Eurovision Song Contest 2016

BuilderPlumber

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

A lot of people would tell you however that NB's performance was the worst Irish entry since the bad old days of You're a Star (at least Dustin provided a laugh and was not meant to be taken serious!).

To be fair, he didn't sing as badly live as yer wan from Dervish did. But otherwise I'd largely agree. Even compared to the generally low standards set since Dustin, he doesn't fare too well.

2009 - Competent performance but a forgettable throwaway song. Perhaps a little harsh that it didn't qualify, but it certainly wouldn't have troubled the scoreboard in the final.

2010 - Niamh Kavanagh's a very good singer and she did as much as she could with a very bland, dated song. She did well to make the final (the semi she was in was quite tough, whereas the standard in the other semi was absolutely shocking!) but the song did about as well as it deserved to (i.e. not very!) in the final. It didn't help that it sounded eerily similar to Norway's effort that year.

2011 - The one year RTÉ actually managed to stage an entry effectively! I'm not a fan of Jedward but to be fair they gave it a lot of energy and the whole performance actually looked good on stage.

2012 - Despite their relatively successful performance the year before, I think most people would agree that one Jedward Eurovision entry was enough! I can't remember what the alternatives were this year tbh but sending Jedward two years in a row really doesn't say a whole lot for the standard of our entries, does it? "Waterline" was a weaker entry than "Lipstick", and the worse result isn't very surprising.

2013 - Ah, poor Ryan Dolan. His song was never gonna be a winner but last place was a bit harsh. He sang pretty well on the night, the staging was spectacularly tacky and cringeworthy though.

2014 - This was a song I initially thought could do fairly well but they managed to feck it up in every conceivable way. Kasey Smith's vocals on the night were hit and miss (she hit the high notes ok but struggled in her lower range) but she at least sang better than her backing singers, who were atrocious. And to top it all off, we had two men in kilts doing a silly dance while OTT Celtic iconography and gaudy shades of green filled the stage! It's like something a person who only knows Irish stereotypes would have come up with. :mad:

2015 - I'm probably in a minority here but I actually really liked "Playing With Numbers" and thought Molly was very unlucky to not qualify. The simple forest background was actually quite nice, and Molly sang very well on the night. Sadly it's not a song that's instantly memorable enough, it takes a few listens to appreciate and you only hear it once on the night.

2016 - Not much to add really. I didn't think Nicky sang too badly but the song itself was simply not good enough, and the staging fell on the wrong side of minimalism in that it was basically non-existent! RTÉ put so little effort into it, and then feign surprise and outrage that it didn't qualify. :rolleyes:

Lackey

hmmm wrote: »

As long as we have public voting we'll have a diaspora vote. Countries that are geographically and culturally close to each other are also more likely to recognise singers or enjoy their songs. The best thing they could do is reduce the impact of the public vote by limiting that to (say) 150 points in total, and giving the professional juries a greater share of the points (even if the British get the National Association for the Deaf, Guide Dog Chapter in as their jury).

How do you account for Australia winning the Eurovision by public vote?
Couldn't be further away from voting countries if it tried
Russia came second ..very culturally different .. According to boards.ie posters anyway
Reducing the power of the public vote led to this.
If it was the public choice I would say 'I think it's crap but that's democracy for ya'
Political jury voting took the shine off the fun

BuilderPlumber

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

The reality is that it's highly probably a lot of decent stuff gets submitted but it's overlooked in favour of the acts that are connected to RTE/Louis Walsh

You can be assured that is the case. Favoritism is a way of life in RTE and everything not connected to Louis Walsh or other RTE darlings is overlooked. Nicky Byrne being an actual current RTE employee is the most blatant so far.

BuilderPlumber

Deleted User wrote: »

To be fair, he didn't sing as badly live as yer wan from Dervish did. But otherwise I'd largely agree. Even compared to the generally low standards set since Dustin, he doesn't fare too well.

My main problem with Dervish was the song. If the song was written by anyone other than John Waters, one could assume it was a flawed but well-meaning one. But when one is familiar with Waters and what he stands for, this song is horrid. RTE's reinvention of it did not help either.

