Eurovision Chart Success!

Almost two months before the Eurovision Song Contest, and already some of this year's entries are making waves in their national singles charts.

Nordic countries have embraced their entries this year as the songs from Finland (Missä miehet ratsastaa) , Sweden (Hero), and Norway (Hold On Be Strong) , have all reached number 1 in their respective homelands.

Also, in the Flanders pop charts, the Belgian song (O Julissi Na Julini) has reached number 1. Meanwhile over the border in Germany , their song (Disappear) - has reached number 4.

As usual, all of this year's songs will be released in May on a compilation double CD. You can pre-order it here.

The money's on Paolo!

Swiss Eurovision representative, Paolo Meneguzzi, has put £50 on himself - literally!

Whilst the rest of Europe starts betting a few bob on which song might come out on top, Paolo prefers to flash his cash in a slightly different way. With his sterling themed T shirt, maybe he's hoping for 12 points from the UK!

Hola Dustin!

"El Pavo" Dustin appeared on Spanish TV last night with Rodolfo from Spain, and predicted a Spanish win in Belgrade! You can check it out here......

Dustin to dance the Chiki-Chiki?

As the promo season gets into full swing, a meeting of two of this year's Eurovision greats will take place in Barcelona tomorrow. Dustin the Turkey, Ireland's ESC representative will meet Spain's Rodolfo Chikilicuatre. No doubt Dustin will learn how to "bailar el chiki-chiki" when he pops up on the Spanish TV show that made Rodolfo a star -Buenafuente.

Maybe we will hear Dustin's hastily re-vamped version of Irelande Douze Pointe when he will have to get his beak around "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" instead of "Macedonia", after a certain complaint to the EBU about his song lyrics. He was quoted as saying that geography is not his strong point!

Dustin is on La Sexta channel at midnight tomorrow. He then flies onto France.

Shady Lady wows the Baltics!

Well, as soon as the natonal finals finish, the promotional tours begin. And not to be left behind, this year's Ukrainian singer Ani Lorak - seen as one of the hot favourites to carry off the 2008 crown - visited the Baltic States.

Ani guest starred on the tour of Eurovision legend Philip Kirkorov, who is also the composer of her song Shady Lady. First port of call was 2002 host city Tallinn, where 3000 people watched her performance. Then it was on to 2003 host city Riga, where Ani met Latvian's Eurovision hopefuls Pirates of the Sea.

Ani finished off her tour in Lithuania, where she played to over 4,500 people in the capital Vilnius, as well as meeting the Lithuanian entrant Jeronimas Milius .

Ukraine has certainly proven to be force to be reckoned with in Eurovision, having won in 2004 and almost winning it last year. Could they go one better this year? We certainly think so.

Dustin says "We're sorry for Riverdance.." He shouldn't be...!

Dustin , this year's Irish entrant for ESC says in his song Irelande Douze Points "We're sorry for Riverdance....". Has he got it wrong?

The interval act at Eurovision is usually a time-filler when people make a cup of tea/coffee and get ready to watch the votes coming in. In 1994, RTE asked husband-and-wife TV producers Moya Doherty and John McColgan to come up with a suitable interval of about 7 minutes long. They contacted Bill Whelan who arranged the music and then asked Irish-American world dancing champions, Jean Butler and Michael Flatley, to do some jigs and reels!. All that was left was to include some haunting sounds of Irish vocal group Anuna, and the result was to change the face of Irish dancing ...forever.

Traditional Irish dance and music, used to be the stuff of corner pubs and village crossroads. Not after 1994 though. Riverdance, as its 21 million of ticket holders and 2 billion TV viewers can attest, is not just lyrical tin whistles and fiddle-playing. That thunder you hear when dozens of dancers line up Rockettes style and hammer their heels across the stage wowed the audience at The Point in Dublin, and has continued to wow audiences 14 years later...and has grossed over $1 billion!

Sorry Dustin, you've nothing to apologise for....

Lay All Your Love On Me, Dr Frankenstein!

And finally in our look back at the best songs that didn't win their national finals, here's those Swedish troupers, BWO, and Lay All Your Love On Me. Surely one day they will represent Sweden, although there's a bit of a queue forming....BWO, get in line behind Shirley Clamp and Sanne Nielsen.



