Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Welsh Megaman

Who would have thought the weakest vocalist in Westlife, who was only brought into the band because of his looks, would give such a poor vocal performance?



It's like the UK sending Howard Donald and Jason Orange to take part!

Broken Hearted Road

Sesudra wrote: »

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

Are there restrictions on Australia if they win? I think I read somewhere that if they win, they have to hold the eurovision in a european country. It's nonsense of the highest order.

Australia is allowed to take part in the Eurovision because they are part of the European Broadcasting Union. But if they win, they have to hold it in Europe in one of the Big 5 - whatever that means.


I mean like, if they are allowed to take part in the Eurovision, they should be allowed to hold it on their home land of Australia if they so wish.

Shurimgreat

One thing is for sure, RTE don't have the brains in house to deliver us a good Eurovision entry. If anything RTE should have nothing to do with future entries.

Time to draw up an external panel of some sort to prepare for next year. Give it one big effort and if we don't get past the semi final, pull the plug and stop embarrassing ourselves.

alchemist33

Shurimgreat wrote: »

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.

Bloc voting does happen and can be very predictable alright, but it's not the be-all and end-all. If it were, the same country would win every single year. Russia got a lot of help from their colonies neighbours the year they won, but they've had poor finishes too. Having a memorable song is usually necessary and ours was utterly forgettable this year.

OTOH, for once I like the UK's entry so I hope they do well this year.

Duggie2012

will nicky be delivering our votes sat night now...:o

Welsh Megaman

Duggie2012 wrote: »

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."

Ray will introduce each act by telling the audience how tall each singer is, before pushing the wrong button and triggering the pyrotechnics, resulting in fatalities.

Busi_Girl08

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.

Eoghan McDermott for sure. Plus Linda Martin for our sins.

Aidric

There is no mystery or conspiracy against little Ireland here. A strong song will appeal across countries. Sure, a little bit of bloc voting goes on but not enough to carry one entry to the title. A strong entry will generally pick up points from the majority of countries.

The problem with Ireland is we have been submitting dire entries for many years now. That insipid muck from Nicky Byrne last night wasn't going to have Europeans rushing to vote.

kneemos

alchemist33 wrote: »

Bloc voting does happen and can be very predictable alright, but it's not the be-all and end-all. If it were, the same country would win every single year. Russia got a lot of help from their colonies neighbours the year they won, but they've had poor finishes too. Having a memorable song is usually necessary and ours was utterly forgettable this year.

OTOH, for once I like the UK's entry so I hope they do well this year.

The UK song is another paint by numbers effort . Won't go anywhere.

Shurimgreat

UK is probably the least popular nation in Europe. Good song or not, they will finish close to the bottom, along with France.

Claire_72

Disappointing last night for nicky not to get through, it wasn't a great song to be fair, three years in a row not making the final, least we still hold the record for most wins that something i suppose.

CarrickMcJoe

Dermot and Dave's effort on today fm would stand a better chance..

Tandey

So have they released where exactly Byrne finished up last night?

Broken Hearted Road

Shurimgreat wrote: »

One thing is for sure, RTE don't have the brains in house to deliver us a good Eurovision entry. If anything RTE should have nothing to do with future entries.

Time to draw up an external panel of some sort to prepare for next year. Give it one big effort and if we don't get past the semi final, pull the plug and stop embarrassing ourselves.

To be fair I think RTE were right on the ball this year. In recent years you'd need to be sh1te to win Eurovision and Westlife Nicky -
well done to RTE - thumbs up on that one. Nicky wasn't sh1te enough to be winning material for Eurovision.

Strazdas

Tandey wrote: »

So have they released where exactly Byrne finished up last night?

Not until after the final late tomorrow night. We'll get an exact breakdown of where he finished and which countries did and didn't vote for him.

Strazdas

Sesudra wrote: »

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

Yes, but not at random : Australia would have a lot of say over who gets to host it and who they want to partner with.

wnolan1992

Just a few more thoughts:

To the people who are disappointed we didn't go through. Do you honestly think we had ANY chance of actually winning on Saturday? I mean, personally I think our song just didn't stand up next to Netherlands, Australia or Russia (my off hand Top 3 right now). Maybe, just maybe we were Top 10 last night, but ultimately does it make much difference that we didn't make it through if we had no chance of winning? A graceful exit at the semi final beats the embarrassment of finishing near the bottom on Saturday IMO.


I had a look back over the last 15 or so years of Irish entries (lol, I'm going to enjoy this period of unemployment now that I'm finished college :pac: ).

