Terminal 3.... The Eurovision Blog

Well with 7 months and 3 days to go before the 54th Eurovision song contest in Oslo we have 28 definate attendees and 2 definate not going, 3 definate not returning and 2 possible not going........ How confusing does that sound??? Ok so those withdrawing from 2010 are:- Czech Republic - apparently due to lack of interest from the viewers. Hungary - due to financial problems within MTV the National Broadcaster. 2 Possibles in not going are:- Estonia - due to financial troubles in ERR the National Broadcaster Lithuania - due to financial troubles in LRT the National Broadcaster Definately not returning:- Austria - Still not convinced that the voting problems have been sorted Monaco - No Money Luxembourg - No Money The 28 who have said yes are:- Albania Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Denmark Finland Georgia Germany Greece Iceland Israel Malta Netherlands Norway Poland Romania Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Possible returns c

Was the the night that France Gall won the 10th Eurovision Song Contest which was held in the RAI Concert Hall in Naples, Italy. This is one of the earliest contests that I have on DVD and I actually watched it a couple of nights ago. I have to say that for me it is not a classic contest and I like the winning song "Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son" but still think that Kathy Kirby and her song "I Belong" was actually better in a lot of ways on the night and was by far the most polished performance of the evening. However the night belonged to France Gall singing for Luxembourg and winning the contest for the tiny Duchy for the second time. Luxembourg won the contest by 6 points from United Kingdom which does not really seem a great deal but at the time it was a landslide victory and one that France Gall had held from the very first vote was cast by the Dutch Jury. The Top 5 of 1965:- 1. Luxembourg - France Gall Singing Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son 2. United Kin

After listening to the first semi final for this years Eurovision Song Contest in the order of performance I thought that I had better do the same with the Second Semi Final, which with the countries involved you would think is the stronger of the 2, however I don’t think it is. Croatia start the proceedings off with another haunting folky type ballad and I think it works, this is for me their best entry in several years. For me this is the second best entry from the former Yugoslav republics behind Bosnia & Herzegovina. Next we move to Ireland and after a blooming great turkey of a song last year they seem to be back on track and have sent what I think is an absolute corker of a song and a very Kelly Clarkson sounding song, I am not sure this is an overall winner but definately think a spot in the final is on the cards for the most successful Eurovision country. However the downfall for Ireland is they are singing second!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Latvia come next and it reminds me slightly

I thought that I would give a personal opinion of the draws for the semi finals and after listening to the songs in the order that they will be performed on Tuesday 12 May 2009 here is my opinion of the First Semi Final. After starting the semi final in 2008 with quite a drab song in comparison Montenegro once again kick off the 1st Semi Final with an uptempo number which really gets you to sit up and take notice and really gives the 1st Semi Final a good kick up the backside to begin with. Second to perform are Czech Republic with what could almost be called a gimmick song and I thought we might have got away from these this year, mind you I don’t think it is a bad one and the chorus is extremely catchy......... will the curse of number 2 strike the Czech’s this year. Belgium sing third and with the rockabilly sound makes this the 3rd uptempo song in a row, not their best entry, but could it stand out as something different... we shall have to see!! Belarus are 4th to perform and I j

Well thats it the National Final season for 2009 is now officially over and the countdown to Moscow has now started. The favourite with the bookies seems to be Norway with Greece and Turkey not too far behind. The United Kingdom are commanding 7th favourites at the moment whilst the 3 previous winning nations Russia, Serbia and Finland are not particularly well thought of with Russia being the best bet at 9th favourites. Its quite funny looking at the bets when you see that for the first time in years Russia are not the favourites of the former Soviet states....... that one goes to Azerbaijan this year and in my opinion deservedly so. The other suprise in the betting is to see that Montenegro who are in for the 3rd time is the favourite from the former Yugoslav Republics when they have over the past 2 years been the odds on favourites from that region not to get to the final...............will we see Montenegro in the final on May 16th??? I still am not sure on that one!!!! I still

So with a few more countries added, here is the current top 10 from votes cast....... 10th France 7pts 9th Greece 10pts 8th Andorra 11pts 7th Norway 24pts 6th Denmark 28pts 5th Iceland 29pts 4th Finland 31pts 3rd Turkey 32pts 2nd UK 33pts and leading at the moment is........ 1st Malta 51pts As before, feel free to leave your own votes in the comments section. If you have voted previously, it would be useful if you told us that you'd voted before and which comment in the previous blog is yours. Thanks and enjoy!

