Eurovision 2008 FINAL - Rolling/Polling

So looking forward to this!

Obviously it doesn't stand a chance, but Sébastien Tellier's "Divine" is still my personal favourite.

Other than that, there's enough to like, but little to love. I'd be very happy if Portgual won, but the obvious favourites are Ukraine and (sadly) Russia. I'm fond of Norway and Bosnia, but have deliberately stayed away from over-researching this year, in order to keep it fresh on the night.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Obviously <france> doesn't stand a chance

nonsense it has many x chance, and not undeserved.

I'll just say MIRA MIRA and keep it at that.

Not allowed to vote for my own country in the real final, so I voted for Ukraine like I probably will tomorrow.

And France doesn't stand a chance. But that isn't because it's a bad song. Maybe rather because it's too good for Eurovision.

Hmm I'll just wait for hearing the total French thing for first time I suspect + shout MIRA MIRA again – geir have you tried that first album of hers? Total !!! and ?!? srsly; "More Fire" is insane!

I am completely aware of Mira Craig's own output, but I like 15-year-old Mira's songwriting style better than the grownup Mira's more R&B oriented style ;)

They should have been on stage forever, though, even though Maria is a very professional performer and an excellent singer, Mira has so incredibly much charm.

Btw. I'm curious as I see it mentioned here too: Exactly what - other than the hilarious stage act - is good about the Bosnian entry?

I am completely aware of Mira Craig's own output

You are? T/S "Headhunter" vs "Leo"; I cannot decide.

(bosnia & herzegovina haha geir and all spectators: i think that is the one where populist w/pretention Nog webpapers said "but but but this sounds like the arcade fire therefore <3 <3 <3" or something?)

MIRA MIRA

B&H sounds absolutely nothing like Arcade Fire.

Yeah I was a bit wtf as well. But it is the one with v weak vocals to start with, and then vwoom thingies at background? or not? Anyways,

MIRA MIRA

What do you guys think Boaz Mauda's chances are? I heard the song (I think Dana International wrote it?) a few months ago, like right after they chose it, and I really loved it. I'm probably biased (love Israeli pop), but still - it would be nice to see a high placing for it.

THe only way France is going to get anywhere near the top half is surely if all the voting mechanisms fail and every country has to go to a jury.

I youtubed the Russian semifinal performance again trying to find out why they are mentioned among favourites, and HOLY SHIT was he way off all his tonalities all the time. Ultra ultra poor singery.

Mordy: I quite like Israel's one, probably not a winner though. Seventh?

France is my favourite by a long way, but it's not a very immediate song, which is important when most voters are only going to hear it once amongst 20 other songs.

I did have some big thing with predicted placings on the go but kind of bottled it. It's gonna be a close call, in any case. For some reason I went wildly optimistic and had Our Andy down as coming in 14th.

BBC opens by apologising for last year's selection cock-up.

Must he apologise in such a creepy voice? It's kinda scary.

Anyway - neon lady = EURO ON

It's Peter Kay...

wait, bulgaria didn't qualify?! sad face

They didn't. Second semi was weird.

Here's good old Marija Serifovic. Singing in English now. Possibly outstaying her welcome. Ladies in underwear doing the splits around her. This is not exactly the most spectacular opening in Eurovision history. Needs more stilts. The stage looks gorgeous.

Will Terry remember that Zeljko Joksimovic is a former Eurovision runner-up? No. Zeljko has a remarkably fine French accent.

listening to the stream on Radio2 ... where's Wogan????

Ken Bruce does it on R2, Wogan does the commentary on BBC1

ah Aladdin and Yasmin.

x=post.. that sucks... i want wogan!

Romania lead us off. This is sounding a hell of a lot better than on Thursday. I don't think that crunking shift in the backing when she comes in does them any favours, and it suffers badly in the later stages. The key change clunks badly. But that said, there is still something fairly likeable about this pair. Might do OK.

Andy!

I think it's a shame that he's second - he's got to work with a cold audience.

first time hearing the uk entry for this year...

much better than the previous few years..

(the rubbish pirates qualified too. wah.)

ok that's a solid er 15th place there. there's way worse in the competition.

OK, I was a naysayer, but he's gone out there and he's done an exceedingly solid job. They're right - that's our best shot in a while. 14th seems about right.

Plus, Albanian girl is getting swamped badly in this dirge of a chorus...

Wogan pished already...

Eh, I've mistakenly written that one off before, but her voice is too gentle for the thing.Difficult to tell how that'll do, but not a winner.

Germany now. I have trepidations. The vocals are off to a dodgy start to put it mildly.

ouch... that's painful...

