[LMBTO] The Eurovision Final 2016...

And this was what they were all performing for - the Eurovision Song Contest Trophy, beautifully designed by Kjell Engman and broken by Alexander Rybak and some Danish courier firm!  Not surprising that they now have plastic copies for photoshoots...

Okay, it's not just for the trophy - it's for many things.  The love and adoration of your nation, the boost to your career, the increase in your album sales or maybe just the joy of singing the same song forever, year in, year out at Eurovision functions all over the world!  The question was, who would be top dog this year?  Where would we be going next year?  Returning to Sweden?  Jetting out east?  Down to the Med?  Waiting for a deal to be made between someone on the other side of the globe and one of the moneybag states willing to host the ESC in 2017?  It was very intriguing and as usual, the bookies gave some pointers as to the possible winners:
Sergey was still odds on favourite to win with Dami close behind - Jamala, Frans and Amir still realistic prospects if the bookies were to be believed.  There were some decent each way bets to be had with the benefit of hindsight...

I won't go through how I thought all these acts would do - I did that already, the day before the Final!  I had all the top three finishers in my top ten but I was to be disappointed yet again with how my pre-Contest favourites were to fare - so what is new!

If for some reason you have yet to catch up with the actual footage of the Final - here you go!



You'll be the only fan on the planet yet to do so!  I'm not going to chat about the 'fluff' here (like the 'catwalk') - just a straight review of the songs themselves (with position and points [jury/televotes plus number of 'douze points']), plus a damn fine interval act (no, not Justin Timberlake - the two hosts trumped him big time).  Just to reassure you, all of my thoughts on the songs on the night are done with two fully functioning ears!


Belgium

That is an absolutely superb still on the YouTube video above - Laura on the satellite stage, belting her song out, surrounded by hordes of fans, getting worked up by what ended up being THE party tune of 2016!  It's not often now that the first song up hits the spot right from the word go but this lady was word and step perfect, all the troop being totally in synch, everyone connecting with cameras, crowd, each other - this was an amazing start to the 26 songs.  There was always a dread that Laura's voice might not hit all the high notes with this one but the months of practice since Eurosong had obviously found a happy place between movement and vocals.  "What's The Pressure" still has that funky up-tempo groove which is still wandering around my head even now and Laura's previous theatrical and television experience showed, knowing all her marks, when to shout to the crowd and above all, appearing that she was having the time of her life!  If this had been later in the show, Belgium might have even had another top five finish but I am sure that completing her nation's first successive top tens since 1977-78 will be more than enough for Laura.  Maybe Belgium are getting the hang of this Eurovision lark again...


Czech Republic


Taking baby steps is what the Czech Republic's journey through Eurovision could be viewed as - reaching the Final after five attempts was probably the plan from day one of the 2016 campaign.  Gabriela got her nation that accolade and it could be said that anything else was a bonus.  Unfortunately the bonus wasn't huge but at least they weren't bottom of the pile.  Gabriela's performance was solid enough, if not vocally as amazing as in the SF, but she did not disgrace herself at all, her emotion and vocal power was still all there.  Death slot #2 has done for many acts in the past and SVT sort of copped out by giving it to the 'newbie', knowing that there wouldn't be much complaint.  Whether that could account for zero points from the public, it is difficult to say - this would have been a solid entry for the juries to vote on, which gave the Czech a solid second from bottom.  I hope that the whole experience of reaching the Final will galvanise a nation who don't seem to really be enjoying the Contest that much into throwing themselves head first at it with gusto next year - maybe the location of next year's Final will help.  Whatever happens, this wonderful singer and this lovely song will bring a smile to my face whenever I hear in years to come - I think that fans will grow to love this more as time goes by and everyone realises what an amazing voice Gabriela has...


The Netherlands


Solid finish, it could be said, rather than outstanding, but after last year's catastrophe the Netherlands were back with an entertaining show from a master showman, prepared to risk everything with something unusual at the Contest - silence!  Douwe Bob worked out what his 'catchphrase' needed to be - a simple 'I Love You' to the camera was enough, rather than winging it as he did in the SF - and it worked this time.  This entry still looked like a segment from 'Later with Jools Holland', nice enough for the end of an evening but not enough impact in the ESC to gain those votes needed for breaking into the top ten.  You can't fault this guy's stage charisma, his camera charisma or his vocal prowess - it was just such a nice, mellow and pleasant song that the memorability would have been lacking for a song at position #3.  I suspect that the Dutch delegation would have been happy with being top half of the table again - it bodes well for this nation that '(Low) Country & Western' still pulls the votes in at Eurovision...