Another Swedish song now, but this time in the Romanian final - the fabulous Dr Frankenstein. We'd have preferred LaGaylia Frazier's camp homage to The Weather Girls to have been in Melodifestivalen, where it would have probably gained more exposure, but, heh, it's a great song. Altogether now...."Gonna build me a man so divine, and make him mine!"

2 More Near Misses

Time to take a look at another two songs that, alas, won't be making their way to Belgrade.

First up is Claudia Faniello and the disco stomper Caravaggio. Eurovision Express really wanted this to win Malta's Song For Europe, and we reckon it's going to be on Eurofans' playlists for a while to come.



Spain has gone down the comedy route this year, and although Eurovision Express thinks Baila el chiki chiki is pretty funny (escpecially the 2 backing dancers), we think it's a real shame that La Casa Azul with La Revolucion Sexual won't be strutting their stuff. Classy tune!



Tomorrow we'll be revealing our two favourite songs that didn't make it through the national final stages of this year's Eurovision.

The best of the rest 2008

Ok, we've got our 43 songs for the Contest in Belgrade. But what about those songs that didn't make it? Over the next few days Eurovision Express celebrates the best of rest.

First up songs from Norway and Poland.

We thought Always Always by Zuma was a great pop song, and we're convinced it would make to the final of Norway's MGP, but, alas, it didn't even get through the 2nd Chance round. A fantastic tune and some crazy lyrics (I'll be there when the sprouts are springing in your garden, and the badger's waking up...) add up to a Eurovision classic.



Thomas G:Son, Swedish composer supreme, hasn't had a great year. He didn't have a song in Melodifestivalen, and alas the songs he entered in other national finals, haven't made it to Serbia. A high point of the Polish final was Man Meadow's polished performance of the G:Son-penned Viva La Musica. And although it didn't win, the Polish public gave it their second highest mark. Bound to a favourite on any Eurovision dancefloor for sometime to come!

The Curse of Number 2?

Well the draw for the running order in the 2 semi finals has taken place. The Big 4 and Serbia's singing positions for the Final have also been decided.

And Israel, Sweden and the UK find themselves in that most unenviable of positions - 2nd.

The number 2 has followed the UK around quite a bit. The UK has come 2nd more than any other country (15 times), and, in this decade alone, has performed in Spot Number 2 in 2002, 2005 and now in 2008.

No one has won the Contest after singing second, although Croatia did emerge victorious in the first Junior Contest from this spot.

Will the curse be broken this year? Time will tell.

Happy St. Patrick's Day...from the favourite!

Ireland's Dustin the Turkey is no doubt enjoying St. Patricks' Day today as he is favourite with the bookies to win the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. It seems his unusual tongue-in-beak entry has struck the right note with those who like a flutter on the contest.

Of course, it's early days and today's favourite could be tomorrow's outsider so Dustin is not home and cooked yet! He has some strong competition from the east though, in the guise of Armenia's Sirusho, Russia's Dima Bilan and Ukraine's Ani Lorak.

For the moment though, let's raise a glass of Guinness to the most talked about Irish entry since .... well, since ever!

As they say in Ireland ... Beannachtaí lá fhéile Padhraig

Melodifestivalen 12 points!

Eurovision Express is back from Stockholm after a heady 48 hours of music, debate and (expensive) beer!

Sweden's Melodifestivalen is arguably the best national final each year, with what seems like hundreds of overseas fans descending on the Swedish capital to enjoy the party atmosphere.

As soon as we had arrived we headed for the Globen as word had reached Eurovision Express that Charlotte Perrelli was there signing copies of her single, chatting with fans and having her picture taken. We managed to grab a few words with Mrs P and songwriter, Fredrik Kempe, to wish them both good luck. Neither of them was confident of victory at the time - perhaps the ousting of Carola in Andra Chansen was playing on their minds.

In the end, of course, there was no need for nerves as Hero carried off the MF crown.

We do feel slightly for Sanna Nielsen who finished second with her powerful ballad, Empty Room. We're sure her time will come.