2009 - Competent performance but a forgettable throwaway song. Perhaps a little harsh that it didn't qualify, but it certainly wouldn't have troubled the scoreboard in the final.

That is true. That is Sinead Mulvey and Black Daisy Et Cetera. Not the worst, not the best.

2010 - Niamh Kavanagh's a very good singer and she did as much as she could with a very bland, dated song. She did well to make the final (the semi she was in was quite tough, whereas the standard in the other semi was absolutely shocking!) but the song did about as well as it deserved to (i.e. not very!) in the final. It didn't help that it sounded eerily similar to Norway's effort that year.

That is overall true. I remember it as one of the better songs of recent years because of Niamh's performance. Imagine if Niamh was given something better to do?

2011 - The one year RTÉ actually managed to stage an entry effectively! I'm not a fan of Jedward but to be fair they gave it a lot of energy and the whole performance actually looked good on stage.

2012 - Despite their relatively successful performance the year before, I think most people would agree that one Jedward Eurovision entry was enough! I can't remember what the alternatives were this year tbh but sending Jedward two years in a row really doesn't say a whole lot for the standard of our entries, does it? "Waterline" was a weaker entry than "Lipstick", and the worse result isn't very surprising.

The Jedward years gave us some hope. The 2011 song was performed very well and was catchy and energetic. Their second entry was not as good but still did ok. I dislike the way RTE then just dropped all support for Jedward despite ironically their first and even second attempts being among our higher placings in recent years. RTE is not someone you can depend on as a friend.

2013 - Ah, poor Ryan Dolan. His song was never gonna be a winner but last place was a bit harsh. He sang pretty well on the night, the staging was spectacularly tacky and cringeworthy though.

I agree. Ryan was a good singer but the song was not the best. The same can be said of his similarly named 2004 predecessor Chris Doran: good singer, lousy song.

2014 - This was a song I initially thought could do fairly well but they managed to feck it up in every conceivable way. Kasey Smith's vocals on the night were hit and miss (she hit the high notes ok but struggled in her lower range) but she at least sang better than her backing singers, who were atrocious. And to top it all off, we had two men in kilts doing a silly dance while OTT Celtic iconography and gaudy shades of green filled the stage! It's like something a person who only knows Irish stereotypes would have come up with. :mad:

This is typical RTE feck-up of a song and performance. I too liked the original incarnation and then RTE destroyed it by rearranging it.

2015 - I'm probably in a minority here but I actually really liked "Playing With Numbers" and thought Molly was very unlucky to not qualify. The simple forest background was actually quite nice, and Molly sang very well on the night. Sadly it's not a song that's instantly memorable enough, it takes a few listens to appreciate and you only hear it once on the night.

I would feel the same. Molly had a far better song than Nicky Byrne had. It was something different and took guts for someone so young to go up there and do it.

2016 - Not much to add really. I didn't think Nicky sang too badly but the song itself was simply not good enough, and the staging fell on the wrong side of minimalism in that it was basically non-existent! RTÉ put so little effort into it, and then feign surprise and outrage that it didn't qualify. :rolleyes:

Very poor song and RTE probably felt 'it's Nicky Byrne, it will sell itself'. Well, it din't. :rolleyes:

dogcat

In 2015, I'm aware that Mary Byrne sent a song to the competition, as well as Liir, but in the final lineup, there was a rap song chosen. I'm not against rap or anything, but over Mary Byrne? I'm not saying I love her, but really?

Strazdas

dogcat wrote: »

In 2015, I'm aware that Mary Byrne sent a song to the competition, as well as Liir, but in the final lineup, there was a rap song chosen. I'm not against rap or anything, but over Mary Byrne? I'm not saying I love her, but really?

I heard a rumour that RTE only wanted unknowns in that contest and that is why they excluded Byrne and Liir.

yerwanthere123

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

That is true. That is Sinead Mulvey and Black Daisy Et Cetera. Not the worst, not the best.