Hellooooo, wooden spoon.

pretty good German song ruined by bad vocalists...

I'm tone deaf, but are they out of tune in the chorus?

Nice tune, but the singing is definitely a bit wobbly.

Jandek's proud.

No Angels were one of the biggest girl-groups of the last few years in Germany

Press the red button to "SING-A-LONG"

my wife reckons this 4 weigh slightly more than all 5 girls aloud. JSL

Significant thigh-acreage there.

I think the worst thing about that was the continual sound of a firework taking off BUT NOT BLOODY EXPLODING. Spain's the only thing between that and last.

Here's Armenia, first real contender of the evening. Nice bit of yodel to kick off...

what's the capital of Armenia? :P

Has that dancer got a non-ironic mullet?

shakira alert!

Yerevan is the capital of Armenia

I like this one. Nice clattery drums.

http://image.guim.co.uk/Guardian/arts/gallery/2007/jun/25/blocparty/22june505-114.jpg
http://image.guim.co.uk/Guardian/arts/gallery/2007/jun/25/blocparty/22june505-114.jpg

Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear.

Ok Terry made me decide on
Is It Time For UK To Pull Out Of Eurovision Song Contest

http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2006/olympics/2006/writers/02/16/mens.final/t1_plushenko_medal_si.jpg

Well done g00b, that is the real winner right there.

Still, alright till the voting started. Or the interval act, I suppose.

Fucking boring programme. Only saw ten minutes of it though. Wogan even sounds bored of his stuck-record lol foreigners schtick. Actually, he doesn't sound bored he sounds clinically depressed.

Actually, that has to be the highest standard of song across the board in Eurovision for a long time.

We put in a song that sounds like an Edwin Starr song from about 30 years ago and wonder why it finishes near-as-damn-it last?

UK song was utter shite (as usual)

But the Russian song was shite too

Actually, that has to be the highest standard of song across the board in Eurovision for a long time.

really? maybe the average standard was slightly higher but the best songs were mediocre

We put in a song that sounds like an Edwin Starr song from about 30 years ago and wonder why it finishes near-as-damn-it last?

you think the UK had the most dated sound in this?

UK's real problems with ESC: 1) thinking it's Beneath Them to actually try, plus 2) not understanding there are Worlds of Pop that are not anglocentric (and that they have never heard of).

Any other candidates for most dated sound blueski? I don't agree with the 30 years ago thing though, it sounded totally 1991 surely?

01 Romania: Nico & Vlad - Pe-o Margine De Lume

Like Andrea Boccelli singing a duet with Mariah Carey in Romanian. Not too bad, but ultimately drowning.

02 United Kingdom: Andy Abraham - Even If

Poor man's Rick Astley. Another weak entry from the country that delivers the best pop music in the world 364 days a year.

03 Albania: Olta Boka - Zemrën E Lamë Peng

IMO worst entry of the night. Forgettable.

04 Germany: No Angels - Disappear

The song isn't too bad, but with vocal performances like that, no wonder it didn't do well.

05 Armenia: Sirusho - Qele, Qele

Can understand why this did well - probably got a lot of immigrant votes from all over Europe, as it sounded kind of Arabian. Great chorus even though I find beats like those annoying.

06 Bosnia & Herzegovina: Laka - Pokušaj

OK, I am starting to get the point about this. Obviously a lot of fun, and a hilarious stage act. Then it doesn't matter that the song is completely pointless, I guess.

07 Israel: Boaz - The Fire In Your Eyes

Never liked this at all. Sounded old-fashioned and very MOR.

08 Finland: Teräsbetoni - Missä Miehet Ratsastaa

In spite of Lordi's growling, this is probably the heaviest Eurovision entry ever. I kind of expected it to perform better, but I guess the rockers went for Azerbaijan instead.

09 Croatia: Kraljevi Ulice & 75 Cents - Romanca

Cute number that could have done better. And I am kind of surprised it didn't, given the Balkan Bloc being well-organized as usual. Nice little tango number. Would have gotten 12 from Argentina.

10 Poland: Isis Gee - For Life

Rather forgettable, in spite of a cute stage act.

11 Iceland: Euroband - This Is My Life

Sounded a bit like E-Type. Nice, but there were better dance numbers this time.

12 Turkey: Mor ve Ötesi - Deli

A rock song in Turkey. They seemed to do very well at once, but it was deserved when they started falling down the ranks.

13 Portugal: Vânia Fernandes - Senhora Do Mar (Negras Águas)

Jostein Pedersen, a ESC veteran who is sort of the Norwegian answer to Terry Wogan, loves this. I have never understood why. To me it sounded like a French entry from the 70s and early 80s and that is not meant as a compliment.

