NORMAL LIFE: Second Semi Final Review [ESC]

This time, the huge, 23,000 capacity Belgrade Arena was filled to capacity, the atmosphere almost palpable. With fans from all over Europe waving flags like maniacs, the show began with a mini cabaret featuring various characters, most notably a winged Pegasus. The stage came to life, with hosts, Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović, emerging on either sides of the stage, the design of which is based on the confluence of two big European rivers, the Danube (in blue) and the Sava (in red). In line with the new rules for the Eurovision, the Finnish public were not able to participate in the evening’s vote, having been ‘separated’ from Denmark and Sweden to prevent tactical, neighbourhood voting.

The show begins with Iceland, my personal favourite from this years show. Euroband, consisting of duo Friðrik Ómar and Regína Ósk, sang This Is My Life. A fantastic performance, they were truly in synch with the cameras, obviously aware that a strong start to the show had to be made. The guy’s teeth, startlingly white, proved a bit of a distraction as did Regína’s under-arm fadoobas, but by god, what a fantastic song!! As the song drew to a close, the crowd’s delight was obvious. And I would like to take this opportunity to point out that Friðrik is gorgeous.

Sweden’s Charlotte Perrelli sang Hero, a credible pop number, with the usual minimal choreography typical of Sweden’s entries to Eurovision over the years. Slowly making her way down a series of blocks whilst wearing a silver string dress, there was something distracting about Miss Perrelli. I am not sure if it was the plastic surgery, or if a drinking session the night could be held accountable for the dark rings under her eyes. A good song, though, but no where near as good as Iceland’s.

Next up was Turkey with pop/rock band, Mor ve Ötesi. With their song, Deli, the band turned the stage into a platform for what I would describe as ‘noise’. I don’t go for rock generally so my opinion on this song is somewhat biased. A talented band, they are good with their instruments and have a certain chemistry onstage. Very different to earlier Turkish entries.

Ani Lorak, hailing from Ukraine, was next to hit the stage and what a performance. Singing Shady Lady, this year’s entry from Ukraine was a welcome change to last year’s ‘colourful’ entry. Ani had obviously borrowed Miss Perrelli of Sweden’s dress for the performance, but who cared? A fantastic effort, the choreography worked well with the track as did the lit up backgrounds and athletic dancers somewhat reminiscent of a Madonna concert. If I were straight, this lady could certainly make me a tits and legs man!

Lithuania hits the stage with the song, Nomads In The Night, by the long-haired and leather-trousered Jeronimas Milius. A very powerful performance, the singer has an incredible voice and this song would not be out of place in one of the more serious Andrew Lloyd Webber productions. Let’s see how it rates as the results come in.

Next up, Olta Boka represents Albania. Singing Zemrën E Lamë Peng, the young Celine Dion look alike entertained the crowd with a pleasing ballad. Working well with the cameras with wind blowing her hair throughout the number, the singer often sang to the sky as if really feeling the words of her song. A great performance, not that I understand anything she was singing, of course!

Paolo Meneguzzi, representing Switzerland, brought us Era Stupendo. The first verse and chorus took the form of a love song before an upbeat mood takes us into the second verse. The singer, dressed in a black suit and tie, flirted with the camera, maintaining a strong performance throughout. A great song, but will it get through to the final? I really don’t know! The evenings entries were all high calibre.

Next up was the Czech Republic with Tereza Kerndlová inviting to Have Some Fun. Eastern European pop at it’s best, the five scantily clad very good looking ladies on the stage were accompanied by an overweight DJ who really thought he was all that. I smiled when two of the five women launched in a Beyonce body-dance, jacking their midriffs somewhat out of tune with the music. Oh, deary me!

Next up was Belarus with Hasta La Vista. Singing in English, Ruslan Alehno belted out a likeable number reminiscent of soft 80s rock. Again, the singer was supported by four leggy ladies in the form of under-dressed backing dancers which led me to conclude that the Eastern European countries are still stuck a Buck Fizz time-warp.

