Eurovision Finals this Saturday; anybody watching?

[BlackInk]

After about half the show I was so bored I walked home.

[rumborak]

Romania was awesome, my whole BBQ crew loved it. Greece was also fun, and Azerbaijan's choreography was outstanding.
I was also going to listen to the Dutch entry again, sounded interesting.

[Ruba]

ALCOHOL ALCOHOL ALCOHOL IS FREE!  Greece was awesome, too bad they didn't win.

I'm really surprised about France doing so bad. Maybe people just don't like that much psycho music.

I didn't like Denmark. A weaker Shakira. Tin whistle was cool, however.

[?]

I didn't watch the contest, although I saw snippets of some songs (the translated subtitles were ridiculous at times!), but looks like I was right about Finland not doing well

[Cyclopssss]

Alcohol is free? Not in Sweden it is!

[?]

So the finals are tonight... I'll watch at least Finland's performance (patriotism ftw), because I went to the same high school as the guys in the band and I believe their song is something better than the usual Eurovision crap. I heard some of the songs in the second semifinals when my folks were watching it, and they were pretty terrible to say the least. Poland and Austria will probably do well because boobs and bearded woman

[RoeDent]

Back in my day, there was only one Eurovision Song Contest. None of this semi-final/final malarkey. Tonight is THE Eurovision Song Contest. No final. Just the Contest.

[jsem]

The Austrian submission... has to be one of the best trolls in world history, is it 100% sincere? I honestly don't know. I have only read a few articles on it and haven't followed the process at all, it's amusing though.

[Manolito Mystiq]

Even so, it is a great song. Yes, very Bondish, but nice. He/she's a fantastic singer, too.

I'm quite surprised The Netherlands was so popular. I prefer this song over Anouk's of last year, which felt so unlike Anouk, very forced, while this song by Waylon and Ilse is still Waylon and Ilse. But it needed a bit more climatic movement or whatever. Something is missing. But hey, second place! It definitely is one of the original songs and a good sounding one, as well (also important).

[jsem]

Man. That Austrian drag queen was amazing. Sang great and the song was actually OK. Well deserved winner.

[rumborak]

Wow, France got destroyed. 2 points is astonishingly bad.

[BlobVanDam]

Man. That Austrian drag queen was amazing. Sang great and the song was actually OK. Well deserved winner.

I agree. I thought that was a solid song, and it was well sung. The slight novelty factor probably helped it gain some traction too, but the song was worthy regardless.

[Nefarius]

It used to be some kind of family tradition to watch the ESC for making fun of mostly lousy tunes and singers and dubious (at best) fashion decisions as far back as the eighties and nineties when at least a few contestants still believed it was about music. At some point I decided I didn't want to waste a pointless evening with essentially a freak show and suffer through all of the songs anymore, so I only watched the short song summaries in the end and then the scoring (always the best part anyway) and only if there wasn't anything more interesting to do.

There wasn't anything more interesting to do last night so I watched the summary and the scoring. From those very short clips I liked (at least enough to concentrate on listening for ten seconds): Norway, Finland, The Netherlands, Spain.

Pretty huge response to the results here in Austria as you can imagine, the local media is going crazy.

Greetings...
Nef

[?]

I'm quite surprised The Netherlands was so popular. I prefer this song over Anouk's of last year, which felt so unlike Anouk, very forced, while this song by Waylon and Ilse is still Waylon and Ilse. But it needed a bit more climatic movement or whatever. Something is missing. But hey, second place! It definitely is one of the original songs and a good sounding one, as well (also important).

Really? I thought the song was alright, but it was a pretty blatant rip-off of Every Breath You Take...

Finns are used to doing pretty badly in Eurovision, so 11th place feels like a victory in itself I'm happy for the Softengine guys, because this gave them a lot of exposure.

[Manolito Mystiq]

I agree that the sound is similar. But the ‘mood’ (the melody) is pretty spheric, rather than melodic (as is The Police’s). I wouldn’t go so far as saying it’s minimalistic (in musical context that would be different to begin with), but it’s very basic. The ‘chorus’ is quite good, but the verses are pretty uninteresting.

[rumborak]

A bit safe this year, I was hoping for some more crazy acts.

[BlobVanDam]

A bit safe this year, I was hoping for some more crazy acts.

I was very disappointed in that regard. Hell, that's the only reason I even watch Eurovision! It was very samey this year.
I remember last year, the first semi was disappointing, then the second semi seemed to have all of the crazy stuff together, which I was hoping was going to be the case again this year, but nope.

