Eurovision 2018

paulmurphyvec

cant wait for this year

Amik

Some great positivity from the Irish times:

Ireland’s Eurovision revealed: another twentysomething with a high-pitched voice

Didn't hear about this earlier...yikes. This country...

Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten won’t be Ireland’s Eurovision entry as RTE chiefs felt he wasn’t right for this year’s competition

Amik

It's heartwarming to see Salvador doing well after his transplant. I'm already imagining his Grand Final opening performance!

https://www.facebook.com/salvadorsobralmusic/videos/1985376448401881/

Amik

paulmurphyvec wrote: »

cant wait for this year

Go Harvey Go

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Marty Whelan will praise it to high heaven regardless of how good or bad it is, and will feign both shock and horror if (when?) we don't qualify

I'll be listening to Graham Norton on 12 May, of course.

Does anyone else think it's time - or very nearly time - for Marty to step aside and let someone else commentate? There really is only so long his sky-high praise for *every* Irish entry, regardless of quality, and his grumbling whenever Ireland doesn't reach the final, can entertain before they become irritating - and, I'm afraid to say, they certainly irritate me now...

I'm still tickled by the idea of Dáithí doing it, if only because he's from Dingle. At the moment, however, there seems to be a trend of giving big RTE presenting gigs to women (indeed, just now, Joanne Cantwell has been named as Michael Lyster's successor on the Sunday Game, after he retires at the end of this season). In which case, Bláthnaid and Sinéad Kennedy would probably be the favourites.

Amik

Go Harvey Go wrote: »

In which case, Bláthnaid and Sinéad Kennedy would probably be the favourites.

BIG +1 for Sinéad Kennedy. Smart lady with a great sense of humour. She'd blend in well with all the beautiful people at Eurovision...

https://twitter.com/imsineadkennedy/status/954842340270723074

yerwanthere123

Malta

Malta is a country I think most fans would love to see win Eurovision, but it's not going to happen with this song. Might get out of a weak semi-final, but that's about it.

Amik

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Malta is a country I think most fans would love to see win Eurovision, but it's not going to happen with this song. Might get out of a weak semi-final, but that's about it.

+1 This was the "best" from a very poor selection of songs this year.

Completely different situation in Switzerland tonight. For me every song is qualification quality. I'm betting on Vanessa Iraci - Redlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wAzmmYrg60

yerwanthere123

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Malta is a country I think most fans would love to see win Eurovision, but it's not going to happen with this song. Might get out of a weak semi-final, but that's about it.

This feels like a lost opportunity; the base ingredients of a good tune are there in the verses and the music but the overall package is let down by generic, meaningless lyrics, a weak chorus and a singer whose voice isn't powerful enough to carry it.

On the plus side they did a good job with the staging, and that may be enough to get them through.

Amik

Deleted User wrote: »

On the plus side they did a good job with the staging, and that may be enough to get them through.

I liked the women in the glass box bit, but they could have trimmed about 50% of the effects. The fireworks explosion at the end especially...

yerwanthere123

Switzerland

Pretty dull imo, would be very surprised if this made the final.

Go Harvey Go

Amik wrote: »

Completely different situation in Switzerland tonight. For me every song is qualification quality. I'm betting on Vanessa Iraci - Redlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wAzmmYrg60

Hard luck.

Amik

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Switzerland

Pretty dull imo, would be very surprised if this made the final.

Lyrics are weak but I do like her slightly hoarse voice and stage presence. Also feel there's not enough there to get them out of SF1.

They're brother and sister!

Amik

I was waiting for a wardrobe malfunction during Vanessa's crouch but she handled it with ease.



Simple yet effective staging for her song. That's how it's done, Malta...

Amik

Better quality recording of Malta's performance below without all the crisps/juice ads and fireworks (I think this is the winner encore):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyrC8jJ8eb8

Great energy and enthusiasm. She really wants to be there and it shows.

Amik

So far Big 5 countries have entered the best songs in my opinion.

The countries I think are hungriest for a win and may have top songs this year are BULGARIA, POLAND, and THE NETHERLANDS. Looking forward to hearing the entries from those three (Waylon's for NL especially).

yerwanthere123

Yeah, Bulgaria really want the win, and they've been making super efforts to be fair. I think Poli should have won in 2016, and Kristian would've been a very worthy winner last year.

UK are next to reveal on Wednesday night, followed by Denmark and Italy on Saturday. Who do we think should/will win the UK selection? Asanda is favourite, but I still think it's terrible and will be bottom five in Lisbon if picked. I think Astronaut has the best chance of doing something in Lisbon. Obviously not to win, but I think there's great staging potential to get them a decent result.

Amik

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Yeah, Bulgaria really want the win, and they've been making super efforts to be fair. I think Poli should have won in 2016, and Kristian would've been a very worthy winner last year.

Ooohh, I share the same feelings! Poli I loved and still catch myself humming her song to this day. Beautiful Mess was worthy of the trophy too - great song and excellent staging.

Amik

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

UK are next to reveal on Wednesday night, followed by Denmark and Italy on Saturday.