Azerbaijan


It's now three Contests since Azerbaijan were last in the top ten, after being there for the first six Eurovisions they entered.  Samra was never going to emulate Ell & Nikki, Farid Mammadov or Aysel & Arash but in the end she gave a decent account of herself, seeing that her vocals weren't that great in her SF.  True, she was still relying heavily on her female backing singers but this was the best she had sung 'Miracle' live and the choreography actually was good and watchable.  Mid table right hand side was probably the best that Samra in her gold jumpsuit could have hoped for, being the weakest singer on the night, but she did have the most visual backing troop - the male dancers earnt their corn that night!  The backdrop lighting and the pyros all seemed to fit in as well - Azerbaijan might have been 'Final filler' but Eurovision 2016 wasn't as big a disappointment as it could have been.  At least we'll have the Moscow press conference to look back on with fondness, Samra...


Hungary


In a year of superbly clear vocals and some outstanding staging, it seems as though relying on your vocal tones and a simple 'just sing to the camera' was all a bit hit or miss.  Unfortunately, Freddie's raspy voice and therefore barely perceptible words, together with the highlight of his staging being three guys dressed as roadies and a monk that was hardly on screen, meant that Hungary had a disappointing evening.  His position in the running order killed off any memorability for the voters, as did the lack of anything really to think about with the song or remember from the floor lighting, which was probably the least imaginative of the whole night.  The lyrics did have some power to them but Freddie didn't put any of that across well enough to gain votes from either jurors or public.  Two years of being near the foot of the Final scoreboard is starting to make the possibility of a first Hungarian win that seemed likely in Copenhagen slip away into the distance...


Italy


I don't like gloating but I was pleased that this song, for me the biggest 'fanwank' this year, bombed in Stockholm.  I still have no idea where lots of Eurovision fans were seeing the possibility of this winning Eurovision this year at one time - maybe there's a fondness for the Italian language that I can't see.  Whatever it is, I have nothing against Francesca as it is obvious from YouTube footage that she normally has a great voice but the Final wasn't her 'finest three minutes'.  She sounded a bit off at times, whether through nerves I am not sure, and the staging was still amongst the most bizarre and poorest of the whole evening.  I still think that the chorus in English was a cynical attempt to pull in votes for 'understandability' and added nothing to this entry and as for the 'explosion at a car boot sale'?  It all looked messy and unappealing - maybe the 'mother earth' gig with the seed and her in dungarees made sense to those who speak Italian but not to me.  I am unsure how this warranted two top marks - what I did work out after the show was that this was Italy's third worst placing in 42 Contests.  Back to the Sanremo drawing board for next year...


Israel


In my opinion, there were a few entries that were unfairly underscored - this was the first of them.  Hovi gave yet another superbly spiritual and emotional rendition of 'Made Of Stars', the only real criticism being the pointless acrobats in their ring, spinning around behind him, pulling some of the focus of the audience away.  Make that two points, the CGI faces on the floor weren't in focus long enough to make that much of an impression either.  Everything else was amazing - Hovi gave one of the truly 'real' emotional singing deliveries of the night and his connection with the camera was superb.  The one bit of staging that worked was the pyro curtain, a beautiful golden display to end the entry - being the top of the right hand side of the leaderboard was, quite frankly, a travesty.  The main reasons for this not doing better were probably the first half draw and being after the confusing snooze-fest that was Italy - singing before one of the surprises of the Contest didn't help either...