[YtseJamittaja]

So the finals are tonight... I'll watch at least Finland's performance (patriotism ftw), because I went to the same high school as the guys in the band and I believe their song is something better than the usual Eurovision crap. I heard some of the songs in the second semifinals when my folks were watching it, and they were pretty terrible to say the least. Poland and Austria will probably do well because boobs and bearded woman

Got your reference

I wished Finland could do better than 11. (I actually liked our song) but there are always neighbors who vote each others... Damn Sweden, you never give us 12 points!!

A lot of "boo"s for Russia. A lot of "boob"s for Poland.

[Cyclopssss]

The Polish entry was a disgrace. Come on, two chicks with huge boobs at the front of the stage? Really?!

[BlobVanDam]

The Polish entry was a disgrace. Come on, two chicks with huge boobs at the front of the stage? Really?!

Do you even Eurovision?

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Apparently Eurovision is a big deal everywhere but America. This is the first I've ever actually heard of it.

Not that I'm the most culturally aware person around, but still.

[BlobVanDam]

Obviously it's most relevant in the European countries that compete, and I guess it caught on here in Australia because we're still on Britian's leash and tend to follow their lead more than the US on most things.

Still, I'm surprised it's not more well known in America, even just for a laugh.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Well, admittedly I'm kind of limited to what people down here in the South know, so maybe around the rest of the US it's more well-known.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

So I have not watched 1 second of Eurovision this year. I have only heard my countrys song on the radio. Today I stumbled upon the winner while driving, also on the radio and was quite surprised hearing a song that could easily been the theme of a Bond movie. So I YT:ed the song and saw the clip from the show. I could honestly say I was not one bit distracted by watching a dude dressed up like a lady with a beard. I'm not even joking because infact it sounds hilarious but I was not, the only thing I noticed was an artist with a great voice and a pretty cool song.

[YtseJamittaja]

Sorry Sweden but I didn't understand your song. It did nothing for me, I heard it twice but it didn't stuck to my head at all. I can't understand how some countries gave 12 points to Sweden.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

No need to feel sorry, it did nothing for me either a totally snooze fest. Not that I really care for that matter.

[rumborak]

Well, admittedly I'm kind of limited to what people down here in the South know, so maybe around the rest of the US it's more well-known.

I live in probably the most European-dense city of the US (Boston), and even I have to explain it every year to at least 5 people.

What *really* amazed me was that the two Czech girls that were at my party had never heard of it before they were invited to one of my parties.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Well, admittedly I'm kind of limited to what people down here in the South know, so maybe around the rest of the US it's more well-known.

I live in probably the most European-dense city of the US (Boston), and even I have to explain it every year to at least 5 people.

What *really* amazed me was that the two Czech girls that were at my party had never heard of it before they were invited into my pants.

FTFY 

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

As usual I haven't watched a minute of Eurovision even this year but after hearing some rumble about the winner being diffrent and also being a rockband from Italy I thought I should check it out.

Overall a pretty groovy song actually but nothing like I expected, kinda thought it would be more glamrock. Really diggin the vocals and the basslines.

[MirrorMask]

Yeah, Maneskin are all the rage in Italy now, they also won our "national" music contest (it's a festival of italian music that takes place in the town of Sanremo, so "Sanremo" itself became a methonym, like "White House"... in Italy you just say "Sanremo" and people recognize the festival which is very famous here) which gave them the chance to take place in Eurovision to begin with.

I didn't bother to listen to them and I only heard their winning song, gut feeling is that it's a band that the kids like (the singer is hot and also has that "damned" look and attitude which helps) and that actual and longtime rock fans won't find much to enjoy in their music, but hey, it's rock n' roll, it's music played with real instruments, if some kid starts to listen to rock because of them and then finds out the "real" rock players, what's wrong with it?

Also, the singer saying on the Eurovision stage "Rock n' roll never dies" is probably the best thing happened in the contest since Lordi's victory in 2006.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Yea that's kinda the vibe i've been getting too, people not very experienced with rock music finds them cool and diffrent and a breath of fresh air and other more into the genre being a bit more mellow and "cool I guess".

As you say if this makes kids interested in playing an instrument or discover rockmusic that's awesome.

[Elite]

I actually watched all of it and the entire thing was very good entertainment for various reasons. I didn't expect to hear any good music, so there was no way I could even be remotely disappointed.

[MirrorMask]

For good Eurovision music, everyone should watch on Netflix Eurovision Contest - The Story of Fire Saga.

Gloriousy cheesy movie with Will Ferrell and surprisingly great songs and comedic moments. A must see for all music fans.