Eurovision, report cards and finalists after the first evening
The first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest begins immediately with a big technical problem: Mara Maionchi (from Italy) and Gabriele Corsi (from Sweden) cannot hear each other and Mara repeats the opening phrase twice, with “Our Marco Mengoni was exceptional ”.
Then they often talk over each other: the Italian commentary is a curse and a delight, fundamental for the general public to understand the event, unbearable for the many Italian fans of ESC. In the background, a mega show that shows how the Swedes have done things big, as always when it's their turn, with a series of LED cubes that rise and lower on the stage.
Here are the impressions of the evening and the votes
The Show: 8
The Eurovision machine is, as usual, crazy: seeing 18 live video clips, with sets and special effects, one in a row at this speed, always makes a certain impression – especially if we think about the slowness of our Sanremo. which however is really another type of show. Then Sweden celebrates itself by doing things like combining Ingmar Bergman films with Eurovision songs. What do you want to tell him?
The songs in the competition
The prize for the “most” performance is up for grabs for the diabolical neo-gothic Bambie Thug with “Doomsday Blue”, a sort of Irish version of Marilyn Manson (7 – I'm dreaming about it tonight…) and the Croatian favorite Baby Lasagna, practically the Lordi , but without the masks, with fireworks and all the corollary of every possible special effect (7).
Let's be clear, votes for the show, the songs are mostly forgettable: the best are that of the Icelandic Hera Björk, “Scared of Heights”, a pop and without frills, and the Portuguese Iolanda who also plays with “Grito” on simplicity (7). The ugliest is “No rules” (4) by the Finns: one of the two is called Windows95man and sings half naked and at a certain point his underwear is lowered from the top with fireworks.
But otherwise, nothing to declare. For example, we love Ukraine regardless, but a song about Mother Teresa? Also remember “Stefania”, who won in 2022… The first 2 of the big 5 – England, Germany and Spain – plus Marcus & Martinus, competing for Sweden, perform outside the competition. The English Olly Alexander (known as an actor from the series “It's a sin”) has a crazy production, a video clip in a sort of rotating room that makes you forget the stage, but the song is banal electro pop (6). The German Isaak also appears in a room on stage – this year they are in fashion – with soul pop among the least worst of the evening (6) and in fact he is among the least likely to win. Marcus & Martini pass and you immediately forget them: difficult to win two years in a row.
The finalists
They advance to the final:
- Serbia – TEYA DORA, “Ramonda”
- Portugal – iolanda, “Grito”
- Slovenia–Raiven, “Veronika”
- Ukraine – alyona alyona & Jerry Heil, “Teresa & Maria”
- Lithuania – Silvester Belt, “Luktelk”
- Finland – Windows95man feat. Henri Piispanen, , “No Rules!”
- Cyprus – Silia Kapsis, “Liar”
- Croatia – Baby Lasagna, “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”
- Ireland – Bambie Thug, “Doomsday Blue”
- Luxembourg – TALI, “Fighter”