Bulgaria


Sometimes an entry hits a chord with the Eurovision fans, the jurors and voting public.  Not enough to win the Contest but enough to pick up decent points all the way through and finish in a totally unexpected position, if everyone was being honest with their assessment of the song.  For Bulgaria, it has never been just about the song in 2016, it was all about Poli Genova - the 'whirling dervish', the ball of energy, the smiling and ever personable lady who was so delighted to be representing her nation at Eurovision again - who was rewarded this year with Bulgaria's best ever finish at the ESC.  A major bonus on top of having only their second entry to qualify for the Final, the whole show was a delight to watch - the camerawork that started off tightly focussed on Poli's beauty and then opening out to show her distinctive costume.  The winning turn for me was the stagecraft and charisma exuded by Poli, all of which made for a very memorable performance.  In a way, there was no need for the LCD lights to be lit but at least it didn't detract and lose any marks - having the backing singers come out didn't add anything either but it was a nice touch to give them some glory too.  All in all, this was the best pop song this year and it deserved the plaudits it got...


Sweden


And so onto this year's Marmite song - would the jurors and public get it?  Would this young guy's act turn into votes across the board?  Sort of - I don't think that Frans' vocals were as good here as at Melodifestivalen but the staging, his performance and the interaction with the crowd were all spot on and thoroughly deserving of a top five slot which, for a host nation in the 21st Century, is not half bad!  I am sure that Sweden were pleased with how this entry panned out but my prediction for this was a bit off - I thought this would be challenging for the win or totally bomb.  It did neither really - it was never in the running for the win all night but it did pick up five maximums.  This entry did show that yet another genre at Eurovision can work (and be appreciated by fans such as me, assuming you're into this sort of hip hop) and that Sweden isn't all schlager and animation...


Germany


No changes to this entry at all from the German NF and that was the main reason that this nation ended up bottom of the table for the second year in a row.  Jamie-Lee has an outstanding voice and it is clear why she won The Voice - her vocals were the main reason why I liked this entry so much when I first heard it.  Everything else about this was the problem - the darkness of the lyrics being portrayed in such an almost light-hearted way, smiles all the time, along with the disconnect with song and costume.  Maybe Jamie-Lee's obsession with Manga and k-pop shouldn't have been indulged as much when considering this entry as a whole but it is her, that's her persona and so us fans and voters shouldn't have been surprised by the look of her costume.  The darkness of the set and the very uninspiring choreography would have meant that there was little memorability about 'Ghost', which would explain why Germany garnered so few points.  That and the way that Jamie-Lee was wedged in between two of the pre-Stockholm favourites in the running order...


France


Based on France's 21st Century placings, this was an incredible finish to the 2016 campaign with their highest placing since 2002.  Having said that, I suspect that the French delegation might have been thinking 'what might have been' - one of the favourites throughout the pre-Party season due to the superbly catchy nature of the music and singing of "J'ai cherché", Amir's on-stage personality and charisma oozing through, together with his charm off-screen, France must have been believing that this could be their year.  The problem was that watching this entry performed in the Final, there was something missing but I am not sure what.  Maybe it was the backdrop and floor show which were fairly underwhelming, as though the French delegation knew that they had to have something there but not really knowing what, and that meant that Amir had to then perform some rather naff looking pretend surfing.  None of it added to the entry and it detracted a bit from the real star of this show - Amir and his interaction with the crowd and audience at home.  To be honest, this song's chances of winning the Eurovision crown this year 'went south' when Amir drew out the first half draw on the Red Carpet - I think this would have stood a much better chance, at least with the televoters who gave him the lower marks, of competing for the win this year if positioned later in the draw.  This will be a fan favourite for years to come and everyone will start humming or singing to this from the first note but "J'ai cherché" probably didn't fulfil its full potential, despite finishing sixth - a real shame for France...


Poland


One of the most memorable things that Graham Norton said all night was 'now this will be one for all those Eurovision stats geeks out there' (or words to that effect, I forget the exact wording!).  7 points from the jurors across 42 nations and yet 222 points from the televoters, the third highest total - wow!  Now there has been a lot of talk that this was due to the Polish diaspora kicking in this year and I am sure that this would account for some of the differential.  From what I have gathered, there are more factors than that - first was Michał's jury Final vocal which, according to those that were there, was not the best he had ever done (the last minute being off key), which might explain why the jurors marked him down so much.  Secondly, this public Final performance was, in my opinion, on a par with his NF one - superbly sung, amazing connection with the camera, wonderful emotional delivery and possibly more importantly, the one act that screamed 'retro Eurovision', no pyros, no dancers, no tricks, just the man singing, a pianist, three violinists and very basic staging.  This was a journey back to the 20th Century but ironically, a short trip to what most unknowns look like when singing in The Voice, X Factor etc.  This would have looked all very familiar to voters young and old, very comforting and combined with Michał's stage presence and eccentric costume, amazingly memorable.  I thoroughly enjoyed having an entry of this calibre in the Final but think on this...if this guy had not fluffed his vocals in the Jury Final, might we have been looking at a potential top three or better for Poland?


