Eurovision Song Contest - Belgrade 2008

I didn't like the use of the mesh LED. The pitch of the dots was too wide (about 50mm?) so the close ups lost the illusion for me. The use of audience blinders behind just made it look like a cheap rock and roll gig.

Last year's LED wall was much more impressive and gave a real immersive feel. Even Terry commented positively on it last year - many many times.

Those mesh panels (of which there are a lots on the market these days) are very much cheaper than densley packed LED panels, and it showed.

To me at least.

I'm very disappointed that we didn't do better. Personally I didn't like our entry that much, but its difficult to see how we got less votes than some of the entries.

That said I'd hate to see Terry quit the show. He makes the event for me, whether we get nul points or not.

I think you're being way too damning of the whole thing here, Brekkie.

Firstly: the song. You cannot deny that Andy Abraham has a strong voice, and put his heart and soul into the performance. It looked like he was enjoying it a lot. The song was very good - albeit not a "Eurovision" song. It seemed like quality won over gimmickry on the selection night.

Sweden's song should have, in theory, been an instant winner - catchy, simple schlager pop, with an instantly memorable chorus and a thumping sound. It was one of the most popular songs pre-contest and it was popular in the hall on that night. Charlotte's performance wasn't as fantastic as I thought it would be on the night, but she was a hell of a lot better (and more tuneful!) than Dima, whose inability to pronounce simple English and ridiculous amounts of vibrato just p*ssed me off.

I think the points split is fairly clear - you have a wide gulf somewhere around the 10/11 mark between the eastern countries (or some of them) and the western countries. How Sweden can have 47 points and the winner finish on 272 is just ridiculous - there are far too many countries voting, and they clearly aren't voting on song merits, but national ties. Brekkie, you cannot deny that this is one of the reasons.

The Big Four resentment - well, to be honest, there should be no reason for resentment. If the Big Four weren't in the final it would be up to the remaining countries to fund the contest, which I daresay they would be even more resentful towards the Big Four for lumbering them with that cost!

I think you're also far too harsh on our recent efforts. Fair enough, acts like Gemini and Javine deserve not to have finished anywhere near top 10. But Daz - however much you may have disliked him - was catchy and fun, and Scooch's was a catchy pop song that also looked great fun. Maybe the great big Union Jack background was a bad idea though.

I think, however, there is a problem with the selection process. Currently, SVT have opened entries for MF '09 (!) and they regularly get around 3000 songs each year. Maybe it's time for the BBC to follow a similar process - but still leave the decision in public hands (or have a jury make up some part of that).

Interesting to see that on the stings used at the start and at the breaks throughout, the Eurovision heart logo was relegated to bottom right in favour of putting the emphasis on the far superior note symbol. I hope this marks a more permanent move back from 'generic logo only' towards the more individualised ones produced each year.

Ah - you see the close-ups were what made it for me. I hate dense LED in close-up where you just see moire or coarse chopped up pixels. The mesh in close-up looks far more abstact - a bit like a star curtain. Personal taste I guess.



Ah - you see I thought the lights behind shining through gave it a bit of depth - and in some cases were used with a hint of irony on the heavier rock numbers.



I hated the chopped out bits of last years wall - it looked like they had forgotten that stuff needed to get on and off stage until the last minute. This year's worked far more elegantly IMHO - though it was very big and often seemd very empty.

Nice that this year they could use the thrust for performances, unilke last year.



Yep - though I think that mesh has its place. Solid LED can be a bit monolithic - and reads horribly in some close-ups unless you can reduce the depth of field enough to blur it (or can diffuse it).


Yep - it's very much a personal thing.



Yep - though I'm not surprised we did that badly. The only way we will get any decent votes is to enter something totally stunning - great vocals, great song, great staging, total commitment. We had good vocals, but a distinctly average song and dull staging. We certainly didn't deserve to beat Ukraine for instance...



Yep - though I'd be interested to see someone else do it. Terry was MUCH better this year than last during the voting - he had a much better handle on things. Last year he seemed a bit lost - though apparently the commentary monitor was tiny last year so he may not have been able to read the scoreboard?

Andy Abrahams is just the sort of act I can't stand - so not a fan of him or his song, and I couldn't stand him on The X Factor either. It does boil down to the selection process though - I don't think any of the others from the final 6 would have done any better either - and I'm basing that on the song, not the voting.


I agree too many countries are voting and am not denying the existence of "block voting", but the winners are having to pick up votes elsewhere too. Out of the 272 points Russia got I wouldn't say much more than 100 could be put down to "political" voting - and although perhaps it may tip the balance slightly, they're still picking up most of their points from the rest of Europe.


Back to Sweden - I know I'll regret asking this when someone explains the intricate technicalities, but how on earth did they make the singer appear in black and white? I'd say that hampered more than aided her performance really - people were probably too distracted trying to adjust their television sets!

How about running the selection show like they did with Sonia in the early 90's? Have Girls Aloud perform 5 songs written by different people, and vote for the best. And if it doesn't work, we ditch it in 2010.

As for the commentary, I think Harry Hill would be a bit too much. Someone like Paul Merton would be good, as he can be serious too, and he's very knowledgable. Actually why not even Merton and Hislop? Their commentary on the Best of HIGNFY DVD is by far the best feature of it.

There are two commentators who are better suited to the position though.

I wonder what other Western countries think about the bloc voting? In the UK we always get up in arms about it but do the others just accept defeat now year after year?

Sweden are very angry this year - Christer Bjorkman, the head of MF and ESC in Sweden has called it a "fiasco" according to Aftonbladet (www.aftonbladet.se).

Anyone miss the national broadcasters logos onscreen during the voting?

There where non, I think. But throughout the whole contest I did not see no RTS logo!

No logos were shown