Tuesday 14 May 2013

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 Semi-Final 1

Host country: Sweden (SVT)
Venue: Malmö Arena
Hosts: Petra Mede
Date: Tuesday 14 May 2013

N.B. Any use of "tonight" or "this evening" throughout this post means Tuesday 14 May 2013.

The Opening
The first semi-final opened with a live performance of last year's winning song "Euphoria" sung by Loreen and children from local schools.

The Songs
Ten minutes after the start of the show it was time for the first song. Each song was introduced by a postcard film related to the appropriate country, which included a flying butterfly in the appropriate flag design..

Song 1: Austria - Natália Kelly "Shine"
First to perform were Austria. A song whose verses were gentle, with a tune reminiscent of Azerbaijan's winning entry two years ago, and a lively catchy chorus. This definitely deserves to qualify. See you Saturday.

Song 2: Estonia - Birgit "Et Uus Saaks Alguse"
Well I thought this was better sung live tonight than on the CD. Nonetheless whilst I felt the gentle verses were fine, the choruses were too overpowering. I wasn't at all keen on the choruses. I'd sooner this doesn't qualify.

Song 3: Slovenia - Hannah "Straight Into Love"
A good power ballad, with fairly gentle verses and a lively chorus. The song was enhanced by the dancers, whose routine included on-floor movements. The dance routine would be fun to copy. Was the stroboscopic effect at the start and end of middle eight really necessary though. This ought to go through to Saturday night.

Song 4: Croatia - Klapa s mora "Mižerja"
Now for Croatia's song which was one of my favourites on the official ESC 2013 CD album. An excellent ballad, very well sung by a group of male vocalists. This definitely deserves to qualify, see you Saturday.

Song 5: Denmark - Emmelie de Forest "Only Teardrops"
Now for the bookies' favourite to win, Denmark. This is another song I particularly liked on the CD. The song includes gentle verses, and really fast upbeat choruses, accompanied appropriately by a beautiful piping sound and the drums. A first class performance too. It's hardly surprising this is tipped to win outright, it really deserves to qualify tonight.

A short break occurred at this point.

Song 6: Russia - Dina Garipova "What If"
Now for Russia's entry. This year Russia have gone for one lady singing a beautiful ballad. This is an enormous improvement on last year's utter garbage from the Russian Grannies, which undeservedly reached last year's final. Russia definitely deserves to reach the final this year.

Song 7: Ukraine - Zlata Ognevich "Gravity"
A power ballad, with an appropriate use of arm movements. In my opinion I prefer tonight's live performance to the ESC 2013 CD version, but I'm not overly keen this style of singing. I'd rather this stays out of Saturday's final.

Song 8: The Netherlands - Anouk "Birds"
Anouk did well to perform tonight after her mishap with ten pin bowling in the last few days. This was a good ballad which was very well sung. My only dislike is it sounded rather sorrowful and a bit depressing. I'd have preferred it to have been sung more cheerfully.

Song 9: Montenegro - Who See "Igranka"
From one extreme to another, a lively mixture of rap and thrash metal. What a mish mash! Do you really call any of that singing? Is it really necessary for the two men to be dressed as astronauts? Does it need so much use of strobe lighting? I'm appalled that Montenegro has chosen this to represent their country this year; it's totally inappropriate for the Eurovision Song Contest. For goodness sake, please stay out of Saturday's final!

Song 10: Lithuania - Andrius Pojavis "Something"
Back to another ballad. Compared to Montenegro's garbage this is an order of magnitude better, but I'm not overly keen on this song. I'd rather this didn't qualify.

Song 11: Belarus - Alyona Lanskaya "Solayoh"
Well maybe this should be valued more for the dance routine than the song itself. Nonetheless I really like Alyona's arm movements and the men's well-choreographed dance routine in time with the accompanying beat. This is a Eurovision fan's chance to join in and copy the arm movements and dancing. On those grounds I'd like this in Saturday's final.