Australia


We arrive at what many considered to be the 'jury bait' entry of this year's ESC and it is not hard to see why.  A superb singer, great vocals, the ability to play around with the pitch and range of delivery between performances and even verses, all together with a nice bit of staging.  I say nice as there wasn't that much to this entry - the 'Minority Report' gimmick didn't work that well (the hand placing was slightly off throughout and the concept didn't work that well on tv) and the dress might have distracted from the truly sublime singing on offer.  I have to admit that Dami gave the best vocals of the night and it was a bit of a surprise to see her relatively low with the public (still fourth to be fair but being under 200 televote points was never going to win Eurovision).  Being best with the jurors may be consolation enough for Australia, seeing that there is the possibility of them concentrating just on AsiaVision next year (although that might act as a nice warm-up for their artist for Eurovision 2017) but they were so close in 2016, being in the lead with just two televotes to go...


Cyprus


Being stuck between two big voices gave a real contrast in the running order but also showed off some of the inadequacies of the Cypriot entry.  This, for me, wasn't as good as their SF stage show - whether it was because this wasn't fresh anymore, whether it was because the guys of Minus One didn't look to have the same energy or intent or maybe it was down to it looking 'less rock' than before (no guy liner, less smoke, even the camerawork looked tired).  It was still a decent 'band does a gig' staging with the 'playing the bridge of the guitar' and the 'manic drummer' cliches but being smack bang in the middle of the Final line-up really did for this song in the end, not garnering many marks from either jurors or the public.  This wasn't to be the year of 'schlager rock'...


Serbia


I didn't do too well with my favourites this year, did I?  My #1 not making the Final and my #2 ending up middle of the right hand side of the leader board.  As far as female power ballads went, I chose the wrong horse as far as who might win Eurovision but I still love this entry - Sanja was one of the pre-season stars for me and this performance seemed to have everything, a superb voice, a eminently watchable singer, a powerful lyrical message and staging that all worked as one.  The only main downside to this would have been the darkness of the look of this entry and its position in the running order, neither of which have helped Serbia with sticking in viewer's minds at the end of the show - it was also obvious from the juror's scores that either something happened in that Final or their were far better entries on show.  As for Israel, I feel that this was grossly undermarked but maybe 2016 was not the right year to have this sort of song and message as an entry, especially when the winning song had THE backstory of the year.  "Goodbye (Shelter)" will be one song that I will always delight in listening to for years to come, more so than most entries this year...


Lithuania


Donny hit the bullseye when he went for this uptempo pop number this year, as it was obvious that if you had such an entry and you owned the stage, jurors and televoters were ready to throw points at you!  Four maximums show that Europe loved this good looking guy, who sung on point all the way through this energetic number and could pull off a trampette somersault without killing himself or missing a beat.  The light and floor show, although fairly basic in design, blended perfectly with the song and, all in all, Donny deserved his improvement on his 2012 effort.  If he does this every four years, he'll be breaking into the top five in 2020!  Overall, this sounded great, kept the viewers attention and proved the SVT producers were still getting it right as far as where each song sat to make a great show.  Only Poli topped this for the pop entries and breaking the top ten for Lithuania is a big thing - does it prove that their marathon selection process can work or does it suggest they could have gone with one show and select Donny then?  At least he got lots of rehearsal time...


Croatia


Barbara Dex winning costumes can be overlooked if you nail your vocals and connect with the viewers at home, which is what happened in the SF with Nina.  Unfortunately in the Final, her singing wasn't as good and once Nina's strength had gone, the focus returned to her costumes and no-one is going to give you points for those (unless it's for BB - well done by the way!).  All the memories for 'Lighthouse' will be about the outfits and they way that Nina wafted her arms about to attract the lights onto them - the entry being sung in the Final will not stay in many fan's minds much past the next few weeks.  In fact, performing between two guys who gave superb vocals whilst almost pushing themselves to the physical edge will have made Croatia's entry fade into the background by the time we had heard the last note of song 26...