Agree with this, I do feel we were hard done by that year. We weren't going to win or anything, but I do believe that we would have made the final if the juries were involved.


Anyone see this video? Nicky Byrne's vocals in the semi-final without the music. Quite flat.

And of course this one, where he tries blaming the song's failure on bloc voting :pac: Oh Nicky.

Strazdas

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Agree with this, I do feel we were hard done by that year. We weren't going to win or anything, but I do believe that we would have made the final if the juries were involved.


Anyone see this video? Nicky Byrne's vocals in the semi-final without the music. Quite flat.

And of course this one, where he tries blaming the song's failure on bloc voting :pac: Oh Nicky.

His vocals were 'okayish' in the semi final, but okayish was never going to cut it in a semi with Australia, Ukraine, Serbia, Israel etc.....they were light years ahead of him.

And blaming bloc voting on finishing 15th of 18 is never a good idea.

Strazdas

Sunlight has failed to even chart in Ireland (it's outside the top 100). Gives you an indication of just how poor an internal selection that was.

Welsh Megaman

Strazdas wrote: »

Sunlight has failed to even chart in Ireland (it's outside the top 100). Gives you an indication of just how poor an internal selection that was.

Have any other Eurovision songs charted?

What about 'Love Love, Peace Peace' by Petra and Mans?

mansize

Strazdas wrote: »

Sunlight has failed to even chart in Ireland (it's outside the top 100). Gives you an indication of just how poor an internal selection that was.

Bloc voting?

Strazdas

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

Have any other Eurovision songs charted?

What about 'Love Love, Peace Peace' by Petra and Mans?

Only the Swedish entry at No.47

The Irish entry not even making the chart is shockingly bad stuff though. Looks like nobody ever bought into the idea of Byrne at Eurovision, either before or after the contest.

mansize

8th in Album charts

Capt'n Midnight

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

Have any other Eurovision songs charted?

What about 'Love Love, Peace Peace' by Petra and Mans?

Måns Zelmerlöw and Petra Mede - Love Love Peace Peace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMgW54HBOS0
1,481,381 views

Nicky Byrne - Sunlight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCXueTvhjNo
1,530,173 views

Dami Im - Sound Of Silence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EG_Jtw4OyU
9,443,504 views

Might be interesting if they showed how many full views there were.

Strazdas

mansize wrote: »

8th in Album charts

Yes, just spotted that.

If we take the Nicky Byrne factor out of the equation, it looks like the internal selection will simply not work for Ireland. From the moment the singer and song were announced way back in January, the public were completely disinterested and never became engaged or invested in the entry at any point. It might work for other countries, but after 50 years of national song contests, it seems that the only way Irish people want to see their entry selected is the national final.

Welsh Megaman

*popcorn*


http://www.rte.ie/ten/news/2016/0523/790375-nicky-byrne-eurovision/

XxMCRxBabyxX

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

*popcorn*


http://www.rte.ie/ten/news/2016/0523/790375-nicky-byrne-eurovision/

I heard him on the Ray D'Arcy show earlier. He just sounded arrogant and bitter. I no longer feel sorry for him!

Say Your Number

U2 are a credible band, they wouldn't be seen anywhere near the Eurovision, to win you need a good gimmick and a catchy tune, the last few years Ireland have sent bland middle of the road songs, unless they change the selection process Ireland won't win it any time soon.

Actually surprised to see RTE report the news about Nick Menza

wyrn

He comes across as very bitter that he didn't qualify. I think just being picked out by RTE to represent Ireland and his Westlife background, he obviously thought he was a sure thing. It's also bad form that he didn't stay for the final. I can understand him being upset and not really wanting to be there, but he's still representing Ireland. Also, he thought Round 2 was harder and that bloc voting came in to play. Any more excuses there Nicky? Oh yeah, the snobbishness of the Irish people towards Eurovision. Yeah right.

At the end of the day, the song was bland, not catchy enough. The stage was boring (all I can remember was that it was bright yellow) and that the backing keyboard was louder than his limited vocals.
At least he has his new album and single promoted to 200M viewers!!! I heard Sunlight advertised on tv the other day, so all is not lost Nicky, just your pride.

