Two Withdrawals In One Day

The news of the withdrawal of Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina in one day is genuinely shocking news. Bosnia's decision appears to be due to financial reasons, however Turkey's decision is in light of recent rule changes in the contest such as the 50:50 voting and the big 5 rule. This means that we are currently looking at a contest of 40 or less countries (current projection is 39, assuming only Armenia returns), which is concerning.

Given that at least two of the four of the countries who have withdrawn have withdrawn due to financial costs of the contest it will be interesting to see if the changes that will be introduced by the EBU this year will actually allow for a reduction in the participation fees for countries who cannot afford to pay.

Though there has been some discussion about the costs of coming to Eurovision for two weeks and the price of that particularly in an expensive country like Sweden, it still is a problem. I would argue that more should be done to assist helping with the expense of the contest. While some have discussed shortening the rehearsal times you still are probably looking at a ten to twelve day contest which would represent a 14%-25% cut in the costs of accommodation, which is probably one of the biggest costs that are part of the contest outside the participation fee. Given that we are also looking greater numbers of performers on stage in the future (i.e. changing from a max of 6 to a max of 8) this is likely to off set any gains on the accommodation expense.

However I would argue that the EBU should seek to minimize costs through simple things such as hiring out whole hotels for competitors, rather than leaving individual countries to find their own accommodation. How costs to individual delegations can be minimised by using a certain city, particularly for countries that are large enough to have competition for the contest, should be taken into account when selecting a host city.

I understand that my inner accountant has probably had to much say in this piece but there you have it.

Some News (Bit Early Though!)

As I'm sure you've noticed the amount of actual Eurovision news has increased this week. The main points are:

• Switzerland will, as usual, probably be our first song of 2013. Their National Final is scheduled for Dec 15th (One day before my birthday!). Their pre-selection process is as complicated as ever but there will a few less songs in the national final, not a bad move on the Swiss part I do think.
• Finland hold their national final on Feb 9th. No confirmation as to the exact format of the contest but submissions will be taken from Sept 3rd. 
• Turkey are going to do something other than withdraw there appears to be some from of discussion about changing the selection format. Personally I think if it ain't broke don't fix it.

I know that it does seem early to be restarting so early, and last year as many broadcasters did not seem to plan for the change of the Sept 1st rule nothing really happened until October. Of course we still have Junior Eurovision to look forward to but as I realised today another month would be a welcome break particularly if you, like me have had a very sporting summer.

Is This A Sea Shanty?

Somehow I shall endure to write as many reviews, though preferably all of them today even if they are a bit spread in the publishing dates. If I should seem to go of the rails in doing this I apologise. 


Turkey are always a strange basket case when it comes to Eurovision. This was complicated even further last year when they failed to really come up with anything amazing, instead going with the predictable rock song "Live It Up" by a band I cannot even begin to spell. After the usual discussions about who Turkey would send to the contest, it was announced that Can Bonomo would be going to Eurovision.

Can then presented his song to Turkey during the main evening news as is the case in Turkey, many people seemed to be really impressed by this song. I for one was not, I found the off rhythms hard to get and I don't really see what everyone was getting so hyped up about. We've heard all this kind of music before. This might be very good for the genre but it's not the whirlwind that it should have been. There has also been a relative cooling period around this song. It has gone from being well up on everyone's lists to being only mid table with everyone.

As regards qualifying the situation is no different. People seem to have breezed over this as a definite qualifier. I think that it does fall into this category but then again we said that before (and look at how right we were). Equally Turkey surely has a better chance because of its running order position. The performance will be everything with this song. The song does appear to be a sort of sea shanty in the videos and promotion so far but it still leaves more questions than answers and must find an identity very, very quickly.

Verdict: Personally, it has grown on me but I do need to see more about it before I make up my mind. The performance and identity of the song are the two key factors here.