Russia


It looked as though Poland had the biggest jury/televote gap and if you look at the difference between their positions on the leaderboard pre and post televote, you'd still think that but in fact Sergey's gap was 16 points greater!  361 televote points would have been enough to give Russia the fourth highest points total ever in Eurovision and therefore an easy win in previous years but under this split vote, not impressing the jurors with this visual extravaganza was the major difference between a win and where Sergey actually finished.  The performance was totally flawless in the Final and it was a visual feast but in the end the actual song itself was not strong enough when compared with the two entries that finished above it.  Whether the jurors decided to stick with a 'song only' winner this year, whether 2016 saw some sort of 'visual fatigue' as far as entries that relied strongly on the image rather than the song were concerned or whether there was still some antipathy towards the nation of Russia itself, with juries around Eurovision 'punishing' them by giving no points at all whereas every public vote gave some points, who knows?  The final televotes provided us with some amazing television as we waited to hear whether Sergey could get the 404 points needed to overhaul the eventual winner but realistically that seemed unattainable and it was clear that the Eurovision jurors had done for Sergey Lazarev.  One of the strongest pre-Show favourites had finished third - not a song that will necessarily be remembered forever but the actual use of interactive technological backdrops has probably reached its peak with Russia's entry this year.  The fact that it didn't win might lead to delegations pulling back from such staging in the future...


Spain


Yet again the LMBTO jinx strikes again in 2016!  My favourite 'party tune' this year has gone the same way as my #1 and #2 entries - Spain possibly lost out to being on straight after the OTT visuals of Russia and also due to so many things being put into the staging of "Say Yay!" that really detracted from the whole for this entry.  The one good thing that had happened here was that the vocals from everyone was great, even whichever of the backing singers seemed to be off in previous performances but that was it for me, which is a massive pity.  The staging was all rather underwhelming even though more had been thrown into it - the gold party dress didn't look as good as the 'long at the back' ones she wore in Spain and Ukraine, the faked fall and Barei being plunged into darkness was still, for me, a massive faux pas as all of the wind out of this song's sails was removed, all the momentum built up until then was lost.  Barei effectively had to start again and it was never as engaging for the viewer.  To be honest, everything here looked disjointed, stilted, even a bit amateurish when compared to the slickest routine of the night that started this whole show off (Belgium).  If viewers were comparing this show against anything else, it would have been against Laura and Ms Tesoro would have won hands down.  I am sure that "Say Yay!" might end up being a bit of a summer club hit and some people will still be able to do her foot dance forever more but in the end, more ended up being less - Barei's gig as the interval act in the Ukrainian NF was probably the high point as far as this entry was concerned.  For me personally, I'll always have our selfie...


Latvia


It was always all about the voice and the emotional delivery with "Heartbeat" but it could be said that whereas other soloists managed to 'fill' the stage with their on-stage charisma and audience connection, Justs was a bit lacking in either.  He appeared very small in all the camera shots and his OTT emotional singing lead to him doubling up, which meant that he lost eye contact with the crowd and the viewers at home.  The crowd had gone mad for Barei before him and they were coming down off that, whilst the public and jurors would soon have something else to think about with the next entry.  Latvia had a reasonable slot on the singing list to get a top ten here but I felt that this entry had lost something or more accurately not gained anything from the NF and SF.  It's not that this had got worse, lots of other entries upped their game big time to shoot past 'Heartbeat' and it became an entry that faded into the background when points were being dished out.  For Latvia, there's the thing - was 2015 an 'Aminata on stage' blip?  Is getting to the Final now the target for this nation in future?  A decent entry this year but in no way did it fulfill some of the predictions made about it when Justs won Supernova...


Ukraine


And so onto the entry with THE back story, the entry that didn't win the jury vote, the entry that didn't win the public vote but it was the entry that gained the most maximums of the night and ended up being the overall winner of Eurovision 2016.  It was also the entry that probably caused the most social media angst ever, raising conspiracy theories and petitions all over the place.  My view?  I had this down to get my ten points pre-show and to be honest, I would have promoted that to my maximum of 12 - why?


