Eurovision Uberthread

[culloty82]

Fair to say Sweden are unbackable favourites, will be a laugh to see Engelbert Humperdinck resurrected from oblivion.

[mypost]

There are some other good shouts. Greece, Cyprus, Ukraine are strong, while France and Italy have the potential to score well.

[horton]

Anyone watch it? How'd Jedward fair?

[Hibs4Ever]

Listened to all the main songs on You Tube last night, I think the bookies have got it right and expect Sweden to win (at 7/4). Russia will get a lot of voted from their side of Europe though so could be close

[Spudulika]

Stayed up to watch. Was slightly surprised with the russkis, were good, lighthearted and the crowd liked them. Jedward were blessed to get in, sounded poor, lots of energy and were gifted a "golden ticket", Iceland offered a good song, deserved to go through. The rest were purely regional based, the biggest shock was Albania - horrible song, horrible performance and fugly singer, but the pity vote worked. There was a skit last year on russian tv the night of the final, about how Albania are getting 12 and 10 points, heading for glory. Then a call from Tirana comes in, telling them they don't have the money to host it and the farce kicks in. It ends with the writer/handler hanging himself. Tomorrow will be interesting. Don't see the lads from Lucan doing much in the final. Russia looking good.

[nigel-harps1954]

Marty Whelan. That is all.

[Partizan]

I have placed a 5 way accumulater with PP.

1. Russia (to win)
2. Sweden (1/3) - place
3. Serbia (1/3) - place
4. Italy (1/4) - place
5. Romania (1/5) - place

Total stake €40
Potential returns €6,531.

[Hibs4Ever]

I still think Sweden will win. Took them at 7/4 a few days back, in to evens now. Estonia an e/w bet @ 40/1

[Spudulika]

Sweden lack the geography, plus the song has been overkilled. Russia should be top 3, Jedward (god help us) should make the top 5. Serbia's singer is quite the star (remember he top scored from Croatia a few years back and his song was played all summer long) and should do well. Ukraine have the Euro's factor - it's just a 3minute promo for the football. In a proper world a song like Iceland with it's Nightwish overtones should do okay, but they'll do well to make the top-10. I think the winner comes from the 1st semi, with televoting it's going to skew the system again (worse than with sole jury votes). Can't wait for a 2 hours of voting, the only reason to watch it.

[Hibs4Ever]

Jedward (god help us) should make the top 5.

Not so sure, only came 8th in their qualifier

[mypost]

Stayed up to watch. Was slightly surprised with the russkis, were good, lighthearted and the crowd liked them. Jedward were blessed to get in, sounded poor, lots of energy and were gifted a "golden ticket", Iceland offered a good song, deserved to go through. The rest were purely regional based, the biggest shock was Albania - horrible song, horrible performance and fugly singer, but the pity vote worked. There was a skit last year on russian tv the night of the final, about how Albania are getting 12 and 10 points, heading for glory. Then a call from Tirana comes in, telling them they don't have the money to host it and the farce kicks in.

In pretty poor taste really. Albania didn't show their semi final because of a bus crash. They still got through.

This "golden ticket" is a pile of crap, just another way of extending the tedious voting procedure, and is not a reflection of where countries fared in the voting. Very surprised that Croatia failed to make it, Latvia had a good song that failed to make it too. Belgium and Holland both failed once again. Not that impressed with the Russians this year, with respect to the performers, they shouldn't be in Eurovision, or "singing" such a song.

Sweden have a decent song, but I would demand a refund of my €200 ticket fee if I was there watching 26 Loreen performances, where you can't see the performers. I think Cyprus and Greece will score well.

Don't see the lads from Lucan doing much in the final.

Jedward (god help us) should make the top 5.

Which is it?

They say it's their "last" Eurovision. For how long is probably up to RTE.

[Hibs4Ever]

.
I think Cyprus and Greece will score well.

Well 12 points from each other is a dead cert anyway

[Spudulika]

I was surprised in a way that they qualified given their poor performance, but they've got that out of their system and the kiddies will be watching on Saturday - hence they'll score better (I think).

[Spudulika]

In pretty poor taste really. Albania didn't show their semi final because of a bus crash. They still got through.

This "golden ticket" is a pile of crap, just another way of extending the tedious voting procedure, and is not a reflection of where countries fared in the voting. Very surprised that Croatia failed to make it, Latvia had a good song that failed to make it too. Belgium and Holland both failed once again. Not that impressed with the Russians this year, with respect to the performers, they shouldn't be in Eurovision, or "singing" such a song.

Sweden have a decent song, but I would demand a refund of my €200 ticket fee if I was there watching 26 Loreen performances, where you can't see the performers. I think Cyprus and Greece will score well.





Which is it?

They say it's their "last" Eurovision. For how long is probably up to RTE.

I'm unsure as to say top-10 or top-5, but I think they'll surprise us with a higher than expected finish. Of course the bookies will have their odds artificially lower with the punters lumping on money just because they're Irish.

Mypost, you're right about most of the performances, they're not great, and the better songs/performances will be lost in the dross. But it's beyond a song contest now and almost solely visual. Geography plays the largest part of it, not just politics. How about Turkey get a high mark from Germany? It's going to be fun, here nobody expects (apart from the commentators) for the grannies to do well. A final appearance is a bonus, they have their commercial endorsements (Sprite and a local pancake mix) so they'll be happy. There were better acts than them, but the russkis always have a trick up their sleeve. As for Croatia, I was surprised Nina Badric qualified. She had a few biggies a few years back (and some were good) but she became quite the diva. At least it wasn't Severina again though!

[mypost]

Croatia didn't make it. Not the first time they've failed in recent years. Unlike here, they take failing in Eurovision seriously.

Politics is always part of Eurovision, but since the voting system was changed in 2008, it's become harder for the bloc countries to pile up the votes with minimum effort. Juries are influencing the verdicts too.