Terminal 3.... The Eurovision Blog

It's the time of the year when the official cd and dvd are unveiled. First impressions are that the artwork is excellent this year. But that suddenly melts away when your eyes move to the price! 19.95 Euros for the audio cd (£15.73) 24.95 Euros for the dvd (£19.68). For years I always thought that I was unlucky to live in the UK when it came to prices, but it appears with the changeover to the Euros, everyone has taken the opportunity to hike their prices up. I for one won't be buying from them. For people thinking of buying from the official website, I would suggest you look at some other websites before buying, i.e play.com or amazon.co.uk. You can usually get £5.00 knocked off these prices. Also, another word of warning to those in the UK. If you buy the cd from the official sellers, you will get a copy-protected cd. If you buy from the UK, then you won't, as manufacturers are not allowed to add copy-protection to audio cds in the UK. (Some computers will not pla

There will be many questions being asked this year in Belgrade and as with previous years, most will centre around the votes and finalists/winner. As more and more Eastern Europeans embrace the Eurovision, it seems that we are seeing a lot more resentment against the winners - whether it be a western or eastern European country. I've read with a sense of shame numerous comments on eurovision websites or chatrooms, where fans have taken patriotism to a different and wrong level, where patriotism is substituted for hatred of other countries. So after a number of years of complaints, the EBU have finally changed the qualification process in an attempt to stamp out friendly voting. However, with so many variables in the contest, have they just changed the process just to appease the moaners?! So how do the EBU count for..... 1. The migration of Eastern Europeans into the western countries after being accepted into the EU, 2. The quality of the song, 3. The music scene of Europe (i.e.

Armenia have been installed as the Bookies favourites and for the love of god I do not understand why!!!! Sweden only have odds of approximately 12/1 making them 6th favourites behind Armenia, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia and Ireland.........Ireland..........I just dont understand it. Iceland have a very low ranking with the Bookies too...... 33/1 so that makes 2 of the pre contest fan favourites not very high in the opinions of the bookmakers. The biggest suprise is that Spain is the more favoured of the "Big 4" at 33/1 along with France whilst the United Kingdom is at 50/1 (the lowest odds ever given for a UK entry) and Germany (one of my pre contest favourites is 66/1. The rank outsiders with the bookies all at 150/1 are:- The Netherlands, Moldova, San Marino and Montenegro. I have to say I am suprised the Netherlands are ranked so lowly but I wonder whether that is down to previous contests. Well with 64 days to go I wonder who will be the contest favourite by the time it s

1 - Iceland 2 - Sweden 3 - Turkey 4 - Ukraine 5 - Lithuania 6 - Albania 7 - Switzerland 8 - Czech Republic 9 - Belarus 10 - Latvia 11 - Croatia 12 - Bulgaria 13 - Denmark 14 - Georgia 15 - Hungary 16 - Malta 17 - Cyprus 18 - FYR Macedonia 19 - Portugal Well this is the Semi final which I think will produce the winning song this year. Denmark, Macedonia and Portugal were all drawn first and were allowed to choose their positions and Portugal took the initiative and asked for singing last, which I think is a fantastic place for them. The first 4 countries drawn in this semi final are all pre contest fan favourites - Iceland, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine and will all be vying for the coveted 10 spots in the final.Then comes Lithuania and Albania and as much as I like Albania I cant see them qualifying from this spot. Then comes Switzerland, Czech Republic and Belarus which are 3 completely different songs, Latvia with their fantastic and in my opinion the best of the gim

Semi Final 1 1 - Montenegro 2 - Israel 3 - Estonia 4 - Moldova 5 - San Marino 6 - Belgium 7 - Azerbaijan 8 - Slovenia 9 - Norway 10 - Poland 11 - Ireland 12 - Andorra 13 - Bosnia & Herzegovina 14 - Armenia 15 - Netherlands 16 - Finland 17 - Romania 18 - Russia 19 - Greece Well what can I say Russia, Greece and Azerbaijan were the first 3 countries out and were therefore allowed to choose their singing places in the 1st Semi Final. Both Greece and Russia opting for the end of the draw whilst Azerbaijan went for 7th apparently a very lucky number in Azerbaijan. I think that the first half of this semi final will come across as quite dull with the exceptions being the best Israeli and Belgian entries in years. Will the curse of number 2 strike Israel though???! Songs 14 - 19 make the end of this semi final very interesting as I think there are 4 of the strongest songs in the entire contest taking part in this section of the semi. After having my Ipod set up now an

Which means next stop Belgrade!!!.............YIPPEE Tonight saw the very last National Final of the 2008 Eurovision Season with the Swedish Melodifestivalen and no suprises to the winning song. Charlotte Pirelli gave a truly fabulous performance with her song "Hero" which won the jury vote and came second with the public vote beating Sanna and her song "Empty Room" into 2nd place. San Marino also chose their song this week making them the 42nd country to choose and I have to say I am disappointed with their entry and cannot personally see it qualifying to the final. If San Marino doesn't qualify will this be then of a potential Italian revival and re-entry in 2009...........I hope not!! So lets see......... do I have a personal favourite this year? The answer to that question is yes! Iceland is my favourite and I think it is about time that this little island in the North Atlantic won this contest. Over the years they have sent many fantastic entries but o

