elab49
Posts: 51544
Joined: 1/10/2005
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That is contest proper, not the tacky reality show that preceded it. 12-16th May, with 2 semis and the final on Saturday the 16th. That's only a fortnight away!
So, taking into account that Norway is going to win, any other views on the runners and riders?
The big theme this year is strings - lots of fiddles on stage. Norway's moppet can certainly play, several lovely ladies from Estonia with my personal favourite entry at the moment, and a rather dubious entry that plays them for a couple of minutes while a woman with fake boobs and dodgy voice does some Bond girl voguing behind a screen before the amazing anti-climax of bursting through it.
Voting is changing this year in an attempt to deal with some of the issues caused by last years tipping point of Austria leaving and too many of the technially non-European countries entering - Azerbaijan, etc. Although the semis are unchanged - so there is still the problem of getting through, the final will be partly decided by jury votes. Juries traditionally go for traditional Eurovision entries - that does not seem to have changed as, when used last year (they decide one of the places in the semis) they let in the woeful Swedish entry which would have been a shoe in at any time in the 70s and 80s). In the final our vote will be decided 50% by the late pub muppets who vote for rubbish and 50% by the jury who will tend towards the tedious ballad. Who knows - our bad typical reality winner song effort by a woman whose range isn't near as good as she thinks, may benefit from that. For me? It is in the bottom 5 overall).
Georgia aren't playing because Russia threw its rattle out the pram at a possible play on the name Putin. San Marino can't afford it and Slovakia are back.
All songs/videos are currently on an ESC2009 channel at Youtube if you want to have a look as well as listen. There are some decent ones in there, but overall the range isn't great this year. I couldn't even find a top 10 for semi 1 - the worst of the 2 and the one that the UK will be allowed to vote in.
Watchable? Norway have an Efronesque moppet who can actually sing, unlike Efron, play a mean fiddle - and was born in the Russias and is backed by cossack dancers! It is also infuriatingly catchy.
Estonia - the class act of the night, good song, vocal and performance.
Denmark - decent stab at American MOR.
Germany - a decent stab at redoing Minnie the Moocher
Albania - girl can sing but doesn't have much stage presence
Turkey - catchy enough and they do the sexy moves thing that will get them vote, but curious lack of energy overall
Bosnia - some kind of revolutionary vibe going on
Lots have gone with the sound Croatia used last year but none are any good. There is one I can't judge because the singer distracts me as he looks like Morgan from Chuck, and Ukraine have effectively entered the same attempt at sexy pop that they did last year, which was crap and nearly won, and Chiara is now the official Jason Myers of contest (and Greece have entered Vinnie Van Lowe again).
Any other fans/watchers (as opposed to people complaining about political voting without quite knowing what they are talking about?) 
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Eurovision Song Contest 2009 - 
Duet remains one of my favourite entries of all time. 
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