The Odds Are...(Semi-finals)

With less than two weeks until Eurovision itself really kicks off in Malmo, its time to have a look at what the odds are like are there any really good bets out there? Has a bookie failed to keep their site prefectly up to date with the latest Eurovision news? Anything is possible.

Semi Final 1
Semi-Final 1 interestingly contains some songs that are very well positioned for a win or certainly a top 10 finish however it is also characterised by some of the poorest songs in this years contest.

Most interestingly in this market, though Paddy Power have Denmark as the favourite to win the contest outright they think it has a lower probability of winning semi 1. This is certainly an anomaly, though in recent years it is by no means sure that the winner of a semi-final will win the contest outright. For people who are looking for a fairly sure bet this is probably one of the better offers you will find this year.

For people who are super-prudent each way gamblers, it is interesting to note that the top four countries on Paddy Power all are drawn in the first half of semi-final one. Probability would suggest that surely one of the second half will make the top 3. Belarus is 10/1 which would make a fine each way bet as indeed is Serbia (14/1).

For those who like to qualify betting whether to drown their sorrows even if a song does qualify or whether the song is just worth that punt. Croatia seems like the most likely of the lesser songs to qualify for the final so at 8/11 it's a good bet. As a fan I do notice that the odds of any song qualifying are very, very short this year which shows how close a semi-final will be.

Semi Final 2
As keen fans of the contest will know the winner of this years' contest will more than likely come from semi-final 1, however there are still some interesting bets available for fans.

If your a Margaret Berger fan Norway are just 7/4 on Paddy Power, which, given that they are in the last slot in the second semi-final, makes them well worth a bet. Azerbaijan, at 5/1 may also suit the risk taker, particularly given that they are in the graveyard that is the fourth slot in the semi-final.

Semi-final 2 is much harder to call than semi-final 1, so it could go any way. If your not a risk taker, I would not recommend betting on semi 2.

As regards qualification I would say Finland at 1/3 is well worth a short and is fairly undervalued at this price. Switzerland also could just squeeze over the line so at 10/11 it may well be worth a shot.

My thoughts on the final tomorrow.

New Singles and Videos!

So with virtually no news of Eurovision of late, we turn to the follow up singles and videos that come in the mist of Post Eurovision Depression.

Elferia Elferiou [or something like that] from Greece has released her song Hearts Collide. The song is a bit hollow for the average northern European but it is a good summer song.

As, in similar news Loreen has released the video of Euphoria which is sort of what I expected, as Loreen is keen not to link the song with relationships/love/normal Eurovision topics in my opinion and the video reflects that. A link to the video is here.

And Now We Know...(Day 1)

So as the sun sets over Paris [Only place I could think of where the sun might be setting right now]. But the day has come to an end and having looked at at least 100 photos of Eurovision Taxis as well as hours of rehearsal videos, we now know a lot more about Eurovision 2012. But in a nutshell what have we learned?

• Based on everyone's blog posts we now know it is not very easy to get to Baku, especially if you travel through Istanbul.
• Montenegro is as bad on stage as we first thought, however no one knew quite what to expect all the same.
• Iceland and Romania are the big winners from today, they are now much more favoured to win in the betting odds and reports from Baku about them are impressive.
• Greece has a very typical Eurovision entry. She is not able to sing it well enough live.
• Latvia continues to divide people between lovers who think it is a marginal qualifier and haters who think it is still a very bad song still and she is a good vocalist.
• Albania was as impressive as ever but I think it might be something that the ney sayers have to see live to believe. I really like this though.
• According to my friend the ESCInsider Switzerland far better looking in real life. As a hetrosexual I have no opinion but as they say - know your target market. Their diction as also improved.
• Iris from Belgium has a great pair of lungs. She really came up to the mark in rehearsals today.
• Finally Finland have dropped the dancer which is a great move on their part in my opinion.

Up until now I have avoided making predictions but I think at this stage that Iceland and Romania are the definite qualifiers and Albania is a very likely qualifier. My guess is that there will be one qualifier from either Switzerland, Belgium or Finland and since the rehearsal I am inclined towards Belgium, but that's very difficult to call. I think that Greece is the only other possible contender but if the vocals don't improve it could go the way of Turkey last year.

