19:09
Just one hour to go until our first Eurovision Special starts – should be a good turnout from the Phoenix presenters tonight. We’ll be playing and reviewing the songs and having our own vote, which we understand is binding and will replace the official Eurovision one.
There will also be special booby prizes for the first presenter in the room to mention:
(a) no one likes Britain so no one votes for Britain
(b) Terry Wogan
(c) My Lovely Horse
20:10
The show is now under way! We’re not sure when it’s actually going to start, so we’re currently playing one of the songs that didn’t make it through to the final – Can-Lin featuring Kasey Smith from Ireland, with Heartbeat.
Tonight’s panel picking the real Eurovision winner from L-R: Matt Jolley, Steve Robertson, Bob Simpson, Paul Golder, Tony Smith, Greg Dukeson and Alan Johnson. Not pictured – Vic Damhar, as he was holding the camera.
We’re under way now! First song is under way and it’s Ukraine, with Mariya Yaremchuk and Tick-Tock. Seems to be going down well, we particularly like the big hamster wheel.
We’ve printed out some scoresheets but everyone’s a bit confused as to how to mark them …
The Azerbaijan flag has just come up on scren. Oh look, says everyone here, it’s Turkey …
Some people think Dilara Kazimova sounds like Adele. Greg has said her eyes are too narrow.
Someone has just asked when we are liveblogging a Phoenix FM Miss World night.
Iceland next with Pollaponk and No Prejudice. I have a load of facts about the band but I have managed to get about 10 seconds of talktime. The song is going down very well in the studio though.
Norway are on now now ith Carl Espen and Silent Storm, and Steve thinks it sounds like Rolling In The Deep. Everyone agrees it’s very depressing.
Romania next and Paula Selling and OVI with Miracle. I think the song is jumping but it’s meant to sound like this. Steve says it’s definitely the Year of the Beard. Tony thinks she looks like Marie Osmond (or Osborne).
Steve can’t see them dancing in the Sugar Hut to this.
Next song is Aram MP3 from Armenia and Not Alone. This is one of the favourites but we’re all a bit subdued. He does say “you’re not alone” a lot.
You’re not alone with Armenia‘s entry apparently. Nice fireworks though!
Alan has just uttered the first expletive deleted at the Armenian entry
Paul has been utterly unable to pronounce the Montenegrin entry Moj Svijet from Sergej Cetkovic. It started well with the ice skating, but everyone is looking around awkwardly now.
Tony says this is the type of song you get in the end credits of a movie. Not sure what films he’s been watching …
Well, so far it seems that the general consensus is that the more upbeat songs seem to be the ones we’re really in to…. anything too depressing just isn’t getting the votes in the studio and as Matt pointed out, the Montenegro song seemed to have ripped off the Titanic theme… Celine Dion, My Heart Will Go On….. Go on…. download it and compare…. he’s absolutely right!!
Steve says the next entry, Poland‘s Donatan and Cleo with My Slowianie, is the most viewed Eurovision video on Youtube. We think we know why.
Everyone here is watching Poland.
Poland – a bit Cheeky Girls and not doing it for me!
That last comment was Alan’s view. Greg is VERY impressed. Tony thinks it’s very Toni Basil.
Greece now and Freaky Fortune with Riskykidd and Rise Up. Alan is DANCING. (But not Greek dancing)
Paul likes this but Tony just mentioned the words “Robin Thicke” and Paul doesn’t like it so much now.
Trampolenes.
Conchita Wurst with Rise Like A Phoenix next for Austria. Yeah, he said Phoenix!!
Tony says Austria‘s entry is from Jeremy Beadle!
Elaiza next for Germany and Is It Right. A bit quirky but it is very Eurovision … Alan says Elaiza looks like a cross between Pink and (fellow Phoenix presenter) Jules Bottazzi.
Germany – reminds me of an 80s song called Susanna by Art Company. And she just gave a little wave, which was sweet!
The TV coverage has caught us unaware with a “highest hat” montage, so we are playing Sweden‘s entry anyway. This is from Sanna Nielsen with Undo.
Didn’t get very long into the French song before everyone said “Jedward”.
“I don’t even know my own cleaning lady, my car is lined with leather”. Surely the line of the year so far, not just Eurovision?
Russia are on next with the Tolmachevy Sisters and Shine. No one in the studio is booing them yet.
Alan is marking all the songs out of 100. That’s dedication.
Italy‘s song has guitars, about time! I think everyone in the room wants to see this again, so they can be sure they’ve marked it correctly.
I took my eyes off the screen for one second and everyone said “I love parking attentively” came up on the subtitles. It didn’t really, did it?
Song no 17 from Tinkara Kovac from Sloveenia and Round and Round. Everyone here is very impressed with the flute action. Greg is impressed she can sing as well.