Nesta99

Say Your Number wrote: »

U2 are a credible band, they wouldn't be seen anywhere near the Eurovision, to win you need a good gimmick and a catchy tune, the last few years Ireland have sent bland middle of the road songs, unless they change the selection process Ireland won't win it any time soon.

Actually surprised to see RTE report the news about Nick Menza

Just like Dustin? National finals, 'talent' show doubling up as a national finals, expert pick, none of it will make that much of a difference unless the song is exceptional. A couple of former Irish winners would probably not win under today's system, like 'The Voice'. Grand tune, very celtic, well sung by a talented singer but wouldn't stand out enough today for a phone vote or to get over crony voting. Its as much to do with stage production as the song itself and Ireland/RTE dont have the resources to stick on a spectacular. The Russians threw the kitchen sink at the production and were 2nd. So there must be some sweet spot of balance between the two. And time to leave the oirish gimmicky stuff to the side also even if this year didn't try to exploit riverdance with a poor man's version.

XxMCRxBabyxX

He had a nice dig at Georgia's song. Clearly not impressed that they got through and he didn't. Made sure to mention that Graham Norton had commented on the fact that he didn't get through and they had.

Strazdas

Say Your Number wrote: »

U2 are a credible band, they wouldn't be seen anywhere near the Eurovision, to win you need a good gimmick and a catchy tune, the last few years Ireland have sent bland middle of the road songs, unless they change the selection process Ireland won't win it any time soon.

Actually surprised to see RTE report the news about Nick Menza

He's entirely wrong to say that U2 wouldn't win Eurovision : they would win it and do so easily.

The British have been trotting out the same arguments, "We could enter Adele and we'd still finish last" but it's a complete nonsense. The acts that Ireland and the UK have been entering have been a long, long way below U2 and Adele in class.

yerwanthere123

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

*popcorn*


http://www.rte.ie/ten/news/2016/0523/790375-nicky-byrne-eurovision/

wyrn wrote: »

He comes across as very bitter that he didn't qualify. I think just being picked out by RTE to represent Ireland and his Westlife background, he obviously thought he was a sure thing. It's also bad form that he didn't stay for the final. I can understand him being upset and not really wanting to be there, but he's still representing Ireland. Also, he thought Round 2 was harder and that bloc voting came in to play. Any more excuses there Nicky? Oh yeah, the snobbishness of the Irish people towards Eurovision. Yeah right.

At the end of the day, the song was bland, not catchy enough. The stage was boring (all I can remember was that it was bright yellow) and that the backing keyboard was louder than his limited vocals.
At least he has his new album and single promoted to 200M viewers!!! I heard Sunlight advertised on tv the other day, so all is not lost Nicky, just your pride.

So now he's bitter and deluded. Great.

Strazdas

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

So now he's bitter and deluded. Great.

I'm guessing he's surrounded by flunkies telling him how wonderful his song and performance were. God knows what RTE were telling him in Stockholm....they must have been assuring him he was a shoe in for the final.

yerwanthere123

The most baffling part of what he said is that "we threw everything and our granny at this". Um, how? What performance was he watching?

And again, blaming the bloc voting is just pathetic. He mentions how Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland all "fall by the way", but fails to mention that Macedonia, Albania, Slovenia and Belarus also fell by the way.. but I guess that doesn't suit his agenda does it :pac:

Strazdas

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

The most baffling part of what he said is that "we threw everything and our granny at this". Um, how? What performance was he watching?

And again, blaming the bloc voting is just pathetic. He mentions how Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland all "fall by the way", but fails to mention that Macedonia, Albania, Slovenia and Belarus also fell by the way.. but I guess that doesn't suit his agenda does it :pac:

It was clearly one of the most low budget and worst thought out stagings.

I've heard a theory that 2016 was just RTE doing everything on the cheap. Send one of their own employees and he agrees to waive his fee in return for the publicity for his album : a bargain basement entry that cost them nothing in other words. Look at what happened with the preview video even, a cheap lyrics video was rushed out in January and then they never made a proper one after that.