Song 12: Moldova - Aliona Moon "O Mie"
A lady singing a ballad, accompanied by a backing group whose routine would be equally fun to copy. There's the additional gimmick of the flame effect, I'd love to know how they created that. I'm not particularly keen on the song itself, and would rather not see this on Saturday night.

Song 13: Ireland - Ryan Dolan "Only Love Survives"
This year Ireland have gone for a power ballad, accompanied by drumming. Quite a good song, though not as worthy of reaching the final as Jedward's performances in 2011 and 2012. I wouldn't mind this in the final but Ireland is not one of the countries I most want to see Saturday.

A short break occurred at this point.

Song 14: Cyprus - Despina Olympiou "An Me Thimasai"
Now for Cyprus, so it's hardly surprising this was sung in Greek. Another excellent ballad, very well sung with appropriate flowing arm movements. This deserves to qualify.

Song 15: Belgium - Roberto Bellarosa "Love Kills"
The first verse was rather slow and a little dull, but the chorus was lively and catchy. The two backing ladies did a good accompanying dance routine too. Was the brief stroboscopic effect in the middle eight really necessary though? I wouldn't mind seeing this Saturday.

Song 16: Serbia - Moje 3 "Ljubav Je Svuda"
The final song of the night, Serbia, just one and a quarter hours after the start. I'm lost for words on what to say about this song, I wasn't particularly keen on it and would rather it didn't appear in the final.

Televoting and Recap
At this point Petra reappeared to announce the start of the voting at 21:20 BST. A recap of the songs followed.

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My Preferences
Here are my preferences based solely on all of tonight's performances:
Definitely want to qualify: Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Russia, Belarus, Cyprus
Wouldn't mind qualifying: Slovenia, The Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium
Prefer not to qualify: Estonia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia
Definitely don't want to qualify: Montenegro

So these are the ones I want to see Saturday night: Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Russia, Belarus, Cyprus, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium

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Eurovision Song Contest 2013 Semi-Final 1 Results
So here are the results. Any use of "tonight" still means Tuesday 14 May 2013.

My desired qualifiers: Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Russia, Belarus, Cyprus, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium.

Actual qualifiers (in order of announcement): Moldova, Lithuania, Ireland, Estonia, Belarus, Denmark, Russia, Belgium, Ukraine, The Netherlands.

Bold entries represent the actual qualifiers that match my preferences.

OUT: Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro.

I am gutted that Croatia failed to qualify as Klapa s mora gave such a first class performance of their excellent ballad "Mižerja", that I voted for it. "Mižerja" was one of the best songs of the night which deserved to be in the final. I'm equally disappointed that Austria failed to qualify, their mixed pace song "Shine" was very well performed and among the songs I most wanted to see in the final. I'm shocked that Lithuania reached the final, in my opinion their ballad wasn't as good as those of Croatia or Cyprus. My impression is that some thought Lithuania's entry was a decent song immediately after Montenegro's trash and thus voted for it. I'd rather Estonia hadn't qualified; I felt that Austria was better than Estonia. Austria and Croatia deserved the places taken by Lithuania and Estonia.

I'm so overjoyed that Denmark and Russia are through as they are both excellent songs which deserve to be in the final. Also I'm pleased to see Belarus in the final as although it may not be the best of the songs that qualified, it has a great dance routine which will be fun to join in and copy on the night. As for The Netherlands, although I thought "Birds" was a bit depressing, it's different from the other songs and good enough to give The Netherlands its first appearance in the final since 2004. I'm extremely glad that Montenegro are out, as I feel their utter garbage of an entry would have been a disgrace to the final. In my opinion, they shouldn't have picked that as their entry, it didn't even belong in the semi-final let alone the final. I can't wait to see the full semi-final 1 results when they are released to the public after Saturday night's final; I hope they came last with nul points! To a much lesser extent I'm glad Serbia are out as I wasn't particularly keen on their entry.

That means none of the four ex-Yugoslav countries Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia or Montenegro qualified. Being as Bosnia & Herzegovina didn't enter at all this year, the only hope now for an ex-Yugoslav country on Saturday night now is F.Y.R. Macedonia who are in Thursday's semi-final.

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