Too few German tourists in Spain, dammit. 
Come on, we can't be behind the crazy Moldovans.
Come on, we can't be behind the crazy Moldovans.
Eurovision Song Contest 2011 (Düsseldorf, Germany)
- Thread starter JRS
- Start date
Hey Ireland we gave you 12 
Ha, take that, Moldova!
I sort of liked Jedward. I thought they might even win due to the crazyness but instead it's a boring song from Azerbaijan. But the runners up were pretty good.
So, my thoughts on the final, that we get 12 hours after everybody else. Next year I might have to make the effort to watch it live.
The opening. Okay the swing/big band version wasn’t at all bad, and made up for the host’s general prattiness and was a great way to start, all colour, movement and swinging music!
I like the postcards – making them look like model trains etc is clever. And they stressed how very cosmopolitan Germany is, and that’s a good thing, a brilliant tourism campaign. Hey, crazy old man parachutes off a windmill! Hasn’t he seen ‘Terminal Velocity’?!
Finland: Mmmm, just a bit twee for me. Message songs are a tad annoying at times. As our commentators said, tha guy should have been in Junior Eurovision.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: a charming song, catchy in its own way, visually appealing too.
Denmark: I like a good rock song. This wasn’t it.
Lithuania: singing in several languages, including sign language. Uhhh. Right. Good voice, not sure about the song.
Hungary: Now that’s Eurovision! Big song by a blonde in a pretty dress, busy backing dancers, Then slow the tempo for the verse before back to the Eurodisco chorus. One of the better examples of that style, it has to be said.
Ireland: the infamous boys with the sticky-up hair. How much sugar have these guys had? It’s catchy but its [searches for suitably wanky critic’s term… ah, here: ] relentless kineticism is offputting. And sorry, I have to make an observation – one of the backing singers has a great pair of legs shown off to great effect in a black mini… another Eurovision tradition.
[Searches net…. hmm, Leanne Moore, a career in her own right. Good for her.]
Sweden: hyperkinetic dancers. Probably due to ADHD. I blame MTV. Or something. ‘Popular’? Not so much, prefer the Darren Hayes song of the same name. That was just so… boom, stayed at the same level, didn’t go anywhere.
Estonia: wow, this song has a really annoying click track. And she’s a bit saccharine. The song’s a bit all over the place, especially against the one size fits all of the previous song.
Greece: I can see what they’re trying to do, but it doesn’t quite work for me. Pretty powerful, good performance.
Russia: what can this boy not do?! Stuntman, singer, dancer, musician, actor, the list goes on! Though I get the impression he’s kinda thinking, “How great am I? Don’t you just love me?” More MTV Attention Span Dancers, blink and you’ll miss some other shape they throw.
France: big song, bringing class back to EV. It’s good, but does France ever want to win this competition? Their choices, while good, are often spectacularly wrong for this format. As someone elsewhere said, this song somehow escaped from Les Mis.
Italy: good to see them back. An unusual choice for an entry, very retro, but it has a casual swing that’s tolerable. And it was very well performed, all top class musos for sure! Audience really liked them.
Observation – EV is so much more professional these days. While the muso in me thinks this is good, part of me misses some of the car accidents of previous years that have had me in stitches.
Switzerland: a cute song, but no winner.
UK: a boyband entry is so 1990s. Bit egotistical performing in fronr of huge pictures oif your self. Given my general loathing of boybands, this wasn’t to bad, and a creditable entry (considering past efforts like Jemini and Scootch).
Moldova: Ska! With traditional trumpets! Meets Devo! And I don’t get the monocle. In some ways a traditional bat’s arse EV entry.
Germany: the backing dancers are straight out of a James Bond title sequence. Mmm, this seems to be her “I’m a serious artist now” song, in some ways, veering into late Avril Lavigne territory. Not a winner, by a long shot.
Romania: hmm, one of those piano type songs. Just a shade too cheesy and upbeat for me to really enjoy it, which is a shame. In the hands of a different singer perhaps. Catchy but not a winner.