Grade: C

Turkey Presents It's Song

Can Bonomo has presented his song for Eurovision called "Love Me Back". It seems to be getting a reasonably warm reaction from fans who are women which apparently might have something to do with his good looks [as a heterosexual I have no opinion on the matter]. I'm not mad about this song it is not as clear cut and straight as I had hoped.

Pay Attention The News Is On

If your wonder where the title comes from it is from Bill Bailey's Guide To The Orchestra, If you have a few minutes to spare do watch it.

Moving to other matters to do with the contest; of course in the usual bullet point from.

• Israel's song has somehow appeared on YouTube and even the band seem a little surprised as to how this was leaked. They say that they are working on a final arrangement. You can listen to it here.
• Turkey will present their song tomorrow, we're not really sure what to expect from it but, sure, we shall see tomorrow.
• Apparently Charlotte Perrielli's song was release in part online. Sadly we didn't get to hear it and if you should have a way please email us - we'ed be ever so grateful. I am unhappy with SVT's poor handling of the leak. They should release all the songs at this point.
• Maya Saar has revealed to escXtra Bosnia and Herzegovina will present their song on March 15th.
• Nearly forgot to put in the delightful piece of inaccuracies on an LA times website have a look here. But seriously "European Idol" where do these gobdaws get their information from. 
• Finally, Feminnem have finally come to an end after many years of great music. However I will always remember their great song in 2005.

News Flash

We're very happy with how our "Why Ireland Needs Jedward" post was received. In the future we will try to publish a little more on Jedward (just wait until RTÉ gives the full list of who is participating)

Turkey have announced that Can Bonomo will represent them in Baku. I don't personally go for him but many people will think he is good. (It's Turkey afterall)

Tine Lynggaard has been disqualified from DMGP 2012 due to her song being published to early. (Must not own a calender).

Nina Badric will represent Croatia in ESC 2012. Seems like a good choice.

Melodifestivalen running order has been revealed. The best slot in the semi finals has gone to Danny (sigh) Timoteij are singing fifth in their semi-final (Another sigh).

Important Day Today (At long last)

As i'm sure your all aware Albania selects their song tonight. As far as I know there will be no live commentary from The Best Eurovision Blog. Therefore we recommend the article on escXtra or follow @ESCInsight on twitter. But keep an eye on our twitter page just in case my guests leave early or I get a chance to run upstaris.
A full list of artists for tonight is available here. ESCToday also have a poll running and as the largest independent website I find their polls the best available online. Enjoy tonight.

In other news the rumour mill appears to suggest that we are going to find out who the Turkish representative is going to be today. There is serious talk on Twitter but nothing is confirmed yet. We will try to keep you updated.

Continuing on with our series these parts are dedicated to Turkey and Ukraine:

Turkey

After coming second in 2010 not qualifying this year was the shock of the night for Turkey and very much helped Azerbaijan to win. However I think Turkey may split votes with Azerbaijan and thus cancel each other out if each makes it to the final. Should one fail then the other ought to do very well. Turkey’s internal selection has done well for them until this year and it still could produce a good song. They have a strong diaspora vote and are in the Outer Balkan Block, which does give them a lot of points but may not be there for them in the Semi Final when the votes are split up.

Istanbul 2013? Interestingly many fans seem to think that Turkey could win next year but I still think they have a slightly lower chance than Russia.

Ukraine

In 2009 they sent one of the most male geared songs ever seen and only coming 11^th and then this year they come 4^th with an average ballad [one of the great injustices of ESC]. For me even Ukraine qualifying this year was a long shot, and then when they were in the lead I near fainted. Since 2010 they have had the “Rigged” national final format, and got two top 10 places for their troubles. They are very capable of winning but when they leave potential winners at home (Jamala), they could hardly expect to win. Each year Ukraine throws something to Eurovision and each time it is something new.

Kiev 2013? Depends on what they choose from their National Final and the EBU may step in if they continue to rig their National Final. They may do well in the coming years but a win is out of the question.

There will be some news tomorrow.