Tuesday’s was so popular, I figure I have to repeat this again for the 2nd semi-final. For those that want to watch it live – Second Semi-Final of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest
From what I’ve read the songs today should have a larger number of excellent entries (it would be hard to be worse).
With all these picture postcard shots of Baku, which make it clear that oil money can create a very nice city, there’s no shots of any other city in Azerbaijan. I’m guessing the rest are, at best, nothing special.
Serbia – Absolutely beautiful. Really good male vocalist, strong background music (mostly violins), and a beautiful song (I assume sung in Serbian). It’s way to quality of a presentation to have a chance at winning.
F.Y.R. Macedonia – Ok, the Balkans are on fire here. Starts off as a standard female vocalist but then it explodes into a very vibrant song.
The Netherlands – The Pain, The Pain! I’m guessing this is a Western song based on the outfits (the lead singer is wearing an Indian feather bonnet). The song is horrible, but that may be me as I dislike Country Western music.
Malta – We have a winner. This is the ultimate EuroVision song with the super good looking male vocalist, super upbeat song, lots of great dancing. Really well done.
Belarus – Super good male band. Vibrant upbeat song and it was performed very well. Very energetic presentation without the over-doing it that is so common.
Portugal – They almost always send a female vocalist to sing a mournful ballad. Some are better than others. This one is pretty good but not great.
Very unusual – most of the songs so far have not been in English. I think that makes them better but it’s rare for a non-English song to do well.
Ukraine – Not sure what this is supposed to be, it sounded almost like a football fight song with lots of people jumping around. Ukraine generally does lots better – maybe Russia told them to take a dive for the Babushkas.
Bulgaria – Ok, not all of the Balkans are on fire. When it’s one person on stage you need someone who can carry and emote the song. Maybe Bulgaria decided they can’t afford to host next year and so purposely sent an under-performer.
Slovenia – Wow. Ok, it’s Yugoslavia that’s brought it’s A game tonight. Think “Say Yes to the Dress” as a beautiful energetic ballad sung by a female lead and ensemble.
Croatia – Female vocalist with a really strong & compelling voice. Really good song that she belted out (I mean that in a good way). Not the best number all night but good.
Sweden – Oh wow! Super song incredibly sung. Amazing female vocalist who does the most by herself and then has someone who looks like Mr. T dancing with her for the second half. Beautiful job.
Georgia – This is why 120 million people watch ESC. Leather bustiers? check. Thousands of sparkles on the outfits? check. Lots of dancing around while belting out the song? check.
Turkey – This has to be a folk song gone horribly wrong. Think a musical number from Fiddler on the Roof with the men dancing at a wedding – as put on by a College (that doesn’t have a theater major).
Estonia – Male vocalist standing up there by himself. No dancing, no props, minimal background instruments and singer. And this guy pulls it off with a beautiful song powerfully sung. Again a potential winner. (And according to the tweets, he’s very hot.)
Slovakia – Very loud rock song screamed out.
Norway – The lead singer has a range of about 2 notes nor can he project. But I’m guessing he’ll get votes from the teenage female vote (including the lesbians). He’s got that Twilight leading man look.
Bosnia & Herzegowhatsit – Another solo vocalist with minimal instrumental backup. She does a superb job and in an understated way. Never shouting, never super high notes, just a beautiful singing voice.
Lithuania – Mediocre. Male vocalist again with minimal instrumental in the background. He’s not bad but neither is he good.
My favorites:
1. Serbia
2. Sweden
3. Estonia
4. Slovenia
5. Malta
6. Bosnia
And a lot of them we’re quite good.
Worst:
1. The Netherlands
2. Turkey
3. Ukraine
Best part of tonight’s selections (even more than the amazing quality) was that most were sung in their native language.
They have to kill time as the voting occurs and is then counted. So they brought out the last 5 winners and after each sang a short part from their winning number, they then all joined together to sing Waterloo. That’s the song ABBA won the ESC with that launched their career. Really cool way to celebrate ESC.
Lithuania
Bosnia
Serbia
Ukraine
Sweden
Macedonia
Norway
Estonia
Malta
Turkey