The first semi-final is over.

 

The following 10 countries advanced to the Grand Final on Saturday:

• Australia
• Belarus
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Estonia
• Greece
• Iceland
• San Marino
• Serbia
• Slovenia

The following countries did not qualify:

• Belgium
• Finland
• Georgia
• Hungary
• Montenegro
• Poland
• Portugal

Recap of last night's LIVE performances:

 

 

I feel like I'm repeating myself from last year, and the year before that etc, but dear lord some of the performances were horrible.

I know they had to have 10 entries qualify for the final, but there were not 10 entries good enough last night.....

The second semi-final took place last night.

 

The following 10 countries advanced to the Grand Final on Saturday:

• Albania
• Azerbaijan
• Denmark
• North Macedonia
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Russia
• Sweden
• Switzerland

The following countries did not qualify:

• Armenia
• Austria
• Croatia
• Ireland
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Moldova
• Romania

Recap of last night's LIVE performances:

 

 

 

Running order for the Grand Final on Saturday:

 

1. Malta
2. Albania
3. Czech Republic
4. Germany
5. Russia
6. Denmark
7. San Marino
8. North Macedonia
9. Sweden
10. Slovenia
11. Cyprus
12. Netherlands
13. Greece
14. Israel
15. Norway
16. United Kingdom
17. Iceland
18. Estonia
19. Belarus
20. Azerbaijan
21. France
22. Italy
23. Serbia
24. Switzerland
25. Australia
26. Spain

I'm not at all impressed with this year's lineup, but I'll probably watch anyway. I won't watch the voting though, but that's nothing new. I find that part tedious and frankly I don't care who wins.

Congratulations to the Netherlands! First win since 1975, and 5th win in total (after 1957, 1959, 1969 and 1975)

 

But what the hell was Madonna doing?! I never thought I would live to see the day when the Queen of Pop would make Eurovision entries seem professional and talented by comparison. That performance was awful! 

Congrats to our dear neighbors – well deserved win!

 

Full Results:

 

Semi Final 1

 

Iceland won the televote, followed by Australia and Estonia.

Czech Republic won the jury vote, followed by Greece and Australia.

 

With 100% televote, Poland would have qualified for the final instead of Belarus.
With 100% jury voting, Hungary would have qualified for the final instead of San Marino.

 

01. Australia (261) q

02. Czech Republic (242) q

03. Iceland (221) q

04. Estonia (198) q

05. Greece (185) q

06. Slovenia (167) q

07. Serbia (156) q

08. San Marino (150) q

09. Cyprus (149) q

10. Belarus (122) q

–––

11. Poland (120)

12. Hungary (97)

13. Belgium (70)

14. Georgia (62)

15. Portugal (51)

16. Montenegro (46)

17. Finland (23)

 

Semi Final 2

 

Norway won the televote, followed by the Netherlands and Switzerland.
North Macedonia won the jury vote, followed by Sweden and the Netherlands.

 

With 100% televote, Lithuania would have qualified for the final instead of Denmark.
With 100% jury voting, Romania and Moldova would have qualified for the final instead of Norway and Albania.

 

01. The Netherlands (280) q

02. North Macedonia (239) q

03. Sweden (238) q

04. Switzerland (232) q

05. Azerbaijan (224) q

06. Russia (217) q

07. Norway (210) q

08. Malta (157) q

09. Albania (96) q

10. Denmark (94) q

–––

11. Lithuania (93)

12. Moldova (85)

13. Romania (71)

14. Croatia (64)

15. Latvia (50)

16. Armenia (49)

17. Austria (21)

18. Ireland (16)

 

Grand Final

 

Norway won the televote, followed by the Netherlands and Italy.
Sweden won the jury vote, followed by North Macedonia and the Netherlands.

 

The juries killed Norway (15th place in the jury voting) and Iceland (14th place in the jury voting) while the televoters didn't like jury favorites North Macedonia (only 12th place in televote) and Czech Republic (only 24th place in the televote).

 

Germany received 0 points in the televote.
Spain received the lowest jury score with 7 points.

 

01. The Netherlands (492)

02. Italy (465)

03. Russia (369)

04. Switzerland (360)

05. Norway (338)

06. Sweden (332)

07. Azerbaijan (297)

08. North Macedonia (295)

09. Australia (285)

10. Iceland (234)

–––

11. Czech Republic (157)

12. Denmark (120)

13. Slovenia (105)

14. France (105)

15. Cyprus (101)

16. Malta (95)

17. Serbia (92)

18. Albania (90)

19. Estonia (86)

20. San Marino (81)

–––

21. Greece (71)

22. Spain (60)

23. Israel (47)

24. Germany (32)

25. Belarus (31)

26. United Kingdom (16)

 

Recap of the Grand Final:

 

 

 

Edited May 19, 20196 yr by Huntress

I can't really argue with the win for the Netherlands. although I would rather have seen Italy as the winner.

I wonder how much longer the UK will bother to enter. They always end up at the bottom end of the scoreboard nowadays, and not undeservedly so. I don't think they had the worst entry this year, but one of the most bland and forgettable.

And ouch (!) for Germany! No points at all from the televoting..... 

On 5/19/2019 at 8:02 PM, I Am A Swede said:

And ouch (!) for Germany! No points at all from the televoting..... 

 

Well, that's what you get for sending a duo that even in Germany nobody cared about. It was the first time in ages that our own ESC song didn't even chart on the German Top 100.
It was also quite shady how they won the national pre-selection... the duo was only created for ESC and these girls didn't even know each other before the national final. The girls were nominated as a wildcard act in the last minute, performed last in the final, and then suspiciously won (mostly because one juror had been one of the girls' coach on The Voice of Germany).

 

We had so much better choices in our NF:

 

 

 

Of course none of our successful and established acts want to perform in ESC. However, they are always keen to appear on pre-ESC programs to promote their latest releases.
There's always a huge ESC party in Hamburg, and this year for example Sarah Connor (she's one of our most successful pop stars with a career spanning now almost 20 years) performed her latest hit:

 

 

Imagine her going to ESC... of course it would never happen.

 

As for the UK: As long as the broadcast still gets them good ratings (I think BBC still has 10 million people tuning in), they won't withdraw. I can't remember any country withdrawing in recent years because of bad results... countries usually only withdraw because their broadcasters can't afford participating.

 

BTW, the results of the ESC 2019 Final have been corrected. The jury from Belarus had been disqualified before the Grand Final because they had openly discussed their votes from the first semi-final. A substitute jury result was then read out during Saturday's final. However, these substitute results were apparently calculated in the wrong way, so they were corrected a few days later.

 

New results of the Grand Final:

 

01. The Netherlands (498)

02. Italy (472)

03. Russia (370)

04. Switzerland (364)

05. Sweden (334)

06. Norway (331)

07. North Macedonia (305)

08. Azerbaijan (302)

09. Australia (284)

10. Iceland (232)

---

11. Czech Republic (157)

12. Denmark (120)
13. Cyprus (109)

14. Malta (107)

15. Slovenia (105)

16. France (105)

17. Albania (90)

18. Serbia (89)

19. San Marino (77)

20. Estonia (76)

---

21. Greece (71)

22. Spain (54)

23. Israel (35)

24. Belarus (31)

25. Germany (24)

26. United Kingdom (11)

Edited May 26, 20196 yr by Huntress

5 hours ago, Huntress said:

Of course none of our successful and established acts want to perform in ESC.

 

I think that's true in most countries nowadays. It's hard to imagine now that there was a time when already established acts like Sandie Shaw, Cliff Richard, Nana Mouskouri and Baccara took part.

On 5/26/2019 at 11:30 AM, I Am A Swede said:

 

I think that's true in most countries nowadays. It's hard to imagine now that there was a time when already established acts like Sandie Shaw, Cliff Richard, Nana Mouskouri and Baccara took part.

I don't know why an estabilshed act wouldn't want to take part. That entry from Germany was DIRE... Young female groups can do very well, providing they have TALENT. Like these girls:

 

18 hours ago, alphanguy74 said:

I don't know why an estabilshed act wouldn't want to take part.

 

The ESC is not taken seriously anymore, and no established succesful artist would risk their career by entering. It didn't use to be this way, but it's been the case for decades now. With the odd exception (Dana International's "Diva" and Loreen's "Euphoria" for instance) the contest doesn't produce hit songs anymore, and there's been far too many "performances" like Austria 2003, Lithuania 2006, Ukraine 2007 and Russia 2012. So, it's not commercially viable and it's regarded as a joke in many circles. Here in Sweden it's still a major television event, but the entrants are either complete newcomers who disappear as soon as the last song has been performed, or aging performers who enter year after year.

Back in the 60s and 70s songs like "Waterloo", "Save your kisses for me", "Eres tu", "Aprés toi" and "Puppet on a string" sold 5-6 million copies and entered the charts all over Europe and elsewhere. That isn't happening anymore.

The 65th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The two semi-finals will take place on May 12th and 14th, and the Grand Final will be held on May 16th, 2020.

This year, 41 countries will compete for the trophy:

1. Albania
2. Armenia
3. Australia
4. Austria
5. Azerbaijan
6. Belarus
7. Belgium
8. Bulgaria (returning after missing the 2019 contest)
9. Croatia
10. Cyprus
11. Czech Republic
12. Denmark
13. Estonia
14. Finland
15. France
16. Georgia
17. Germany
18. Greece
19. Iceland
20. Ireland
21. Israel
22. Italy
23. Latvia
24. Lithuania
25. Macedonia
26. Malta
27. Moldova
28. Netherlands
29. Norway
30. Poland
31. Portugal
32. Romania
33. Russia
34. San Marino
35. Serbia
36. Slovenia
37. Spain
38. Sweden
39. Switzerland
40. Ukraine (returning after missing the 2019 contest)
41. United Kingdom

2019 participants that will not compete in 2020:

• Hungary
• Montenegro

Former participants that will not return:

Andorra (last participation was in 2009)
Bosnia & Herzegovina (last participation was in 2016)
Luxembourg (last participation was in 1993)
Monaco (last participation was in 2006)
Slovakia (last participation was in 2012)
Turkey (last participation was in 2012)

 

The first 3 songs for 2020 have been chosen:

 

Albania 2020: Arilena Ara / "Fall from the Sky"
Language: English

 

 

Czech Republic 2020: Benny Cristo / "Kemama"
Language: English

 

 

Spain 2020: Blas Cantó / "Universo"
Language: Spanish

 

 

Edited March 10, 20205 yr by Huntress

Armenia 2020: Athena Manoukian / "Chains on You"
Language: English

 

 

Australia 2020: Montaigne / "Don't Break Me"
Language: English

 

 

Belgium 2020: Hooverphonic / "Release Me"
Language: English

 

 

Italy 2020: Diodato / "Fai rumore"
Language: Italian

 

 

Latvia 2020: Samantha Tina / "Still Breathing"
Language: English

 

 

Lithuania 2020: The Roop / "On Fire"
Language: English

 

 

Norway 2020: Ulrikke / "Attention"
Language: English

 

 

 

Poland 2020: Alicja Szemplińska / "Empires"
Language: English

 

 

Slovenia 2020: Ana Soklič / "Voda"
Language: Slovene

 

 

Ukraine 2020: Go_A / "Solovey"
Language: Ukrainian

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 20205 yr by Huntress

France 2020: Tom Leeb / "The Best in Me"
Language: French & English

 

 

Germany 2020: Ben Dolic / "Violent Thing"
Language: English

 

 

United Kingdom 2020: James Newman / "My Last Breath"
Language: English

 

 

Edited March 10, 20205 yr by Huntress

Belarus 2020: VAL / "Da vidna"
Language: Belarusian

 

 

 

Croatia 2020: Damir Kedžo / "Divlji vjetre"

Language: Croatian

 

 

Estonia 2020: Uku Suviste / "What Love Is"
Language: English

 

 

Greece 2020: Stefania / "Supergirl"
Language: English

 

 

Iceland 2020: Daði & Gagnamagnið / "Think About Things"
Language: English

 

 

Moldova 2020: Natalia Gordienko / "Prison"
Language: English
Natalia Gordienko previously represented Moldova in 2006 and finished in 20th place in the Grand Final.

 

 

Romania 2020: Roxen / "Alcohol You"
Language: English

 

 

Serbia 2020: Hurricane / "Hasta la vista"
Language: Serbian

 

 

Edited March 10, 20205 yr by Huntress