Recently in 2010 Category

Saturday saw Norway, the home team, select its entry for Eurovision 2010. Boom Bang a Blog is indebted to reader Phil Tipton, from Chester, who kindly (and swiftly) sent us this report on his visit to this year's host city in its first real warm-up for Contest duty.

The things we do for Eurovision, eh?

I wondered whether it was all worth it when I stood freezing to death on Platform One of Chester Station at 7am waiting for the train to London. I quietly contemplated how much money this 34-hour trip to Oslo was going to cost, but I decided it was all too distressing and turned my mind to happier thoughts (Charlotte Perrelli's famous co-ordinated three point choreographed arm movements in 'Hero' to be precise).

Over the past few years I've become a bit of a Scandi-fan, attending some element of Sweden's Melodifestivalen each year. I finally managed to get a ticket to the final in Stockholm's Globen last year and had a fantastic time watching Malena et al. give it all they had in the pursuit of schlager greatness.

I sort of assumed that I would go again this year, but the rush for tickets passed me by and I found myself strangely unconcerned that I hadn't managed to secure a ticket to either the final or, indeed, my preferred Gothenburg semi-final. To cut a long story short, I decided to have a change this year and see what Norway's Melodi Grand Prix had to offer.

The world's oldest 17-year-old sings a song by Father Abraham for the Netherlands

With all this rumbunctious brou-ha-ha over buying tickets and meeting up with other Euro chums to get through these past 24 hours, Boom Bang a Blog has foolishly neglected the other two songs which were selected for Eurovision this weekend.

You will have heard Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha-la-lie) in its demo version before Crimbo. Written by Pierre Kartner, the man who sang with/composed for The Smurfs in the late 1970s as Father Abraham, the Netherlands' Nationaal Songfestival 2010 took place yesterday evening. Five different acts put their own spin on Kartner's schlager-friendly tune - although nobody came up with a wildly different version from what was already on the demo. A four-strong panel (which included Johnny Logan), then had to choose which version they liked best. Two went for 17-year-old (yes, 17, really. Swear down) Sieneke with her pipe-organ carousel-friendly styling, while the girl band Loekze's take on it - which had shades of Amazulu and was, to be frank, dreadful - also got two votes. It was deadlock, and the public vote only had the same weighting of one of the professional jurors. Therefore, the people of the Netherlands voting in their thousands for the interpretation by a young man called Vincent meant diddly squat.

It was all down to Father Smurf himself to break the deadlock and choose who he wanted to go to Oslo with his song.

He couldn't handle the pressure.

The view outside my window at about 8.20 this morning

It wasn't a pretty sight in our spare room at two minutes to eight this morning. There I was in my dressing gown nervously clicking the 'book now' link on the webpage of the Norwegian agency looking after the tickets for this year's Eurovision Song Contest final.

I was advised by fellow fans in the pub yesterday to take the first tickets you're offered as there's no guarantee you'll be offered any others in the 10-minute-ish window they're available. It took a fair few clicks and a lot of patience to get to the booking page, but by jove, I made it. A few credit card details later, and our four-strong expedition to Oslo will all be sat in the same block (which has a fantastic view of the stage!), but not quite all together.

So, that's flights, accommodation and tickets to the actual shebang sorted.

For the first time in seven years, I have a Contest to go to.

Forget the glitz and glamour of the Euro 2012 qualifying rounds draw this morning. At the same time In Oslo, the draw for who is singing in which semi-final of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest was made by a very bored-looking policeman and a presenter who kept being interrupted by ESC bossman, Svante Stockselius.

This time around, each country was allocated a place in one of two semi-finals, but also which half of that qualifier they'll be performing in, so the delegation can organise which date to arrive in Oslo for rehearsals. Here's who's singing where, in the order they came out of the bowls about 10 minutes ago:

SEMI-FINAL ONE (Tuesday, May 25)
FIRST HALF: Serbia, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, Latvia, Estonia.
SECOND HALF: Greece, Iceland, Malta, Portugal, FYR Macedonia, Belarus, Belgium, Poland, Albania.

SEMI-FINAL TWO (Thursday, May 27)
FIRST HALF: Switzerland, Lithuania, Sweden, Ukraine, Denmark, Azerbaijan, Israel, Armenia.
SECOND HALF: Georgia, Turkey, Ireland, Slovenia, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania.

Good news for ireland in that they perform late on and the UK has been confirmed in voting in the second qualifier.

Right, I'm off to the fans meet-up in Liverpool I blogged about a few weeks ago. Hope to see some of you there - and I'll report back on what happens.

