think it'll be a fairly enjoyable Final this year at least.

That deserves a whoosh!!!

Well in smaller news (or junior news), Wales will participate in the Junior Eurovision.

🌟Chwilio am seren! Search for a star! 🌟

🎤 I ganu dros Gymru yn y Junior Eurovision!
To sing for Wales at @EurovisionJr 2018! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Dyddiad cau 3 Mehefin | Closing date 3 June: https://t.co/drWg9kY9nY #disgleiria #lightup #JESC2018 #Eurovision #ESC2018 pic.twitter.com/nj6B96XxfD

— S4C 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@S4C) May 9, 2018

Today is Thursday 10 May 2018. The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 Second Semi-Final takes place at the Lisbon Arena, Lisbon, Portugal tonight, starting at 20:00 BST. The 18 countries taking part tonight, in order of appearance, will be:

Norway, Romania, Serbia, San Marino, Denmark, Russia, Moldova, The Netherlands, Australia, Georgia, Poland, Malta, Hungary, Latvia, Sweden, Montenegro, Slovenia, Ukraine.

Each of those countries will be able to vote in tonight's semi-final. Three of the six direct finalists France, Germany and Italy will also be able to vote in tonight's semi-final.

The ten highest placed countries, by a combination of jury voting and televoting, will proceed to Saturday night's Grand Final. Those ten qualifying countries will be announced in a random order just before the end of tonight's semi-final; the actual results of all 18 countries will only be revealed to the public after Saturday night's Grand Final is all over. Anyway good luck to tonight's 18 semi-finalists, may the best ten qualify to Saturday night's Grand Final.

That’s good news, though Junior Eurovision wasn’t terribly popular in the uk when itv participated. S4C took part in Eurovision Choir of the Year and (a long time ago now) the last few Jeux Sans Frontières programmes.

Thank you.


But what if I'm reading this tomorrow - will it still be yesterday?

I always use TV Forum as my source of Eurovision rules.