Eurovision Song Contest 2017

yerwanthere123

Caoimhgh1n wrote: »

Did anybody watch any of the performances in London?

Didn't watch any, just read all the feedback. The main standout seemed to be that Blanche was quite poor. I wouldn't worry yet though, obviously a totally different environment to the Eurovision stage.

Caoimhgh1n

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Didn't watch any, just read all the feedback. The main standout seemed to be that Blanche was quite poor. I wouldn't worry yet though, obviously a totally different environment to the Eurovision stage.

I thought Alma did quite well, as did Kristian.

4068ac1elhodqr

Having a quick scan of these, just found one even worse than the UK & Ireland's (Finland, something about a blackbird, zzzz...).

Also a possible 200/1 that could well sneak into the top 5 or top 10 anyway, any guesses who's it is?

yerwanthere123

Finland is a masterpiece compared to what Ireland are sending.

Bulgaria seem to be gaining a lot of traction, could well be another top five finish for them. If he does better than Poli did though....

4068ac1elhodqr

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Finland is a masterpiece compared to what Ireland are sending.

Bulgaria

Couldn't bear anything past 0:50 for either of these two, the blackbird is reminiscent of a track last year that went on about a lighthouse. This one goes on about a blackbird (slight political undertones too from the Fins).

Notes on Bulgaria:

Score: 8.5/10
Track: 3:07
bpm: 85circa
Price: 6.5 (4pl)

Plenty of atmosphere, very capable vocalist. Well written track, but might lack substance particularly against the more upbeat tracks. Likely position: 5-7.

Whitters22

Quote Ryleigh Gorgeous Bingo [Also a possible 200/1 that could well sneak into the top 5 or top 10 anyway, any guesses who's it is?]

The best value for me is surely Albania. If she can pull off the vocals live with decent staging, it could be the surprise of the competition.

Caoimhgh1n

Whitters22 wrote: »

Quote Ryleigh Gorgeous Bingo [Also a possible 200/1 that could well sneak into the top 5 or top 10 anyway, any guesses who's it is?]

The best value for me is surely Albania. If she can pull off the vocals live with decent staging, it could be the surprise of the competition.

I agree, she is the strongest vocalist and the revamped version isn't that bad.

4068ac1elhodqr

Ryleigh Gorgeous Bingo wrote: »

Also a possible 200/1 that could well sneak into the top 5 or top 10 anyway, any guesses who's it is?

Whitters22 wrote: »

The best value for me is surely Albania. If she can pull off the vocals live with decent staging, it could be the surprise of the competition.

It's not Albania, though your not a hundred miles away.

Albania did score well if I can remember from the notes

4068ac1elhodqr

Notes on Albania:

Score: 5/10, but changed to 9/10 midway.
Track: 3:02
bpm: 105circa
Price: 100-251 (4pl)
Likely position: Top 7

Too slow to kick off with heavy dull piano, appearance of a pretty lady brightens things up at 1:04 with rock (stadium reverb) drums. Improves at 1:20 with a quick whiff of rock guitar. Bridge at 1:50 before strings add interest at 2:00 (Ireland take note). Super-Bridge at 2:12 with perfect vocal delivery, into crescendo of 24 track layering from here 2:30 into 3:00, finishes properly, with immense immediacy. Makes plenty of other entries sound like they were done on Tascam cassette 4-trackers.

Caoimhgh1n

Ireland at Israel Calling.

4068ac1elhodqr

Caoimhgh1n wrote: »

Ireland at Israel Calling.

The euphoria of the intro music was the best part.

He's a very good (if slightly high-pitched) singer and fairly good at delivering live. It's the slow, dire, very plain backing track that is the sinker.

If calculations are correct it's running at 55bpm, that can't be right, can it?

DEFTLEFTHAND

Guys I still maintain that this was the best effort from Ireland in the last decade.

The wonderful Brian Kennedy. Finished 10th in 2006.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BzFlczwSf8

yerwanthere123

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Guys I still maintain that this was the best effort from Ireland in the last decade.

The wonderful Brian Kennedy. Finished 10th in 2006.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BzFlczwSf8

Yeah that was a great song performed very well. Very impressive that we finished 10th at the height of bloc voting, I do think if we had the juries that year they could have pushed us into the top five.

Wasn't a big fan of Brian Kennedy's song but he certainly performed well and I don't think his final position was undeserved.

Jedward's "Lipstick" was a pretty naff song but they performed it with gusto and the staging and backgrounds were spot on, which is a rarity for an Irish entry!

My personal favourite Irish entry of the 21st century thus far is Molly Sterling in 2015. "Playing with Numbers" wasn't an instant song, it took me a few listens to fully appreciate. Sadly, that fact and the poor position in the running order (plus the awkward piano that obscured her from view for much of the song!) meant it just didn't resonate enough on the night. Molly's vocal on the night was great but the performance itself was a bit insular: she would have been wonderful in a smaller, more intimate setting than on the Eurovision stage but it just didn't click with a large stage and large audience.

4068ac1elhodqr

Blanche indeed isn't doing well with her delivery and it barely gets outside of a single octave.
But it's one of only a few songs that has a slight hook and thus easy post-listen recall i.e. growers.

This year is fairly difficult as there's plenty of very poor and plenty of (only) 'fairly good' entries, but none that excel.

Couple of folks mentioned Albania (above), thinking more and more there is no way it should be classed in the group with the lowest 10% of chances. The upper 20% instead. She rolls off a 20-sec continuous set of notes at the song's apex, which certainly is no mean feat.

From memory, the other few outsiders that are in with a good shot are folks such as the Swiss, Czech, FYR etc.

There are at least a minimum of 5-7 entries that can be dismissed immediately.

overmantle

Can hardly believe all the analysis that's going on here. Time was when there was a preview show, then the actual show, followed by the voting. A totally different ball game now.

4068ac1elhodqr

overmantle wrote: »

Can hardly believe all the analysis that's going on here. Time was when there was a preview show, then the actual show, followed by the voting. A totally different ball game now.

Don't forget also to add in the politics, in this non-political sing-song contest.

overmantle

Ryleigh Gorgeous Bingo wrote: »

Don't forget also to add in the politics, in this non-political sing-song contest.

Yeah. That's a total farce. With so many people who are living in countries, immediately adjacent to where they are from, so they are actually voting for their own countries (which you are technically not allowed to do). Poland always seems to do well from the Irish vote. I wonder why??

4068ac1elhodqr

Indeed and after the UKR tried to ban Rus, now it looks like UKR is itself facing a ban next year for try to self-impose banning orders.
UKR's winning entry last year (a rendition of a bag of wailing cats falling from a bridge in a paper bag) also had strong political overtones.

The UK may only be saved from total Points nuls from it's near neighbours in response to their A50.

Amik

Can someone recommend a Eurovision Office Pool system? I'd like to run one in my workplace this year but can't seem to find a good method of doing this.

Amik

Ryleigh Gorgeous Bingo wrote: »

Also a possible 200/1 that could well sneak into the top 5 or top 10 anyway, any guesses who's it is?

Is your 200/1 sneaker maybe Montenegro? His song has really grown on me. Has a bit of a Jamiroquai feel to it and he seemed to be a crowd pleaser at the London preview party.

4068ac1elhodqr

Amik wrote: »

Is your 200/1 sneaker maybe Montenegro? His song has really grown on me. Has a bit of a Jamiroquai feel to it and he seemed to be a crowd pleaser at the London preview party.

God no, that is pure torturous cheese covered lyrics, essentially the theme is something about wanting to send a rocket to Uranus.

Can foresee it certainly getting some votes from the right-on lefty euro pop fans as the chorus and breaks are fairly catchy, like a bad cold. The singer also appears to be doing part-time drumming for Latvia, perhaps spreading his chances wide.

The four big value (current BPs) outsiders include:

Czech 300/1
Albania 100-125/1
FYR Mac 66/1
Swiss 150/1

It is nice to see the old trio of Wilson Philips revising their 80s songwriting career via the Netherlands: hold on, hold on for one more da..

You will be able to download sweepstakes nearer to the time of the grand final, normally as an A4 PDF file from folks such as the bbc. Best to use s descending prize scale from total entry fee as 1st 50%, 2nd 30%, 3rd 20%.

yerwanthere123

Confirmed now, Russia are out of Eurovision, with a ban of Ukraine probably to follow next year. Good for Ireland though, frees up a spot in the second semi final which Russia would inevitably have taken.

Not sure a new free spot will be of much help to Ireland tbh. Can't see it doing any better than approximately 12th place. Then again, worse songs have made it through a semi final before.

I don't think Ukraine should face a ban over this though. Russia were free to send another participant and chose not to. Even if one disagrees with the singer being banned, Ukrainian law should still be respected.

Red Kev

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't think Ukraine should face a ban over this though. Russia were free to send another participant and chose not to. Even if one disagrees with the singer being banned, Ukrainian law should still be respected.

Ukraine should be banned from having it this year. Postpone it if necessary until September and give it to another country. You can't start letting politics get in the way of what is a song competition and I don't care what the national laws say. If you don't like it, then don't compete.

This could start going the way of the Olympics from 1976-1984 where one team after another refused to go. It shouldn't be a part of what is an international cultural event.

At the very minimum I'd ban Ukraine from the next 3 Eurovisions, if not the next 5. I accept that songs shouldn't be inflammatory, but this is setting a very dangerous precedent. The EBU needs to nip this in the bud very quickly.

yerwanthere123

Red Kev wrote: »

Ukraine should be banned from having it this year. Postpone it if necessary until September and give it to another country. You can't start letting politics get in the way of what is a song competition and I don't care what the national laws say. If you don't like it, then don't compete.

This could start going the way of the Olympics from 1976-1984 where one team after another refused to go. It shouldn't be a part of what is an international cultural event.

At the very minimum I'd ban Ukraine from the next 3 Eurovisions, if not the next 5. I accept that songs shouldn't be inflammatory, but this is setting a very dangerous precedent. The EBU needs to nip this in the bud very quickly.

That's just not feasible. In any possible way.

Red Kev

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

That's just not feasible. In any possible way.

It is. So long as the EBU accept that it won't be a huge extravaganza as it has been the past 10 years and are prepared that a host nation could pare things back to where they were in the early 2000's.

You simply can't have countries banning each other over something like this. It sets a terrible precedent.

yerwanthere123

Red Kev wrote: »

It is. So long as the EBU accept that it won't be a huge extravaganza as it has been the past 10 years and are prepared that a host nation could pare things back to where they were in the early 2000's.

You simply can't have countries banning each other over something like this. It sets a terrible precedent.

So what about the thousands of people who've already booked and paid for flights/hotels/tickets? What about the artists commitments in September that can't be pulled out of? How would a decent venue be found at such short notice that hasn't already been booked? Most countries keep their best venues free for the week of Eurovision on the off chance that they win and would need to host. These things are planned months and months in advance, and for good reason. You can't postpone an event like this and simply 'give' it to another country. And anyway, Eurovision is held in May, not September.

Red Kev

Red Kev wrote: »

You simply can't have countries banning each other over something like this. It sets a terrible precedent.

They're not banning Russia though. They're banning the participant Russia selected, in accordance with Ukrainian law. Russia were free to participate with a different singer: they refused to do so.

I'm sure there are thousands of other Russian singers who haven't been to Crimea who could perform for Russia in Ukraine. But Russia is far more interested in playing victim than selecting a valid participant. Russia is playing the political game here, not Ukraine.

Red Kev

[Deleted User] wrote: »

They're not banning Russia though. They're banning the participant Russia selected, in accordance with Ukrainian law. Russia were free to participate with a different singer: they refused to do so.

It's the equivalent of the UK banning Johnny Logan for playing in Derry or us banning Bucks Fizz for playing in Belfast. National laws shouldn't come into it, it's politics by the Ukraine. They can't determine who sends which competitor, that should be the sole discretion of the EBU. As it stands it sets a dangerous precedent.

And yes, it could be easily swapped. Inconvenient for those with tickets and entrants but on a technical level it's not insurmountable.