Well… Slovenia have managed to get a lady who can play the flute and sing…. not at the same time though but, it’s early in the song – it could still happen…. this is a pretty good tune actually….. getting mixed reviews in the studio although it has been said that “Lulu couldn’t do that”…
Finland next with Softengine. There’s no females in this band so everyone has gone back to the pizza. It sounds very Coldplay, this one.
One minute in, and it’s better than Coldplay!
Spain is up next with Ruth Lorenzo and Dancing In The Rain. It’s a bit drab.
Everyone has an opinion on what the Swiss entry – Hunter of Stars by Sebalter – sounds like. Steve has an interesting theory that it sounds like the Ruts, even though it has banjos and ukuleles in it …
And whistling.
Steve has asked for “My Lovely Horse”.
21:39
Everyone is singing along to Hungary‘s entry, but instead of singing “running, running, running” all I can hear is “rubbish, rubbish, rubbish”
Malta up next – we have already had a great session from Maltese Eurovision entrant Sophie DeBattista here in the studio recently. This entry is from Firelight and Coming Home. Alan is singing the Proclaimers over the top of it.
Chocolates….. no, they’re Maltese….. this isn’t too bad but it’s just lacking something….. something like Gary Barlow singing Let Me Go….. it’s been said that it’s a little bit Mumford & Sons…. I’m looking forward to it finishing now but I hope they tell us what that weird instrument was…..
“Every time someone whistles in Eurovision I have to go for a cigarette”. And there go Greg and Bob … I know there’s a Eurovision drinking game but surely there’s not a smoking game too?
One of the favourites up next, The Netherlands with the Common Linnets and Calm After The Storm. Paul likes it but it’s not very Eurovision. Everyone else says it’s dreary and not very Eurovision at all. Tony said he had to look at Alan’s shirt to cheer himself up.
Oooooh San Marino…. it’s got a bondesque sound to it, killer lyrics and I’m liking this A LOT! This has got a winning sound to it – could we have one of the smallest European countries taking the Eurovision crown? If they do, are they big enough to host it next year?
Last song of the night, and it’s the UK! Not much whooping or cheering in the studio yet.
22:02
Actually we did like it. A lot. Not sure if it was the best record of the night but it’s better than our entries over the last 10 years or so …
22:02
We’re now playing My Lovely Horse. On the radio.
Missed the opportunity to say “we have to lose that sax solo” at some point tonight.
We’re now playing non-Eurovision music on air while we work out who we want to vote for.
OK, here are OUR votes:
Vic: Russia 12, France 10, Romania 8, Poland 7, Finland 6, Sweden 5, Germany 4, Great Britain 3, Slovenia 2, Iceland 1
Matt J: Great Britain 12, Ukraine 10, Malta 8, Greece 7, Slovenia 6, Italy 5, San Marino 4, Denmark 3, Russia 2, Sweden 1
Tony: Denmark 12, Greece 10, Italy 8, Finland 7, Romania 6, Poland 5, Austria 4, Spain 3, Great Britain 2, France 1
Steve R: Slovenia 12, Italy 10, Iceland 8, Belarus 7, Greece 6, Germany 5, Poland 4, Austria 3, Sweden 2, France 1
Greg: Great Britain 12, San Marino 10, Poland 8, Germany 7, Ukraine 6, Greece 5, Italy 4, Slovenia 3, Malta 2, Denmark 1
Alan: Greece 12, Romania 10, Iceland 8, Slovenia 7, Great Britain 6, Ukraine 5, France 4, Sweden 3, Belarus 2, Finland 1
Bob: Germany 12, Finland 10, Austria 8, Slovenia 7, Great Britain 6, Malta 5, Poland 4, Iceland 3, Italy 2, Denmark 1
Paul: Iceland 12, France 10, Italy 8, Greece 7, Finland 6, Slovenia 5, Russia 4, Germany 3, Romania 2, Austria 1
So here’s the results as voted for by the eight Phoenix presenters in the room:
1st GREECE 47pts
2nd SLOVENIA 42pts
3rd GREAT BRITAIN 41pts
4th ITALY 37pts
5th ICELAND 32pts
6th GERMANY 31pts
7th FINLAND 30pts
8th POLAND 28pts
9th FRANCE, ROMANIA 26pts
11th UKRAINE 21pts
12th RUSSIA 18pts
13th DENMARK 17pts
14th AUSTRIA 16pts
15th MALTA 15pts
16th SAN MARINO 14pts
17th SWEDEN 11pts
18th BELARUS 9pts
19th SPAIN 3pts
20th ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN, HUNGARY, MONTENEGRO, NETHERLANDS, NORWAY, SWITZERLAND nil points
So that’s it. Greece are the official winners of this year’s Eurovision. We’re now going home to watch the “real” voting. Great night out, I did a lot more mathematics than I expected, but that’s Eurovision for you. See you next year!
Got home to find out that the vote in Copenhagen was completely wrong, and they gave it to Austria instead. Oh well, it’s got Phoenix in the title so I suppose we should have seen that coming.
