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San Marino

Semi One predictions from Daniel and me

Mike;

Finland No
Greece No
Moldova Maybe
Hungary Yes
Croatia Yes
The Netherlands Yes
Armenia Yes
San Marino No
Russia Yes
Czech Republic Yes
Cyprus Maybe
Austria Yes
Estonia Maybe
Azerbaijan Yes
Montenegro No
Iceland Yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina Yes
Malta Yes

So someone will miss out from my predictions, and sadly I think it will be Austria

From Daniel;

Finland No
Greece No
Moldova Maybe
Hungary Yes
Croatia Yes
The Netherlands Yes
Armenia Yes
San Marino No
Russia Yes
Czech Republic Yes
Cyprus No
Austria Yes
Estonia No
Azerbaijan Maybe
Montenegro No
Iceland Yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina Yes
Malta Yes

Some slight disagreements here, but more or less we agree this year

Anyway what the hell do we know.....though we usually get 7-9 out of 10

Press Conference for San Marino

Liza on Fri, 05/06/2016 - 13:07

Serhat feels rather saticefied with the rehearsal today. Of course there are still a few things. "But that's why it's called a rehearsal", Serhat says. And Serhat is convienced it will be perfect on Monday. Serhat is used to the cameras coming from a career in television. Serhat tells, that he has friends all over Europe, and hopes for their support and votes on Tuesday.

Review of the second semi-final by Keith Mills

I decided not to hang around for the qualifier press conference tonight as I have a pretty hectic day tomorrow, but I have now caught up with the halves of the draw that the ten countries will perform in. It really has ended up as a show of two halves with most of the uptempo songs in the first half and the ballads and slower moody songs in the second.

Overall I think tonight's show was far better than Tuesday's. The songs were better, the pacing was sharper and there was less of last year's winner, though still far too much. The camerawork was also improved, but the issue with flags blocking the screen is still a major problem and has to be sorted on Saturday.

As for the seven songs that went out, only Switzerland and Ireland can feel hard done by and Poland qualifying was a bit of a shock. Some are suggesting it was a sympathy vote, but it was also helped by the draw so perhaps not totally unpredictable.

My thoughts on the seven that went home;
IRELAND: I think Molly performed well and for once I liked the Irish staging. However I thought we were probably doomed on the day we were given the awful #2 draw and so it came to be. I may sound like a broken record here but once again can I suggest RTÉ looks at its selection process. The current formula is giving is the worst set of results we've ever had in the contest.

SAN MARINO: Dreadful patchwork of a song and no amount of youthful enthusiasm can replace a lack of stage craft. It was always a no-hoper. It deserved to finish last and being honest, if this is the best that they can come up with, San Marino has no place in the contest.

MALTA: A much better performance by Amber tonight but there was far too much going on to distract you in the presentation.It was as if no lessons were learnt from Olivia Lewis in 2007. The song was always too weak for this semi, but might have had a chance in the first semi. No surprise this lost out.

PORTUGAL: The Portuguese chose the wrong song in the Eurovision selection, it's as simple as that. No matter how good Leonor was tonight (and she was very good), the song was just poor. Like Ireland, Portugal needs to re-think its selection process. There's enough talent there to do very well in the contest but RTP are not tapping into it.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Whoever decided to add the ridiculous shoe throwing to the act should never be allowed near the contest again. Until that point the performance was solid, even if the song was always a little dull. I fear that we may never see the Czechs back in the contest.

ICELAND: Not only the worst vocal performance of the night, one of the worst of this century. It was always a big heap of nothing of a song, with basically a repeated chorus and no verses but everything about this was absolutely dreadful from he staging to the costume, but especially the off-key performance.

SWITZERLAND: I really feel sorry for Melanie, because this was a terrific performance and hugely improved on the national final. Switzerland just doesn't have friendly neighbours or a diaspora, but if Austria can win, so can they. Really disappointed not to see this in the final.

The following countries are in the first half;
 Armenia
 Australia
 Belgium
 Cyprus
 Estonia
 France
 Israel
 Lithuania
 Norway
 Serbia
 Slovenia
 Sweden
 United Kingdom

That's a lot of up-tempo and mid-tempo songs. Personally I'd probably open with United Kingdom, then go with Armenia and Sweden, for contrast. I would have Israel at #13

At #14 it's Austria

In the second half you have the following countries;
 Albania
 Azerbaijan
 Georgia
 Germany
 Greece
 Hungary
 Italy
 Latvia
 Montenegro
 Poland
 Romania
 Russia
 Spain

There's no up-tempo song in there at all, but Georgia, Germany and Montenegro are at least mid-tempo. Hungary, Greece, Russia and Spain need to be kept apart. The director will certainly earn his money tonight.

Tomorrow I will review the running order, as I fly back to Dublin.

San Marino Second Rehearsal: Anita Simoncini & Michele Perniola - Chain of Lights

Again not much change for Anita and Michele's performance of Chain of Lights. They have kept the lovely backdrop, which features the world globe taking over by a chain of lights.

Again, Anita is definitely the stronger singer out of the duo, and she really captures each moment she can with her presence on stage.

I'm a little worried for San Marino, I don't think their song is strong enough to make it to the final. But they are teenagers and as last year's proven, anything is possible. If Michele steps up his game and does what Anita does, a shock qualification shouldn't be ruled out.

San Marino - 2nd Rehearsal

I haven't changed my mind about San Marino's entry this year. Something was definitely improved, it sounded more natural but still it's not a duo. Both Anita and Michele are singing their own parts of the song; basically I can say that they have two completely different songs. And this is noticeable that they don't suit each other much in terms of their voices.

San Marino First Rehearsal: Anita and Michele - Chain Of Lights

Europe's tiniest country taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest finally made the final last year and they're hoping to do it once more this year, with two former Junior Eurovision representatives; Anita and Michele.

While this could have lend to a bit of a disaster in terms of staging, San Marino have actually done pretty well. They have a background, which features a world globe which is slowly but surely being overflooded with little candle lights.
Again we're seeing the warm gold, red and orange colours returning for the overall staging. Again it suits its purpose.

Vocally, Anita is the stronger singer of the duo, so Michele really needs to tighten his vocals.

Overall however I'm pretty impressed with the staging. San Marino have gone Disney and that's totally fine by me.

San Marino Si'x Points!

San Marino - First Rehearsal

Well, what can I say... The performance starts with a bit of a drama from Michele and a huge smile from Anita. The most important thing is that I don't think that the singers' voices match each other. It's a great disappointment when the chorus kicks off..

The singers feel confident on the stage and this is important. The background effects are reminiscent to some other participants’ - we again see the image of the universe.

There is a lot of room for improvement and I hope the team with add changes to this performance.

San Marino rehearsal

Andy on Wed, 05/13/2015 - 12:39

Well, we think they can be sending now Anita every year adding may be some Peppermints to the mix. She seems to be completely ready to continue the trend of Valentina Monetta. Very confident on the stage, excellent looking outfit, though I would try a bit different skirt.

Michele at the same time is a bit lost on stage compared to Anita and they have very little chemistry as a couple on the stage. I don't think he is confident enough in the song of this style. There is still room for an improvement in his performance.

San Marino first impressions on stage.....

No!

I don't want to dream forever!!!

This is all sorts of Disney going on.....needs some work on the camera angles before the final cut, but it's actually not that bad to be honest....and she's the better of the two singers for sure.....

After they busted the qualification cherry last year, who know's where this might go on the night