The best moments are often Italian at Eurovision...
Diodato finally singing on that stage was a truly emotional one!
After seeing this performance but with the huge press livestream 'PROHIBITED' watermark all over it during the Jury SF1 show, it was a delight to see the clear footage of Diodato's "Fai rumore" finally on the Eurovision stage. Slightly more dancers than he could have had in 2020 but he deserved every second of this performance and all the crowd sung along to make this incredibly touching. It was one of the moments of the televised SF1 on Day 11 - of course that was the start of Eurovision 2022, plus the beginning of the end of the season, as we lost seven acts at the end of it. You will have read my thoughts on how the Jury SF went for everyone last time - I watched the Public SF1 through different eyes. No grading of all the technicalities of each performance - I decided to have an easier time of it and just decide this...
WOULD I BE PREPARED TO PAY MONEY TO VOTE FOR THIS ACT?
Now being in the UK, this would be a hypothetical exercise as we couldn't actually vote (France and Italy of the Big 5 were able to). I just looked at each performance and asked myself if I enjoyed it as an experience - I will take you through each act but give a brief summary this time of why I would or wouldn't have voted for them...
ALBANIA (Ronela Hajati - "Sekret")
Ronela ended up doing her job as show opener but her vocals were not on point at times and to be honest the staging was OTT erotic throughout. As I said before, hair twirling is so 2017 and it really all looked so clunky. It surprised a lot of fans that this didn't make the Final - not me, based on the two shows. NO VOTES for this...
LATVIA (Citi Zēni - "Eat Your Salad")The bands really suffered in SF1 - Citi were always entertaining in every run through and they almost got the crowd worked up enough for us on tv to hear 'that word' but not quite! It was a very professional show, bright and fun, something that should have appealed to the voting public but I personally had LATVIA down as 11th on both nights. There was something that never transferred from Supernova to Turin, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I can imagine that being the reason why these guys did not make it to the Final - NO VOTES from me...
LITHUANIA (Monika Liu - "Sentamentai")
As you saw from my Jury Show review, Monika was reborn when it mattered in front of the music professionals, a truly incredible staging as far as I was concerned. In the Public show however, she wasn't quite as sharp and she seemed more distracted than before - perhaps the bigger audience was the factor, as she seemed less seductive and more smiley, a nice change but one that almost cost her a place in the Final. Still a class show but this got NO VOTES from me...
SWITZERLAND (Marius Bear - "Boys Do Cry")
Another of the Jury powerhouses that I felt had dropped the ball slightly in the Public show - Marius still had that incredible voice and endearing connection with the camera but some of the staging wasn't up to scratch (face heart never lining up, for instance). Given that we had such a low key start to the show so far, this didn't pick it up and I felt that his chance of qualifying might have gone. Well down my list as a fan just watching the show - NO VOTES...
SLOVENIA (LPS - "Disko")
A great picture from the Public Show but memories are all that LPS have after SF1. After not liking the song or performance from EMA and then rehearsals here, my mind was never going to be changed with one show, no matter how objective I could try to be. It is nice, they all had their time in Italy but this could have easily been a toilet/drink break if we weren't only five songs in - NO VOTES...
UKRAINE (KALUSH Orchestra - "Stefania")
Sometimes the camera catches something that tv viewers never see - those hands never appear on screen and it shows how perception differs between live in the Arena and how a tv director cuts the footage. KALUSH Orchestra were the first high point of SF1 for the public - still that energy and passion with the delivery of the lyrics, still the continual movement that keeps you watching and still the nice touches like the swaying animations on the floor and the 'weeping yellow' eyes that are seen. The crowd went nuts for this - I don't think that it was their best run but it was still enough for me to give VOTES for the first time in SF1...
BULGARIA (Intelligent Music Project - "Intention")
As we knew all along, the song killed Bulgaria's chances from the start. All the pyros and close ups of guitars and drums could never get over the fact that Ronnie had nothing to work with vocally, that this always sounded like an album track that occasionally got an outing at one of their gigs. Worthwhile having in the Eurovision line-up this year and I am sure that IMP will return to their normal life of gigging and recording but NO VOTES from me...
