Your reviewers: Chrissie Hammond, Evan Paris, and Ivan Methuselah.
E Pink Floyd heartbeating...
I Ooh. A hoody with
psoriasis.
C A Lordi type.
E Oh dear. It seems
that Hell has frozen over.
I It's a nice dramatic
opening; Terry's on good form; And these sparks are surely a health and
safety issue. Yes. Another year has passed and it is time for some dreadful
songs and some hilarious voting.
E The auditorium
announcer sounds even more demonic than the band.
C Some needless
fireworks, and at last... our first postcard.
I He [the man in
the first postcard] was worried. And now he is happy.
Bosnia & Herzegovina, 0pts
Marija Šestic - Rijeka Bez Imena
E Turkish to open.
She sings in foreign.
C Pretty dull this,
so far.
E Heh. A man in
silly headgear takes to the stage: some sort of zombie bazoukist.
I Pah. Nymphy toss.
Spain, 0pts
D'NASH - I Love You Mi Vida
I White-clad boyband
and some hairy Amazons with drums.
C This has more
about it than the last one.
E They sing in foreign
and English.
I The slightest
hint of Holding Out For A Hero...
E And the tiniest
of flamenco flourishes.
C Are those women
actually going to use those drums?
E Key change. Farty
orchestra hits at the end.
Belarus, 3pts
Dmitry Koldun - Work Your
Magic
I Very Bond-y. Nice
minimalist dancing.
E A slick hunk sings
in English.
C He's got a very
whiny voice.
I It's not really
delivery on that glissy riff.
C Yeah. But look
at those gravity-defying dancers.
I Oh. Wow. Yes.
Very... un-Newtonian.
E He's doing all
the tossy stage-magician wankery that the title demands. And dare I say,
too much.
I It's not going
big enough.
Ireland, 0pts
Dervish - They Can't Stop
The Spring
E Eeeeeeee. It's
Irish tweedledee. This stuff should be banned.
C Yeah. But thy've
got Bjork doing it.
I Heh. She's quite
pleasingly squawky at least. And she's not unatractive... But she needs
to ditch the fiddling blokes in polo-necks behind her.
E Very naff.
I But I like her.
I want to give her all my points.
C Heh.
I But then I want
to take them all away again for the music.
E It's not as dreadful
as at first glance, though. Take the pipes and fiddles away and it's a
decent enough number.
Finland, 10pts
Hanna Pakarinen - Leave Me
Alone
E Oh, my word. She's
angry. Did I forget our anniversary?
C They've got Evernescense
off to a tee there.
E Heh. Yeah. Nice.
I It's an 80s half-power
ballad dressed up as emo.
E That's what Emo
is, Ivan.
C She sings in English.
E She occasionally
threatens to do a sort of Celtic scream, but draws back at the last minute.
Needed a key change, that.
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
12pts
Karolina - Mojot Svet
I Dark twiddles...
E She sings in foreign.
I Good old FYROM.
E Ooh. Wow. Heh.
I like. It's in a funny time and bouncing about everywhere.
C We've had the
Turksih and here's a bit of Irish to cover all the bases. Aw she's found
a dancer.
I She's gone English,
now.
E That counts for
a key change these days, I think...
Slovenia, 7pts
Alenka Gotar - Cvet z juga
C A goth.
I Another. It seems
to be a new trend.
E There's always
been goths in Eurovision.
I Yeah, ok. But
there seems to be a more concerted effort towards it now. It's more than
just an old woman in a basque.
C Heh. She's turned
on her operatic voice.
E Operatic voices
are funny.
I Yeah. She sings
in foreign.
C That's an evil
grin...
I She's got a glow-in-the-dark
hand.
C Wow. That must
be very useful. I want one.
I #...I have a dream...#
E Hmm. Ooh. Key
change. And opera warbles. Points on for that.
I Yes.
C The air-conditioning's
clicked on again.
I Heh.
Hungary, 0pts
Magdi Rúzsa - Unsubstantial
Blues
C Lesbian with a
suitcase.
E She's trying to
sing in English.
I Is she?
E Yes.
C Whenever Terry
says something's good, it invariably turns out to be some dreadful Radio
2 fodder of the lowest order.
E Dig that guitar.