Chanée & N'evergreen. A Bardo for the 21st Century

Tonight's national finals have drawn to a close. In the end, I watched Norway choose its song as there's not much point watching Melodifestivalen until the night of the final, which is still five weeks away. Well, I don't wish to sound boastful, but Didrik Solli Tangen did win in Norway (as predicted) and Hera Bjork brought home the bacon in Iceland, which was another Boom Bang a Blog tip from this morning (see the post below to hear the songs).

The only one not called in spot-on fashion was Denmark. The web favourite Bryan Rice finished in second place, letting the poptastic antics of Chanée and Tomas N'evergreen fly the red-and-white flag in Olso with the song In a Moment Like This. Boom Bang a Blog has to confess to developing a real affection for this from just the first listen, it certainly has the *something* that Hera's Je Ne Sais Quoi is unlikely to ever have. I still think ole Did' will score the highest out of everything chosen tonight, though. What do you think?

Good morning Boom Bang a Bloggers. I've had my porridge with blueberries in and sweated buckets whilst attempting lunges and torso twists on the Wii Fit so here I am, relaxed and refreshed with news of the treats coming your way this evening - and how to see them over the web.

Yes, this very night, Iceland, Denmark and 2010 hosts Norway will choose the songs which will go forth to the Eurovision stage in late May under each nation's respective flag. Not only that, but the biggest national final of them all - Melodifestivalen - has the first of its five weekly qualifying rounds in Sweden tonight. In around six weeks, we should know the full line-up for Eurovision 2010. But before all that, here are Boom Bang a Blog's predictions.

The songs taking part in many of the national finals of the 39 competing countries in Oslo are now becoming known. One of the more interesting choices is this one from Romania.

Luminita Anghel finished third in the 2005 Contest and is joined here by Tony Thomas and Adrian Piper for a song called Save Their Lives (In Memoriam Michael Jackson).

Would it be cruel to suggest that this is a cynical way of earning votes from the many, many Jacko fans dotted across the continent if this gets picked for Norway - or is it genuinely written from the heart?

Finland 2010: And doesn't it just scream 'winner' at you?

The Finnish national final finished last night and the band Kuunkuiskaajat, fronted by sisters who bring to mind thoughts of those dreadfully tuneless twins for Your Country Needs You last year, will be giving it laldy in Norway with the rather unusual number Työlki Ellää.

It starts off rather folky, as though someone's decided to get an especially lacklustre wedding reception going with a bit of a sing-song round the accordion and there are certaimly signs of it having the desired effect among the audience members.

But is it a winner? Or even a song which will qualify to the final itself form the semi? There are still too many songs to be picked to make any concrete predictions, but let's just say that after clicking 'save' on this particular blog entry I won't be dashing to ladbrokes.com for a cheeky flutter.

And they look like such charming young ladies as well. So cruel.

It was announced by the BBC this morning that successful record producer Pete Waterman, the man who steered Kylie, Rick Astley and Steps - among others - to chart success will be behind this year's British entry to the Eurovision Song Contest.

Although the smart money (based on tabloid and supposed insider rumour) before the official press release was let loose into the ether had either Gary Barlow, Cathy Dennis or even Elton John pencilled in for the job, there is already some confusion over whether Pete will actually be writing the song, or collaborating with another composer/s and putting some studio expertise and polish on their work. It sounds a bit like the way Andrew Lloyd Webber worked with American songwriter Diane Warren on It's My Time last year.

UPDATE: Sorry, everyone. The BBC won't be revealing any news until 'early on Friday morning' now. I do hope the composer isn't getting cold feet...


First Andy Murray gets through to the final of the Australian Open and then someone on BBC Eurovision's twittering team announces that today's the day we learn the details of the UK selection for the 2010 Contest. What a sterling morning's work for Le Royaume Uni.

Past experience has led Boom Bang a Blog never to get all that excited about these announcements. Don't forget, the year we could have had Morrissey, we ended up with Scooch. However, with Your Country Needs You looking a certainty for this year's selection process once more - it's likely the identity of a well-known composer who's agreed to take on Mission Oslo will be the thrust of the imminent press release.

BBaB has its fingers crossed for Gary Barlow or Cathy Dennis. BBaB is also hoping and praying that the job hasn't gone to a former Big Brother contestant who knows how to hum quite well, or someone who last had a hit before Britain went decimal.

As soon as it's announced, we'll bring you full details and a personal reaction. Time's a ticking down...