Eurovision 2017

They can have the place of MDA, which I found pretty unbearable

Georgia should probably be ok.

Jamala is so fucking good.

The new one is very good.

Yeah, definite highlight of the evening right there.

Good god, Spain.

Whoops, I missed POL in the market ranking. They were at #11, top non-qualifier.

So market was 9 for 10, had Finland instead of Poland.

These are intriguing odds:

Germany to give UK 0 points (Jury + Televoting Combined) 5/4
France to give UK 0 points (Jury + Televoting Combined) 13/8
Italy to give UK 0 points (Jury + Televoting Combined) 2/1

Would this have done any better for Iceland?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpLp9nRmS7U

So market was 9 for 10, had Finland instead of Poland.

Which is how it should have been.

Faves among qualifiers -- Belgium, Azerbaijan, Australia (with caveats)

xps going for uk getting 4 from roi and 1 each from san marino and malta

From the clip they played during the "waiting for votes" section, I didn't hate the UK entry. Spain, on the other hand...

Spain not only needs to die in a fire, but drown.

... in a fire?

Burning oil on water, whatever works.

Okay, second semi in half an hour...

TMI

I have heard a rumour Ruslana is the interval act today, which would be great.

It's all very well being sniffy about this, but in 1997 we nearly entered a song called Yodel In The Canyon Of Love https://t.co/o1abJEkHWe

— Kit Lovelace (@kitlovelace) May 11, 2017

This is painful tho.

That last one was good but I was too busy calling him 'Yahtzee Popeye' to notice what country it was. Any help?

Hungary

Cool, thanks.

As a side note, given the direction the country is going in, it's good to see a Roma singer performing for Hungary. Decent song too.

routinely check to see if ruslana has blotted her copybook in re the darkside of maidan (as a sometime MP etc), but so far she seems to be more or less on the side of good

Denmark: reliably awful

YODEL IT

San Marino: reliably Valentina

Valentina in dgaf "what are you going to do, stop selecting me?" mode

And now Croatian Josh Gad.

This is remarkable.

Croatian Jekyll and Hyde: "I am an opera singer"/"I will put mustard on you and eat you"

Simultaneously the campest performer at Eurovision 2017 and "the biggest homophobe in Croatian showbiz".

Perfect combo! Uh.

Yeah, such a shame, I liked the Croatia song. Also quite liked the Switzerland one, tbh, though I'm not sure what makes it stand out from the other mid-tempo belters that I've been dismissing these semis.

Where are you all watching (US)?

Swedish feed

https://www.svtplay.se/video/13572909/eurovision-song-contest/eurovision-song-contest-2017-semifinal-2-11-maj-21-00?start=auto&tab=kommande

i am watching on the bbc bcz i am brexit

switched from BBC to Youtube live stream - so much better when you're doing your own commentary

Sofia 2018 imo.

with the "Heroes" stage show? hope not

Betfair market's ranking for reaching final at end of first reminder round:

Top ten: BUL, ROU, NED, ISR, HUN, DEN, EST, BLR, CRO, AUT
Then: NOR, SRB, SUI, MKD, MLT, IRL, LTU, SMR

we're not worthy #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/S28ziOyQHQ

— Hilary (@exit_everything) May 11, 2017

Nostalgia for buying overpriced fruit at Besarabsky Market is just about making me stay with this terrible BBC skit.

Once again, market goes 9 for 10, with the 11th-ranked going through instead of one of the top 10 (#8 on Tuesday, #7 tonight).

Really surprised by NED but what do I know. Drawing a complete blank on what AUT sound like.

Never be surprised by me.

I should have learned by now

Austria was horrendous, but I knew it'd go through.

So far, this is the only place on the internet that has any positive reaction to the winner.

Has the word 'Politics' been mentioned this time around at all?

If not, good and hray!

Like Australia giving the UK 12 points, you mean?

I liked the winner! It stood out from the vaguely EDM songs, and also from the wilder ones. I tend to prefer whatever Eastern Europe comes up with, but this year they were pretty toned down (my family says that there were wilder ones that didn't make the finals). But yay Portugal, which I just returned from last night as it happens.

Latest discovery from Eurovision not-2017:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkiJlyXaGJI

Could imagine this turning up on a Finders Keepers comp

I vaguely know one of the Australian jurors and I am utterly baffled that she would have gone for the UK entry. She's a singer/songwriter/comedian and the bland UK entry is not what I would have expected would have tickled her fancy. Our jury's fondness for the UK's awful entries is a worry but at least we didn't give anything to Electro Velvet, but then again other country's juries' overfondness for our entry this time is a worry too - roundly rejected by the televoters, the juries propped it up to a bizarre extent for such a blah song (Dami Im was a blah song too but she sang the shit out of it to the extent that I would never bother listening to the studio version as the live version completely blows it away).

On the other hand, the Australian televoters once again did themselves proud and displayed their preference for fun songs, giving 12 and 10 to arguably the most fun songs in the final: Moldova and Romania. Last year our 12 and 10 also went to uptempo fun songs: Belgium's "What's The Pressure" and Bulgaria's "If Love Was a Crime". And in 2015, we went for uptempo Sweden and very fun Serbia in 1 and 3, and Belgium was 2nd (not uptempo but extremely high quality and too good to not be given points).

probably no need for a 2018 thread just yet
but whigfield has made it to the final 10 for denmarks entry

can't think of a better reason to kick off the 2018 season!