If you missed our earlier posts they are here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Rehearsals: Day 1: Part 1 Montenegro-Greece

Rehearsals today are running about an hour and a half late, and based on previous ESC's this is unlikely to change. As I am not actually in Baku I will be blogging here as videos and opinions come through. I will be updating this page as the day goes on. I don't embed videos onto the blog as I find it slows it down but if you click on the link you should get a video of the rehearsal. I'll try to use eurovision.tv videos but they take a while to appear so you may notice some videos from escXtra who look to be shaping up to have the best coverage so far this year.

Montenegro - Video of rehearsal
No one really knew what to expect from Montenegro as it was never on live TV. This is one of the few songs where vocals really don't matter. I would say though that the overall staging of the song looks very messy and this seems to be the general view.No expects this to qualify and that is my view also but there is a little voice in my head asking me if I'm right in saying that.

Iceland - Video of rehearsal
I had forgotten just how amazing the Icelandic entry was. The rehearsal was really strong and seems to have cleared up any doubts about the song. It is just a pleasure to listen to it live. The back drop is Icelandic mountains which really impressive and keeps in tune with the Icelandicness of it all. The backing singers really lift this and it all looks like the usually excellently produced Icelandic entry. Most people seem to be identifying  this as a definite qualifier.

Greece - Video of rehearsal
Well at least it's not in a shopping center. When I first saw the video of the rehearsal I have to say that I though it now fits so much into the standard Greek entry. Yes this does remind me a lot of other Greek entries. But it still lacks anything tangible that will push it on. In my opinion My Number One would not do very well in this day and age. Lead vocals are fairly poor. This was a problem which I had flagged earlier but the general consensus is that Greece needs more backing singers. But then again remember the shock we all got when we saw Greece won last years semi-final?

Latvia's rehearsal is running a bit later than expected and I have to pop out for a while. More reaction later this afternoon.

At Least I Like Her Heels, Greece: The Review

On our whistle stop tour of Europe leaving shredded songs behind us we arrive in Greece who this year just about managed to find the cash to get them to Azerbaijan. Anyhow, they saved money on the staging by having it in a shopping mall, well actually, it wasn't half as bad as it sounds. Frankie Boyle suggested to ensure that they did not win Eurovision, Greece should send "The Pedophiles". Well they did not exactly send that, but what they did send it a bit more risky.....

Anyhow, as what regularly happens in mediocre national finals the last song which was above average won. So Greece sent Eleftheria Eleftheriou to the contest with her song Aphrodisiac. So how to describe the song? Think of any Greek entry sung by a female from the last decade. I am confused between whether Greece sent this because it was a safe bet or do they think it is a potential winner. Eleftheria has definitely a song that could be compared to the songs from 2005 and 2008. While I think that this is true there is interesting things to be discussed.

Overall this is a very average entry from Greece and has the usual ethnic-pop styles. The song does not overly change much through out the song, a tangible key change or something that would draw you in a bit more. For me it feels very superficial. There are problems that do go against the song. First and foremost this has been a pretty bad draw for Greece. The third slot is not a good one. They also are sharing a semi-final with Cyprus, which does makes one set of 12 points a near certainty for Greece. However both songs are very similar, maybe Cyprus is not quite as ethnic but it does have a much better place it the running order. Both songs for me are borderline qualifiers, so this will be an interesting one to watch. The only other problem with the song is that Eleftheria has never performed this live. As she is largely an amateur in the singing world, I am not really  convinced that this will be one of the vocally perfect.

However as I alluded to in the title there is one fantastic point where she steps up the backing dances backs with her heels. But enough about any shoe fetishes which I may or not have.  

Verdict:  For me I think that it is a good song but there is limitations to that, I am not going to listen to a bad vocal performance and defend it. I think that this is a borderline qualifier. Overall I think Greece might finally find itself outside of the top 10.

Grade: C+

The Highs And Lows Of National Final Season 2012 Part 3

With another national final season over us and me being away from blogging and technology for a few nights, we turn our attention back to remember the highs and lows of the national final season that was. While it is almost over it will leave us with some great memories. Part 2 continues our series. #

As I should be back tomorrow so we will be back to normal but just to point out that tomorrow we should finally hear the UK entry and any others we have not heard yet. But in the meantime our series continues.

The Best Song Of The National Final season
I was one of the few fans who felt that this was song of national final season 2012 but here it is (feat. the amazing Sara Li):

Jedward's Fans
Forget Jedward they were soooo yesterday's post - they have fans lots of them - and they are about as nutty as them. Follow a few on Twitter and find out.