So, after a marathon national final season, which began before Christmas and ended just before Easter, we now have all 43 entries for this year's Contest.

Who will win? Let the debate begin....

Last but not least....it's Sweden!

Eurovision Express is packing its suitcase ready for a trip to Stockholm for Melodifestival 2008! It'll be the 5th time we've witnessed the next best thing to the Eurovision itself, and we think this year one of our favourites is really in with a chance of winning.

We'd be delighted if either Charlotte Perrelli or BWO won, and Sanna wouldn't be too bad either, although more because we love Sanna than her song.

A packed weekend is ahead of us, which will hopefully include some CD signing with the stars in the Globen shopping centre, a bit of a schlager-sing-a-long at the Naglo Vodka bar and a bit of 'tanzen' at some club after MF (if we get our skates on!)

The offices of Eurovision Express will re-open on Sunday night.

Stay tuned as next week we'll be taking a look at some of the great songs that didn't make it through to the final 43 this year.

Enjoy Melodifestival!

Will we love it or hate it?

San Marino has announced the act that will be representing them in Belgrade. It's a young five-piece group, Mi Odio, which apparently means I Hate Myself.

The song, called Complice, is not available to listen to just yet, but as soon as it is, we'll feature it in the videos on the right hand side.

Show me the way to San Marino

2 song to go! Eurovision Express is sensing that an annoucement is imminent from San Marino, a newcomer to the Eurovision family.

We're hoping for a glorious Italian ballad which will sweep the board and make Italy realise they need to come back after an absence of 10 years.

More news as soon as it reaches us!

(and, in case you're wondering, that's the San Marino coat of arms above).

Anyone fancy a double?

Cripes - Serbia's final took forever! But the clear winner was, surprise surprise, Jelena Tomasevic with Ora, co-written by Eurovision stalwart and one of this year's presenters, Željko Joksimović.

On the first listen we weren't quite sure about this song, but during the winning reprise, we started thinking Serbia could well do the double - surely it's going to hoover up all the Former Yugoslav countries' 12 points?

So, 2008 could well be another fight between Serbia and Ukraine, who we think also has a great song with Shady Lady. Will Ukraine get their revenge this year? In just over two months' time, we'll know.

It is not a sprint - it is a marathon

Eurovision Express has just about recovered from watching what felt like 10 hours of national finals last night.

27 songs in Russia was just too many, and we had to switch over to Belgium before the winner had been announced. However alternative sources revealed to us that Dima Bilan had won with Believe, produced by Timbaland, who is, apparently, quite big in the R'n'B and hiphop world. We're not sure how this will do - it's certainly not as catchy as Never Let You Go.

Belgium chose Ishtar and O Julissi Na Jalini which is written in an imaginary tongue. We like this a lot, and reckon it could do very well in Belgrade. We did, however, feel sorry for Sandrine, the Belgian runner-up - she had a great song too.

Finally it was the turn of Portugal. We weren't expecting an especially high level, to be honest, but there were at least 3 songs that were good. Our favourite was the ballad Do Outro Lado da Vida, which came 7th! The winner, Senhora do Mar, sung by Vânia Fernandes, initially passed us by, but we can see it doing well with some of the Former Yugoslav countries.

So, 40 countries down - 3 to go: Serbia, San Marino and Sweden. We didn't have chance to watch the Serbian semi last night, so the songs in tonight's final will be fresh to our ears. We're expecting a strong line-up from this year's host nation. Check back here later tonight to see if Serbia could do the double.

Betting on Belgium

Eurovision Express always likes to have a little flutter on Eurovision, and we've already placed a few pennies eachway on Belgium to win the Contest in Belgrade, and that's before they've even chosen their song!

We're convinced that Belgium will plump for Ishtar and the folksy O julisi na jalini.

Our predictions this year haven't always come up trumps, but here's hoping we've got it right tonight.

From Russia with 27 songs

Eurovision Express was kept up til the earlier hours last night watching some crazy Chikki Chikki song winning in Spain. But if we thought we were in for a rest tonight, we were wrong.

Russia, Belgium and Portugal choose their entries today, and Serbia has a semi-final.

