Tuesday saw the first semi final of the 2010 Eurovision song contest in Oslo. Widely agreed to be the weaker of the two semi's, there were still a lot of surprises. The 10 qualifiers, along with my thoughts, were (in no particular order);
Belgium: My favourites of this semi. A simple acoustic style song, with autobiographical lyrics. A refreshing song in a contest of gimmicks.
Iceland: Got the biggest cheer from the crowd. One of the few Schlager songs of this years contest.
Russia: The joke entry. Except most people don't realise. Which to the Russian's probably just makes it even funnier. I liked it, but it was a shock qualifier.
Bosnia & Herzegovia: Talking of shock qualifiers. Rock songs rarely do well at eurovision, so why this poor attempt got through is anyones guess.
Belarus: Only the second time Belarus have made it to the final. And well deserved (even if the gimmick was a love/hate divider). Another simple but classic song style.
Serbia: Quite an usual look this singer has gone for, and an usual style of song (to western ears at least), but insanely catching. Also quite a nice change for a country still relatively new to the contest.
Moldova: The opener of the contest, and apparently you cant go wrong with a dry-humping saxsophonist. Catchy, and I quite like it, but there probably were better one's that should have gone through in its place.
Albania: Another that doesnt deserve its place in the final. This is run of the mill, and rather dated, pop. With vocals and a melody that are equally mediocre. Dissapointing.
Greece: Eugh. Thats all.
Portugal: A pretty little ballad. Not very catchy, but pleasant enough at the time. Will probably get lost in the final though, unless its lucky enough to have a late placing.
And comiserations to those who didnt qualify: Estonia (very dissapointing, this was a great song), Malta (perhaps the gimmick was too much), FYR Macedonia (perhaps the semi naked girls were too much), Slovakia (perhaps the whole sherade was too much), Finland (shame, this was starting to grow on me), Poland (what a voice! Strangling your backing singers is definitely too much though), Latvia (again... eugh).
The second semi is live tonight from 8pm on BBC3. It promises to be an exciting and tense show.
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