My reasoning?

• The vocals were superb - Jamala's classical training would never give us less than absolute excellence;
• The emotion shown by this lady was the most truthful and least staged of any artist I have ever seen at the Contest - the lyrics and message of the song are obviously so personal to her that it appeared psychologically draining to her each time she performed this;
• The music is hypnotically catchy - everyone concentrates so much on the voice and the lyrics of this song that the jazz / rhythm and bass fusion is often overlooked but it flows so superbly and compliments Jamala's words perfectly;
• The staging and her costume topped off the show - dark blue blended well with the dark message of the song but not so much that it all appeared too dark or too morose, whilst the floor lighting along with the golden tree put across the growth out from Jamala herself, colours and light subtlety complementing her movements.

Add that to being placed to sing in one of the 'pimp slots' of 21st and you get the best possible combination for what is quite a divisive entry, not only due to the message of the song but also due to the ethnic wail that will always turn some listeners away from this sort of song.  For me, everything slotted into place here - this was an entry worthy of winning the Eurovision Song Contest.  Admittedly not some light schlager pop or a stereotypical power ballad that wins most years but a real song that got enough support across the board to give Ukraine their second victory.  It was a mesmerising show without flaws and therefore I am entirely happy that this won the day...


Malta


Not the runner's-up spot as in 2002 but a decent return for this lady in a totally different Eurovision era.  This ended up being a straightforward 'sing my song down the camera lens', Ira's pregnancy severely curtailing what she could do here by this stage of proceedings.  No sign of the GPS dress, just her face on the floor turning blue before focussing on the beautiful lady herself, glamorous dress and all!  Her vocals were sound enough and earned Malta huge numbers of jury points but the fairly static floor show with the irrelevant dancer made this one of the least memorable entries on Final night and it showed with the low public score.  At the start of this Eurovision season, Malta would have been delighted with only their second top half finish in ten Contests but after some dalliance with being one of the outside bets for a win this year, 'Walk On Water' sort of petered out as we finished in Stockholm.  Ira was not disgraced however and I am sure that finishing 12th is now the last thing on her mind...


Georgia


Down to the last four songs of the Final and we go back in time - twenty years to Britpop and thirty years to basic 'Top Of The Pops' special effects!  And still the juries lap this sort of thing up, especially the UK one who awarded 'Midnight Gold' their only 12 of the night.  Now it's been mooted that juries are fans of indie pop which is fine but this isn't even a good example of it - I still maintain that the Gallaghers or Blur would have consigned this to an album as filler material at best!  It's a decent gig performance and the lyrics are well written but for me it was the worst entry by far in this year's Final.  Respect due to Nika for saying something other than 'Thank You, Europe!' at the end of the song - 'Happy Birthday to my mother' was genius.  I won't miss seeing or hearing this song again but to a bewildered Georgian band and many Eurovision fans, making the Final was probably a big win for this entry, as was probably avoiding being in the bottom five...


Austria


It took 24 songs but we finally heard our only 100% foreign language entry!  The delightful Ms.Straub delighted the Eurovision fans for the last time, earning possibly the biggest roar of the evening from the Globen crowd, with her innocent charm and purity of voice.  One of 2016's revelations, ZOË has been constantly smiling since her win in Austria all those months ago but at least she has recognised that people love her singing and is slightly less emotional (in a good way).  Absolutely nothing wrong with this entry at all but the way that "Loin d'ici" has been staged here at Stockholm was never going to recognise Austria's one time status as 'dark horse' winner.  A decent 'smack bang in the middle' of the leaderboard will be more than satisfactory for an Austrian public more used to this as the highpoint of their Eurovision journey, a happy medium between the win in 2014 and 26th in 2015.  As a long time fan of Eurovision, it was always a delight to hear French sung in a traditional way, bringing back memories of the early years of the ESC, even though it was from an unusual source.  May this young lady go on to great success and a long and happy career...


