Once again I tuned in this year to watch the Eurovision Song Contest. I had an even greater sense of optimism this year with the United Kingdom entry being Blue who have a respectable following of loyal fans in both the UK and Europe. I must admit, when I first heard the song 'I Can' in their publicity drive before the contest I was a little disappointed, as I was used to the classic sound of blue. However the more I heard the song, the more it grew on me and I soon found myself singing it round the house. When Blue's entry achieved good results in the pre-contest polls I was actually beginning to think this could be the year when we finally reclaimed the Eurovision crown, and soon enough the big day arrived.
As the contest is only once a year my family and I get into the spirit of things and download the BBC score sheets and mark each act, then we narrow down our top 5 results to see if we get anything like the actual results. I found the first half of the show relatively dull with the worst acts being Bosnia & Herzegovina, Greece and Russia. There were a few highlights of the first 12, I quite liked the Denmark entry and even found a soft spot for Jedward of Ireland, but for me the hands down best song of the night was the 12th entry Italy whose song was called "Madness of Love". It had a swing/jazz feel to it and despite being sung in another language, really connected with the audience.
I found the second half of the show provided a much better quality of music, with the exception of Azerbaijan (the eventual winners), Moldova and Slovenia. I thought our Blue Boys did us proud and performed their song very well. My other highlights from this half were Romania, Austria and Iceland.
When the voting commenced the UK received a steady stream of points before receiving the big '12' from Bulgaria! We were even at the very top of the leaderboard briefly, something I have never witnessed during my lifetime. Graham Norton kept us thoroughly entertained throughout voting urging the public to 'take a picture' when we were sat at the top...I wish I had now!
As voting continued I found that I also had great support for Ireland's Jedward and cheered whenever Ireland got points as well. They were soon overtaking the UK with points and racing towards the top and I thought wouldn't it be hilarious if they won?
As voting continued I found that I also had great support for Ireland's Jedward and cheered whenever Ireland got points as well. They were soon overtaking the UK with points and racing towards the top and I thought wouldn't it be hilarious if they won?
Based on my scoring my top 5 were:
- Italy
- Austria
- United Kingdom
- Romania
- Iceland
The actual winner was one of the worst songs of the night entered by Azerbaijan.
Italy had a late surge in votes and finished 2nd.
The UK finished 11th, a drastic improvement on the previous year's last place and
Ireland finished even higher in 8th place.
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