Eurovision 2009

[Australis]

Seeing I can't find a thread about this yet, thought I'd start.

Since the late 90s, the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) has been a great source of amusement, ever since I flicked past the show one night and saw a pop group that looked like the Outer Mongolian version of the Spice Girls. There has been some weird and whacky stuff over the years, as well as some really good pop songs. Plus one year 2000, there was this interval act that just blew me away - street perfomers from Stockholm, plus a bunch of other dancers and drummers, with video footage that captures a brief but brilliant snapshot of a nation and a culture:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kulVHmJOjXU

For me, the ESC reached a peak in, iirc, 2005 or 6. The last couple of years have been, to me, pretty bland, and the block voting was getting old.

So with some trepidation I looked in at the setup for this year, and found a few things out.

One the voting this year will be half telephone, half jury. This could be a good idea, as it should break the monopoly of block votes and award the song some points on the merit of its quality alone.

Which brings me to my other point. Here in Australia we've been getting a ahlf hour show over 3 nights 'Countdown to Eurovision', which has snatces of all of this year's songs. While there are some I don't like, there aren't really that many duds. Some aren't great, but the quality is way up on the last few years. I'm a bit sad about that, as some of the left-of-field stuff was bloody funny.

I have to add that the UK entry, I think, is a bit so-so, but wow, talk about pulling out the big guns! The songwriters are Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren! They must really want to win after the fiasco of the last 3-4 years (Scootch and Jemini, I'm looking at you!).

And no Terry Wogan!! He really hasn't enjoyed it the last few years, but still...

So, right now, I haven't seen any of the semi-finals, we're getting them Down Under Friday and Saturday, the final on Sunday. Ummm, don't be too spoilerish, is all I ask.

For those who want to know more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_2009

What are your thoughts?

 

[Angel4576]

My thoughts on this subject are quite simple, ban all of the Baltic states and the competition would be a lot better for it.

At the moment it's little more than Europe's showcase for the musically retarded.

 

[Nociod]

Norway is going to win this year

 

[Stardate]

Norway is going to win this year

It is the best song but their is a lot of eastern European countries voting for each others.. Especially countries belonging to former Yugoslavia.

 

[Daedalus12]

I liked Lordi's Hard Rock Hallelujah. Other than that song the whole competition is meh.

 

[FPAlpha]

My thoughts on this subject are quite simple, ban all of the Baltic states and the competition would be a lot better for it.

At the moment it's little more than Europe's showcase for the musically retarded.

You don't need to ban entire regions.. just ban voting for your immediate neighbors. I think that would solve many problems and would introduce great diversity and who knows.. maybe the best song would win instead of the hottest babe or the most outlandish act.

As it stands now it will again be about hot babes (Dita von Teese will do a strip during Germany's act for crying out lout! ) instead of the music.. i'll waste my time on better things.

 

[Darth_Yoda]

No Wogan whats the point?

To be honest I'll watch it, its usually entertaining in some sort of twisted way.

Here's to the UK being last again :P

 

[Cky]

No point watching if Terry Wogan isn't there telling it as it is.

 

[Nociod]

Norway is going to win this year

It is the best song but their is a lot of eastern European countries voting for each others.. Especially countries belonging to former Yugoslavia.

Yeah I'm aware of that. But he has an "advantage" of actually being born in the Soviet Union, Belarus before immigrating to Norway as a child, might get some points for that.

I haven't been paying that much attention to Eurovision, but since I live in Norway they play Alexanders song ALL THE TIME on the radio, and I must say, it's a catchy tune.

 

[Australis]

Well, I've just watched the songs in the 1st semifinal.

Some thoughts:

The voting's been changed. Points are allocated, half from telephone votes, half from the results from a jury in each country. I think the idea is to defuse block voting and judge each song on its merits.

The Czech Republic novelty act was a bit dull

Ther Turkish song had a bet each way, trying to repeat the success of 'Every Way That I Can' froma few years ago combined with Shakira.

The stage is bloody amazing! TV screens that can change configuration! Very impressive.

The Malta and Bosnia Herzegovina songs were a bit dull but got through

The Belgium act Copycat was an Elvis clone. How odd.

'Popera', mixing opera and pop, seems to be popular this year.

I really like the Armenian song 'Jan Jan', the mix of ethnic and pop music.

The Bulgarian entry pulled out all the stops but ended up a bit if a mess, as a song and as a presentation.

