News: Eurovision 2010 Results

By now the fallout is well over and most of Europe is getting on with the rest of their lives. However, Germany is probably already perparing to host next year's Eurovision Song Contest after 19 year old Lena took home the coveted prize with her song 'Satellite'.

It was a disappointing night for both Ireland and the UK, as both of the home countries were left propping up the table, with Ireland in 23rd and the United Kingdom coming in 25th from 25 acts on the night.

Eurovision 2010 Full Results table:

Place	Country	Performer	Song	Points
1	Germany	Lena	Satellite	246
2	Turkey	maNga	We Could Be The Same	170
3	Romania	Paula Seling & Ovi	Playing With Fire	162
4	Denmark	Chanée & N'evergreen	In A Moment Like This	149
5	Azerbaijan	Safura	Drip Drop	145
6	Belgium	Tom Dice	Me And My Guitar	143
7	Armenia	Eva Rivas	Apricot Stone	141
8	Greece	Giorgos Alkaios & Friends	OPA	140
9	Georgia	Sofia Nizharadze	Shine	136
10	Ukraine	Alyosha	Sweet People	108
11	Russia	Peter Nalitch & Friends	Lost And Forgotten	90
12	France	Jessy Matador	Allez Olla Olé	82
13	Serbia	Milan Stanković	Ovo Je Balkan	72
14	Israel	Harel Skaat	Milim	71
15	Spain	Daniel Diges	Algo Pequeñito (Something Tiny)	68
16	Albania	Juliana Pasha	It's All About You	62
17	Bosnia & Herzegovina	Vukašin Brajić	Thunder And Lightning	51
18	Portugal	Filipa Azevedo	Há Dias Assim	43
19	Iceland	Hera Björk	Je Ne Sais Quoi	41
20	Norway	Didrik Solli-Tangen	My Heart Is Yours	35
21	Cyprus	Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders	Life Looks Better In Spring	27
22	Moldova	Sunstroke Project & Olia Tira	Run Away	27
23	Ireland	Niamh Kavanagh	It's For You	25
24	Belarus	3+2	Butterflies	18
25	United Kingdom	Josh	That Sounds Good To Me	10

We also found out Ireland's position in the second semi-final. We came 9th (ten acts got through, the tenth was joint on 67 points with us). Turkey won our semi final with 118 points, and Belgium romped home in Tuesday's first semi-final. However, it was not either of their nights, and one of the Big Four won for the first time in 13 years. It was also Germany's second ever victory, they last won in 1982.

And as for the stage invader during the Spanish song, AFP reported "Some in Spain identified the intruder as Jaume Marquet Cot, better known as "Jimmy Jump," a real estate agent from the separatist-minded region of Catalonia who is known for pitch invasions of several major sporting events."

Here's the winning song, Lena with 'Satellite':


And here's a nice acoustic version of the song:

Live Review: Eurovision Second Semi-Final

"Irlande Douze Points, Douze Points, Play that Funky Beat!"

I watched parts of Tuesday's first Eurovision semi-final (it was on at the same time as the Ireland-Paraguay soccer match), but last night I sat down to watch the entire second semi-final, especially as it was probably the only chance we were going to get to see Ireland's entrant, former winner Niamh Kavanagh.

I'll get this out there early on: I was sure we wouldn't make it. Not because of block voting (although I was waiting for the stage where our name wasn't announced and Marty Whelan would utter his usual complaint - wait for the votes from the Norweigan jury on Saturday night at the final, you'll definitely get it then). It's just that this year's Irish entry is a dull, dull song. It's a poor ballad, and didn't stand up against most of the other semi-finalists. It's our worst song since Dervish, and didn't deserve to win the Song for Ireland on The Late Late Show. It's just that the panel and the public felt we owed Niamh something for winning a decade and a half ago. Lee Bradshaw's tune was far better.

So on Saturday night when the votes are coming in and Ireland has got 0 once again, it's not down to block voting (it's half jury-half public this year), but down to the fact Ireland's song is awful. Even Azerbaijan's (with Safura) ballad is miles better.

Of the ten who made it through to Saturday's final, the ones with the best chance are probably Romania (Paula Seling and Ovi - 'Playing With Fire'). Of the 17 semi-finalists last night, it's the only one that actually sounds good enough to hear on the radio. Which is exactly what you need. They have a good few neighbours too. A real dark horse is Turkey (MaNga) with their own take on Linkin Park. Solely because it's different. Other ones that could do well are Armenia, Denmark, and Cyprus. Armenia's anti-Azerbaijan tune will probably still end up getting 12 points from Azerbaijan, so that won't hold them up. Denmark's male-female (Chanée and N'evergreen) ballad is the kind of stuff we usually send, so we'll probably give it an 8 or so. And Cyprus have sent a Welshman (Jon Lilygreen) with a multi-national backing band. Thus the UK could give it high marks. The fact he plays an instrument could help too.

Notable omissions from last night's ten successful semi-finalists were Sweden (just for its location to the hosts this year), Netherlands, and Lithuania. The Netherlands and Sieneke had the most catchy song of all, 'Ik ben verliefd', better known as 'Sha-la-lie' (which was even trending on twitter when the semi-final was over). Ridiculous stage show, but a damn catchy tune. Lithuania's InCulto also had a catchy song. I mean look at the title: 'Eastern European Funk'. They probably would have been better if they left on their tartan trousers though.

On Saturday night (tomorrow), Ireland's Niamh Kavanagh will sing tenth. However, she'll be up against the best from Semi-Final 1 as well as the automatic finalists. The favourite this year is Germany, looking for their first victory since 1982. Lena's 'Satellite' is getting a lot of hype over in Oslo, and rightfully so. It's a great Eurovision song, and would be a worthy winner.

Ireland should be happy if we place in the top 20. Never mind the rubbish Marty sprouted at the end about how this would lift the nation and how we didn't need the World Cup. Surely he's heard our tune. It has as much chance of winning the Eurovision as North Korea does of lifting the World Cup.

(Like last year, I might liveblog the Eurovision final, so if you're online, come on over...)

Read Aidan at GoldenPlec's thoughts on it here:
http://www.goldenplec.com/2010/05/28/eurovision-semi-final-2/