We're currently watching the Russian selection, which has 27 songs - far too many! Russia's 2006 representative Dima Bilan is giving it another go, but we weren't that impressed. Apparently the smart money is on Sergei Lazarev, who has a song that sounds like something from Flashdance.

We're just hoping all the songs will have been performed before we need to turn over to Belgium!

Forget the Macarena, here's the Chiki Chiki!

Spain has just been added to a growing list of "novelty" entries in this year's contest. Along with Ireland, Bosnia and Estonia, Spain has gone for an unusual song to represent them in Belgrade.

Bailar el Chiki Chiki (Dance the Chiki Chiki) has been an internet phenomenon in Spain since TVE decided to choose this year's national final songs from Myspace.com. Rodolfo Chikilicuatre is the artist who almost single-handedly brought down the Myspace website as so many people were trying to vote for his song.

So, is it a winner...? Judge for yourselves, the song is on the right-hand side of this page, along with the other 36 songs chosen so far!

Taste of the Souk for Holland

We always fondly await the ESC entry from Eurovision stalwart - The Netherlands. Despite not winning since 1975, they usually provide the contest with a strong song. And this year, is no exception.

Hind - a Dutch/Moroccan - will sing Your Heart Belongs To Me , an uptempo song with Moroccan influences, which hopefully will get the Netherlands into the final for the first time since 2004. The song should pick up votes from a lot of the meditteranean countries and Hind should put in a very good performance, if her appearance last night on Thank God it's Friday on Dutch TV is anything to go by.

The Eurovision final is not the same without The Netherlands, so we wish Hind all the best for a good result in May.

You can see Hind's performance on the right-hand side of this page.

And (not quite) finally.....France.....in English!!

Mon Dieu! France has announced its entry for Belgrade and, for the first time ever, the song will be entirely in English.

For the past few weeks rumours have been circulating about a really big name representing France, with Tina Arena being frequently mentioned. However the name in the frame is Sebastien Tellier, who will sing the electropop tune Divine.

Apparently Sebastien's massive in France, and has worked with the likes of Daft Punk and Air, but whether that will make any difference in Euroland remains to be seen.

Eurovision Express was hoping for a classic big ballad, but France is determined to enter something contemporary and relevant to its music scene. Fair enough, and good luck to Sebastien, although we're not totally convinced that the rest of Europe will really 'get' this song.

Divine can be heard here at Sebastien's myspace page.

Angel Delight

Eurovision Express has just spent nearly two hours watching the German final, and we found it all a bit old-fashioned. Our pre-contest favourite, Cinema Bizarre murdered their entry, and we weren't that impressed with the other 4 acts either, to be honest.

In the Super Final we were hoping No Angels would do it, so we're pleased they won. But we still think Disappear sounds better on the radio than it does being performed on TV.

So, 2 Big Four countries down, 2 to go. Next up (unless France slips their entry out tomorrow) Spain!

Vote Cinema Bizarre!

Germany - you know what to do!!!

Der Countdown läuft....

Germany is one of Eurovision Express' favourite countries, and it's amazing to think they've only won the Contest once.

Grand Prix Vorentscheid 2008 - Germany's competition to find Roger Cicero's successor - takes place tomorrow night, and Eurovision Express would be happy with any one of three of the five competing acts.

Our favourite is Cinema Bizarre with the edgy yet catchy Forever or Never. We also like No Angels' Disappear and Carolin Fortenbacher's big ballad Hintern Ozean.

All five songs in the running can be seen below. Viel Glück!

Splicing It Up in Spain

Spain chooses its entry for Eurovision this coming Saturday. Eurovision Express has yet to give the songs a proper listen, but we were delighted to stumble across this video.



The tune, one of the 10 in contention, is La Revolucion Sexual by La Casa Azul, and in this video it's set against a fab montage of old Eurovision entries.

Good song and great 'video'. More on the Spanish selection soon!

Going a bit bonkers in Bosnia-Herzegovina

It's all beginning to get a bit strange in Eurovisionland. Tonight has seen the premiere of the song from Bosnia-Herzegovina - Pokusaj by Laka (pictured above). The video of the performance should be available soon, but be warned - it's bizarre!

