Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Lunger

Saxophone guy for always and forever.

Broken Hearted Road

yermanoffthetv wrote: »

I dont think its that its half arsed or they dont take it seriously, I think its that they are so out of touch and formulaic in their approach what results is contrived ****e. Lately, its pick the biggest "artist" to hand, slap together some vague meaningless lyrics and expect success. There is neither the unique talent of an artist, the quality (or catchiness) of a song or the spectacle of the performance anywhere to be seen.

What we should send next year is a group like the prodigy...with accordions, flamethrowing chellos and operatically trained pole dancers. Youd feckin remember that.

That's it. Something powerful is needed.

mbur

Sorry we missed out again.
So, on to the next thing. Euro 16 -
This just in. Here We Go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvm5bfQJOGU

clairewithani

paleoperson wrote: »

Not sure what age you are or anything but it's called the eurovision, first of all it would require changing the name. Are you going to say next why does it matter if outside of europe are allowed in the Euro championship "what difference does it make to anything". The whole competition would have to be transformed.

One country I'd wholeheartedly defend being admitted is Israel.... after all it's the rightful and natural home of Israelis, if only they'd stay there.

All Ireland championship has London and New York and they didn't change the name of competitions.

ThisRegard

Broken Hearted Road wrote: »

That video you linked to. Christ on a bike.

Are you nuts? One of the all time Eurovision greats! It was a scandal they didn't win that year.

dogcat

paleoperson wrote: »

Not sure what age you are or anything but it's called the eurovision, first of all it would require changing the name. Are you going to say next why does it matter if outside of europe are allowed in the Euro championship "what difference does it make to anything". The whole competition would have to be transformed.

One country I'd wholeheartedly defend being admitted is Israel.... after all it's the rightful and natural home of Israelis, if only they'd stay there.

First of all, as I said, despite most conceptions, the euro refers to the European Broadcasting Union. Any country within the EBA (there's a map there) can apply for EBU membership, this includes most Arabic countries (except most of the gulf). The name does not need to be changed for Israel, it's one country. Australia is not in the EBA, however, they were invited as a guest and were later able to compete again. A lot of Australians are of European descent and Australian viewing figures of the contest are higher than a lot of European countries.

And regarding the championships, Turkey, which is mostly within Asia's geographical borders, as well as Armenia. It is more so to do with culture than geographical borders as a whole. The Arabic countries don't have the same culture as European countries, obviously, but they are, by the rules, able to participate if they ever chose to do so. And Australia is mainly to do with cultural reasons.

While nearly every country in Eurovision is geographically European, the contest itself does not restrict itself to countries in our borders.

dogcat

RedemptionZ wrote: »

Will this be on RTE player anyone know?

Yup, it'll also be on eurovision.tv without commentary or ad breaks, as well as YouTube.

And just a note, someone said Francesca was unknown. As a person knowledgeable in the Italian music industry, she is far from unknown on the scene, she's been on it for nearly five years even xD.

Eugene Norman

paleoperson wrote: »

Not sure what age you are or anything but it's called the eurovision, first of all it would require changing the name. Are you going to say next why does it matter if outside of europe are allowed in the Euro championship "what difference does it make to anything". The whole competition would have to be transformed.

One country I'd wholeheartedly defend being admitted is Israel.... after all it's the rightful and natural home of Israelis, if only they'd stay there.

Russia is mostly in Asia. Azerbaijan too.

Red King

It is hilarious that people still think that even with a great song we have a hope of winning

dogcat

Red King wrote: »

It is hilarious that people still think that even with a great song we have a hope of winning

Well we haven't had one yet so I think their thoughts are pretty well founded. Despite Jedward's bad vocal abilities, I think that the song itself was very catchy. Maybe something remotely similar, more modern, and with better vocals would do better.

Markus Feehily anyone? He made two fantastic songs and videos last year, way better than Nicky's songs.

Strazdas

dogcat wrote: »

Yup, it'll also be on eurovision.tv without commentary or ad breaks, as well as YouTube.

And just a note, someone said Francesca was unknown. As a person knowledgeable in the Italian music industry, she is far from unknown on the scene, she's been on it for nearly five years even xD.

No, I said 'relative unknown' though in her case, she more qualifies as a big name current star as she's been around for some time. She's clearly hugely talented as a singer-songwriter and pianist. That's the type of artist RTE should be looking at in fact.

paleoperson

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Russia is mostly in Asia. Azerbaijan too.

I'm pretty sure most of its population is in europe. It's culturally much more european and considered european for many purposes according to bodies such as the UN.

JP Liz V1

Strazdas wrote: »

The Irish result shows that sending a faded pop star 'name' from the past is a complete waste of time in trying to pull in votes. Many of the big favourites this year are up and coming relative unknowns and have come from the TV talent shows : France, Germany and UK were on The Voice and Australia and Italy came via the X Factor (local versions).

We did that with Your A Star winner

feargale

Austria! wrote: »

Why would anyone care if countries outside europe perform? What difference does it make to anything?

Call it the World Cup then. Kerry hurlers in Leinster is one thing, but Australia in Europe? Questions should be asked in the Dail. Make a protest. Send Dustin again.

languagenerd

RTE were banking on Westlife's old fanbase who are mostly in the UK and not even watching it as they don't compete until Sat. I found a lot of people over there didn't even know they could watch the semifinals, let alone vote in them. So that scuppered the recognition factor.

And the whole thing just wasn't good enough. Nicky made an effort but his voice was lost under the music. The staging was boring - a load of red lights, be grand - compared to most other entries who were projecting stuff onto the floor and interacting with animations (thanks Måns for starting that trend).

People do vote for their neighbours but that's partially because they're culturally similar and like the same music. A singer who's famous in France, for example, is often well-known in Belgium and Switzerland too. And look how similar the Irish and British charts are. I imagine the same goes for Eastern countries and Scandinavians. But to transcend that (which all the recent winners have done) you need:
(i) a memorable & catchy song
(ii) a strong voice singing it
(iii) a decent stage production that engages with the song and/or includes a gimmick.
And we rarely send of the above.

Bottleopener

Red King wrote: »

It is hilarious that people still think that even with a great song we have a hope of winning

I'm actually sick of this rubbish and every year it's the same in this thread if Ireland don't qualify or do poorly. Exhibit A which disproves your point is the results of Netherlands and Austria in 2014.

its actually getting to the stage where Eastern European countries aren't allowed to do well according to some people - there hasn't been a winner from the east since 2011 and all winners since then have been western. Like at what stage are they allowed to do well without pointless moaning and just think for a minute who actually is the one with bias here?

Last year when Ireland didn't qualify the bloc voting complaints were extended to include the Scandinavian countries yet this year they all failed (bar the auto qualified Sweden) - yet last year they were an unstoppable bloc.

Simialrly look at the former Yugoslavia - another "bloc" of which only 2 qualified (Serbia and Croatia).

The fact is countries have their ups and downs. Croatia and Bulgaria for example left the contest for a while due to poor results and returned this year and qualified after rethinking how they approach things.

The ebu has changed the rules multiple times to address bloc voting etc and it comes to a stage where people are never happy and look for an easy excuse to complain and hide behind the fact our song was bland, formulaic and out of tune for the most part.

If you want an idea of how Europe would have perceived our song (without the bias of it being the Irish entry) try to remember Denmarks performance - similar bland trite boyband pop (only more in tune). I don't see anyone on here moaning about that not qualifying? At the end of the day in a bunch of 18 songs the average European viewer doesn't hold any special feelings towards Ireland or any of the countries on offer and there is only 3 minutes to grip the viewer. That's the reality of it all.

The weirdest thing about this was Nicky Byrne waived his participants fee to put the money into the performance and that obviously wasn't done. Rte need to rethink their approach and just stop trying to send something to "appeal to Eurovision" (what they do year after year) and literally just send a song that people like/is genuine quality - they need to stop having songs that sound like they are written by a focus group trying to decide what appeals to "Europeans". It's not that hard - for a contrast look at Netherlands entries from 2012 backwards, when they failed to qualify for 10 years, and compare it to 2013-now where they are on 3 from 4 qualifications - they stopped trying to pander and sent actual genuine efforts!

fin12

I love Latvias song, it's my favourite, it's brilliant. I also really like Australia's song and liked Ireland's song. Disappointed we didn't go through.

Strazdas

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

We did that with Your A Star winner

We did, which means we would need to choose extremely carefully if we went that route. Whoever goes to Eurovision has to be someone with real star quality and a fantastic voice, not just some random person who finished 6th on The Voice of Ireland.

Mysteriouschic

I like Nicky he did a great performance but his voice isn't as strong as Shane or Marks solo who maybe would've done better . Suprised Denmark didn't get through or Iceland.
Maybe Nadine Coyle for next year?

Strazdas

fin12 wrote: »

I love Latvias song, it's my favourite, it's brilliant. I also really like Australia's song and liked Ireland's song. Disappointed we didn't go through.

Both those were fantastic....I think they may have been the top 2 in the semi.

Strazdas

Mysteriouschic wrote: »

I like Nicky he did a great performance but his voice isn't as strong as Shane or Marks solo who maybe would've done better . Suprised Denmark didn't get through or Iceland.
Maybe Nadine Coyle for next year?

I wouldn't even mind an unknown young singer, but it has to be someone who would make you go "Wow, they sound brilliant" the moment you hear them. The recurring theme tonight of those who got through was they mostly had great voices and looked the part (as well as having good songs).

Patty O Furniture

RobertKK wrote: »

God, can't believe Georgia got through.

Didn't see the show, just caught the voting
but as Ray Charles puts it:

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

I honestly believe both Nicky and RTE thought Ireland were a shoe-in for the final, simply because he used to be in Westlife.

I would have thought Bertie would have contacts in Brussells

Mysteriouschic wrote: »

I like Nicky he did a great performance but his voice isn't as strong as Shane or Marks solo who maybe would've done better . Suprised Denmark didn't get through or Iceland.
Maybe Nadine Coyle for next year?

At least she's the age now for it :P

Btw: Did the UK get thru or were they on Tues?

It certainly didn't help with having Engelbert in it, was it last year & has anyone seen him since :)

mansize

UK are one of the 'Big 5'
They pay for it so get through to the final automatically

Lunger

I think all y'all are missing the point of the Eurovision.

It is the most wonderful time of the year. I love unironically and ironically. Giving out about bloc voting and hurfdurf is just part of it. (Claiming Ireland had a good song and performance this year is laughable) The Eurovision is there to give me and you and a dog named Blue glorious insanity. Is it a gaybait dude hurfing about crossing lines and borders, can we all not just get along? Check. In English? Check. With spinny camera? Check. Starts off with no singer capable of hitting the right key? Checkity check. Two-thirds in key change? Checkity checkity check. Pyro? Awwww, yeah, das Eurovision, yeah.

For me, I'd like the odd woman on stage that makes me feel the unaccountable urge to swipe a credit card but, what would the Eurovision be without leather clad, silly- haired piss breaks?

Love it for all its lunacy and uniqueness. It's songs, its presentation, it's Eurovision, damnit, what the hell else is remotely like it, wrestling?

Patty O Furniture

Lunger wrote: »

I think all y'all are missing the point of the Eurovision.

It is the most wonderful time of the year. I love unironically and ironically. Giving out about bloc voting and hurfdurf is just part of it. (Claiming Ireland had a good song and performance this year is laughable) The Eurovision is there to give me and you and a dog named Blue glorious insanity. Is it a gaybait dude hurfing about crossing lines and borders, can we all not just get along? Check. In English? Check. With spinny camera? Check. Starts off with no singer capable of hitting the right key? Checkity check. Two-thirds in key change? Checkity checkity check. Pyro? Awwww, yeah, das Eurovision, yeah.

For me, I'd like the odd woman on stage that makes me feel the unaccountable urge to swipe a credit card but, what would the Eurovision be without leather clad, silly- haired piss breaks?

Love it for all its lunacy and uniqueness. It's songs, its presentation, it's Eurovision, damnit, what the hell else is remotely like it, wrestling?

If only we could get milkmaids churning butter every year, you could throw a bit of wrestling in as well in butter? nah that's too crazy?

Although i heard there was a fella in the nip behind a huskie:rolleyes::P

yerwanthere123

Was working for semi final 2 so watched it 'as live' when I got home.

Itssoeasy wrote: »

It's a piss take lads. Block voting is a joke.

road_high wrote: »

The thing is purely geography/political. We have one close neighbour...We also have very different tastes musically and culturally.

Pagliuca wrote: »

How the fcuk did Georgia get through.

A joke of a competition. Block voting alive and well.

rodge68 wrote: »

Well First Dates is on next just to entertain us after the huge dissapointment of not getting through !!
I'm so Angry !!

ROY RACE wrote: »

Look its a complete fiddle the whole thing.us and UK get flaad every year by the eastern bloc and their crap tastes

:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

These kind of posts are baffling and hilarious in equal measure. Do ye really think Ireland had a song that was worthy of qualification? I mean, really? Are ye still going to peddle the 'bloc voting!!1' crap? I mean, Nicky didn't have a bad song per se, it was just painfully average in every respect and completely forgettable. It was absolutely the right result we stayed in the semi-finals, I expect we finished 14th-15th.

Listening to Marty Whelan wittering on was embarrassing. I mean, I know he can hardly criticise his employers live on air, but don't talk to the viewers like they're idiots either. "A great song, an incredible performance", "we really had no doubt we were going to get through". Please :rolleyes:

Anyway, I correctly predicted 8/10 tonight, thought Norway and Slovenia would make the cut instead of Lithuania and Georgia. Very disappointed for Norway, thought they had a great song. Perhaps people just didn't like the tempo change? Sweden being the only Scandinavian country country in the final is great news for Frans. Actually really enjoyed Poland tonight, they really went up in my estimation. Bulgaria, my pre-contest favourite, were also pretty good tonight, despite not having been staged to its full potential imo.

As for who will win? Not sure, but I think it's a three horse race between Russia, Ukraine and Australia. Would like an upset though!

yerwanthere123

Running order. About as good as it gets for Russia

1. Belgium
2. Czech Republic
3. The Netherlands
4. Azerbaijan
5. Hungary
6. Italy
7. Israel
8. Bulgaria
9. Sweden
10. Germany
11. France
12. Poland
13. Australia
14. Cyprus
15. Serbia
16. Lithuania
17. Croatia
18. Russia
19. Spain
20. Latvia
21. Ukraine
22. Malta
23. Georgia
24. Austria
25. United Kingdom
26. Armenia

SoapMcTavish

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Was working for semi final 2 so watched it 'as live' when I got home.











:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

These kind of posts are baffling and hilarious in equal measure. Do ye really think Ireland had a song that was worthy of qualification? I mean, really? Are ye still going to peddle the 'bloc voting!!1' crap? I mean, Nicky didn't have a bad song per se, it was just painfully average in every respect and completely forgettable. It was absolutely the right result we stayed in the semi-finals, I expect we finished 14th-15th.

Listening to Marty Whelan wittering on was embarrassing. I mean, I know he can hardly criticise his employers live on air, but don't talk to the viewers like they're idiots either. "A great song, an incredible performance", "we really had no doubt we were going to get through". Please :rolleyes:

Anyway, I correctly predicted 8/10 tonight, thought Norway and Slovenia would make the cut instead of Lithuania and Georgia. Very disappointed for Norway, thought they had a great song. Perhaps people just didn't like the tempo change? Sweden being the only Scandinavian country country in the final is great news for Frans. Actually really enjoyed Poland tonight, they really went up in my estimation. Bulgaria, my pre-contest favourite, were also pretty good tonight, despite not having been staged to its full potential imo.

As for who will win? Not sure, but I think it's a three horse race between Russia, Ukraine and Australia. Would like an upset though!

?

Boo ! Georgia were the only genuine musicians on the show ! Georgia to win !


I'm Irish btw ...

Richard Hillman

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

We did that with Your A Star winner

And the contestants for Your A Star were chosen by the Louis Walsh/Linda Martin clique. Who still seems to have a say on our Eurovision choices.

Louis Walsh got kicked off the xfactor because his acts did persistently dreadful. He couldn't pick a song for his acts to save his life. His career has been based around boybands doing cover versions, of which you can't do.

All that yet himself, Martin and Kaneswaren et al still have a voice at RTE.

force eleven

RedemptionZ wrote: »

I can't think of any song in the last decade, probably more that the Irish song has sounded like it could win. There's been a few "that could do well" songs, which for the most part did and a lot of terrible or utterly generic songs that didn't do well.

Yes, I have been waiting 20 years plus now for an Irish song that you could say, yes that can win it. You hear songs like Loreen's one and immediately think, winner. And Denmark a couple of years ago. Even last years winner was no surprise. Somehow we are not buying into the formula, whatever that is, and churning out middle of the road rubbish like this year isn't right. We've had a variety of songs from Ireland over the past 20 years yet only a handful made the final. Would like to see a song contest judging panel made up of songwriting professionals, and Eurovision experts, and we have some die hards in this country for sure, to sift through an open process of song entries and whittle it down to 10. Have a proper staged televised contest and a 50 50 vote split a la Eurovision to pick a winner. At least then we can say we picked the best and if it flies then great, if not, we try again.

Duggie2012

we didnt deserve to get through last night. decent song but Nicky's voice is way too weak. most of the other songs were far better with better singers. didnt think georgia or serbia should have got through though. the rest were worthy. latvia's one i liked.

Richard Hillman

I thought Georgia's song was excellent. It was very Muse.


Nicky got let down on the production. You could see at the start of the performance that he didn't know where the Turned on Camera's were. That's should be somebody else's job to tell him for the warm ups. Even if he did know, you have songs like Russia that were like a music video.

There was no "WOW Factor" to ours.


It is a 2 horse race between Russia and Australia. Both fantastic songs, which will be forgotten about in the Irish inquest.

Duggie2012

id say that ukraine song will do well. not my favourite but it will defo be up there. didnt see tuesday semi so missed all those songs. australia's song was just ok. dont think it will win have to say. latvia and bulgaria's song stick out in my mind last night.

hmmm

It shows how insular we are that we send these people who are "stars" in Ireland to a European song contest, and are shocked and annoyed when the peoples of Bulgaria and Armenia haven't a clue who they are and don't vote for them. The countries that have won in recent years had strong songs, great singers and a very good stage presence.

Aidric

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

I mean, Nicky didn't have a bad song per se, it was just painfully average in every respect and completely forgettable. It was absolutely the right result we stayed in the semi-finals, I expect we finished 14th-15th.

My thoughts exactly when watching it. Forgettable is maybe even generous, insipid I'd call it.

BarryD

Duggie2012 wrote: »

id say that ukraine song will do well. not my favourite but it will defo be up there. didnt see tuesday semi so missed all those songs. australia's song was just ok. dont think it will win have to say. latvia and bulgaria's song stick out in my mind last night.

Was the Ukrainian 'song' the 1944 one? If so, performance maybe - but a song with a melody might be stretching it? People criticising Israel, not sure but did they have the gyroscopic looking acrobats, spinning in hoops. If so, there was a strong visual hook.

By contrast we were just bland, average, forgettable and with little or no visual appeal.

Shurimgreat

The Irish song was decent, certainly no better or worse than every other song in the semi final. Listening to all the songs, they all sounded the same, in fact these days every Eurovision song sounds similarly bland and formulaic.

Bloc voting does play a part. A voter from Macedonia when given the choice between bland song A from Serbia or bland song B from Ireland is going to opt for Serbia all day long. Likewise the Baltic states.

Its a bit of a joke contest at this stage. A good song may win, but 90% of the voting is determined by what bloc you belong to.

BarryD

Shurimgreat wrote: »

The Irish song was decent, certainly no better or worse than every other song in the semi final. Listening to all the songs, they all sounded the same, in fact these days every Eurovision song sounds similarly bland and formulaic.

Thought there was a fair variety but the point is surely that most people don't 'listen' to the Eurovision, they watch it... it's a visual spectacle. You've got 18 songs last night, if you're going to remember one song above another it has a much better chance if stands out visually in some way.

mansize

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6qSt8Qp9ck

That musical number was everything!

Shurimgreat

BarryD wrote: »

Thought there was a fair variety but the point is surely that most people don't 'listen' to the Eurovision, they watch it... it's a visual spectacle. You've got 18 songs last night, if you're going to remember one song above another it has a much better chance if stands out visually in some way.

I don't think it matters what we send out to be honest. We were punching well above our weight in Eurovision for decades. We are probably now where we should be, occasionally able to make the final.

The fact that many if not most countries now sing in English is also counting against us, as English is widely spoken across Europe.

There's no big reason why we keep doing badly, just lots of minor ones.

Eurovision used to be about a good song. Our songs in the mid 90s didn't involve elaborate stageworks, dancing, choreography, etc. It was just singers standing on the stage singing. Now you need to be all singing and all dancing, spend lots of cash, have good PR, have a story to back it up and so on.

fin12

Shurimgreat wrote: »

I don't think it matters what we send out to be honest. We were punching well above our weight in Eurovision for decades. We are probably now where we should be, occasionally able to make the final.

The fact that many if not most countries now sing in English is also counting against us, as English is widely spoken across Europe.

There's no big reason why we keep doing badly, just lots of minor ones.

Eurovision used to be about a good song. Our songs in the mid 90s didn't involve elaborate stageworks, dancing, choreography, etc. It was just singers standing on the stage singing. Now you need to be all singing and all dancing, spend lots of cash, have good PR, have a story to back it up and so on.

you dont need all that singing and dancing, Latvia's song is just one guy singing on stage with a brilliant voice. and the same with Australia's its just her on stage. It doesn't matter what song we bring to Eurovision we will never win, nobody votes for us? who actually votes for us? we should not bother entering because it just annoying at this stage.

languagenerd

Shurimgreat wrote: »

Eurovision used to be about a good song. Our songs in the mid 90s didn't involve elaborate stageworks, dancing, choreography, etc. It was just singers standing on the stage singing. Now you need to be all singing and all dancing, spend lots of cash, have good PR, have a story to back it up and so on.

I think the song matters more now than it did 5-10 years ago. We had peak Eurovision tackiness from 2004-2012ish with lots of gimmicks: farm animal costumes, grannies baking bread, people hanging out washing, Lithuania's song with lyrics "We are the winners of Eurovision so vote for the winners!", Dustin, Lordi etc. There are less "WTF was that?!" moments nowadays (which is a pity for cynics like me who watch mainly to keep up a sarcastic commentary and play Eurovision bingo :pac: ). But if you look at the winners from the last few years, they've all been good anthemic songs. They might have had a gimmick or two (Conchita's beard and "growing" dress, Måns' dancing animations) but the songs & the singers were good too. You need a good song AND good staging. Our stage lights were about 10 years out of date. They have so much to work with in that stage - 3D projections, images on the floor, screens etc - and we never, ever use them.

Duggie2012

when i look at RTE even if we did win in the near future. who would we get to present it. could any of our possible presenters do anything like that opening number..i dont think soo. look at our lame productions on our songs in the last few years etc. its just lacks any talent or imagination, full sstop.

Bottleopener

fin12 wrote: »

you dont need all that singing and dancing, Latvia's song is just one guy singing on stage with a brilliant voice. and the same with Australia's its just her on stage. It doesn't matter what song we bring to Eurovision we will never win, nobody votes for us? who actually votes for us? we should not bother entering because it just annoying at this stage.

I'm gonna take the bait. Think about how people from these countries were reacting before they had a major brakthrough:

Look at these results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest#Contestants

Specifically 2004-2013. What do you think Austrians were saying then?

Similarly, Netherlands 2004-2013: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest#Contestants

Now for a slightly more illustrative one - Bulgaria, a "bloc" country:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest#Contestants

Note how they have entered since 2005 and this year was their second qualification ever. Its not about blocs etc. Bulgarians were complaining about the west voting for each other, while we complain about the east. Its a circular argument that doesnt hold much truth on either side.

Its about realising that you actually have to be memorable/stand out to get by, and Ireland really really lacks that in recent efforts - nostalgia etc. for Westlife doesnt have any real weight when most people wouldnt be sure who he was.

Politics etc. is only an excuse used to randomly justify DNQs/exposes how nationalistic people get over the smallest things!

peejay1986

I really liked Denmark. Thought with it being decent (in my opinion anyway) and having that Scandanavian factor, it'd be nailed on. Shows how little I know.

Georgia was great. Something a bit different. Not exactly Eurovision but a genuinely good song if you like that sort of thing.

wnolan1992

languagenerd wrote: »

I think the song matters more now than it did 5-10 years ago. We had peak Eurovision tackiness from 2004-2012ish with lots of gimmicks: farm animal costumes, grannies baking bread, people hanging out washing, Lithuania's song with lyrics "We are the winners of Eurovision so vote for the winners!", Dustin, Lordi etc. There are less "WTF was that?!" moments nowadays (which is a pity for cynics like me who watch mainly to keep up a sarcastic commentary and play Eurovision bingo :pac: ). But if you look at the winners from the last few years, they've all been good anthemic songs. They might have had a gimmick or two (Conchita's beard and "growing" dress, Måns' dancing animations) but the songs & the singers were good too. You need a good song AND good staging. Our stage lights were about 10 years out of date. They have so much to work with in that stage - 3D projections, images on the floor, screens etc - and we never, ever use them.

But most of those gimmicks in 2004-2012 fell away, and ultimately one of the best songs on the night won. Lordi in '06, Norway in '09, Lena in '10, Ell and Nikki in '11, Loreen in '12 - all brilliant, memorable songs that, IMO, stand on their own merits outside of Eurovision.

We get so caught up in looking at who qualifies from the semi finals, and so angry about bloc voting (which now largely only decides who comes in the top 10 each year), rather than realising that it's very rare a "bad" song actually wins the competition.

Duggie2012 wrote: »

when i look at RTE even if we did win in the near future. who would we get to present it. could any of our possible presenters do anything like that opening number..i dont think soo. look at our lame productions on our songs in the last few years etc. its just lacks any talent or imagination, full sstop.

Ray D'Arcy could host it.

"*sigh* Welcome back o Eurovision. Now, be careful during this next song, there's lots of flashing lights and a wolf on stage. You might want to send the kids of to bed now. *sigh* I dunno, what CAN we do about those lights? Jenny! Jenny! Get Kate and Tom there and head backstage to see if you can get them to turn off the lights. *sigh* I dunno at all."

Shurimgreat

In terms of bloc voting we know tomorrow night Poland will give Lithuania high points, and vice versa. We know all the Balkans will vote for each other.

We know Lithuania will vote for Russia because of all the Russians living there.

We know Australia will get a high vote from the UK because of all the Aussies living there. We know likewise Poland might also get a high vote from the UK and probably Ireland for similar reasons. Turkey and Germany likewise will vote for each other if Turkey is in the final. Greece/Cyprus/Turkey axis as well. The Balkan nations will give high votes to each other regardless of how good or bad the song is. Bloc voting happens and its entirely predictable. It mightn't be enough to determine the winner but it does make a farce out of much of the voting.

I don't want to harp on about the bloc voting but it does happen. Anyways hopefully the best song wins.

Shurimgreat

Where would it be held next year if Australia won? Not that I think they will.

Sesudra

Shurimgreat wrote: »

Where would it be held next year if Australia won? Not that I think they will.

I think when they entered last year, they said if Australia won, one of the Big 5 would be chosen at random to host it on their behalf. I imagine it's the same now

Shurimgreat

Shurimgreat wrote: »

Where would it be held next year if Australia won? Not that I think they will.

I'd love them to win purely to see what would happen

I wonder have the organisers even considered the possibility?