And the winner of Eurovision 2008 is ...

Well, as with the two semi-finals earlier in the week, I wasn't 'live-blogging' this evening, but I was preparing it throughout the evening; also, as I already commented on most of the entries during the semi-finals (1st semi-final, 2nd semi-final), I won't do comments on the performances, except for the big four (UK, Germany, France, Spain) and last year's winners (Serbia), all five of whom were exempt from the semi-finals. Sorry - slight alteration - I treacherously abandoned Denmark and France, instead voting for Russia, so I added a few comments there, too.

(09.58 BST Sunday 25MAY08) There's a summmary scoreboard of all the results on the BBC's Eurovision website here.

(23.38 BST) You can see a full table of results on the official Eurovision website here - you will need to click from there on the scoreboard for 'THE FINAL', just below the photgraph of Dima Bilan, the singer of the winning song from Russia.

(23.07 BST) And the winner is Russia with 272 points!




(22.45 BST) I think it is turning into a two-horse race between Russia and Greece.

(22.30 BST) San Marino has given 6 points to the UK, the first of the evening! Thank you! I'm publishing this now, but will be updating it several times before the final results are known.

(22.20 BST) - I just saw that the UK has given its 12 votes to Greece so London Preppy will be happy, but my vote for Russia is as nought, more or less.

(22.15 BST) OK - the performances are over and voting has closed. We are just awaiting the start of the announcement of the votes.

This evening's entrants:

Romania

United Kingdom - a lively tune, well-performed by Andy Abraham and the backing group. In a fair world it would do quite well, even if I don't think it's a 'winner'.

Albania

Germany - four quite pretty young women, singing a lively song, unfortunately seemed a little out of tune to me - one or two of the singers were reallly off-key. So no good, I'm afraid.

Armenia

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Israel

Finland

Croatia

Poland

Iceland

Turkey

Portugal

Latvia

Sweden

Denmark - This was my favourite from the two semi-finals. Did my vote go here? Sorry, but no.

Georgia

Ukraine - Placed 2nd

France - a very catchy tune, sung by a very eccentric-looking bearded man with bearded accompaniment. I like this a lot. Did my vote go here? Sorry, but no.

Azerbaijan

Greece - Placed 3rd

Spain - a jokey effort. Brave, certainly. I doubt if it will do well.

Serbia - a nice ballad sung by a very pretty woman andanice backing group. Quite a sophisticated song - may do very well. Could they win two times in a row?

Russia - Well, this very good-looking young man pulled off an even better performance than in the 1st semi-final. I may have to switch my vote! Bill deserted Denmark and France to vote for Russia! Winner!

Norway

Eurovision 2008 - Bill's favourites for tonight

(Please see UPDATE at end)

Of course I can't vote for the British entry (pretty good, but not brilliant, though it is in my opinion), but I'm going to indulge in a little pre-competition 'plugging' of my two favourites for tonight, namely Denmark and France:


Denmark




France



One of the lead singers is cute, one is rather 'eccentric'-looking. However, both are good cheerful songs, for me a requisite for the classic Eurovision song.

It should be a fun evening ...

PS/ Much as I like Spain, the less said about its entry this year the better; the only other song this year with which it is at all comparable (in silliness) is the entry from Ireland, which is not in the final (thank goodness). No doubt both these songs are 'ground-breaking' in their surrealistic humour, but if this is the case I have to report it's way beyond me!

UPDATE: (23.27 BST) Please see my later post with the results of the competition - won by Russia!

Eurovision 2008 - Scorecard for the final tonight

(Please see UPDATES at end)

If you will be watching the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from Belgrade tonight (as I shall) you may care to know you can print out a scorecard here (it's in .PDF format). The main BBC Eurovision website is here.

On other less-important [irony alert!] matters, it is good to know that the rest of the country is catching up with my long-standing (i.e. pre-1997) views of the Labour Party and its former Chancellor of the Exchequer and its present Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. Why, even the caravanner knows things have to change! I doubt, however, that this particular 'leopard' can change his spots in any meaningful way - not meaningful enough at any rate to fool the British public again at the next General Election, if indeed he is still the Leader of the Labour Party then. Even if the Labour Party does decide on the 'nuclear option' and replace Brown, I doubt it will improve their electoral prospects for the next election more than marginally.

Now, back to more important matters, there are just about 9 hours until the start of the Eurovision Song Contest final tonight!

UPDATE: (23.27 BST) Please see my later post with the results of the competition - won by Russia!

UPDATE: (Saturday 16MAY09 15.00 RST/CET) You can find the scorecard for the 2009 final through the link here.

Eurovision 2008 - 2nd Semi-final - who goes through?

Right, well I'm not going to be 'live-blogging' this evening exactly, but I am preparing this post whilst watching the acts, so should be able to publish it very shortly after the evening's entertainment has run its course.

My views of the songs tonight:

Iceland - Quite nice loooking male and female lead singers in a very Icelandic 'ice-gods' way. Good voices. Traditional 'Europop'. I like it. Bill says 'YES' Voters says 'YES'

Sweden - Strange looking female in a Scandinavian ice-maiden way. Again traditional 'Europop' sung in English. Bill says 'YES' Voters says 'YES'

Turkey - Nice looking male lead singer with a band. Good voices. Rock ballad. I quite like it, but not sure it is quite the right sound for Eurovision. Voters says 'YES'

Ukraine - Very beautiful female, singing in whatever(?)/English. Backing good-looking male dancers. Good beat, good voice. Bill says 'YES' Voters says 'YES'

Lithuania - Striking-looking long-haired man. Good voice singing in English, powerful ballad, but not Eurovision material in my view.

Albania - Quite a pretty young woman, but too much make-up (!!) - sung in Albanian. Good voice singing a ballad. Not certain. Voters says 'YES'

Switzerland - Stylish black-suited/shirted male singing in Italian. Good, but not perfect, voice singing a ballad. I like it. Bill says 'YES'

Czech Republic - Quite beautiful female with similarly-beautiful backing female dancers. OK song, but voice no good.

Belarus - Cute-looking male singer (black satin shirt and pants), female dancers. Nice boppy voice, but his voice is not great. I think not.

Latvia - Pirates (male and female). Very much a traditional 'Eurovision' song of the old school. Very amusing. Voters says 'YES'

Croatia - White and black suited males. Sung in Serbo-Croat. Excellent voices. Seemed to be a witty song. I like it. Bill says 'YES' Voters says 'YES'

Bulgaria - Heavy-metal/Hard-rock band (you see how out of touch I am?), very beautiful female singer with good, but not perfect, voice. I liked it though. Bill says 'YES'

Denmark - Good looking laid-back male singer. Excellent voice. Ballad with a good beat - basic 'Europop'. The best song of the evening! Bill says 'YES' Bill voted for Denmark! Voters says 'YES'

Georgia - Very beautifull (blind?) female, disguised as Goth. Goodish voice, beat ballad. Voters says 'YES'

Hungary - Very beautiful female (voice 'a la' Celine Dion!), male pianist. Very nice slow ballad. Bill says 'YES'

Malta - Very beautiful female with very nice-looking male dancers. Good song with a good beat. Bill says 'YES'

Cyprus - Beautiful (coquettish?) female. Nice song and good beat, but not really 'Eurovision' material, I think.

F Y R Macedonia - Trendy males and females, all nice looking. Song with a beat. I like it. Bill says 'YES'

Portugal - Female singer, excellent voice. Not really 'Eurovision' material in my view. Voters says 'YES'

In summary I'd say the general quality of the songs this evening was rather better than on Tuesday. However, perhaps because there were more good songs to choose from, I was somewhat less successful in choosing the 10 to go through to the final as I got only 5 'correctt':
- the 5 I chose which didn't get through were Switzerland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Malta and F Y R Macedonia;
the 5 which the voters chose (and I didn't) were Turkey, Albania, Latvia, Georgia and Portugal.

I can't say I'm too unhappy with any of the choices this evening - the poorest songs (in my opinion) didn't get through, and those that did (even those I didn't choose) were all at least reasonably good. However, for me the 'star' of both Tuesday and Thursday was Denmark; we in the UK could not vote on Tuesday, but at least I was able to vote for my favourite from both semi-finals, Denmark, tonight. I like the Danish song a lot!

To recap from the 1st semi-final, here are the 10 countries from Tuesday who, like the 10 successful nations high-lighted in green above, go through to the final on Saturday:

Israel
Azerbaijan
Norway
Poland
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Armenia
Finland
Romania
Russia
Greece

Roll on Saturday!
PS/ I think for me it will probably be a choice between Denmark and France - obviously I can't vote for the UK entry with Andy Abraham, but even if I could I don't think that would affect my choice - but I'll make up my mind between those two, Denmark and France, on Saturday ...

Eurovision 2008 - 1st Semi-final - my evening and the results

Well, I'm currently watching the 18th out of the 19 songs being performed tonight by Russia. Just Greece to go.

My views of the songs tonight:

Montenegro - not a great song - quite a pretty male singer, but I don't think it will go through

Israel - Excellent singing voice, sexy male singer and dancers - Bill says 'YES' - Voters says 'YES'

Estonia - Lively song - female and male singers

Moldova - Romantic ballad - good voice - pretty female - Bill says 'YES'

San Marino - ballad - strange looking male

Belgium - bizarre song - pretty female

Azerbaijan - camp operatic ballad - camp male and gothic male - Bill says 'YES' - Voters says 'YES'

Slovenia - good singing - beautiful but alarming looking female

Norway - good ballad - good voice - very pretty female - Bill says 'YES' - Voters says 'YES'

Poland - good song - very beautiful female - Bill says 'YES' - Voters says 'YES'

Ireland - the Turkey was a complete turkey - rubbish!!!

Andorra - good song - female plus female group - Bill says 'YES'

Bosnia & Herzegovina - rubbish song, badly sung - bizarre male and female singers - Voters says 'YES'

Armenia - powerful song, but sung out of tune - very beautiful female - Voters says 'YES'

The Netherlands - tuneful song - very beautiful female singer and good looking male dancers - Bill says 'YES'

Finland - a male kind of 'hard metal' band - Voters says 'YES'

Romania - Romanian/Italian ballad sung by a very good looking male and a pretty female - Bill says 'YES' - Voters says 'YES'

Russia - romantic ballad - very good looking male - Bill says 'YES' - Voters says 'YES'

Greece - nice song with slight middle eastern overtones - quite a pretty female with male dancers - Bill says 'YES' - Voters says 'YES'

OK, I seem to have got 7 out of the 10 which the voters wanted:
- the 3 I chose which didn't get through were Moldova, Andorra, Netherlands;
- the 3 which the voters chose (and I didn't) were Bosnia & Herzegovina, Armenia, Finland.

The next semi-final is on Thursday.

Eurovision 2008 - 1st Semi-final - 20 May 2008

(Please see UPDATE at end)

This year the Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Belgrade (Serbia) and for the first time will comprise two (rather than one) semi-finals, before the final takes place next Saturday evening.

The first semi-final takes this evening (Tuesday) and the 19 nations competing will be:

Montenegro
Israel
Estonia
Moldova
San Marino
Belgium
Azerbaijan
Slovenia
Norway
Poland
Ireland
Andorra
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Armenia
The Netherlands
Finland
Romania
Russia
Greece

See the official scoreboard here and the main Eurovision website here.

The second semi-final takes place on Thursday and a further 19 nations will compete:

Iceland
Sweden
Turkey
Ukraine
Lithuania
Albania
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Belarus
Latvia
Croatia
Bulgaria
Denmark
Georgia
Hungary
Malta
Cyprus
F Y R Macedonia
Portugal

Ten countries from each semi-final will go forward to the final next Saturday; they will make up the 25 finalists with the following 5 countries:

- the four 'big' countries (i.e. the ones who pay the most):

United Kingdom
Germany
France
Spain

- plus last year's winner and this year's host nation:

Serbia.

The BBC Eurovision website is here and from here you can listen to all this year's songs (if you are more of a masochist than me).

Of course I shall be recording and/or watching the two semi-finals and watching (and perhaps recording) the final, but after last year's even more nakedly-partisan cometition than usual, my interest has lessened considerably so I doubt if I will bother 'live-blogging' any of the three evenings of 'entertainment' this year. For me the whole competition is on a sort of probation this year. I still plan to enjoy the fun and 'camp' aspects of the three evenings, but I will be taking the whole spectacle a lot less seriously than in earlier years. If the voting this year is even a little more realistic and objective than last year's nadir then I might just possibly reconsider my even more cynical than usual attitude toward the whole competition. Meantime it is relegated for me to the category of vaudeville, redeemed only by the opportunity the competition affords to ogle my particuar taste in 'eye candy'.

UPDATE: I posted here after this evening's show with my impressions plus the countries which have been selected from the 1st Semi-final to go through to the final on Saturday.