Dressed in a red jacket and mustard-coloured slacks, Laka enters the stage with a Cleo Roccas lookalike on one arm, and, in a bid to outdo Dustin, a real chicken in the other. Some men behind Laka look like they are doing a bit of work down on the farm. Half way through the song 'Cleo Roccas' does a some mad dancing....

Bosnia-H are in the first semi final, and so are Ireland, Estonia and Azerbaijan, all of whom have sent jokey or outlandish songs. Will they cancel each other out? We shall see....

update...//// video now available on right-hand side of this blog.

Andy for the UK

Well what a night! Andy Abraham will be flying the flag for the UK in Belgrade. We didn't see that coming. To be fair, he's a good performer, and Even If was the best of the 2 final songs.

It's no secret that we would have preferred Rob McVeigh or LoveShy, but, unfortunately the UK public wasn't allowed to decide whether they liked those songs, because the 'expert' panel knocked them out.

It did make exciting TV, but it seems harsh on the 2 acts that got the boot in that way. We're pretty certain Rob and LoveShy wouldn't have been in the bottom 2 places if it had been a regular phone vote.

Interestingly Andy's inclusion in the final 4 was only down to Terry Wogan, who, nonetheless, admitted that, like the two panellists, he preferred Michelle Gayle's song.

We were surprised ol' Tel chose to save Andy Abraham - we were convinced he'd like a good ballad, just like the one sung by Rob.

So all in all on the bright side the UK has a half decent entry, and we reckon it could do reasonably well. But next year, please let the public have the option to choose from all 6 songs.

UK SHOCK!

Eurovision Express is in total shock. Our two favourite songs have been chucked out of Eurovision: Your Decision. What is going on?!?!? Madness!

It now has to be The Revelations. Please!

Vote Rob!

UK public, do the right thing: VOTE ROB McVEIGH

Eurovision: Our Decision

With only hours to go before the UK final, Eurovision Express takes a look in to the future with what we think will happen and what we'd like to happen - which, as all Eurovision fans know - are rarely the same thing.

In the first round of expert jury voting we expect these acts to be chosen in their respective categories:

Rob McVeigh - Joseph/Maria
Andy Abraham - soloists
The Revelations - girl groups

We then think that LoveShy will be given the wildcard 2nd chance opportunity. After the first round of public voting we think the Superfinal will be between Rob and The Revelations.

Our head tells us that The Revelations will win, but our heart is holding out for Rob.

Good luck to everyone, and let's hope it's a good show!

Eurovision Express UK Poll - It's Michelle, no it's Rob....!

We're getting very excited about tonight's UK final - Eurovision: Your Decision. OK, when we first heard the songs we were a tad disappointed, but we've grown to love one of them, and quite like 1 or 2 of the others.

All week we've been running a poll to see who you think should be the British representative in Belgrade. In a situation similar to the Scooch/Cyndi debacle of last year, visitors to Eurovision Express have crowned two songs as joint winner!

Both Michelle Gayle with Woo (U Make Me), and Rob McVeigh with I Owe It All To You, share pole position with 23% of the vote each.

Following next behind comes the bookies' favourite, The Revelations and It's You, with 21%. LoveShy and Mr Gorgeous won 16% of the vote, and Andy Abraham with Even If pulled in 15%.

Poor Simona Armstrong with Changes only attracted managed 2%.

Later today we'll be making our final predictions on how we think things we pan out tonight.

And to Finnish....

We love Finland. They hosted a brilliant contest last year, and have entered some great songs down the decades.

Tonight's final will feature eight songs. 6 have already qualified, and 2 more will battle their way through in a 2nd Chance round which will take place immediately prior to the Final.

Having heard the pre-qualified finalists we're a bit stumped to know who will win. We reckon it could be Finnish music legend, Kari Tapio, whose version of Italy's 1990 Eurovision winner has apparently become an unofficial national anthem.

However we'd quite like Mikael Konttinen (pictured above), who sings the incredibly Finnish Milloin, to end up victorious. It's just like Finnish Eurovision songs from the 1980s, and we quite like that!