Well it has been a very eventful National Final season and I have to say that for me personally I have been very disappointed with some of the songs chosen. Only 2 of the songs that I have liked have actually qualified to represent their country - Euroband from Iceland and No Angels from Germany. No Michelle Gayle from UK and No Beauty Queens from Serbia and Carola was knocked out of Melodifestival and The Tinkerbells wont be representing Norway. Mind you I have to say that I do like Jelena Tomasevic and her song Oro but am not sure it will give Serbia a second win in a row. Maria Haukaas Storeng from Norway should qualify to the final with Hold on Be Strong. The 2 songs that I did not think I would like but actually love are Vania Fernandes and her song Senhora Do Mar and also the Belgian song which is sung by Ishtar and is called O Julissi Na Jalini and once again is sung in an imaginary language - hopefully both of these songs will be heard again on the 24th May in the Eurovision f

List of participants updated for 6th March 2008..... Albania - Olta Boka - Zemren e lame peng Andorra - Gisela - Casanova Armenia - Sirusho Harutyunyan - (song title not yet known) Azerbaijan - Elnur Gusseinov - Day After Day Belarus - Ruslan Alehno - Hasta la vista Bosnia & Herzegovina - Elvir Lakovic Laka - Pokusaj Bulgaria - Deep Zone & Balthazar - DJ, take me away Croatia - Kraljevi Ulice - Romanca Cyprus - Evdokia Kadi - Femme Fatale Czech Republic - Tereza Kerndlová - Have some fun Denmark - Simon Mathew - All night long Estonia - Kreisiraadio - Leto Svet Finland - Teräsbetoni - Missä miehet ratsastaa FYROM - Tamara feat. Vrcak & Adrian Gaxha - Vo imeto ljubovta Georgia - Diana Gurtskaya - Peace Will Come Germany - No Angels - Disappear Greece - Kalomoira - Secret Combination Hungary - Csézy - Szívverés Iceland - Euroband - This is my life Ireland - Dustin the Turkey - Irlande Douze Points Israel - Boaz Mauda - Kailu kan Latvia - Pirates of the Sea - Wolves of the

List of participants updated for 4th March 2008..... Albania - Olta Boka - Zemren e lame peng Andorra - Gisela - Casanova Armenia - Sirusho Harutyunyan - (song title not yet known) Azerbaijan - Elnur Gusseinov - Day After Day Belarus - Ruslan Alehno - Hasta la vista Bosnia & Herzegovina - Elvir Lakovic Laka - Pokusaj Bulgaria - Deep Zone & Balthazar - DJ, take me away Croatia - Kraljevi Ulice - Romanca Cyprus - Evdokia Kadi - Femme Fatale Czech Republic - Tereza Kerndlová - Have some fun Denmark - Simon Mathew - All night long Estonia - Kreisiraadio - Leto Svet Finland - Teräsbetoni - Missä miehet ratsastaa FYROM - Tamara feat. Vrcak & Adrian Gaxha - Vo imeto ljubovta Georgia - Diana Gurtskaya - Peace Will Come Greece - Kalomoira - Secret Combination Hungary - Csézy - Szívverés Iceland - Euroband - This is my life Ireland - Dustin the Turkey - Irlande Douze Points Israel - Boaz Mauda - Kailu kan Latvia - Pirates of the Sea - Wolves of the Sea Lithuania - Jeronimas Milius

List of participants updated for 3rd March 2008..... Albania - Olta Boka - Zemren e lame peng Andorra - Gisela - Casanova Armenia - Sirusho Harutyunyan - (song title not yet known) Azerbaijan - Elnur Gusseinov - Day After Day Belarus - Ruslan Alehno - Hasta la vista Bosnia & Herzegovina - Elvir Lakovic Laka - Pokusaj Bulgaria - Deep Zone & Balthazar - DJ, take me away Croatia - Kraljevi Ulice - Romanca Cyprus - Evdokia Kadi - Femme Fatale Czech Republic - Tereza Kerndlová - Have some fun Denmark - Simon Mathew - All night long Estonia - Kreisiraadio - Leto Svet Finland - Teräsbetoni - Missä miehet ratsastaa FYROM - Tamara feat. Vrcak & Adrian Gaxha - Vo imeto ljubovta Georgia - Diana Gurtskaya - Peace Will Come Greece - Kalomoira - Secret Combination Hungary - Csézy - Szívverés Iceland - Euroband - This is my life Ireland - Dustin the Turkey - Irlande Douze Points Israel - Boaz Mauda - Kailu kan Latvia - Pirates of the Sea - Wolves of the Sea Lithuania - Jeronimas Milius

And the main news for me tonight is that Andy Abrahams has been chosen to represent the United Kingdom in Belgrade..........I was shocked initially to say the least, but in retrospect I think that he has a song that could do very well for us. At least its original and he wrote it himself. Latvia, Finland and Georgia also chose their representatives tonight and well what a mish mash of music..........gimmick from Latvia, Heavy Metal from Finland....again, but they do it so well and a ballad from Georgia. Personally, Im suprised there are not more ballads this year following last years Serbian win, but seriously thinking about it I think the ballads will get lost amongst the wide selection of songs already chosen.