The 50th Eurovision Song Contest is less than two weeks away. There are so many contestant countries that – like last year – there’ll be a semi-final a couple of days before the final. (Who fans note that The Empty Child will be on at 6.25pm
The Good
Five that aren’t too bad:
- Iceland (dancy)
- Switzerland (rocky, and the band’s called Vanilla Ninja)
- Slovenia (ballady)
- Lithuania (also dancy)
- United Kingdom (Touch My Fire)
Honourable mentions too to F.Y.R. Macedonia, despite some awful dancing, and Spain, despite being pretty much Las Ketchup.
The Bad
Some of these are awful while some are, in true Eurovision spirit, amusingly bad.
- Belgium (really dull ballad)
- Croatia (a dirge called “Wolves Die Alone”)
- Finland (fittingly, the title is “Why?”)
- Ireland (dreadful – two loud children dancing like it’s a school disco)
- Moldova (oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; you’ll have to see this to believe it)
- Norway (stadium rawk)
- Portugal (Renee and Renato for the twenty-first century)
- Ukraine (the ugliest boyband in the world…ever! rap “Lies be the weapon of mass destruction”)
The Rest
There is a sprinkling of interest amongst the other contestants. Latvia have entered a cut-price McFly; Bosnia-Herzogovina’s Atomic Kitten clones will probably do well despite the song being trite nonsense; Denmark’s entry has lousy verses but an OK chorus; Hungary are going for the Ukraine/Riverdance vote with a crowd of dancers; and Serbia & Montenegro are represented by a Balkan Westlife.
Finally, Austria’s entry is like the Buena Vista Social Club withot the Buena Vista. Or the Club. So like the social then. With yodelling.
But don’t take my word for it – you can watch all the entries, read the lyrics and, oh, so much more on the Eurovision website.
I found myself mildly surprised to discover that I could actually hum “Touch My Fire” some weeks after hearing it a grand total of twice.
Surprised and Disturbed.
That’s a relief, I thought it was just me. “can you feel the heat…” etc.
You did not give us your verdict on Sweden’s entry – “Las Vegas”.
It’s near the top of the rest, I’d say. Not as good as last year’s Swedish entry, although that crashed out in the semi-final.
Will,
Are you sure about that? According to my recollection Lena Phillipson – “It Hurts” – came in the top 5 in last year’s final. I remember cos it was absolutely brilliant.
Actually, I’ve just checked:
http://www.eurovision.tv/archive_2004/english/index.htm
… she came 6th.
I’m trying to out-geek a self-confessed geek. Bad plan.
Sorry, I was thinking of Denmark’s entry. The Swedish one was OK, although I did get a text from a friend during the Swedish performance saying, “If it hurts, she shouldn’t do it.”
I have an odd taste in Eurovision tracks, I think. I liked Turkey last year, Estonia in 2003 and Russia in 2002.
the song of Slovenia..it’s my favourite.. 🙂
is a ballad with rock ingredients… 🙂
vote tomorrow for Slovenia(green piece of Europe 🙂 )
go Omar!