2016 - Nicky Byrne - Honestly, I couldn't sing the song now if you paid me - Failed ot Qualify
2015 - Molly Sterling - Cannot remember the song - Failed to Qualify
2014 - Can Linn, Kasey Smith - Cannot remember the song - Failed to Qualify
2013 - Ryan Dolan - Cannot remember the song - Qualified
2012 - Jedward - Can remember the song, poor compared to their first entry - Qualified, 19th place finish
2011 - Jedward - Can remember the song, they were fresh and appealed to Eurovision fans - Qualified, 8th place finish
2010 - Niamh Kavanagh - Cannot remember the song - Qualified, 23rd place finish
2009 - Sinead Mulvey - Vague memory of song - Failed to Qualify
2008 - Dustin - Remember it, but not for the right reasons - Failed to Qualify
2007 - Dervish - Cannot remember song - Qualified because of Brian Kennedy's finish in 2006, 24th place finish
2006 - Brian Kennedy - Cannot remember song - Qualified, 10th place finish
2005 - Donna and Joe - Can't remember song, but remember them - Failed to Qualify
2004 - Chris Doran - Can't remember song - Qualified because of Mickey Joe's finish in 2003, 23rd place finish
2003 - Mickey Joe Harte - Possibly our best entry in this period IMO - Qualified, 11th place finish
2002 - Didn't enter


Essentially, my point here is, our entries have been dire. They might've been "fine" in any particular year, but all but 4 are utterly forgettable.
Of the 4 that aren't instantly forgettable, 1 is Dustin, so we'll discount that, and the other 3 (2 Jedward and Mickey Harte), 2 had our highest success in the 00's.


So basically, what I'm getting at here is, we can complain about Bloc Voting all we want, but frankly we just haven't sent a quality act to the competition since Mickey Harte in 2003. Jedward had the gimmick factor, and "Lipstick" was a decent song, and it performed well.

Strazdas

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.

True, but you could tell that Latvia and Australia put a huge amount of effort into their staging compared to Ireland. They didn't just hand their act a microphone and tell them 'go out and sing'. Latvia had brilliant lighting and made full use of graphics on the LED floor and wall while Australia had a fair few special effects.

One thing that bothers me is how poorly presented the Irish entries are very year. Very little thought seems to go into the staging which suggests a total lack of imagination among those running it in RTE at the moment.

Duggie2012

wnolan1992 wrote: »

Just a few more thoughts:

To the people who are disappointed we didn't go through. Do you honestly think we had ANY chance of actually winning on Saturday? I mean, personally I think our song just didn't stand up next to Netherlands, Australia or Russia (my off hand Top 3 right now). Maybe, just maybe we were Top 10 last night, but ultimately does it make much difference that we didn't make it through if we had no chance of winning? A graceful exit at the semi final beats the embarrassment of finishing near the bottom on Saturday IMO.


I had a look back over the last 15 or so years of Irish entries (lol, I'm going to enjoy this period of unemployment now that I'm finished college :pac: ).

2016 - Nicky Byrne - Honestly, I couldn't sing the song now if you paid me - Failed ot Qualify
2015 - Molly Sterling - Cannot remember the song - Failed to Qualify
2014 - Can Linn, Kasey Smith - Cannot remember the song - Failed to Qualify
2013 - Ryan Dolan - Cannot remember the song - Qualified
2012 - Jedward - Can remember the song, poor compared to their first entry - Qualified, 19th place finish
2011 - Jedward - Can remember the song, they were fresh and appealed to Eurovision fans - Qualified, 8th place finish
2010 - Niamh Kavanagh - Cannot remember the song - Qualified, 23rd place finish
2009 - Sinead Mulvey - Vague memory of song - Failed to Qualify
2008 - Dustin - Remember it, but not for the right reasons - Failed to Qualify
2007 - Dervish - Cannot remember song - Qualified because of Brian Kennedy's finish in 2006, 24th place finish
2006 - Brian Kennedy - Cannot remember song - Qualified, 10th place finish
2005 - Donna and Joe - Can't remember song, but remember them - Failed to Qualify
2004 - Chris Doran - Can't remember song - Qualified because of Mickey Joe's finish in 2003, 23rd place finish
2003 - Mickey Joe Harte - Possibly our best entry in this period IMO - Qualified, 11th place finish
2002 - Didn't enter


Essentially, my point here is, our entries have been dire. They might've been "fine" in any particular year, but all but 4 are utterly forgettable.
Of the 4 that aren't instantly forgettable, 1 is Dustin, so we'll discount that, and the other 3 (2 Jedward and Mickey Harte), 2 had our highest success in the 00's.