Shurimgreat

Strazdas wrote: »

It was clearly one of the most low budget and worst thought out stagings.

I've heard a theory that 2016 was just RTE doing everything on the cheap. Send one of their own employees and he agrees to waive his fee in return for the publicity for his album : a bargain basement entry that cost them nothing in other words. Look at what happened with the preview video even, a cheap lyrics video was rushed out in January and then they never made a proper one after that.

They are probably right to take this approach. Why spend a fortune on what would at best be a gamble. Its only a song contest. Not sure why we took it so seriously in the first place. In the mid 90s you could put an act together for a couple of quid, the winners just stood on the stage with no significant marketing, choreography, special effects, etc and won. Now you could spend a couple hundred thousand and still not stand out. Lets just treat it with the respect it deserves, which is very little. If we never made it out of the semi final again so what.

dogcat

Strazdas wrote: »

I'm guessing he's surrounded by flunkies telling him how wonderful his song and performance were. God knows what RTE were telling him in Stockholm....they must have been assuring him he was a shoe in for the final.

As well as most media sources... And on Georgia, if he paid attention, he'd see they didn't qualify in the televote. The UK jury also gave 12 to Georgia, bloc voting though, eh?

Strazdas

Shurimgreat wrote: »

They are probably right to take this approach. Why spend a fortune on what would at best be a gamble. Its only a song contest. Not sure why we took it so seriously in the first place. In the mid 90s you could put an act together for a couple of quid, the winners just stood on the stage with no significant marketing, choreography, special effects, etc and won. Now you could spend a couple hundred thousand and still not stand out. Lets just treat it with the respect it deserves, which is very little. If we never made it out of the semi final again so what.

With that attitude though, we'd never qualify at all and it would be pointless even competing. If you're going to enter a competition, then surely you have to give yourself every possible chance and prepare properly. What you're suggesting would be akin to us sending the Finn Harps squad to represent us at Euro 2016 this year.

Richard Hillman

An interesting observation from my travels: I was killing time in Istanbul Airport yesterday, all of a sudden one of the radio stations that the cafe i was sitting near to started to play Loreen: Euphoria.

I did a bit of research, Ireland gave Loreen 12 points, Turkey gave her 6 points. Forget Loreen, but when was the last time you heard an Irish radio station playing a Eurovision winner that wasn't the day after it won?

Every year the radio presenters get a clear indication of a popular song by whoever gets the Irish 12 point but they will still play the Money Artists.

It's quite strange. It's a bit like when you walk into an Irish pub and all they have are the Diagio Drinks. You would have to evaluate how much power the record companies have over stations or are the DJs that inept?

Jack Killian

Richard Hillman wrote: »

An interesting observation from my travels: I was killing time in Istanbul Airport yesterday, all of a sudden one of the radio stations that the cafe i was sitting near to started to play Loreen: Euphoria.

I did a bit of research, Ireland gave Loreen 12 points, Turkey gave her 6 points. Forget Loreen, but when was the last time you heard an Irish radio station playing a Eurovision winner that wasn't the day after it won?

Every year the radio presenters get a clear indication of a popular song by whoever gets the Irish 12 point but they will still play the Money Artists.

It's quite strange. It's a bit like when you walk into an Irish pub and all they have are the Diagio Drinks. You would have to evaluate how much power the record companies have over stations or are the DJs that inept?

The days of DJs having a say in what gets played are long gone!

snubbleste

Richard Hillman wrote: »

An interesting observation ..... Forget Loreen, but when was the last time you heard an Irish radio station playing a Eurovision winner that wasn't the day after it won?

Whaaaa?
4fm spinned Ne partez pas sans moi on Monday.
I've heard Euphoria, Satellite, Waterloo, Only teardrops, Love shine a light and the occasional Johnny Logan one in the past year

Caprica

Coming to this thread a bit late. Enjoyed the show, the Swedes as usual did a great job. I'm happy with the winner, I though she gave a really emotional performance that was really well staged but I didn't think it would score as highly on the televote as it did. It will be interesting to see if Russia turn up next year in Kiev.