I wish the onstage hosts would STOP SHOUTING!! I remember Terry Wogan's description of the hosts from a few years ago, "Doctor Death and the Tooth Fairy". This year they'd be 'Aging Moptop and Siberian Barbie' And rounded out with the Russian Army Choir and bounteous folk dancing. Or similar. And those Army hats! "Does my head look big in this?" Now kids are breakdancing to the Army singing the song 'Those Were The Days', followed by precision drumming! And then... they brought out tATu!! Disgraced former lesbian popstars?! Well, when I say 'former lesbian' I mean 'pretend lesbian for financial gain'.

It's that weird mix of stuff that turns it into Entertainment.

I miss Tezza.

That's all I can think of right now. More later.

 

[Pindar]

The male host this year spectacularly bad, I look forward to the main show tomorrow night.

Hopefully the new voting system will correct the terrible block voting of the last few years.

 

[JRS]

Quite good Eurovision this year
The finale will be very good, song wise
I really hope that either UK or Iceland will win...

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I don't know if I can watch without Tel, and/or plenty of booze, unfortunately the booze is out of the question.

 

[SummerDream]

So, right now, I haven't seen any of the semi-finals, we're getting them Down Under Friday and Saturday, the final on Sunday. Ummm, don't be too spoilerish, is all I ask.

Text copied from the site:
http://www.eurovision.tv/page/multimedia/tv
Watch the Eurovision Song Contest live online

YES, you can watch the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest LIVE online, through Eurovision.tv!
EVENT 1st Semi-Final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest DATE & TIME
Tuesday, 12th of May, 2009 (21:00 CET) AVAILABLE ON-DEMAND?
Yes, shortly after the show! EVENT 2nd Semi-Final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest DATE & TIME
Thursday, 14th of May, 2009 (21:00 CET) AVAILABLE ON-DEMAND? Yes, shortly after the show! EVENT Final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest DATE & TIME
Saturday, 16th of May, 2009 (21:00 CET) AVAILABLE ON-DEMAND? Yes, shortly after the show!
--------------------
Better not to tell any spoilers then, but am unemployed now so watched both semifinals. Not many good songs.
I doubt they would mind if you dl'd a torrent either since the tv-licence payers have already paid for the show. I have often watched the final but nearly as often fallen asleep when they start counting the points.
The Red Army choir was the best performer in first semifinal. (Not one of the songs taking part in the contest but it performed before the voting.) Won't be voting but if I did, would vote for Turkey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCZNfeWGTkQ
Red Army Choir.
I guess they should ask Australia to take part as well if they are showing it there.

 

[TheGodBen]

Norway is going to win this year

I don't normally pay attention to the eurovision, but I've been subjected to many of the songs this year and I agree that Norway should win. Estonia's song is good too, but Norway's song is more fun.

 

[stoneroses]

If you watch as a big camp bash it's a laugh but they very rarely discover or make any artists who make it big. ABBA aside nobody has made their names through it.
The voting is a joke ans so no band worth a bean is ever going to enter to end up looking silly. They should make it The European Union song contest after all the countries who pay for it are all EU members.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

They should have brought Ken Bruce from Radio 2 to the television. I'll see how Graham Norton fares tomorrow...

 

[wamdue]

the song is awful, so generic, I expected better from Lyold Weber, dont think ill bother this year, we will loose again, next year we will continue to fund it for no good reason.

ill watch Primeval instead.

 

[Australis]

Thanks for the info, SummerDream. Some would have problem with dl's, one of the local stations, SBS, which specialises in European programming, shows it every year, as well as some of the related specials. And the PC I currently use is a bit old and creaky for streaming, but I'll give it a try shortly.

And I thinks a lot of Australians wouldn't mind if we took part... but we're a long way from Europe... at least geographically.

wamdue: yeah, you'd think Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren ('Faith Of The Heart' and dozens of Top 10 songs) would have come up with something a little less... generic. I suppose the time constraint is a bit of a hassle, making it hard to come up with something really epic.

The Aussie hosts were fairly laid back for the first semifinal. I'm hoping thety get round to something more along Tezza's lines.

 

[Angel4576]

I wouldn't mind Norway winning.

Just so long as it's not another fcuking Eastern European backwater.

The idea of preventing nations voting for their immediate neighbours, the problem with that is it that if their neighbour genuinely has a good song, it punishes them and denies them votes that they could and should get.

As before, I'd just ban the satellite states.

Either that, or the primary Eurovision contributors, the likes of the UK, Germany, France etc should just pull away, set up a new competition and leave the rest of the musically retarded to it.