The fun times continued in Malmö arena last night, with Petra and Malin guiding us through the proceedings effortlessly. What did you think of the songs? I found it a bit of a slog!
I think that was because the first semi-final had a number of songs that had everyone talking (UK, Ireland, Croatia). Last night felt a bit flat – although it was still brilliant telly. By the time we got to the voting reveal I wasn’t particularly invested in many of the songs that got through – although the main ones that needed to did. Watching with Brian and Ellen in Liverpool, we were all surprised by Latvia getting through. Not my work wife Claire Parkinson, who was very happy that it did.
Petra and Malin opened proceedings with a genius comedic interpretation of Loreen’s Tattoo. As with Tuesday night, the script throughout was spot on and cringe moments were again once avoided. The script for both semi-finals has been imbued with togetherness and coming together. And we know why that is…
For one of the interval acts, another great line-up of Eurovision alum/turns included Helena Paparizou, Charlotte Perrelli and Sertab Erener. They served us Eurovision girl power with (finally!) some wind machine action!
The public vote winner from last year, Cha Cha Cha was reprised, with Käärijä showing that the songs leaning into it this year are poor imitations when it comes to that staging.
Petra’s musical interlude, We Just Love Eurovision Too Much, was perhaps a bit of a thin parody of their participation compared to the amazing Love, Love, Peace, Peace that she performed with Måns Zelmerlöw back in 2016.
The singalong was highly entertaining. We were singing along in Liverpool, I’m sure you were too!
So what did we learn in the second semi-final?
Who knew that this year is the 50th anniversary of Greece participating in ESC? Opa!
Both semi-finals have had an in-memoriam sequence…
Spain doing schlager is fun and unexpected…
Eurovision in the round is brilliant…
And a few observations about the performances…
Switzerland was as good, if not better than Croatia. And like the UK’s staging, core strength is needed…
France started off slowly, but the moment Slimane stepped back from the microphone and continued to belt out the song, it was amazing. As was the reaction of the audience in the arena…
The staging for Chechia was poor, and took away rather than adding to the song – it was always going to be difficult coming after Switzerland…
The staging for Italy was also poor and detracted from the song. The fact that it is drifting in the betting odds is no surprise…
The staging for San Remo lifted the song with Bambi Disney Thug vibes…
The jollity that is the Armenian entry woke things up (the semi was dragging!)…
The vocal for Estonia was very pitchy, but connected with enthusiastic staging…
That poignant moment at the end of The Netherlands had us dewy-eyed (no, you’re crying)…
After the reveal of the ten songs going through to the grand final, there were even more nostalgia vibes – which has been more noticeable this year. The show ended with Sweden’s winner from 1984 – Herreys performing their classic song Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley. All rather brilliant, with men of a certain age now in their golden shoes (not boots) in 2024.
In the early hours of Friday moring, the ESC producers revealed the running order for the grand final…
(source: EBU)
I will review it on my Saturday blog post, so do check in with me again before the grand final at 8pm in the UK on BBC1 and iPlayer.
Who on earth will the producers drag out for the grand final? Something big is promised, and this year is the 50th anniversary of Abba’s victory with Waterloo. Surely it can’t be Ab…
Drömmar kan gå i uppfyllelse! 😀
(dreams can come true)
xx