Forgot to add Italy to my "hungry to win" list. All good entries since Copenhagen 2014 (minus Emma's outfit).

BULGARIA, POLAND, THE NETHERLANDS, ITALY.

Amik

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Who do we think should/will win the UK selection? Asanda is favourite, but I still think it's terrible and will be bottom five in Lisbon if picked. I think Astronaut has the best chance of doing something in Lisbon. Obviously not to win, but I think there's great staging potential to get them a decent result.

It's like Malta all over again: nothing catches my ear. I agree Astronaut is the best pick of the bunch. Like Taboo I can see Raya's Crazy sneaking in for the win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1kcAJK620

Amik

Poland will announce the contestants for their national final on Thursday (8 February).

Isabell Otrebus has confirmed submitting her popular song Delirium which may be a contender:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVE5wgYxgAY

yerwanthere123

There's a bit of early hype about La Forza from the Estonian selection. The studio version sounds great, if she gets picked and can do that at Eurovision then I think it could do very well.

Amik

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

There's a bit of early hype about La Forza from the Estonian selection. The studio version sounds great, if she gets picked and can do that at Eurovision then I think it could do very well.

Il Volo proved opera can work at Eurovision (3rd place). I enjoy it and don't think we've had a female opera act in a while? Lovely lady and most professional performer I've seen so far.

Rehearsal looks amazing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CyaAoPc2Lg

Of course who can forget Cezar!

Amik

Sanremo 2018 starts tonight!

Need to double check, but according to my work colleagues in Italy the big acts (one of which may be Italy's Eurovision entry) perform tomorrow night (Wednesday).

Looking forward to seeing Annalisa perform a song called "Il mondo prima di te" (The World Before You).

Her hit "Direzione la vita" recently went gold in Italy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5P1JUiZcuU

Italian TV looks like so much more fun than RTE. :P

Nina Zilli who represented Italy in Eurovision 2012 Baku will also be performing. She has a very hip-hop sound lately:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_d6G_FJ-oU

This band has Eurovision written all over them. Maybe??? Lead singer looks like a cross between Ronaldo and David Bowie...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvOkaGK3srs

Welsh Megaman

Heads up...

Us British types decide our entry tomorrow night, BBC2 at 7.30pm.

NollagShona

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

Heads up...

Us British types decide our entry tomorrow night, BBC2 at 7.30pm.

are ye making yer mind up?

#getscoat

Amik

So the Italian work colleagues were wrong and the big acts are on Sanremo tonight! :rolleyes:

I'm biased because I like her stuff but Annalisa's song was good. It's a ballad with a bit of power behind it. Her voice makes the lead-in to the chorus amazing. One awkward moment towards the end where the audience started to clap before she was finished. Lots of really old people in the audience though...:P




The Kolors really rocked the stage, looking colourful and confident. Hard electro-pop number.

Welsh Megaman

NollagShona wrote: »

are ye making yer mind up?

#getscoat

Yep, but no doubt we’ll end up Rock Bottom as usual.

#nichereferencetolynseydepaul

Amik

Songs up on Rai's YouTube already...

Annalisa - “Il mondo prima di te”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGzqAKqar98

The Kolors - "Frida"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0NhMiXDmJ8

Amik

Bookies have picked Ermal Meta e Fabrizio Moro - “Non mi avete fatto niente” to win Sanremo at the moment. Their performance last night already has 250k+ views ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0NF8BZlH4I

Your grandma makes an appearance at 3:00 in this performance (not a bad band either!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3TbSks3i3c

NollagShona

Mans on with Mel on BBC2 in 30 mins on You Decide!

Welsh Megaman

Bonsoir, my little Irish chooms

Welsh Megaman

No, Mans, No :O

This had better kick up a gear!

EDIT: Phew!

NollagShona

Mans fluffing his lines

Welsh Megaman

Thanks to Pan’s People for providing Lucie’s outfit!

How is the Portuguese guy holding up, anyway?

Didn’t he have a heart scare or something?

Welsh Megaman

The teeth!

My eyes!

Ze googles, they do naffink!

NollagShona

Raya sounds like a new Corrie character

Welsh Megaman

This sounds like every other song in the charts at the moment.

Welsh Megaman

Is every song going to sound like ‘Shape Of You’?

An tUasal C

Every song sounds like every song, three songs in and I can hardly tell who’s who.

EPAndlee

Is that supposed to be a 'jury of music professionals'?

NollagShona

UK not going to win

Go Harvey Go

An tUasal C wrote: »

Every song sounds like every song, three songs in and I can hardly tell who’s who.

Right-hand side of the scoreboard again then...

An tUasal C

3 pop songs and a male Lucie Jones..

Let’s him Blanche’s backing singer gives us something.

Welsh Megaman

I like this one

EPAndlee

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

I like this one

I think it's kind of meh

Welsh Megaman

NollagShona wrote: »

UK not going to win

Ah well, they can’t stop the spring

*runs for cover*

NollagShona

Getting Annie Lennox realness

An tUasal C

Best song so far in my opinion, only song I can see on the left hand side so far.

NollagShona

Wont be left (no love for UK) but top right hand contender