I Why's she got
a bus-stop?
C She's leaving
home.
E Good riddance.
C Guitarist gets
carried away...
E This is '80s AOR
toss and has no place in Eurovision.
I It is dreadful.
E "Except an evernescent
unsubstantial blues".
Lithuania, 0pts
4Fun - Love Or Leave
E Flamenco guitar.
I A leather-clad
impish singer-songwriter-guitarist girl. Mmm.
C That's a very
naff stage-set: sillhoetted band-members performing behind a screen. It
makes me want to vomit.
I Nasty.
E I think it must
be left over from the last one.
C This is pretty
rubbish café drivvel.
I Yeah. Very European
in a biscuity way. Very Balsen.
C Heh.
Greece, 0pts
Sarbel - Yassou Maria
E Ricky Martin. In
English.
C Very Ricky
Martin.
I Another whiny
voice.
E Female backing
dancers dressed in rags.
C Ricky Martin could
definitely take legal action over this one.
E Yes. It takes
plagiarism into new dimensions.
C Bit of ribbon-play.
Very 2006.
I Yes. Get with
it, Greece.
Georgia, 0pts
Sopho - Visionary Dream
E Woman in a red
dress. The first of the year. Sings in English.
C Like a modern
Bond theme...
I With a slight
post-Bjork flavour.
E Yeah, ok. It's
a little bit Bjorky I suppose. David Arnold-y. Bit of Georgian noodling.
C And sword-dancing.
Sweden, 0pts
The Ark - The Worrying Kind
I Suitably glam for
Sweden.
C Glam rock.
E "Love Goes Where
My Roesmary Goes"... Eddison Lighthouse.
C They're a sort
of gothic glam.
E Singing in English.
I No. They've just
got a black and white TV. Not to the usual Swedish standards this, is it.
C It has a rotating
stage though.
I Yes.
France, 1pt
Les Fatals Picards - L'Amour À
La Française
C Terry tells me
they're wearing Gautier.
I Looks more like
a dead cat. This sounds familiar.
E It's a quirky
little number. Like TV Personalities or something.
I Right. Yeah. It's
ok.
E They sing in French
and in English.
C They're very hyperactive.
I Is it getting
faster?
E It ought to.
Latvia, 6pts
Bonaparti.lv - Questa Notte
C He looks a cad
and a bounder.
E There's another.
They sing in foreign.
I There's three
of them now, including an operatic one.
C Here's the bit
of rough. Not bad, this, really. In a slightly silly sort of way. It's
a big rousing number from a naff musical.
E Heh. There's loads
of them on stage now.
I Six.
E Yeah! A drop-out!
Not had one of them for a bit. This is very good. In a crap way.
E Heh.
Russia, 8pts
Serebro - Song #1
I Ooh. I say. Naughty
school-girls!
C Again. From the
nation that gave us TaTu.
E Electronic bass
riff and the weight of early Girls Aloud.
C Bit Britney in
the chorus.
E They're singing
in English.
I They're winning
in the sexy stakes, aren't they.
E Yes. I think they
are. In a St Trinians sort of way. Ooh another breakdown.
C A rather confused
breakdown. Seemed to get a bit lost there.
E "My bad ass spinning
for you".
C Well really.
Germany, 0pts
Roger Cicero - Frauen regier'n
die Welt
E Gyah! Swing.
I This is why we
fought two wars against them.
C Heh. He sings
in Deutsch.
E Not good, this.
C Swing is one of
those marginally trendy things, and this will probably pull some votes.
I It should pull
a big rope connected to a fifty ton weight. That's what it should pull.
E Heh. Yes.
C Is it worse than
Hungary?
E Ooh...
I No.
C He's broken from
the subtitles and is now singing in English.
Serbia, 0pts
Marija Šerifovic - Molitva
E What's that? Something
from the '80s...
C Oh... I know what
you mean... Um...
I She looks a card.
Sings in foreign.
E Heh. Nazi women
in black ties and red sashes.
I She looks like
Jeremy from Airport. Not that I ever watched Airport, you understand.
E Irish twiddling
there. That chorus was ripped off too.
C Fantastic lesbian
business going off there.
I Heh. Very odd.
E It's a stock Eurovision
chorus. Ooh. Key change.