NETHERLANDS (S10 - "De Diepte")
This lady is the revelation of the shows so far - this song and performance never connected with me during the rehearsals, as there was always something missing. That was the emotional connection by S10 physically through her movements and her facial expressions - she has added those in for the two SF1 shows and now this is complete. The beauty of the language, the darkness of the set with the apparent moon/sea behind her, her slightly dishevelled outfit and now her face really showing her angst to the level that she appears to have watery eyes as she sings - "De diepte" is now a truly wow moment and I am sure that the juries will have put her up in the top 3. I had her second on Jury night and top of the televote - definite VOTES from me now...
MOLDOVA (Zdob şi Zdub & Fraţii Advahov - "Trenuleţul")
The audience loved it, I loved watching and listening to "Trenuleţul" and even the band were loving the experience too! I am sure that this powered through with the televote - incredibly catchy, everyone having fun on stage, the change with the guitar solo and for some reason having guys my age there giving it their all is somewhat gratifying! It helps with this entry that the crowd were up on their feet and the tv director gave plenty of those shots, to hint to the home audience that they must be enjoying this too. It was close but I prefer to concentrate my votes so Moldova just missed out - NO VOTES...
PORTUGAL (MARO - "Saudade Saudade")
Another entry where I felt that the Jury performance outranked the Public one - when harmonising, this was still superb but I didn't get the same excellence from MARO in show 2 as I did before. This was still a beautiful performance, so soothing to listen to and the choice of the compact staging and camerawork still inspired but a few places dropped and NO VOTES...
CROATIA (Mia Dimšić - "Guilty Pleasure")
The biggest disappointment for me this year so far and it happens all too frequently - the case of taking what is a basic and yet perfect visual show in a National Final with bags of charm, and then taking it to Eurovision where everything is polished up so much that it becomes almost sterile in feel. It doesn't help when what is a perfect song gets tweaked with a verse changed to Croatian at the last minute, almost as a nod I feel by the delegation that this might not make it and something else was needed. As a viewer, this performance now seemed very cluttered, the interaction between Mia and the dancers was not clear, and she did not have the same exuberance that she had on the DORA stage. This will forever be a highlight from 2022 as far as the song and singer are concerned for me but NO VOTES...
DENMARK (REDDI - "The Show")
Another band performance in SF1 that was solid, sounded good, looked okay visually, had good musicianship and yet did not grab me in a way that made me want to vote for it. I liked the gear change and as always Ihan on drums was the star but "The Show" felt like filler in the running order and just didn't have that special something - NO VOTES...
AUSTRIA (LUM!X ft Pia Maria - "Halo")
Before the Public show, I put on social media that I felt that six acts were already through after the Jury show and that five were almost certainly out. I had the most confidence with "Halo" for the DNQs, purely due to Pia's vocals being poor at the Jury show. No matter what other fans may feel, in a competition at this level you have to be able to sing perfectly every sing time you perform - no matter how much the visuals are important, music professionals will immediately switch off if you sing off key. The vocals in the Public were a lot better (if still assisted by the backing vocalists) and it was a great show which the crowd appreciated. I am sure that the production staff and stage hands will appreciate not having to sort all of that lighting rig for the Final though - NO VOTES from me...
ICELAND (Systur - "Með hækkandi sól")
I suspect for most fans that Systur are the surprise package in SF1 and yet if you have watched them as much as I have in rehearsals and the main shows, them making the Final was a given. It would not be a shock if this entry scored highly with the juries but it was a pleasant experience to hear the appreciation for this performance in the venue itself. So cool, so country, so harmonious between the sisters who all sing their differing part in this song and the subtle and yet effective lighting and camera work - sometimes less is more and even more memorable, and it was becoming obvious that 'calm and professional' was ticking more boxes than 'in your face and loud'. NO VOTES but only because of not stretching myself thin...
