Personal reviews and reflections - Semi 1

[Eurovisionified]

I don't like the fact that they use DSLR-cameras to film the artists postcards and music videos. It's amateurish and looks ugly. You can instantly tell when someone has used a DSLR-camera, since it's very blurry and without a real focus. I don't like it at all.

The start was fine, with the wandering kids and Loreen herself attending the show. A good first impression that kickstarts the show. For most of the show, the crowd seemed happy and I especially liked the middle show when everyone waved their green lighty sticks, perfectly in a synced rhytm to gleerups music. Just watch the whole thing again and you understand what I mean. That's some great audience-work right there!

However, the voting was a bit of a sad case, where Petra announced the songs a bit too fast. Lost of suspence and a few other things. Bad timing I think. But apart from that and some awkward jokes (yeye, it's Petra Mede, what do you expect?) I'm fine with her performance. She did it OK. Proffessional and with a lot of pride.

So long folks, this competion has been fine.

 

[aletem]

I liked the show! The host was awesome (I really liked her), production was very good, the postcards were nice, the presentation of the songs/staging was very well. Didn't pay much attention to the interval act. Lynda was funny!!

Regarding the results - Wasn't quite expecting what I saw to be honest!

Time for Esma to bring some magic and make semi#2 even more surprising!

 

[FilipFromSweden]

The show & SVT: I think SVT made an amazing show, i'm happy and surprised that the show was so good, the electronical bracelets sure helped the stage a bit. In some camera angles the whole arena looked small and in some it looked big! The stage really worked out and I thought it looked great! Im happy to be a Swede right now. I think that the whole design and everything looked really great! I think that everything looked really professional.

The host: Petra Mede did a fantastic job! She was a lot better than in 2012 and in 2011, one or two jokes were not that funny but otherwise I think that she delivered! She was amazing and i'm glad that SVT chose her. She was professional and I think that she was hilarious! Especially when she entered the green room, im looking forward to Thursday just to see Petra! (And the others)

The postcards: were pretty good, but not fantastic.

The songs: I think it was a pretty good semi final. Australia opening the show was actually a pretty bad choice with a ballad after her. I think that Denmark, Ireland and Ukraine had the best songs and I voted for Denmark (was I the only one that noticed that her drum-sound had changed? I liked it, was a bit more electric). We laughed (and not in a good way) to Montenegros performance and my parents thought that Serbia had weird clothes and a pretty bad song. Cyprus obviously showed that they did not win but otherwise I think that the songs were pretty good.

The qualifiers: I must say this, all of the songs that went to the final DESERVED it. In the end when there was finalist #10 it was between Serbia and The Netherlands and I got really happy when she said '' The Netherlands ''. They really deserve it and I got happy when I saw how happy Anouk and her crew was! Kind of funny that Serbia did not qualify, I love it when countries that everyone thought would go trough don't!

The greenroom: Looked pretty ugly, it should have been purple instead of gold/yellowbrown.


I am a bit dissapointed in Moldova, I thought she would deliver more but she was good. Yugoslavia is almost out!

Good show!

 

[FilipFromSweden]

I actually liked the qualifications. Netherlands was epic, with the whole hall screaming "Netherlands, Netherlands!!!".

The stage was so-so. It's not bad, but it really is not memorable.

I thought that they were all screaming '' Serbia! Serbia! ''

 

[CrimTV]

I'm sorry, but when did Australia open the show?!

 

[HabaHaba]

I'm sorry, but when did Australia open the show?!

We did in spirit...

 

[Israeliboy]

The show was great, cameras did an amazing job, watched in HD and really enjoyed it. The host was not good for me and the results were too fast :/ She had to wait at least 1 minute in between!

 

[Hegepege]

The show was good, very modest, I liked that. But the hostess... She sounded like a quidditch-speaker, with a really annoying booming voice. And I suspect some of the northern lights was not filmed in Sweden at all, but at Senja in Norway. Not that it really matters. I also found the comedy-lady going to Jukkasjärvi (yep, I've been there) funny, the Joanna Lumley parody was hilarious ("Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights", great show, it's online)

 

[LalehForWD]

And Loreen stepped out on the bridge, wandered through the singing children and finally vanished in the crowd below. Beautiful and poetic! She will be resurrected on Saturday though. Breathtaking show, probably the most spectacular SVT have ever done - great working! All this for a fraction of the costs of previous ESCs! Of course a big LOL at all of you having so much harsh complaints during preseason.

 

[GRE]

Alert question here.
Can anyone remember in what places the winners of the semis (2009-2010-2011-2012) were announced?

 

[Yamarus]

Oh by the way, did anyone notice the 20 votes per phone limit??? I've never seen this being discussed recently!

 

[cegs5]

Oh by the way, did anyone notice the 20 votes per phone limit??? I've never seen this being discussed recently!