Greece Holding Their National Final in a Shopping Mall
I know things in Greece are bad but seriously I didn't think that a shopping center would be the best option to film a national final but anyhow that's their choice. We only need to panic about them if they win Eurovision and they propose a variety of farms with barns on which to hold their national final.

Sarah Dawn Finer - Comedian? 
I don't think anyone expected something so excellent in terms of humour from the Swedes but by God did they do so. This was such a great sketch that we had to share it once again.

Our Eurovision Friends
Without going for a big cheesy ending we just would like to say that the greatest trill of all was having so many people to talk to on Twitter or otherwise for national final season. Thank you all so much.

Did we miss something? Yes, we did, but we didn't see every national final. If you think that their was something that we missed do get in touch via the Contact Us! section and if we think that it is worthwhile we will put it up in a Part 4. (Obviously giving you full credit with a link).

Two More Songs (National Finals Have Lost All Meaning)

Moldova and Greece but as there is nothing that is amazingly show stopping picked after Melodifestivalen I'm kind of sitting here thinking "Just give us the songs already!".

Moldova's three and three quarter hour show was at best marginally interesting but that went all the way down to unbearable during the 40 minute interval act. Anyhow they picked a guy in a 1940's golf suit. His name is Pasha Parfeny and his song is called Lautar. The problem is it is not epic sax guy.

Greece also picked their song - it's a bit shallow but it will do for now. But seriously Greece - pick it in a shopping centre? What were you thinking. Anyhow the artist picked is Eleftheria Eleftheiou. Her song is Aphrodisiac. I like it all the same but I think Greece are really testing their ability to come in the Top 10. However I love her heels and feel sorry for the poor guys who have to let her stand on their backs. (Ouch!)

More news tomorrow.

At Least There's Only Four Songs

So Greece usually a revered country at Eurovision, it never has been out of the Top 10 since 2003 - has finally given us all of the information about their national final so it is time to review the four songs one of which represent them in Baku! [Thank god there's only four - I'll get to bed early]

Dora - Here is a standard Greek ethic pop song. As with all the artists in this years Greek selection, is new to the music scene. This does not exactly fill me with confidence in her vocal abilities however this concern does run in all of the songs in the selection. Overall this does not seem to go very far and with so many similar songs in the selection this doesn't seem strong enough. Grade: C-

Cassiopeia - Oh god, a three piece girl band with no experience - that's going to be some vocal performance. No that's just a bit mean. The song Killer Bee is sort of the generic pop that appears a lot National Finals. Grade: D

Velvet Fire - My guess is that this sort of pop/rock song by the weird looking people will win. This song seems to be a bit poorer than Ireland 2009 and that was a bit of a low point. At least parking wardens worldwide might have this blasting out of their headphones. Grade: C-

Eleftheria Eleftherou - This probably is their best chance this year but I still am by no means convinced. It lacks, well anything to make it sound like it was made on this side of 2003.

This year Greece has presented what really could be best described as a rather poor bunch of songs. However if Greece at good at one thing it is getting a good staging at the contest when it really counts. But if this was any country other than Greece I would be putting this down as an unlikely qualifier. Then again I said the same thing last year.

And The Winner Of Eurovision 2012 Is.....?: Part 13

Continuing our series this part is dedicated to Greece and Iceland:

Greece

Greece is difficult to beat. Even when they put in as poor a song as Watch My Dance they still get 120 points and 7^th place for their troubles. However they clearly lack the drive and resources to win the contest. Even if they did win serious questions about would need to be asked about their finances and the contest maybe moved to another country. If they realise that the IMF don’t pay for Eurovision when you’re not quite doing as they say, then Greece will surely lose their drive to win. As they did this year.

Athens 2013? Very unlikely. If they do it may do be in Greece

Iceland

Iceland is one of the best countries at semi-finals but then does poorly at the final. Even though their national final can be poor, they have not many international stars and hosting a contest would be very difficult given their finances you have to admire plucky Iceland. They don’t really stand a chance of winning any time soon but they do deserve credit for how well they do each year. Their songs also lack that killer blow and instinct but given this year’s winner anything it is possible.

There has been an upsurge in the visitors to my blog and I would like to thank you for visiting.