GREECE (Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord - "Die Together")
First thing to say is that I am incredibly impressed by the SF1 crowd in keeping as quiet as they did in the first minute of this entry, when Amanda kick starts the emotion and sets the scene for a beautiful three minute story. Another where I felt that her Jury performance was slightly tighter and more emotionally powerful but this still smacked the viewer between the eyes with Amanda's vocals and acting, plus the puzzle of why the chairs were there (another thing to stick in your head). Arguably this will have been first or second overall in SF1 and it definitely got VOTES from me...
NORWAY (Subwoolfer - "Give That Wolf A Banana")
In the Jury show review, I was putting forward negative factors as to why Jurors might well ignore this entry - in the Public show, all of those negatives flip 180 degrees to absolute positives. Watching for fun and with your heart, "Give That Wolf A Banana" ticks all the boxes of 'once a year viewers' who have a certain image of what a Eurovision entry should look like - it looks like Subwoolfer and their performance! It was nice to see the on screen graphics without a watermark in the way and I can guarantee that this entry will go big in the hall, it will appeal to list of televoters across Europe and it got VOTES from me. Question is, is this another Mélovin / Michał Szpak / KEiiNO who will be totally sunk by the Juries and end up top ten due to having the biggest televote?
ARMENIA (Rosa Linn - "SNAP")
And so onto the artist to close the show with the most creative staging of Eurovision 2022. With creativity you have to be careful that it all works every time and there was a split second where Rosa had to have a second go at the 'big reveal wall'! She dealt with it totally naturally and this, as always was a beautiful performance, with Rosa connecting throughout, singing "SNAP" as always to be get the story across and smiley throughout. The reveal at the end to then be able to sing to the crowd through the whole is a visual highlight for tv viewers and I can see this going big in the Final. I still love this and it got VOTES from me... My ranking for the Public SF1 was what you see above - the top five would have had a share of my twenty votes but of course the UK could not actually vote last night. Lithuania and Switzerland had dropped out between Jury and Public shows, Norway and Austria replacing them. As I had the privilege of watching both shows, my actual rankings were combined to give this overall chart: The intensity of the delivery by Amanda and S10 had won me over during the two shows, whereas the initial wow factor with "Stefania" had diminished slightly after multiple viewings. Norway were the 'Jekyll and Hyde' for me but ended up as my overall SF1 #5. How did this compare to the actual qualifiers? 9/10 - not bad at all! Just the hope upon hope that Croatia could make the Final still kept Mia as my #10 but Marius who did make it was my #11. I am delighted that how I viewed the two shows ranking-wise was close to the truth - commiserations to Albania, Latvia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark and Austria who missed out, hope to see you all back in 2023. As is the norm, there was a SF1 Qualifiers Press Conference after the results were announced, with all ten artists able to answer a couple of questions and then draw their half of the draw. I was fortunate enough to get a questions asked to Rosa Linn:
"Did your heart skip a beat when the final pull away section didn't move as it should do tonight?"
Rosa showed the experience she has for such a young performer with how she answered that - she said that it was something that had never happened before in all the rehearsals she had done but that she had to just deal with the moment. She had the first pull and it didn't go, so she just thought 'okay, that's different', had another go and it went perfectly. She then said that the incident mimicked her career, she needed several attempts to break through to get what she wanted and the moment this evening was just like that. A great answer and even more respect due to her! Other highlights of the Conference was Monika saying that she is proud to sing in Lithuanian and she wants to make it cool; MARO saying it was a joy for Milhanas to be on stage with them all again after her need to isolate; Oleh of KALUSH Orchestra texting his mum after the performance and asking his girlfriend to give her a ring; that the wife of one of the Advahov Brothers was celebrating her birthday with their qualification; and S10 wanted to commit to the story of the song and got more emotional on stage, plus she had good omens about being called 10th of the Qualifiers, as it was 10th May, she was 10th in the running order and she also had microphone #10 too!
So that was it for SF1 - onto Day 12 and the first shows of SF2...
Will Ochman be the one to watch as far as the Juries are concerned?
