[LMBTO] "Let Me Be The One" Eurovision Show 219 - Cyprus Makes Their Choice...

Cyprus follow Israel in revealing their singer for Liverpool - early thoughts of a new face being chosen by 'All Together Now' (postponed until 2024) changed to an internal selection of artist by broadcaster and two record companies.  Andrew Lambrou gave us the banger "Electrify" in 'Eurovision : Australia Decides 2022' and finished solid mid-table:

It was obviously enough of a taster for Cyprus to give him a go for 2023 - chances are it will be another banger, chances are that Andrew will be turning heads in Liverpool and as far as they are concerned, hopefully he will take Cyprus back to the Final after missing out this year in Turin.  No idea when the song for Eurovision will be released but it is almost certainly be internally chosen again.  Two artists down, plenty more to come!  "Electrify" was the song linked to this news on this week's show...

And the playlist:

The picture connected to the Mixcloud of the show is a nice one of me meeting Poli Genova at Eurobash 2018 - that wasn't the only reason for her being on this week's show, as she stormed the Bulgarian poll for LMBTO's Nation Favourite (21 out of 52 votes):

I love that picture of Poli at Amsterdam Calling 2018, and to be fair her 2016 entry is one of the best Bulgarian songs (although I went for Elitsa and Stoyan's classic 2007 performance).  Georgia next week - I get the feeling that might be a closer affair.  Another close affair was this year's OGAE Second Chance Contest, the result of which sprung out of nowhere last weekend.  I have to admit that most nations that 'host' the SCC make a real effort with the results, Sweden going as far to have a mini-reveal show.  My experience of a previous Norwegian reveal was a bit underwhelming and 2022 wasn't the most inspiring presentation either:

It wasn't the strongest year for Second Chance since I started voting in 2014 (my highest score this time was less than 9/10) but congratulations to MEDINA and Sweden with their 17th win!  I can guarantee that next year's Contest will be a different ball game and hopefully there will be a bit of strength in depth in this year's National Finals.

Doesn't that look impressive?  This are the impressions of what JESC 2022 will look like in the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex in Yerevan on December 11th.  I have to say that I think this will be a wonderful spectacle and we should be hearing more of the entries in the very near future.  If Armenia ever wins Eurovision itself, this could be the venue we end up in, so it is worth watching JESC for that factor alone.  The other item I mentioned on the show that needs to be included here are those pictures found from Eurovision 1956 - the following YouTube video has them all but you will need to click the pause button quickly to see each individual one:

A Spanish website has done the business of separating and cleaning up pictures of the performing artists...

A wonderful piece of history and more proof of how that first Contest was primarily a radio show and also how much emphasis was put on that orchestra!  Here's to more material being found from 1956 and hopefully one day from the 'missing' Contest of 1964.

And "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan for Anita.  Thank you all for those choices and I hope you enjoyed listening to them on the show!