So basically, what I'm getting at here is, we can complain about Bloc Voting all we want, but frankly we just haven't sent a quality act to the competition since Mickey Harte in 2003. Jedward had the gimmick factor, and "Lipstick" was a decent song, and it performed well.

who is ryan dolan.....??? no recollection of him atal. jedward 2011 was a good eurovision song.

Duggie2012

One thing that bothers me is how poorly presented the Irish entries are very year. Very little thought seems to go into the staging which suggests a total lack of imagination among those running it in RTE at the moment.

thats goes for every single thing in RTE. literally no real talent there whatsoever. Lets look at tonights lineup for The Late Late Show...Chatting to Ryan on the couch is Brendan O’Connor, who will open up on his return to television, his physical transformation and his family life. Also appearing on the RTÉ stalwart is comedian Jason Byrne, who has a few surprises in store as well as Labour deputy leader Alan Kelly.

Jason Byrne again....really. Fck off RTE.

mansize

2002 we had been relegated- it wasn't that we didn't enter

Welsh Megaman

Mickey Joe Harte should have done far better in 2003.

Great song

wnolan1992

Duggie2012 wrote: »

who is ryan dolan.....??? no recollection of him atal. jedward 2011 was a good eurovision song.

This guy.

mansize

Duggie2012 wrote: »

who is ryan dolan.....??? no recollection of him atal. jedward 2011 was a good eurovision song.

His song was dreadful he had topless bodhran players. He finished bottom in the Grand Final

mansize

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

Mickey Joe Harte should have done far better in 2003.

Great song

It did very well in retrospect

wnolan1992

mansize wrote: »

2002 we had been relegated- it wasn't that we didn't enter

Apologies. I just went by Wikipedia, and tbh I was 9/10 in 2001/2 so I don't really remember Eurovision prior to Mickey Joe.

Duggie2012

que next year when the old system is back in place on the late late. yep theres linda, mariead farrell, possibly louis and niamh on the couch. now where can we fit johnny logan into tonights line-up. yawn

Strazdas

Duggie2012 wrote: »

que next year when the old system is back in place on the late late. yep theres linda, mariead farrell, possibly louis and niamh on the couch. now where can we fit johnny logan into tonights line-up. yawn

It needs to be totally freshened up. Get rid of all those old fogeys from Eurosong for good and introduce much younger people.

Even Nicky as a 37 year old faded pop star was hardly an inspired choice.

wnolan1992

Idea: Have TV3 and RTE each hold a Eurosong style contest using juries and judges, no public voting. The top two from each go forward a final, simulcast on both channels, where the public votes for the winner.

I think this would increase the quality of output, because both sides would be looking to one up each other.

It would never happen, but wouldn't it be fun if people other than RTE contributed to our act choice... o

yerwanthere123

Shurimgreat wrote: »

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

There's one reason and one reason only: we keep sending terrible songs. It really is that simple

Shurimgreat wrote: »

UK is probably the least popular nation in Europe. Good song or not, they will finish close to the bottom, along with France.

One of the only times in recent years they actually sent a decent song, Jade Ewen in 2009, they came in 5th place. The message that voters send is quite clear; send a decent song and we'll vote for it.

unichick

Would they notice if we sent the same song again? Mickey Joe Harte "We've got the world tonight" seems like a winner to me!

Shurimgreat

unichick wrote: »

Would they notice if we sent the same song again? Mickey Joe Harte "We've got the world tonight" seems like a winner to me!

Well they didn't notice last year's winner was very similar/the same as an existing pop song so who knows.

Welsh Megaman

Being discussed on Liveline right now.

Charlie McGettigan suggests Nathan Carter should represent Ireland

Broken Hearted Road

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

Being discussed on Liveline right now.<br />
<br />
Charlie McGettigan suggests Nathan Carter should represent Ireland <a href="{smilies}/biggrin.png" border="0" alt="" title="Big Grin" smilieid="1" class="inlineimg" />

I thought about Nathan myself. I love him and his music and he is great. He released his 5th or 6th album recently and went straight to number one. He's even playing a festival in France or Germany this summer. He does have huge potential.

But NO WAY to Eurovision. I love him and his music and Eurovision would taint him.

Welsh Megaman

Dustin The Turkey: ''They've agreed to keep Marty Whelan over there''

DEFTLEFTHAND

unichick wrote: »

Would they notice if we sent the same song again? Mickey Joe Harte "We've got the world tonight" seems like a winner to me!

It already won for Denmark in 2000 under the name "Fly on the Wings of Love".

CFlat

unichick wrote: »

Would they notice if we sent the same song again? Mickey Joe Harte "We've got the world tonight" seems like a winner to me!

The song that's sent in is not allowed to have had any airplay whatsoever whether its National or local radio. AFAIR you're not even allowed to have even sent it into any other music competition. I know you were being tongue in cheek BTW.

I'm disappointed we didn't get through. Thought Nickys stage presence was quite good and thought the song, from a EV perspective was decent, but vocally he was very weak. Didn't think though there were 10 better songs then his on the night but there you go.

Thought there was some unnecessary glee here too when he didn't qualify but I suppose you'll have that.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I can't understand how Marty and all at RTE where so certain of qualification.

All of us on here were worried from the moment the song and artist were announced.

The bookmakers also didn't rate our chances last night.

We were really up against it.

wnolan1992

CFlat wrote: »

The song that's sent in is not allowed to have had any airplay whatsoever whether its National or local radio. AFAIR you're not even allowed to have even sent it into any other music competition. I know you were being tongue in cheek BTW.

That can't be true surely? Doesn't virtually every radio station play the song in the lead-up? And I'm pretty sure Loreen's song was charting in a number of countries before the competition in '12...

(Genuinely curious BTW, I could be completely wrong here)

Welsh Megaman

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I can't understand how Marty and all at RTE where so certain of qualification.

Because they had been blindsided by nepotism, and the adage that He Used To Be In A Band That Were Popular In Europe Therefore He Will Get Votes.

There were simply better songs than Ireland's last night.

mansize

I had to turn up the tv to hear him

Eugene Norman

What with us not qualifying I've unbooked the pizza for tomorrow.

maude6868

Shurimgreat wrote: »

UK is probably the least popular nation in Europe. Good song or not, they will finish close to the bottom, along with France.

France will be in the top 5 no doubt about it

wnolan1992

Eugene Norman wrote: »

What with us not qualifying I've unbooked the pizza for tomorrow.

Am I the only one who prefers watching the final when Ireland aren't in it? It's much more fun laughing at the ridiculousness of the voting when Ireland aren't missing out on votes.

Strazdas

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I can't understand how Marty and all at RTE where so certain of qualification.

All of us on here were worried from the moment the song and artist were announced.

The bookmakers also didn't rate our chances last night.

We were really up against it.

Marty is ridiculous.....he surely must have been aware that the betting and the press polls had Ireland well and truly up against it. He does this every year, claiming that the Irish performance was 'sensational' etc.

Capt'n Midnight

hmmm wrote: »

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.

The Boyozone recognition factor might work in the UK.

But even then at most it would bump us up from say an 8 to a 12, maybe.
That's only 2% of the votes you need to win.

Strazdas

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

The Boyozone recognition factor might work in the UK.

But even then at most it would bump us up from say an 8 to a 12, maybe.
That's only 2% of the votes you need to win.

Sending a 'name' is fine but it has to be a current one, not someone who had hits a few years back - the BBC have repeatedly fallen into this trap.

Lots of countries have sent real artists this year, but they're all young and current and releasing singles and albums right now.

Capt'n Midnight

Strazdas wrote: »

Sending a 'name' is fine but it has to be a current one, not someone who had hits a few years back - the BBC have repeatedly fallen into this trap.

I've argued that a name will only give you a few extra points and only in countries where it's known. Unless it's pan-European a name on it's own won't help much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eIBTH7YlgQ

Richard Hillman

I dont think RTE seem to comprehend the voting system. It isnt proportional representation, it's first past the post. Nicky Byrne could have been in every voters Top 5 songs but people are only going to vote once and for their Number 1 act. It doesnt matter if everybody liked your song, you need enough people to love your song so much that it is their Number 1. Middle of the road or very good doesnt cut it.

I believe it was one of the best 10 songs in that Semi. But it wasnt good enough for people to say "That was my favourite song".

paleoperson

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I dont think RTE seem to comprehend the voting system. It isnt proportional representation, it's first past the post. Nicky Byrne could have been in every voters Top 5 songs but people are only going to vote once and for their Number 1 act. It doesnt matter if everybody liked your song, you need enough people to love your song so much that it is their Number 1. Middle of the road or very good doesnt cut it.

I believe it was one of the best 10 songs in that Semi. But it wasnt good enough for people to say "That was my favourite song".

So you're suggesting a "love it/dislike it" song is better than a "pleasant for everyone but noone's favourite" one?

But some people here really liked Byrne's song, others hated it.

(admittedly I'm not sure how much some people's hate is based on the simple fact that they hate Nicky Byrne and on everything RTE does).