Surprises tonight at the end of Semifinal 1. The biggest surprise ("shock" is actually the word) is that Finland did not qualify, and disappointment among the Arena crowd (Finns and non-Finns alike) was big: I understand the emotions of those Finns who walked out of the Arena after the results were announced.
As suspected the jury vote, which is usually different to televote results, influenced the qualification of some unlikely candidates (Portugal comes to mind..). Personally, 6 of my favourites did qualify to the Final (yes, Russia was one of them, ha-ha to you too..), and my sympathies for Latvia, Poland and Slovakia.
In any case, the decision has been made, so congratulations to the 10 qualifiers and good luck!
Remember to tune in to the Final on 29 May at 22:00.
Remember that as in Belgrade and Moscow, OGAE ID
cardholders are entitled to come to the Euroclub and to any party that is held
there.
It was windy & rainy, but that didn’t stop the party
goers. Ukraine-Germany generously offered free drinks at the bar, with performances
by Alyosha and Lena. Azerbaijan’s Safura made a brief appearance on stage to
say greetings before leaving for some place (probably to the Turkish party..). The
on-cue stage performances in between playback music & general socialising gave
this party a very central European touch. By 22:15 many of the guests started
to leave for the next party.
I managed to drop by at the Turkish party around 22:30
to see members of maNga manning the DJ stand and mingling with the crowd. Food
was on offer and I spotted some members of the Azerbaijan team (so I was right
about Safura earlier..), but with the guest numbers starting to dwindle I
guessed I’d better hightail it to the next party.
There was an awesomely long queue outside the Israeli
party and the rain got heavier, but queue the fans did and eventually
practically everyone made it inside. Perhaps in typical Israeli fashion a big
screen behind the stage showed clips of past Israeli ESC winners while the host
and assorted members of the Israeli delegation and fan club were on-stage
boogieing away and exhorting the party-goers to do the same. Food in small trays
were simply passed hand-to-hand among the crowd, while Harel Skaat, Michael Von
der Heide (Switzerland) and Marcin Mroziński (Poland) took to the stage. Also
seen was Josh Dubovie (United Kingdom).
Tonight the Euroclub will host the Semifinal 1 After
Party: Oslo is buzzing that Finland will have a reason to celebrate soon!
The First Open Dress Rehearsal of Semifinal 1 began at 15:00 local time in the Telenor Arena. There was great excitement at seeing the final version of each country's entry being performed for the first time on stage.
This was also the opportunity to see how the Event will look like on live television, and so far it promises to be a good show. Even the simple stage looks good on screen, with the occasional use of pyrotechnics/fireworks in some of the songs.
Kuunkuiskaajat gave an excellent show which was both charming and energetic, receiving a very good welcome from the audience in the Arena. This is certainly something to look forward to tomorrow.
One of the interesting aspects of attending the ESC live is to see the entry change on stage, when one country would leave with their on-stage props and the next country would enter with their own props. In previous years television audiences were not able to see this process, but this year part of the entry change will be shown live.
Another change involves the televoting: this year television viewers can vote by telephone or sms already at the start of the contest, instead of waiting until all songs have been performed like in previous years.
Rather different to the usual norm of open informality in Scandinavia, the Oslo ESC events tend to be more exclusive.
For example the official Welcome Reception at the Oslo City Hall tonight is by invitation only, and each country´s Head of Delegation is given a fixed number of Invitation Cards to be distributed at their discretion. Apparently Finland was given 24 Invitation Cards only. A number of fans are left disappointed because at the Moscow ESC last year the limited Invitation Card system was not used.
Niamh Kavanagh (about Marcin Mroziński): He´s very good looking too. I´m allowed to say that ´coz I´m an old woman..
Marcin Mroziński (about back-up singer Veronika): I hope next year Veronika will represent my country Poland..and I will ask to be her back-up vocal.
- Kristina Pelakova (after her intrepreter left the stage): I don't know speak good English..
- Crowd (in response): No problem!
Marcin Mroziński (referring to his sinful Polish apples after performance by Artsem Mikhalenka): I will not give him an apple to bite, just for girls..
If Oslo is not high on your travel list, you may want to think again. The city is pretty and surprisingly happening, and the friendly, chatty Norwegians will certainly make any visitor feel welcome.
Marcin Mroziński hosted the Poland Party on 22.5, and it was open to everyone. Attending also were 3+2 (Belarus), Vukašin Brajić (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Niamh Kavanagh (Ireland), Thea Garrett (Malta) and Kristina Pelakova (Slovakia).
Marcin of course performed Poland´s entry "Legenda", and invited Niamh to perform Ireland´s entry. Only one member of 3+2 (Artsem Mikhalenka) attended at the start, and if I understood Belarusian correctly he performed a cappella the Belarusian national anthem. Kristina was preparing to sing the Slovak entry when the music failed to play, so she simply went on and sang a cappella and can the girl sing! Thea Garrett performed "That´s All I ask of You" with Marcin, and this was when we discovered that the guy is an actor for the stage performance of "Phantom of the Opera" in Poland.
There was a discussion between Niamh and Marcin about whose country produces the best apples. Explaining that the apple represents sin, after each performance Marcin got the other singers to take a bite out of a Polish apple (yes, he confirmed that the apple was Polish and not Irish..), but interestingly he did not ask Artsem (the only other male singer) to do so as well..
Niamh was true to the Irish stereotype: she was friendly, chatty and generally great fun! She was also always eating..apples, strawberries, etc.