Austria: as the commentator said, powerful song, powerful singer, powerful fringe. Bit too much of the Mariah-Whitneys for me (not holding a note, just jumping all around it), which is a shame because when she does she’s very good.
Azerbaijan: I’m not seeing the appeal (the local news spoilered it). It’s a solid enough song, but I’ve seen a dozen of them since I started watching EV in ‘99.
Slovenia: see, I thinks this is much better than the previous entry. A song with light and shade and a really good singer who just stands there in her thigh high boots and lets it rip!
Iceland: a bittersweet song with a bittersweet story behind it. Trouble is, it’s a bit ‘Save Your Kisses For Me’, a bit 70s. Nice. Not a winner.
Spain: a bright and breezy song with a bright and breezy singer. More fine work from the MTV Attention Span Dancers.
Ukraine: the sand work is very good… but not really part of the song, just gives it a kind of video clip feel, and distracts from the performance. It’s good, but as with others, done many times before.
Serbia: wow, who said the 60s were dead? J It’s fun and frothy, and despite its retro feel, a bit of a change.
Georgia: I was getting an Amy Winehouse vibe from the singer, if AW had more talent and self-control. Very energetic. Not bad but not a winner, in the Lordi style of rock.
Struck all over again how vintage some of the songs feel, harking back to earlier decades. How odd, that an entire country would vote these songs to represent them.
The show was sponsored by Schwarzkopf. They had just one ad, a really annoying one, for ‘push up hair’, which also featured an incredibly plastic model in a push up bra. She’s not even speaking English, it’s badly dubbed. If I never see that ad again, life will be good.
Part of the interval act is a singer in a plaid suit I’ve never heard of. Actually you’d think he was an entry from Austria or a slightly hip East European backwater, a frantic piece of ska-pop followed by a pop-rocker that wasn’t too bad at all. Still, I miss class work like the 2000 interval act, which still knocks me out (and if you haven’t seen it, YT is your friend, run, don’t walk).
The voting seems all over the place, which is not a bad thing. The usual block votes, but everyone else seems to be putting some thought into it. The result still seems damned odd, though. Thought Switzerland would have done a little better.
Why Azerbaijan? Why? As Shaytan said, boring. One wonders about the juries, how they came to vote for this.
Oh well, it'll be interesting to see if that country can clean up its act a bit for next year, what with all the tourists and journalist and the whatnot.
In short, a good show, just a bit of a shame there wasn't the zany as in previous years.
The opening. Okay the swing/big band version wasn’t at all bad, and made up for the host’s general prattiness and was a great way to start, all colour, movement and swinging music!
I like the postcards – making them look like model trains etc is clever. And they stressed how very cosmopolitan Germany is, and that’s a good thing, a brilliant tourism campaign. Hey, crazy old man parachutes off a windmill! Hasn’t he seen ‘Terminal Velocity’?!
Finland: Mmmm, just a bit twee for me. Message songs are a tad annoying at times. As our commentators said, tha guy should have been in Junior Eurovision.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: a charming song, catchy in its own way, visually appealing too.
Denmark: I like a good rock song. This wasn’t it.
Lithuania: singing in several languages, including sign language. Uhhh. Right. Good voice, not sure about the song.
Hungary: Now that’s Eurovision! Big song by a blonde in a pretty dress, busy backing dancers, Then slow the tempo for the verse before back to the Eurodisco chorus. One of the better examples of that style, it has to be said.
Ireland: the infamous boys with the sticky-up hair. How much sugar have these guys had? It’s catchy but its [searches for suitably wanky critic’s term… ah, here: ] relentless kineticism is offputting. And sorry, I have to make an observation – one of the backing singers has a great pair of legs shown off to great effect in a black mini… another Eurovision tradition.
[Searches net…. hmm, Leanne Moore, a career in her own right. Good for her.]Sweden: hyperkinetic dancers. Probably due to ADHD. I blame MTV. Or something. ‘Popular’? Not so much, prefer the Darren Hayes song of the same name. That was just so… boom, stayed at the same level, didn’t go anywhere.
Estonia: wow, this song has a really annoying click track. And she’s a bit saccharine. The song’s a bit all over the place, especially against the one size fits all of the previous song.
Greece: I can see what they’re trying to do, but it doesn’t quite work for me. Pretty powerful, good performance.
Russia: what can this boy not do?! Stuntman, singer, dancer, musician, actor, the list goes on! Though I get the impression he’s kinda thinking, “How great am I? Don’t you just love me?” More MTV Attention Span Dancers, blink and you’ll miss some other shape they throw.
France: big song, bringing class back to EV. It’s good, but does France ever want to win this competition? Their choices, while good, are often spectacularly wrong for this format. As someone elsewhere said, this song somehow escaped from Les Mis.
Italy: good to see them back. An unusual choice for an entry, very retro, but it has a casual swing that’s tolerable. And it was very well performed, all top class musos for sure! Audience really liked them.
Observation – EV is so much more professional these days. While the muso in me thinks this is good, part of me misses some of the car accidents of previous years that have had me in stitches.
Switzerland: a cute song, but no winner.
UK: a boyband entry is so 1990s. Bit egotistical performing in fronr of huge pictures oif your self. Given my general loathing of boybands, this wasn’t to bad, and a creditable entry (considering past efforts like Jemini and Scootch).
Moldova: Ska! With traditional trumpets! Meets Devo! And I don’t get the monocle. In some ways a traditional bat’s arse EV entry.
Germany: the backing dancers are straight out of a James Bond title sequence. Mmm, this seems to be her “I’m a serious artist now” song, in some ways, veering into late Avril Lavigne territory. Not a winner, by a long shot.
Romania: hmm, one of those piano type songs. Just a shade too cheesy and upbeat for me to really enjoy it, which is a shame. In the hands of a different singer perhaps. Catchy but not a winner.
Austria: as the commentator said, powerful song, powerful singer, powerful fringe. Bit too much of the Mariah-Whitneys for me (not holding a note, just jumping all around it), which is a shame because when she does she’s very good.
Azerbaijan: I’m not seeing the appeal (the local news spoilered it). It’s a solid enough song, but I’ve seen a dozen of them since I started watching EV in ‘99.
Slovenia: see, I thinks this is much better than the previous entry. A song with light and shade and a really good singer who just stands there in her thigh high boots and lets it rip!
Iceland: a bittersweet song with a bittersweet story behind it. Trouble is, it’s a bit ‘Save Your Kisses For Me’, a bit 70s. Nice. Not a winner.
Spain: a bright and breezy song with a bright and breezy singer. More fine work from the MTV Attention Span Dancers.
Ukraine: the sand work is very good… but not really part of the song, just gives it a kind of video clip feel, and distracts from the performance. It’s good, but as with others, done many times before.
Serbia: wow, who said the 60s were dead? J It’s fun and frothy, and despite its retro feel, a bit of a change.
Georgia: I was getting an Amy Winehouse vibe from the singer, if AW had more talent and self-control. Very energetic. Not bad but not a winner, in the Lordi style of rock.
Struck all over again how vintage some of the songs feel, harking back to earlier decades. How odd, that an entire country would vote these songs to represent them.
The show was sponsored by Schwarzkopf. They had just one ad, a really annoying one, for ‘push up hair’, which also featured an incredibly plastic model in a push up bra. She’s not even speaking English, it’s badly dubbed. If I never see that ad again, life will be good.
Part of the interval act is a singer in a plaid suit I’ve never heard of. Actually you’d think he was an entry from Austria or a slightly hip East European backwater, a frantic piece of ska-pop followed by a pop-rocker that wasn’t too bad at all. Still, I miss class work like the 2000 interval act, which still knocks me out (and if you haven’t seen it, YT is your friend, run, don’t walk).
The voting seems all over the place, which is not a bad thing. The usual block votes, but everyone else seems to be putting some thought into it. The result still seems damned odd, though. Thought Switzerland would have done a little better.
Why Azerbaijan? Why? As Shaytan said, boring. One wonders about the juries, how they came to vote for this.
Oh well, it'll be interesting to see if that country can clean up its act a bit for next year, what with all the tourists and journalist and the whatnot.