My favourites were

Armenia
Bulgaria
Russia
Latvia
Ukraine

I was never a big fan of Nicky Byrnes selection but honestly he didn't deserve to get through. Vocally he was probably one of the weakest there, I expected RTE to go all out on the staging but it was, once again, poor. I was surprised that he seemed to take not qualifying badly.

Two performances that I would have liked to have seen in the final were San Marino and Macedonia. Surprised to see Greece didn't qualify.

Prior to the final my favourite song by far was Italy but the staging was disappointing, she looked a little unsure and I'm not sure what she was wearing.

BuilderPlumber

Caprica wrote: »

Coming to this thread a bit late. Enjoyed the show, the Swedes as usual did a great job. I'm happy with the winner, I though she gave a really emotional performance that was really well staged but I didn't think it would score as highly on the televote as it did. It will be interesting to see if Russia turn up next year in Kiev.

My favourites were

Armenia
Bulgaria
Russia
Latvia
Ukraine

I was never a big fan of Nicky Byrnes selection but honestly he didn't deserve to get through. Vocally he was probably one of the weakest there, I expected RTE to go all out on the staging but it was, once again, poor. I was surprised that he seemed to take not qualifying badly.

Two performances that I would have liked to have seen in the final were San Marino and Macedonia. Surprised to see Greece didn't qualify.

Prior to the final my favourite song by far was Italy but the staging was disappointing, she looked a little unsure and I'm not sure what she was wearing.

I agree that Nicky Byrne's song was poor and the vocals and staging were indeed below par. I feel he and RTE felt that sending him over was really all they had to do! No effort was made. The song was bland, the staging was uninspired and the performance was as well.

All the other songs were for the most part above average and the winner and many of the others that did well were very good. San Marino, Macedonia and Greece deserved better and the Czech entry did too.

As long as RTE keep sending out the same old tired boyband style entries, we will never do well in it. RTE keep on promoting the poor fare all the time when it comes to music. A lot of the pop and country singers they keep promoting are from the poorest ends of those genres. RTE force this on us through Tubridy, etc. but when there is no one to push this poor fare (like in Europe), it fails. Only RTE think boybands and boyband singers singing country music are good. The rest of us think they are awful.

tina1040

The Eurovision was weeks ago. How do you remember so much about it? And how are you interested enough to give such a detailed opinion weeks after the event.
I would think most viewers would have forgotten the songs and performers by the following morning.

jaykay74

tina1040 wrote: »

The Eurovision was weeks ago. How do you remember so much about it? And how are you interested enough to give such a detailed opinion weeks after the event.
I would think most viewers would have forgotten the songs and performers by the following morning.

The Aussie song gets plenty of radio time in Sweden

yerwanthere123

tina1040 wrote: »

The Eurovision was weeks ago. How do you remember so much about it? And how are you interested enough to give such a detailed opinion weeks after the event.
I would think most viewers would have forgotten the songs and performers by the following morning.

I guess some people have different interests to you, and not everybody is the same. Imagine that :eek::eek::eek:

sheep?

LOVE LOVE PEACE PEACE.

Caoimhgh1n

sheep? wrote: »

LOVE LOVE PEACE PEACE.

And a burning fake piano.

Strazdas

tina1040 wrote: »

The Eurovision was weeks ago. How do you remember so much about it? And how are you interested enough to give such a detailed opinion weeks after the event.
I would think most viewers would have forgotten the songs and performers by the following morning.

Those people you're talking about are your casual once a year viewers who just tune in on the night and forget about the contest five minutes after it's over.

But there's a huge interest in Eurovision these days, especially with the advent of social media and Youtube. People can watch the entries from all around Europe as soon as they are chosen. Also the two semi finals mean that people are familiar with most of the songs even before the night of the grand final.

dogcat

Caoimhgh1n wrote: »

And a burning fake piano.

PEACE PEACE LOVE LOVE