Norway is the 54th winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. Alexander Rybak performing Fairytale won with 387 points leaving Iceland, Turkey, and Azerbaijan behind.
The top ten is:
Go, Norge, go! Takk skall du ha, Alexander!
If you’re watching the show tonight, then you are watching the guys from New York, who are entertaining us at the moment – Fuerza Bruta from New York. A colourful water show is something you don’t want to miss.
Lithuania: Sasha Son — Love
Israel: Noa & Mira Awad — There Must Be Another Way
France: Patricia Kaas — Et S’il Fallait Le Faire
Sweden : Malena Ernman — La Voix
Croatia: Igor Cukrov feat. Andrea — Liepa Tena
Portugal: Flor-de-lis — Todas As Ruas Do Amor
Iceland: Yohanna — Is It True?
Greece: Sakis Rouvas — This Is Our Night
Armenia : Inga & Anush — Jan Jan
Russia: Anastasia Prikhodko — Mamo
Azerbaijan: AySel & Arash — Always
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Regina — Bistra Voda
Moldova: Nelly Ciobanu — Hora Din Moldova
Malta: Chiara — What If We
Estonia: Urban Symphony — Rändajad
Denmark: Brinck — Believe Again
Germany: Alex Swings Oscar Sings! — Miss Kiss Kiss Bang
Turkey: Hadise — Düm Tek Tek
Albania: Kejsi Tola — Carry Me In Your Dreams
Norway: Alexander Rybak — Fairytale
Ukraine: Svetlana Loboda — Be my Valentine! (Anti-crisis Girl)
Romania: Elena — The Balkan Girls
United Kingdom: Jade Ewen — It’s My Time
Finland: Waldo’s People — Lose Control
Spain: Soraya — La Noche Es Para Mí (The Night Is For Me)
A magnificent show is what Russia is offering us tonight. An imposing opening featuring Dima Bilan performing last-year’s winning song. So far we’ve heard 8 songs, most of them deserving to win. Who is going to win tonight? Hang on till after 12.00 CET, when the winner will be announced.
The second dress rehearsal for the Grand Final just started. Here is the running order, which we’ll be watching tomorrow evening at the final itself. See you tomorrow.
The 2nd semi-final just ended and with its end the 25 positions for the Grand Final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest have been filled in.
The lucky 10 are as follows:
The battle seems to be between Greece and Norway. Are we going to see Greece hosting the European extravaganza for a second time in 5 years? We’ll see on Saturday.
10 out of 18 counties performing at the First Eurovision Semi-final made it to the Final on Saturday later this week. The happy artists who managed to win their way to the top are as follows:
These guys can have a rest of two days and enjoy Moscow. They will join the UK, Spain, France, Germany and Russia at the Final on Saturday.
19 other countries compete on Thursday.
Do I need to say that most of the songs performed tonight were terrible? Perhaps the most fascinating thing on stage was the performance of the Russian military choir accompanied by a balalaika player and t.A.T.u appearing a bit later with their hit “Nas ne Dogonyat” (“They’re Not Gonna Get Us”).
Especially terrible was Krassimir and his Illusion, or as some commentators said “it was the most kitsch performance tonight”. Hadise from Turkey had the b est voice not being able to sing a single note correctly, but she was the first to qualify. Armenia was quite a disgrace too, but the two sisters made it to the top ten too. Of course I hope to see more quality music in a couple of days.
The second dress rehearsal for the Eurovision Song Contest starts just minutes ago. A spectacular hall welcomes the viewer, but the hosts Natalya Vodyanova and Andrey Malakhov seem to be a bit embarrased. Hopefully the two following rehearsals will give them some self-confidence.
The show opens with Montenegro – an upbeat dance song. For a change, the singer feels at ease with her English and at least we can understand something. It might well be because the text is timple enough… Get Out of My Life and Andrea Demirovic.
Get a fancy dress costume for your party. It’s fun.
A splendid welcome party rocks Moscow
XIt took me a while to think through the welcome party we had yesterday in Moscow. An amazing 2-(was it more)-hour show in the Russian capital marked the official opening of the European song contest 2009.
Stars such as Phillip Kirkorov, Alsu, the German popular band from the 70s Genghis Khan, and Lys Assia sang and made people forget at least for a while about the word economic crisis.
The winner of the 1991 Eurovision, the Swedish singer Carola also performed her hit from 2007 Invincible. The heart of the mountain, who brought Eurovision to Ukraine in 2004, the wild dancer Ukraine rocked the stage with her rhythm for the joy of the crazy mob.
t.A.t.U sang their hit from 2003 Ne ver’, ne boisya, ne prosi – the once rebellious girls now looked a bit more appeased. A more rebellious artist, though, went on stage to present her/his rebellious of the time “Viva la Diva” – yes, you know I mean Dana International. Other legendary artists went on stage to remind us of the good old days of Eurovision…
Well, watching all these singers, whatever they do, I can’t help thinking about Sir Terry Wogan and his brilliant witted comments in the 70s and 80s. So, think twice before you pack your suitcases for Moscow. As you know it is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Though it’s an amazing place and you might have the urge to drop in at the Palace.