Colin and I have composed our own Top 10's form the 20 songs already chosen and here they are:- Colin's 1 - Malta 2 - Turkey 3 - Finland 4 - United Kingdom 5 - Poland 6 - Denmark 7 - Germany 8 - Iceland 9 - France 10 - The Netherlands Paul's 1 - Malta 2 - United Kingdom 3 - Iceland 4 - Finland 5 - France 6 - Slovenia 7 - Germany 8 - Poland 9 - Cyprus 10 - Denmark I swapped the placings for Eurovision points and at the time with 20 songs chosen our Top 10 is:- 1 - Malta 2 - United Kingdom 3 - Finland 4 - Iceland 5 - Turkey 6 - Poland 7 - France 8 - Germany 9 - Denmark 10 - Slovenia So if our tastes are anything to go by (probably not!) we'll be visiting Valletta in May 2010! As more countries announce their entrants, we'll obviously update it. If anyone would like to add their top 10 to the comments page, we'll add their votes to the total. So if you do participate, keep checking back for new blogs on this subject as new countries are added.

With 20 countries already having chosen their representatives and the song they will sing it is quite clear that the most popular genre of music in 2009 is the ballad. A genre of music which appears every year in some form or other, but on a much smaller scale seems to have taken over the popularity which had been taken over by the dancy/pop tune. The ballad I would say has not been this popular since the early 1990's. With that in mind the ballad is definately making a comeback in 2009 and with nearly half of the songs already being chosen being one. United Kingdom, France, Iceland, Denmark, Poland, Cyprus, Malta and Lithuania are to date sending ballads and I think they are all pretty darn good. So why is the ballad making a comeback in 2009? I wonder whether that it is due to the comeback of the juries in 2009 and that most countries seem to be using a 50/50 jury/televote split in choosing their entry. Will all these ballads get lost amongst the others? I don't think so b

This weekend has so far seen another five countries decide their entries, so here is the updated list of entrants and their songs...... Albania - Kejsi Tola - Me Merr ne Enderr Andorra - Susanne Georgi - La Teva Decisio Armenia - Inga & Anush - Non Par Azerbaijan - Aysel - Arash Belarus - Petr Elfimov - Eyes That Never Lie Bosnia & Herzegovina - Regina - Bistra Voda Cyprus - Christina Metaxa - Firefly Czech Republic - Gipsy.cz - ??? Denmark - Brinck - Believe Again Finland - Waldo's People - Lose Control France - Patricia Kaas - Et s'il fallait le faire Germany - Oscar Loya - 4 words with 4 letters: Miss Kiss Kiss Bang Greece - Sakis Rouvas - ??? Hungary - Katya Tompos - Maganyos csonak (withdrawn - awaiting further news) Iceland - Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir - Is It True Israel - Noa and Mira Awad - ??? Lithuania - Sasha Son - Pasiklydes zmogus Malta - Chiara - What If We Moldova - Nelly Ciobanu - Hora Din Moldova! Montenegro - Andrea Demirovic - Just Get Out of My Life

Semi final 1: Andorra, Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey Also, United Kingdom, Germany and Spain will have to broadcast semi final One and televote for it. Semi final 2: Albania, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine Also, Russia and France will have to broadcast semi final Two and televote for it. Well we know that 7 songs from the 1st semi final have been announced and depending what happens with the others I really cannot see how Malta, Finland and Turkey will not qualify and without their songs being chosen yet I predict that the 10 to qualify will be:- Armenia, Bosnia, Finland, Malta, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal, Iceland, Switzerland, Belgium. Now Semi Final 2 is a difficult one but by the end of tomorrow night

It would be nice for Man Meadow to be the Polish representative as it will bring another little bit of schlager to this years contest.........but we'll see on Saturday night.

And yes I am a BIG BIG Alcazar fan!!!!!!!!!!!

GOOD LUCK Alexander Rybak with the song "Fairytale"

Don't you just lovethe National Finals, some of these can be just as exciting as the actual Eurovision Song Contest itself. But where are the National Finals heading this year? It would seem that the favourite genre of music this year appears to me to be "THE BALLAD" The United Kingdom,Malta, Hungary, Cyprus, Denmark and France have all chosen them and I would say that 3 of them could actually win the Eurovision outright. The next type of music which we seem to be getting is plain standard middle of the road pop but with a hint of Greece's "Kalomoira" in it.... The girls from Andorra, Montenegro, Turkey, Romania and Albania are al out in force with this type of music but I'm sorry girls your just not as good as Ani, Sirusho or Kalomoira from 2008, well maybe excluding Hadise from that one!!! Mind you the dance song along the lines of Bulgaria and Iceland from 2008 are also making a welcome return.....Finland with the utterly fabulous "Lose Control&q