14 Latvia: Pirates Of The Sea - Wolves Of The Sea

I am sure my 2 and a half year old nephew loved this, as he is a big pirate fan. Me? I found it a bit stupid, really....

15 Sweden: Charlotte Perrelli - Hero

I thought it would take a Pakistani participation to avoid Norway giving 12 to Sweden, but apparently I was wrong.
The Swedes are probably very disappointed now, just like they were when The Ark unexpectedly did even worse last year. I found it one of the better entries of the night, and much better than her 1999 winner. So kind of surprising it didn't do better even though it wasn't my favourite.

16 Denmark: Simon Mathew - All Night Long

While I don't hate this as much as most of the people here do, I still don't see why it performed that well, but I guess it was kind of an Olsen Brothers-factor, getting a lot of votes from males between 40 and 60. OK chorus, but to me it sounded like a worse version of last year's Swedish entry (which disappointed a lot).

17 Georgia: Diana Gurtskaya - Peace Will Come

Rather forgettable IMO.

18 Ukraine: Ani Lorak - Shady Lady

Stage act of the night, a fantastic act and a great electro arrangement. This was probably my favourite even though I voted for France as I expected Ukraine would do well anyway. Which they did, only not quite as well as I hoped for.

19 France: Sébastien Tellier - Divine

Because I expected Ukraine to do big things, I voted for this one, which I expected to be underrated by the televoters. And it was, of course. I personally loved this cross-in-between Air and Phoenix.

20 Azerbaijan: Elnur & Samir - Day After Day

A bit too hilarious, really, but it seems to get the majority of the metal vote this time. No denying the technical greatness of the opera singer, but his voice still anoyed me too much for me to like this entry.

21 Greece: Kalomira - Secret Combination

Greece and Armenia both did well, but probably stole too many votes from each other to go all the way. For this, you can almost apply my Armenia comment once more: Great chorus, catchy song, but too annoying beat.

22 Spain: Rodolfo Chikilicuatre - Baila El Chiki Chiki

This was kind of fun, but Eurovision is not the place to launch a new Macarena or Ketchup Song obv. Great electro arrangement anyway.

23 Serbia: Jelena Tomašević feat. Bora Dugic - Oro

A beautiful song that had a bit too many weird "etchnic" elements to do it all the way for me. But other than Croatia's breaktaking 2005 entry (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mpJ83Lya1Q - has grown to become one of my all-time favourite ESC entries by any country ever) this may be the best typical Balkan ballad I have ever heard in ESC.

24 Russia: Dima Bilan - Believe

So, this wasn't a Timbaland production after all. But it obviously didn't matter. It performed well after all. Not my favourite, but not a bad song either. And Russian kind of deserved a win after becoming the runnerup a zillion times.

25 Norway: Maria - Hold On Be Strong

The song itself is sort of too good for Eurovision, and, well, alongside Ukraine and France this was my fave that I of course couldn't vote for anyway. I had another favourite in the Norwegian preselection (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUbm-4taYUA), but I guess we picked the right song after all. We got the expected 12s from our neighbours and also lots of unexpected votes for countries that usually don't vote for Norway. But the stage act may have been less spectacular than what it would have taken to win.

I don't agree with the 30 years ago thing though, it sounded totally 1991 surely?

The UK entry sounded 1987. Remember this guy?

http://malcolm816.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/56334472_62836b2094_o.jpg

oh wow geir you're tempting me to listen to them all again, nasty.

Any other candidates for most dated sound blueski?

take your pick really - you could argue it with France, Finland, Croatia, most of the ballads (not Russia's tho) - point being a retro style isn't usually an issue in the contest

Most dated was Portugal. Would have done fantastic if performed in French in 1975.

France, no, unless Air and Phoenix sound dated.

...

"Remember this guy? "

hmm. could someome link to a youtube video of that above pictured act for me

Geir otm here, France not dated at all, total 00s sheen.

point being a retro style isn't usually an issue in the contest

er RONG? Not talking about style, talking about sound.

Tellier was channelling early 80s ELO in my book - if only it had been as awesome as 'Hold On Tight' - still wouldn't have done well tho

hmm. could someome link to a youtube video of that above pictured act for me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI

Really, that's what "Even If" sounded like.

lolling over here

haha alan :-)

OMG, that was an xpost, lolling even more now!

er RONG? Not talking about style, talking about sound.

style and sounds are synonomous in my argument (what else do you think i mean by style?). but take Russia's Timbalandy drums off and it could've been 20 years old itself.

alan youve been excelsiored haha! omg geir not getting joek :D :D

The French entry was Jarvis Cocker in disguise.

