ESC 2008
For the first time ever there were 2 semi-finals and 1 final for the Eurovision song contest. Only the defending champion (Serbia) and the Big 4 had automatically qualified for the final. The remaining places were to be filled by 10 songs from each Semi-Final. 9 of those songs were chosen by televotes and the final place was decided by a jury vote. In Semi-Final 1 the jury vote didn't make a difference as the song finishing 10th in the televotes was the jury pick. Dima Bilan returned to ESC hoping to improve on his 2nd place of two years previous. San Marino & Azerbaijan made their debuts in the contest with varying degrees of success. Ireland sent a puppet turkey called Dustin as their representative. Joke entries seemed to be the order of the day - but generally fared badly. The qualifiers were - Greece, Armenia, Russia, Norway, Israel, Azerbaijan, Romania, Finland, Bosnia & Herzegovina & Poland.
1. (19) Greece - Secret Combination - Kalomira - 156 pts
2. (14) Armenia - Qele qele - Sirusho - 139 pts
3. (18) Russia - Believe - Dima Bilan - 135 pts
4. (9) Norway - Hold On, Be Strong - Maria Haukaas Storeng - 106 pts
5. (2) Israel - The Fire In Your Eyes - Boaz Mauda - 104 pts
6. (7) Azerbaijan - Day After Day - Elnur & Samir - 96 pts
7. (17) Romania - Pe-o margine de lume - Nico & Vlad - 94 pts
8. (16) Finland - Missä miehet ratsastaa - Teräsbetoni - 79 pts
9. (13) Bosnia & Herzegovina - Pokusaj - Laka - 72 pts
10. (10) Poland - For Life - Isis Gee - 42 pts
11. (4) Moldova - A Century Of Love - Geta Burlacu - 36 pts
(8 ) Slovenia - Vrag naj vzame - Rebeka Dremelj - 36 pts
13. (15) Netherlands - My Heart Belongs To You - Hind - 27 pts
14. (1) Montenegro - Zauvijek volim te - Stefan Filipovic - 23 pts
15. (11) Ireland - Irelande douze points - Dustin The Turkey - 22 pts
(12) Andorra - Casanova - Gisela - 22 pts
17. (6) Belgium - O julissi - Ishtar - 16 pts
18. (3) Estonia - Leto svet - Kreisiraadio - 8 pts
19. (5) San Marino - Complice - Miodio - 5 pts
The second semi-final took place 2 days after the first. The only returning competitor was former winner Charlotte Perrelli who had won as Charlotte Nilsson in 1999. The top 9 in the televoting qualified automatically as with the first semi - but this time the jury pick wasn't the song that finished 10th - but the one that finished 12th in the televoting...and was our returnee from Sweden. The 10 qualifiers were Ukraine, Portugal, Croatia, Denmark, Georgia, Latvia, Turkey, Iceland, Albania & Sweden. Portugal and Iceland both qualified from the semi-final for the first time since the system was introduced in 2004.
1. (4) Ukraine - Shady Lady - Ani Lorak - 152 pts
2. (19) Portugal - Senhora do mar - Vânia Fernandes - 120 pts
3. (11) Croatia - Romanca - Kralijevi Ulice & 75 Cent - 112 pts
(13) Denmark - All Night Long - Simon Mathew - 112 pts
5. (14) Georgia - Peace Will Come - Diana Gurtskaya - 107 pts
6. (10) Latvia - Wolves Of The Sea - Pirates Of The Sea - 86 pts
7. (3) Turkey - Deli - Mor ve Ötesi - 85 pts
8. (1) