Speaking of the number 50, today is 50 days until the Grand Final! It’s all happening so fast.

I’m hoping to be in Turin itself for the actual contest!

First Semi-Final in Running Order:

 

Second Semi-Final in Running Order:

 

Edited March 29, 20223 yr by Huntress

And here’s the graphic with running orders attached…

Tonight it's time for the first semi-final....

Not surprisingly the Ukrainian entry got the loudest and longest applause last night.

Qualified for the final: Armenia, Greece, Iceland, Lithuania, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland () and Ukraine.

Eliminated: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Latvia and Slovenia.

 

How the Swiss entry managed to qualify for the final is a mystery to me.  It was one of the worst entries last night, together with the entry from Albania,

Yeah, I would have swapped Switzerland with Croatia – but I guess there were just too many female artists with guitars.

Here's the recap:

 

5 hours ago, I Am A Swede said:

Not surprisingly the Ukrainian entry got the loudest and longest applause last night.

Qualified for the final: Armenia, Greece, Iceland, Lithuania, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland () and Ukraine.

Eliminated: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Latvia and Slovenia.

 

How the Swiss entry managed to qualify for the final is a mystery to me.  It was one of the worst entries last night, together with the entry from Albania,

Is it all public voted? If so, there's always a group of people that do their best to vote for the worst choice on purpose.

^^

No, I'm pretty sure it's 50/50 between juryvoting and televoting in the semi-finals as well as in the big final.

18 hours ago, I Am A Swede said:

^^

No, I'm pretty sure it's 50/50 between juryvoting and televoting in the semi-finals as well as in the big final.

Indeed it is! I’m actually in Turin itself this week for the contest, and have been going to the jury shows where the national juries make their points selections (although we won’t know how they voted for the semis until after the contest has ended).

On 5/11/2022 at 11:30 AM, I Am A Swede said:

How the Swiss entry managed to qualify for the final is a mystery to me.  It was one of the worst entries last night, together with the entry from Albania,

Disclaimer: Switzerland is in my personal top 10 this year, so I’m actually really happy it managed to get through. It would have resonated really strongly with the juries, and on stage the song is magic (and I say this having watched it live at the jury show on Monday night).

I will say this though - the second semi final is a LOT stronger than the first in terms of performances. The jury show last night was really top-notch, and the live show tonight is going to be a bloodbath in terms of the voting.

Another note - the Big 5 are *really* bringing it this year!

9 hours ago, OzFrog said:

Disclaimer: Switzerland is in my personal top 10 this year, so I’m actually really happy it managed to get through. It would have resonated really strongly with the juries, and on stage the song is magic (and I say this having watched it live at the jury show on Monday night).

I'm sure seeing it live makes a big difference. And of course there's no right or wrong, just different opinions.  

9 hours ago, OzFrog said:

I will say this though - the second semi final is a LOT stronger than the first in terms of performances. The jury show last night was really top-notch, and the live show tonight is going to be a bloodbath in terms of the voting.

Another note - the Big 5 are *really* bringing it this year!

The second semi-final was indeed stronger overall, but there were some bad songs too: Poland, North Macedonia, Azerbaijan and Montenegro did not impress me and San Marino obviously really liked Måneskin's performance last year because they clearly tried to copy it as much as they could.

My clear favourites were our own Cornelia (🇸🇪 ) and Ireland (🇮🇪).

Edited May 12, 20223 yr by I Am A Swede

San Marino was robbed 😪 Didn't expect Azerbaijan or Belgium to qualify.

Czech Republic was awesome.

Recap of the 2nd Semi-Final:

Running order for the Grand Final:

1. 🇨🇿 Czech Republic: We Are Domi – "Lights Off"
2. 🇷🇴 Romania: WRS – "Llámame"
3. 🇵🇹 Portugal: MARO – "Saudade, saudade"
4. 🇫🇮 Finland: The Rasmus – "Jezebel"
5. 🇨🇭 Switzerland: Marius Bear – "Boys Do Cry"
6. 🇫🇷 France: Alvan & Ahez – "Fulenn"
7. 🇳🇴 Norway: Subwoolfer – "Give That Wolf a Banana"
8. 🇦🇲 Armenia: Rosa Linn – "Snap"
9. 🇮🇹 Italy: Mahmood & Blanco – "Brividi"
10. 🇪🇸 Spain: Chanel – "SloMo"
11. 🇳🇱 Netherlands: S10 – "De diepte"
12. 🇺🇦 Ukraine: Kalush Orchestra – "Stefania"
13. 🇩🇪 Germany: Malik Harris – "Rockstars"
14. 🇱🇹 Lithuania: Monika Liu – "Sentimentai"
15. 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: Nadir Rustamli – "Fade to Black"
16. 🇧🇪 Belgium: Jérémie Makiese – "Miss You"
17. 🇬🇷 Greece: Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord – "Die Together"
18. 🇮🇸 Iceland: Systur – "Með hækkandi sól"
19. 🇲🇩 Moldova: Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers – "Trenulețul"
20. 🇸🇪 Sweden: Cornelia Jakobs – "Hold Me Closer"
21. 🇦🇺 Australia: Sheldon Riley – "Not the Same"
22. 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Sam Ryder – "SPACE MAN"
23. 🇵🇱 Poland: Ochman – "River"
24. 🇷🇸 Serbia: Konstrakta – "In corpore sano"
25. 🇪🇪 Estonia: Stefan – "Hope"

I think it will be a race between Ukraine, Sweden, United Kingdom and Spain – and maybe even Estonia has a shot.

Edited May 13, 20223 yr by Huntress

I'm so disappointed that Ireland failed to qualify with their little pop gem () and that Poland and Azerbaijan did qualify. I hate those kinds of pretentious screeching ballads. You can also add Australia to that list. 

 

 

Being Aussie myself, I’m really happy for Sheldon getting through. My favourite (dear Cornelia 🇸🇪) is also through for tonight. But I’m also really excited for Sam Ryder 🇬🇧 - the UK may actually be about to get its first victory in 25 years tonight (and incidentally tie with Sweden for 6 victories each).

Turin is buzzing right now, and it all comes to a head tonight!!

I really hope that everyone can look past what's happening in the Ukraine right now (as horrible as it is), and not let that influence how they vote. But I think it's an obvious risk that Ukraine will get lots and lots of sympathy votes and storm to victory.

Ukraine is actually a lot of fun. A nice little nod to early ‘90s pop.