So with a busy week of national selection programmes, here is the updated list of entrants and their songs...... Albania - Kejsi Tola - Me Merr ne Enderr Andorra - Susanne Georgi - La Teva Decisio Azerbaijan - Aysel - Arash Belarus - Petr Elfimov - Eyes That Never Lie Bosnia & Herzegovina - Regina - Bistra Voda Cyprus - Christina Metaxa - Firefly Czech Republic - Gipsy.cz - ??? Denmark - Brinck - Believe Again Finland - Waldo's People - Lose Control France - Patricia Kaas - Et s'il fallait le faire Greece - Sakis Rouvas - ??? Hungary - Katya Tompos - Maganyos csonak Israel - Noa and Mira Awad - ??? Malta - Chiara - What If We Montenegro - Andrea Demirovic - Just Get Out of My Life Netherland - De Toppers - Shine Romania - Elena Gheorghe - The Balkan Girls Slovenia - Quartissimo - Love Symphony Switzerland - Lovebugs - ??? Turkey - Hadise - Düm tek tek United Kingdom - Jade Ewan - It's My Time Deciding this week...... Armenia, Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, Moldova and

Malta choose tonight and who would bet on Chiara not getting the ticket to Moscow!!! She is by far and away the favourite to win tonight in Valetta and would definately give the UK a run for their money and could even bring about a repeat of the 1998 Song Contest. If Chiara gets the ticket to Eurovision then I will have got 3 right so far which is better than last year where the only song I supported and got right was No Angels from Germany.

So now that we are well into the National Final season, it's time to bring back a welcomed feature of last year's build up to Eurovision. Everytime a country choses it's singer or song, we'll update you here. So here we go with the first update of entries chosen so far...... Albania - Kejsi Tola - Me Merr ne Enderr Azerbaijan - Aysel - ??? Belarus - Petr Elfimov - Eyes That Never Lie Bosnia & Herzegovina - Regina - Bistra Voda Czech Republic - Gipsy.cz - ??? Denmark - Brinck - Believe Again Finland - Waldo's People - Lose Control France - Patricia Kaas - ??? Greece - Sakis Rouvas - ??? Israel - Noa and Mira Awad - ??? Montenegro - Andrea Demirovic - Just Get Out of My Life Netherland - De Toppers - Shine Romania - Elena Gheorghe - The Balkan Girls Slovenia - Quartissimo - Love Symphony Switzerland - Lovebugs - ??? Turkey - Hadise - Düm tek tek United Kingdom - Jade - It's My Time Over the next week, we'll see the national finals in Andorra, Cyprus and

So it's the beginning of February and the UK are all ready for Eurovision . For so many years we've had to wait until the last minute before finding out who was going to represent us. However, with the passing of Wogan's reign over the ridicule of Eurovision in the UK, we were told that it was now time to take it seriously again to bring the Eurovision back to the UK shores, rather than being the laughing stock of the rest of Europe. With UK fans having been told this numerous times before by the BBC, could we believe that this year was any different? Enter Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber , probably one of the best musical writers ever known (well, in my eyes anyway!) Maybe we were going to take it seriously this time. Stepping into Wogan's shoes, to take it seriously.... we choose a comedian!!?! To choose our entrant, 5 shows - 4 being live, with Andrew Lloyd Webber writing the song for the winner. Seriousness is thrown out of the window right from the start with so

And become the 4th country to announce both singer and song - Andrea Demirovic will sing an uptempo cheese fest of a song called "Just Get Out of My Life" and I have to say that out of the 4 chosen so far it is my 2nd favourite behind Turkey. Born in 1985 in Titograd, Montenegro she has 2 previous attempts at representing her country, Firstly in Beovijia to represent what was then Serbia & Montenegro and then again to represent Montenegro. So finally she gets the opportunity to represent her home country in Moscow in May. I have to say I do prefer the song to last years entry but still prefer Steven Faddy's 2007 entry. She is the first female representative from Montenegro, but will she be the first to qualify for the Eurovision Final......Only time will tell.....Personally I think she may have a very good chance!!! But what do I know and there are still 39 to choose!!