United Kingdom


Now onto my nation, the UK, and the gradual recognition over the last couple of months that we weren't going to win, we were unlikely to get into the top ten and that a mid-table result would be like a victory.  Unfortunately, compared to most of the entries in the Final this year, our guy's vocals and the staging around them came up very short.  Their singing has been better - at least it sounded that way in the NF - and our actual staging was really no different from then, just Joe and Jake singing together, Jake playing his guitar and two drummers bashing it out, the only difference being that they were elevated on podiums.  The selfie backdrop, although nice, was just an HD colour version of the Maltese selfie wall in 2014, nothing new.  This might have been a good song for the crowd in the Globen to jump around to but it felt rather flat watching it at home.  The guys tried to connect with the viewers but that sometimes came across as manic looking - all in all, I am not surprised that we didn't get too many televote marks but at least we got our first maximum jury vote for five years (thanks Malta!).  A very disappointing end to what started as a 'brave new world' back when we heard that we were having a NF for the first time in six years - a lad's duet was probably not the right choice to go to Stockholm, with hindsight, but they were the best in the NF...


Armenia


Last entry but what an entry!  For a straight guy, a lovely way to end the show - three minutes of Iveta Mukuchyan in a leotard.  She is sailing straight into Eurovision Beauty!  One of the masterpieces this year, taking such a complicated song lyrically and musically, using her sexuality and huge onstage presence and making this a visual and audio delight.  This got my seven points before the Final - I think it was at least worth that after this performance which was as good as the SF, still seeming fresh, still having all the right moves as the camera cut back and forth from her, with coordinated and relevant pyros.  A perfect finish to the competitive side of the Contest - in a weaker year, Iveta might have taken the title for Armenia but giving them one of their best results ever and getting six maximum scores was a job well done.  The production line of talented and beautiful Armenian female Eurovision contestants continues...

Onto my votes - there were so many that could have got at least one from me but this year I decided to only allocate them to four acts, not to spread my choices thinly, so here they were:


Whilst we were waiting for the voting to end and the tallying to complete the totting-up process, we had yet another belter of a routine from our hosts - Petra does annoy me a little with her voice and attitude, which is probably just things being 'lost in translation' but I am now mightily impressed with her singing and performing talents.  The lady has won me over!  The routine?  How to construct an entry that is guaranteed to win the ESC - Måns recommends not entering a song about war, as ABBA did...ironies of ironies:


A superb item and respect due to SVT for the whole 2016 ESC.  But all good thing have to come to an end and we all know how Eurovision 2016 ended - a Ukrainian victory.  For the purists who wanted a 'song' to win, most would have been happy although Dami could have filled that gap - for those who are used to light pop or traditional power ballads winning, '1944' would be an anathema to them, all darkness in the message, something they can't sing along to in a club, ethnicity and western fusion sitting uneasily.  To be honest, since it has been obvious from an early stage of this season that the UK wasn't going to win, from my neutral standpoint I am glad that one of the better entries this year won - Jamala was one of the best (if not the best) singer in Stockholm, her song actually meant something and was so obviously real to her and she sung it with emotion, real heartfelt emotion.  It also had superb music running underneath all of that - the whole package.  It was also amazing to see yet another winner be truly humbled and overwhelmed by Eurovision deeming her the winner - good thing she only stumbled on the way to the stage:


You've seen how all the scores have been broken down - the jury votes are below (see how shocked Georgia are when they get a 12 from us):


And we haven't had such a tense end to a Eurovision voting session since Scott Fitzgerald lost out to Celine Dion in 1988:


The emotions of everyone involved was amazing, especially the Russian delegation, hoping beyond hope that the televoters had given them enough votes to overtake Jamala but in reality knowing that they were going to end up falling short:
So we had a year of two ballads and a pop song in the top three but the predominant genre in the top ten is uptempo pop - will we be seeing more chart-like songs next year?  We still had a clear top three but the points amongst the other 23 had a more even downward slope than previous years - the highlights in summary were Australia almost winning, Bulgaria's best finish, France almost back in the top five with the other Big 5 entrants having very disappointing finishes (the UK effectively being the same place off the bottom as last year).

One final backstage video to go - nice to see Sanna in the audience but also seeing how smoothly everything went this year and how much camaraderie there was in Stockholm between all the artists:


Well, that was it, 2016 all over!  This was one of the most entertaining Finals I have ever watched - it may be becoming boring having Sweden win Eurovision so much recently but it does make for well presented, well run Finals.  The odds on favourite didn't win, the newbies almost took their first crown but the entry with the biggest back story won the day: