ESC 2018

First up we were delighted with Ireland making it to the final - first time for four years and in our opinion it was totally deserved - well done to the whole team involved and especially Ryan for making Ireland proud

Really the show was great, no technical mishaps that we noticed, so again congratulations to the EBU team for another successful live Eurovision transmission and bringing the music to peoples home's to take part in the longest running and possibly the most popular event on television

So the qualifiers;
Austria. One that I missed but Daniel got. Was happy for them in the end, it seemed to be a great performance and effectively staged. Deserved
Estonia. Both of us saw this. I'm not a fan of the song at all. Verdict probably deserved
Cyprus. Again both of us saw this, and calling her the Eurovision Beyonce maybe a bit premature but possibly the winner of the televote. Verdict Deserved
Lithuania. Daniel missed this, but I saw it from the very beginning of the whole event. Verdict, deserved, but some may disagree
Israel. Again we both got this one, again this is probably deserved, but again the song is starting to grate a little now.
Czech Republic. Fantastic from Mikolas - very very deserved
Bulgaria. This is such a grower of a song, so we both out it through but not sure if it was deserved or not in the end.
Albania. I got this, Daniel missed it. From what we heard yesterday in the media room, the delegation were stressed and a little unhappy - but in the end it all came good. Very deserved
Finland. Well she really pulled it out of the bag at the last minute - faultless performance and very much deserved int he end
Ireland. Kinda made our Eurovision week - perfect!

And shocks for us, both Azerbaijan and Armenia missing out. Thought at least one of them would go through. Sad a little for Croatia, and Greece - both of whom we count as delegations that are friends as well as co-workers. Iceland - again we were sad - but really this is because of Ari himself and not the song. Belgium, she did a great job but in the end the song was a little too clever for Eurovision. Belarus - the staging killed this, really poor showing from the delegation that usually gives us such a great show. Macedonia - even though it possibly one of my favourite songs, it did not translate very well on the live stage - so BOO!
And finally don't forget the Swiss. Great performance and they can be really proud of themselves - I think they just missed out last night

Lisbon: 8 May, 2018
There were emotional scenes in Lisbon today at an event involving Malta’s entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest, Christabelle.

The Ministry of Health in Portugal teamed up with a leading University research centre and the singer to send a message of hope about mental health.

When a member of the audience tried to put a question to Christabelle, she broke down in tears and Christabelle left the panel to give the young woman a hug.

Christabelle, Malta’s entrant in the contest, has had to deal with mental health issues herself and her song, “Taboo”, sends a message to everyone who is struggling about the need to seek professional help.

Christabelle, and Dr. Paula Domingos on behalf of Professor Miguel Xavier, Director of the National Programme for Mental Health from the Ministry of Health, appeared at today’s event organised by the Lisbon Institute of Global Mental Health. The institute forms part of the Nova Medical School, Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Professor José Miguel Caldas de Almeida, Director of the Institute and Coordinator of the EU Joint Action on Mental Health and Wellbeing, also addressed the meeting.

The Maltese singer gave an acoustic rendition of her song and spoke of the need to break down the taboos surrounding the issue.

The meeting also heard, in video messages, from the Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister of Malta, Dr Chris Fearne, and the President of Malta, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca. They wished the singer well in the contest and praised her activism.

Professor Caldas de Almeida told the meeting that many people with mental health problems face abuse and discrimination and spoke of the stigma that made people hesitate to seek help. He said about 22% of the population of Portugal suffered a mental health condition. He thanked Christabelle for giving this issue a voice at Eurovision.

Dr Domingos told Christabelle she was very brave to tell her story, and demonstrated that she wasn’t afraid to be judged.

Christabelle will perform in the second semi-final of Eurovision at the Altice Arena in Lisbon on Thursday 10th May and, if she qualifies, in the final on Saturday 12th May.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Here is my prediction of 10 qualifiers in order of how sure I feel about them:

Cyprus
Bulgaria
Czech
Israel
Estonia
Switzerland
Lithuania
Greece
Belgium
Belarus

Here are a few thoughts on last night's jury show:

I picked up some vocal issues with FYR of Macedonia and Belarus was in my view a little nervous, so those will need to do better for the public.
The big winner of the night was Cyprus who smashed her performance under live pressure and gave it even more.

The betting markets have reacted accordingly, and Cyprus, I repeat Cyprus, is now the favourite to win Eurovision.

This semi-final still looks like a lottery, but based on tonight's jury final I predict the following qualifiers - in running order.

Albania
Czech Republic
Lithuania
Israel
Estonia
Bulgaria
Croatia
Finland
Armenia
Cyprus

Not many know that Eurovision is not just about music, show and fan gossiping around and waving flags of their favorite countries.
From year to year the contest becomes a very popular object of scientific research. This year, a three-day-conference on different research topics with academic presentations, professional expertise roundtables and keynote speakers takes place at the Eurocafe.

First day – May 7th – Gender (de)constructions in Song Contests

The subject of the first day of the conference dealt with the female role in Song Contests using the example of the national Portuguese final Festival da Canção hosted by RTP.
Three former participants – Isabel Campelo, Joana Espadinha and Susana Guerra (known as Suzy) – shared their experiences working in a very male dominated business.
As keynote speaker Pilar Guillén Marco from the University of Valencia introduced her research on the development of female identities being presented during the history of the contest.
Unluckily, only very few people found their way to the Eurocafe. So we hope, you are going to join tomorrow.

Second day – May 8th – Young Academics Science Slam

Tomorrow, a group of young researcher will present their academic projects.

1. For sure, you are aware of large number of tourists walking down the narrow streets of Lisbon attracted by the Eurovision Song Contest. Carla Figueira will speak about Fan Tourism, Nation and City Branding in this year’s host city.

2. Even if politic issues are officially not allowed at the Eurovision Song Contest, the political dimension of the competition can’t be denied and is one of highly researched subjects. Ricardo Rios will introduce his thesis on the Nagoro-Karabakh’s Conflict and its effects on the Eurovision Song Contest.

3. Laura Ortiz Montero looks into the organization in charge of the show and describe the contest’s structure “beyond the show”.

4. The conference’s host – Sofia Vieira Lopes will introduce the concept of “Lusifonia” which came up after Salvador Sobral’s victory last year at the Eurovision Song Contest.

5. However, members of ESCKAZ researches as well! When you want to know, why some countries keep losing or succeeding in the Eurovision Song Contest, I would like to invite you to my presentation on strategic marketing at the contest.

Third day – May 9th – Professionals’ Expertise

Finally on Wednesday you’ll get the chance to ask Eurovision professionals all about the contest you always wanted to know. There will be Dr. Frank-Dieter Freiling (Head of the Reference Group ESC), Thomas Schreiber (Executive Producer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf), Thomas G:son (Composer of various ESC entries), Mihkel Mattisen and Timo Vendt (Authors of Estonian entry ESC 2018), Alon Amir (Former head of Press of the Israeli Delegation), Vasyl Myroshnychenko (CFC Consulting, consultor on various Ukrainian entrys),Thorsten Keller (News editor) and Ricardo Duarte (editor of www.dezassete.pt).

To complete the conference two keynotes - one with the title “Musicking in Eurovision: Sites and Sounds” by Ivan Raykoff and the second about postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest by Dean Vuletic - will be held at the end of the day.

There is so much about Eurovision you even has been thinking about and It is worth getting to know new aspects of our favorite show!

The jury final has just started. As tonight it is all about the performances, this live blog will focus mostly on that. But of course, if anything special happens we will of course let you know.

1. Azerbaijan
Aisel immediately gets the audience clapping along with her - maybe eager to see the show started as it's the first one. The running before the first chorus looks very panicked now. OK performance but not spectacular, vocally she is struggling in some of the verses. Azerbaijan has a great record but I would not be surprised to see it broken this year.

2. Iceland
Ari has been very solid all week through and again now his performance is good. However, it will most likely not be enough for qualification.

3. Albania
It seemed to me there was an issue with the lighting at the beginning as he was mostly covered in blue until the first chorus starts. Vocally a very good performance though that gets a huge applause in the press hall. However, Eugent seemed a bit nervous to me.

4. Belgium
It took some time before we got a good focus in the opening and vocally Sennek sounds very fragile tonight. She improved as the song progressed though.

Just a general observation, I thought this jury final was sold out, but I see lots of empty chairs everywhere...

5. Czech Republic
Miklas struggles a bit to get his rucksack back on after the tricks in the middle. Otherwise a good performance and he looks relieved after it.

6. Lithuania
A bit breathy but otherwise very good performance vocally with a good reaction in the hall. In the end Ieva has decided to revert to English for the very last line again.

7. Israel
The beginning sounds good today, but for the rest it's not Netta's best performance vocally, however the long high note towards the end goes quite well.

8. Belarus
An otherwise fine song ruined by the staging, it's still all too much. Not convinced about his performance tonight, his vocals seemed off from time to time. No specific issues though.

9. Estonia
I would not say Elina is off, but in the verses she is not as good as she was before. In the higher parts during the chorus she is perfect though, and that is probably what will matter most and stay in people's minds.

10. Bulgaria
Vocally competent but very cold performances. I'm just not really sure if everyone will go for this tonight and tomorrow.

11. Macedonia
Major issues earlier today, but they finally got the camera shot right with her walking to the drummer taking off her dress. During the end she's still out of breath though, and the (great!) backings are not able to hide that at all places.

12. Croatia
Franka's confident performance from earlier this week is back. Some issues with the sound of the stream though that might be only here. Flawless performance, I still think this can surprise everyone.

13. Austria
Sometimes César is just walking in the dark through the end which is not so great to see. He and his backings gave a good performance though.

14. Greece
Yianna is out of tune in the first verse and also struggles during the end. During the second verse we get fireworks now which is just a bit too early really.

15. Finland
A seemingly effortless performance of Saara Aalto who does not miss any note. Based on this alone I would not be surprised if there's a space for Finland in the final after all. Oh, today all three firework fountains worked.

16. Armenia
The Armenian performance also went well, though the high note with the guitar sounds a bit strange from time to time.

Earlier today, just before the start of today's first dress rehearsal the press centre was honoured by a very special guest - one of San Marino's robots! Apart from dancing as you can see below, the robot can also speak ánd has a will of its own as first he was a bit shy and wouldn't move, but in the end the gathered press convinced him to give away a special performance.