Today I was reading an article on ESCToday regarding the United Kingdom and that the song title was now known and it gave me a link to another article which was in the Daily Mail which was an interview with Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and I have to say I was sick to death of the comments people were making on there about the UK at Eurovision and this years procedure for choosing the song. So I let rip, I had 1000 characters and made sure I used every single one of them to have a go at the quite obvious non Eurovision fans for the constant moaning. Please bear in mind these are my own thoughts and comments and no one elses. "The real reason for the UK not doing so well at Eurovision over the past few years is down to one thing and one thing only - the public vote - YES thats right you lot who are all on here moaning about it!!! You all voted for Daz Sampson instead of Tony Costa, Scooch instead of Cyndi and Andy Abrahams instead of Michelle Gayle. All of these singers especially Cyn

The weekend of the 30 January to 2 February 2009 will see the announcement of 6 Countries songs for Eurovision including:- Romania Finland United Kingdom The Netherlands Slovenia Denmark Denmark have in my mind got one of the strongest National Finals for a long time and there are at least 5 songs which I think could do very well in Moscow. Unfortunately due to not being in the country that weekend I will have to catch up with the announcements upon my return on February 3rd. I am going to say right now and stick my neck on the line that I think that 1 of the following will win:- Trine Jepsen - I'll Never Fall In Love Again Sukkerchok - Det' Det Johnny Deluxe - Sindssyg Christina Undhjem - Underneath My Skin My favourite is Sukkerchok and would love that go to Moscow.

And I'm sorry but they have decided what I can only describe as a horrid soft metal song called "Eyes That Never Lie" and is sung by Petr Elfimov. This is by no ways in the same league as Koldun or Ruslan Alenho and I think this is the second worst song sent by Belarus ever in their history of Eurovision entries. I simply cannot bring myself to like this song and after expecting even greater things from them this year I simply cannot see us visiting Minsk in 2010. However we all have our own tastes in music, so here it is for you to listen too.

it has been in Euro land..................Another 3 countries have announced their singers, but not the songs which will be announced later. Azerbaijan are sending Aysel a 19 year old singer whom I think after watching her rehearsal is not exactly what I expected after their debut last year and dont think that she is a particularly strong singer. Bosnia & Herzegovina are sending Regina a rock group who have a wealth of experience and have been around for a while and I think given a decent song could do ok. However Switzerland have pulled out all the stops and are sending Lovebugs and from watching the videos on You Tube could actually do very well for the Swiss if they have a brilliant song which I can see them doing. Could this be the year which sees Switzerland back in the Eurovision Final.....I do hope so

That they will be sending a rock band to Moscow with a song called "Bistra Voda" (Clear Water). The band is called Regina and have been on the scene for over 20 years. The song will be presented to the public on March1st. Personally I am not a massive fan of rock so it will be very interesting to see what happens with the Bosnian entry.

According to early reports and following many names being thrown into the ring it would seem that IBA (the Israeli TV Company) have offered the job of bringing the Eurovision Crown back to Jerusalem to Ahinoam Nini (more commonly known in Israel as Noa). It is believed that she was offered the job this morning by IBA and accepted the job in a similar sort of fashion to last years Azerbaijan representatives by saying she would only go if her friend Mira Awad who is an Israeli-Arab performed with her. It is believed that Noa and Mira will present 3 songs on IBA and the public will be asked to choose the one to go to Moscow.

According to ESCtoday the French will be announcing that Patricia Kaas will be representing them at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. A big name in France she has sold well over 17 million records worldwide since the app earance of her first album in 1988. Following a break from the music industry which started in 2005 she is returning to the International stage to sing what could possibly be the best French entry in years (even though I dont know what it is yet!!!) Further information regarding the French representative will be updated regularly.

Well what a coup for the UK!!! A multi award winning composer in the form of Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber composing the song and a Multi Grammy Award winning Diane Warren helping with the lyrics. Oh my god I am soooooooo excited about this!!! The superstars this woman has written for is phenomenal, they include 5 Star, Cher, Bette Midler, Belinda Carlisle, Aaliyah, Ace of Base, Al Green, Backstreet Boys, Barbra Streisand, Bill Medley, Bon Jovi, Bonnie Tyler, Brandy, Chaka Khan, Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion and Diana Ross to name but a few. With 3 Grammy Awards, 6 Academy Award Nominations, 4 Golden Globe Nominations, 18 Billboard Awards and Honours and 26 other awards I personally think that this is the best news for the United Kingdom. Do you think the United Kingdom will be the one to beat in Moscow with this team behind the song cos I do!!!

And what a belter of a song it is, even my eldest son thinks this is a winner. I actually think that this is the best Turkish entry since "Superstar" from Athens 2006 and am secretly hoping that this could mean a second Turkish victory. The song I think has that ethnic Turkish hint to it with a serious dance, and with a hint of Elena Paparizou in the singer that could spell success for Turkey. I still think we could be seeing a succession of dance numbers coming through over the next few weeks.