I Heh. You watching
this? They're very earnest.
C I like their Charlie's
Angels hair. It goes with the look.
[I Jesus Christ.
It's a fucking moomin.]
Ukraine, 4pts
Verka Serduchka - Dancing Lasha
Tumbai
E Heh. It's Timmy
Mallet with big tits and a star on his head. He/she/it sings in German.
I I'm beging to
see why this is the favourite.
C Looks like a scene
from Royston Vasey The Musical.
I She does look
like she might have a pen obsession. And a weak heart, it seems.
E Singing in English
and something else now.
I These Ukranians.
"Ok. Happy End."
United Kingdom, 0pts
Scooch - Flying the Flag (for You)
C Sub-Steps balls.
This rips off a Slovenian drag-act entry from five years ago.
I If they name-check
every nation then those nations will vote... Alas not for the UK.
E No. They'll vote
for Chris Biggins with a star on his head and a pair of enormous breasts.
C They're dishing
out Bucks Fizz.
I Those speaky bits
are a bit repressed. They seem all the more mimed for it.
E It's all a bit
shit.
I Not as good as
the Slovenian one we keep referring back to.
E No.
Romania, 0pts
Todomondo - Liubi, Liubi, I Love
You
C Oh, God. Are they
going to sing this happy ditty in every language?
I Looks like it.
But I assume they'll have to be quite selective given the time available.
C Yes. I don't expect
we'll get Georgian.
I No. Or Hungarian
for that matter.
E Or even Finnish
at this rate.
C It's an annoying
happy ditty.
I Yes it is. It's
getting faster though, as all bazukithons should.
E Stop now, though.
Please. In the end they sang English, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French,and
Romanian.
Bulgaria, 5pts
Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov
- Water
C She's a goth in
a red bustier.
I About time we
had a red bustier.
E Hardcore Eastern
warbling in foreign.
I With a New Romantic
drummer.
E I own albums that
sound like this.
I Heh. Yes. Yes
you do.
E I've got a Gong
album with exactly that riff on it.
I Crikey.
Turkey, 0pts
Kenan Dogulu - Shake It Up Sekerim
C Obligatory belly-dancers.
I From the UK, Tel
keeps telling us. We're being implored to "Shake It!" by the backdrop.
E Tel's right about
the singer being Chris Moyles' younger brother.
I More than a hint
of Ricky Martin again.
C Yes but not really
to the same plagiaristic extent. Bond-y moment there.
I It's all a bit
flat and uninteresting.
C He's no Justin
Timberlake.
E For the record,
he sings in English: "Shake it up shakerim". The latter is the only Turkish
evident. It means sweetheart.
Armenia, 0pts
Hayko - Anytime You Need
E The penultimate
number is also the first typically Eastern European dirge-ballad of the
night.
I It's not very
dark though. Except perhaps that tree.
C Slight hint of
pan-pipe. Is he bleeding?
I Oh dear. He's
been shot. Very... Dramatic.
E He sang in English
and Armenian.
Moldova, 2pts
Natalia Barbu - Fight
E Ooh. For the first
time tonight, I find myself saying: It's got a good beat. She sings in
foreign.
C Goth again.
E More "steam-punk"
than Goth, I think. Heh. It's turned into a normal cycling Eurovision chorus!
I Heh.
E English now. Bilingual
very much the trend these days.
I There'd better
be a key change or I want my money back. It'll be very flat without a key
change.
E These stabs will
not suffice. Ah. There we go. But not very well executed. Rather clumsy.
C Aw. It's Father
Christmas.
I He appears to
have a claw.
C That's a mitten.
I Oh.
C Hello, Helsinki! These are the scorings of the AView Jury:
12pts FYR Macedonia
10pts Finland
8pts Russia
7pts Slovenia
6pts Latvia
5pts Bulgaria
4pts Ukraine
3pts Belarus
2pts Moldova
1pt France
We had trouble finding a stand-out number this year, and were left with a load that were all much of a muchness. The double-recap came in very handy, but even then it was all a matter of coin-tossing to get our final points array. Tel goes on about block voting, but even we could only find one point for Western Europe. As far as the real vote went, the winner was Serbia's lesbian Charlie's Nazis.