According to the Norwegian commentator, Tellez breathed helium just before singing, starting the song with a helium voice. I didn't see or hear that, but....

you could hear the helium v briefly but he didn't inhale as much as he should've

style and sounds are synonomous in my argument (what else do you think i mean by style?). but take Russia's Timbalandy drums off and it could've been 20 years old itself.

I see what you're saying, but I think you're undervaluing "Timbalandy drums" etc while being totally otm about singling this element out in this discussion -- "style" and "sound" are NOT in any way synonymous, and and and erm we'll just end up in Poptimists Duffy/Winehouse-style discussions again aren't we? :?

what else do you think i mean by style?

Good question; I think I mean arrangement rather than sonic implementation of arrangement. Best I can do right now anyway. This is v v v interesting thing (because we hear and interpret music differently).

but he didn't inhale as much as he should've

Of course it would have made a cool effect and a hilarious stage act if he had just gotten weightless and taken off flying into the audience before falling down on the stage after running out of helium.....

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

(hahaha Geir I only just now read properly through your concise and long-ass after-the-fact post, and it obtains much truthbombs, falsebombs and general wtf. Do you seriously think large number of Pakistani-Norwegians vote in this thing? I have no idea myself!)

lol results in; ILM has 0 x clue about world music

Sad that Dom wasn't here all along sortof, that would've been fun. ;_J

Dom did you pay to watch ricky hatton?

(just wondering if that's why he wasnt here)

Sopcast stream

Do you seriously think large number of Pakistani-Norwegians vote in this thing?

Not now. But you all know that Turkey always get a lot of votes from Germany.

Dreadful fight, dreadful undercard. Fat suit was funny though.

Not now. But you all know that Turkey always get a lot of votes from Germany.

Ah forward-looking. I see. Not unreasonable.

Final results:

1. Russia - 272
2. Ukraine - 230
3. Greece - 218
4. Armenia - 199
5. Norway - 182
6. Serbia - 160
7. Turkey - 138
8. Azerbaijan - 132
9. Israel - 124
10. Bosnia & Herzegovina - 110
11. Georgia - 83
12. Latvia - 83
13. Portugal - 69
14. Iceland - 64
15. Denmark - 60
16. Spain - 55
17. Albania - 55
18. Sweden - 47
19. France - 47
20. Romania - 45
21. Croatia - 44
22. Finland - 35
23. Germany - 14
24. Poland - 14
25. United Kingdom - 14

Those ten bucks on noted friend-havers Israel not quite so misguided as I thought they were, I guess. Ninth is not unimpressive. Norway cracking the top five could well be seen as justification for the revised semi-final system too.

Incidentally, Russia were a pretty distant third in the first semi-final, 21 points behind Greece and 4 behind Armenia. Thread favourites Bosnia made even more significant gains, though - they only qualified ninth, a whopping 22 points behind seventh-placed Romania and seven behind Finland in eighth. The collapse of votes for both Romania and Finland is fairly startling - Romania scored 49 points less and Finland 44 less, despite the final featuring almost twice as many juries.

That's as nothing compared to Portugal, though - they finished runners-up in the second semi, some way behind Ukraine, but managed to drop 51 points in the final. Third-placed Denmark dropped 52, and, oddest of all, fourth-placed Croatia dropped 68. Turkey could only finish seventh in the second semi-final, but wound up in the same place in the final, picking up 53 points.

Perhaps the most surprising thing is that Sweden only qualified because:

In line with the Rules of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, the 10th qualifier was the highest ranked contestant in the back-up jury vote who did not qualify for the Final.

Not quite sure why this rule was introduced - on televoting, the Swedes would have finished behind both FYROM and Bulgaria.

Not quite sure why this rule was introduced

In case of pan-european communications infrastructure breakdown I guess? Seems a sensible backup plan.

Thread favourites Bosnia made even more significant gains

The protest voters don't watch the semi finals, and Bosnia was the obvious favourite of the protest voters this time.

Hmm, no Euro08 album on itunes (yet?)...but they do have a whole Laka album! Sadly doesn't include Pokušaj, but I'm very tempted to buy it anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq1dfQVCGuo

!!wow!!

Incidentally, Russia were a pretty distant third in the first semi-final

Ooh bitter, I had some money on them outside the top three. Total betting result: about £10 in the red. Poland finishing last saved me a further £30 in the red lol.

Intrigued by Tellier's use of "chiver".
Possibly Yorkshire slang for a lad and not a French word
but also used in Mr Oizo's Steak film.