Yes I noticed...how many calls were allowed alst year?

 

[cegs5]

I can say that I had high expectations about the postcards and they were just meh... still better than last year (the worst ever) but not as good as I thought It would be.

The host was just OK, not as good as the ones in Oslo 2010

 

[Narmina]

To be honest I found 1st semi-final a little bit boring

 

[cegs5]

To be honest I found 1st semi-final a little bit boring

Indeed...not a climax at all. But at least the audience seems to be lively and closer, last year was just lame.

 

[LoveHate]

Overall I thought it was a very good show. The dance-number was a complete snoozefest for me, but I can see how some people might enjoy that. Host was pretty good compared to what we've seen in the last decade, but I'm always annoyed by how "over the top" they are. Less so this year, but I don't get why they just can't speak normally.

Stage, lighting, sound: no complaints.

Qualifiers: Happy that Estonia went through with their ballad anno 1993. Lithuania was perhaps my least favorite of the night, but I told my wife during the song that it's so bad this will probably be the incomprehensible qualifier of the night. And it was. I could also have lived without Belgium in the final. Russia & Belarus were lame, but I expected them to qualify. Surprised all Balkan-countries failed, and sad that Montenegro won't be in the final. Pretty much the only rap-song I have ever enjoyed (although my standards are MUCH lower when it comes to ESC). Nina Žižić is arguably the most impressive singer of the competition.

 

[FilipFromSweden]

Alert question here.
Can anyone remember in what places the winners of the semis (2009-2010-2011-2012) were announced?

2009 - envelope 9
2010 - big 5
2011 - envelope 4
2012 - envelope 5

 

[FilipFromSweden]

I think that when it comes to show, production and so this was the best semi final ever, but when it comes to music nothing beats the first semi final in Baku 2012.

 

[doctormalisimo]

My reviews:
Austria - sweet pop ballad, but it got slaughtered by the draw. Might have qualified if it was later in the show

Estonia - boring song, but very sweet performance, the black and white effect helped a lot. And the fact that she was pregnant. Gimmicks are everything.

Slovenia - everything about this was terrible. Wouldn't be surprised if this came 16th

Croatia - it was sweet and folksy but highly forgettable. No one outside the Ex Yugoslavia knows this sort of music, it was always doomed to fail unless they modernised and Europeanised it, which they didn't. I thought a good stage presence (and some friendly neighbour voting) would help see them through, but they failed to relate to the audience on the night and I guess their neighbours were the only ones who voted for them

Denmark - all she had to do was get her performance right to qualify, which she did. Fine performance and vocals, she was never going to not qualify after that.

Russia - she could have farted on stage for 3 minutes and still qualified

Ukraine - same as Russia. Strong performance - possible winner?

Netherlands - I really worried for them after her performance. It wasn't a bad performance, it was just dull. No dancing, no flashiness. Some people (enough to see her into the final) like that minimalist approach, but I think she lost a lot of potential votes after that.

Montenegro - I guess Eurovision isn't ready for dubstep. The performance was brilliant. The vocals were clean. It was certainly memorable. Maybe if they sung in English they would have qualified? Hugely disappointed for them.

Lithuania - the shock of the night. I loved this. The silly lyrics. The weird jumping. The eyebrows. Andrius has such an anti-charisma - his perfomance was so bad and weird, it was brilliant. Very memorable. I guess it helped too to be the only rockish song of the night.

Belarus - by far the campest performance of the night. This even outgayed Ireland. It was too kitschy maybe - the whole thing just reeked of cliché, but it was certainly memorable and got Belarus to the final, so it paid off.

Moldova - the winner of the night for me. I dont particularly like the song, but everything else was just superb - her vocals, her look, her umm....lava lamp dress. I was surprised at how good this is. Moldova is the dark horse to win for me.

Ireland - won the gay vote. Surprisingly solid vocal performance. Good all-round. I still hate the song though.

Cyprus - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Belgium - another surprise. His English wasnt great, but maybe that was the appeal of the song. He gave off a very sweet and vulnerable vibe which probably own a lot of teenage girl votes.

Serbia - killed by the costume designer. People didn't think it was a serious entry after seeing their costumes, and most of the viewing public's attention was on their costumes, not the song. If this wasn't a Serbian entry (let's say Slovenian), people wouldn't be surprised it didnt qualify.

 

[lucian-crusher]

2009 - envelope 9
2010 - big 5
2011 - envelope 4
2012 - envelope 5

I think, he was asking about the Semifinal winners, so it was like this:

2009 - SF 1 - envelope 10
2009 - SF 2 - envelope 9
2010 - SF 1 - envelope 8
2010 - SF 2 - envelope 3
2011 - SF 1 - envelope 3
2011 - SF 2 - envelope 10
2012 - SF 1 - envelope 9
2012 - SF 2 - envelope 5