Latvia comes on stage, with the amusing, swash-buckling Wolves Of The Sea, marking the start of a thankfully temporary decline in the night's proceedings. Whilst entertaining, band Pirates Of The Sea, were dressed up as pirates with a Captain’s wheel taking centre stage. With lyrics like “With a hii hii hoo and a hii hii hey, we‘re hoisting the flag to be free”, do they really expect to be taken seriously? I shouldn’t speak too soon as history proves that anything can happen at Eurovision.

Kraljevi Ulice & 75 Cents, hailing from Croatia, entertain us with Romanca. Opening with a seated geriatric, the stage features a host of characters and props including a lady in red prancing about like an idiot and an antique gramaphone which the old guy simulates rapping with. Give me strength! The song itself was a pile of shit and, again, I was wondering what other candidates were cast aside to allow for these to represent Croatia.

With DJ, Take Me Away, Bulgaria’s Deep Zone & Balthazar bought a largely instrumental track to the show. The first minute or so featured some agreeable club music by a DJ whose turntables were actually on fire! A tall blonde, dressed like a good-time girl in Wild West style (red dress, stockings and suspenders, you know the type!), urged the DJ to take her away. I prayed to god: please, take her away!

Denmark’s tall and lean Simon Mathew comes onstage looking quite cute in grey trousers, white shirt and braces. With All Night Long, he launched into an upbeat number, a cross between jazz and poppy barbershop music. I didn’t like it, but the crowd certainly did.

Diana Gurtskaya, of Georgia, comes onstage looking like a young sun-glassed Sofia Loren. It was only after the show, surfing on http://www.eurovision.tv/ that I learned that she has been blind from birth. The song, itself, was a run-of-the-mill slow pop track. Diana tells us that #Something’s gotta change, something’s gotta change!# and I am sensing that it is her song the needs to be bloody changed. And while the song doesn’t change, their outfits do with the six performers onstage suddenly abandoning their black clothes for white. The clothes were impressive, but the music wasn’t.

Csézy, from Hungary, wowed us with Candlelight. Reminding me of Andie McDowell, Csézy’s performance of this wonderful ballad was very pleasing, certainly in the top ten of the night’s performances. It was only my change that I found this remix on YouTube.

With a song called Vodka, Malta’s Morena, bought pop back to the stage. A lively track, Morena managed to get the crowd on their feet, telling us that password was VODKA! Morena continued the tradition for upbeat Malta entries, but this year’s contribution was perhaps a bit too raw for my liking.

Cyprus is next up with Evdokia Kadi singing Femme Fatale. Opening the song with the tinny sound of a mandolin, the song progresses into a tango affair with Evdokia dumping her all-over- body silver designer dress for a petit orange string dress. The four onstage male dancers then proceed to serenade her, much to the crowds delight. Not my kind of song, but nevertheless entertaining.

Tamara, Vrčak & Adrijan, hailing from Macedonia, bring a relatively boring track to the show. With Let Me Love You, the chorus’ become mini rap sessions with one of the male dancers resembling a cheesy Don Johnson from Miami Vice fame with a loose suit. A god-awful attempt, they really should have stayed at home!

Vânia Fernandes, representing Portugal, sang Senhora Do Mar (Negras Águas), a heart-felt ballad. A wonderful song to end the show on, the operatic track wasn’t able to differentiate itself from the other songs in this evening’s show. Towards the end of the song, however, I was amazed at how good the harmony was between the singer and the five backing singers. Who knows, maybe they will just scrape a place in the final.

My favourite entries from this evenings show were Iceland, Sweden, Ukraine and Albania.

THE RESULTS

As the results were collated, I was rather surprised to see that all of my favourites from the evening's show had been granted a place in the final. So, in addition to my faves above, Croatia (amazingly!), Georgia, Denmark, Latvia, Turkey and Portugal will feature in this Saturday's final. Immediately after the show, a lottery was drawn to determine the running order of Saturday's 25-song final (see here).

Good luck, Iceland!