In short, a good show, just a bit of a shame there wasn't the zany as in previous years.
Didn't get Azerbaijan's appeal either or Italy's. On the rest of the top four: Ukraine was weird, I watched it twice but all I remember is the sand artist, she pretty much distracted me from the song, so I don't now how to judge it. Sweden, was not my type of song but I get why it would get votes.
I thought Serbia would have done better, I wonder if it had been in English if it would have. Don't think Switzerland deserved to be last either. Plus there was quite a bit of unpleasantness in the crowd, is there always that much booing during the voting? I don't remember that much last year. I do like that it was a closer race this year, it wasn't until around the 40th country when you could safely call it. Previous two years the winner was certain quite early through.
On the hosts: Anke was kind of odd. She had some strange facial expressions and over the top actions. Judith was normal and Stefan...he was a bit of a tool, but he was given some strange lines by the writers. Weirdest moment was when he carried Anke over his shoulder up the stairs, she continued to say her section and when they got to the top and she finished Stefan just turned around and said his lines with Anke's (not disgraceful) backside on his shoulder and facing the camera.
Compared to last year, which was the only other contest I've watched both semis and the final, I didn't like as many songs this year. Australis said last year had a bit more colour. Looking forward to next year and as with one of our commentators, learning where Azerbaijan is.
I thought Serbia would have done better, I wonder if it had been in English if it would have. Don't think Switzerland deserved to be last either. Plus there was quite a bit of unpleasantness in the crowd, is there always that much booing during the voting? I don't remember that much last year. I do like that it was a closer race this year, it wasn't until around the 40th country when you could safely call it. Previous two years the winner was certain quite early through.
On the hosts: Anke was kind of odd. She had some strange facial expressions and over the top actions. Judith was normal and Stefan...he was a bit of a tool, but he was given some strange lines by the writers. Weirdest moment was when he carried Anke over his shoulder up the stairs, she continued to say her section and when they got to the top and she finished Stefan just turned around and said his lines with Anke's (not disgraceful) backside on his shoulder and facing the camera.
Compared to last year, which was the only other contest I've watched both semis and the final, I didn't like as many songs this year. Australis said last year had a bit more colour. Looking forward to next year and as with one of our commentators, learning where Azerbaijan is.
The problem with Raab is that he is best when he can improvise and totally sucks when he has to adhere to a strict script like yesterday.
I guess the main reason he wanted to do this was because it was one role he hadn't played yet in the contest . He was there as a performer, as a composer, and as a producer, so now moderator is another ESC job he has done.
I guess the main reason he wanted to do this was because it was one role he hadn't played yet in the contest . He was there as a performer, as a composer, and as a producer, so now moderator is another ESC job he has done.
Jan Delay actually started out in hip hop but ever since he's become a solo artist he keeps changing his musical style. His debut album Searching for the Jan Soul Rebels is one of the best German albums ever, I think. The second one, Mercedes Dance, is also pretty good.
Well, she is odd. Kind of crazy but pretty funny (she's a comedian).
Make that two for 'I've never heard of'.
Honestily, he was like some Kanye West European Wannabe (To me.)
A speculation I've heard on another forum is that the juries were trying to set up a battle with Italy, Ukraine and Sweden for the last few votes (it would make sense in Italy's case, because I can't see how people voted for it) but Azerbaijan won the televote by a large margin and scuppered their plans.
If we get the split results, we'll be able to see better how the contest went.
No offense, everyone, but I'm struggling to see how anyone could not see Running Scared as winning material. As soon as I heard it for the first time I said to myself "That should win," and now it actually has.
No offense to anyone who likes this, but for a musician, doing the Euro Vision song contest is like Career suicide, over here. The only reason why Blue done it was because, the last time anyone had ever heard of Blue was in 2002. (If I'm honest) It's just a huge tounge and cheek light hearted joke.
Italy was original, alive (in a live interpretation, that's a major point, it's more important than being technically perfect) and had some musical qualities.
Because it's forgettable...hey, I already don't remember it.
It's made to please people who doesn't really care about music, who are happy with something easy to the hears. But when you think about it, there is no material in it, nothing to remember.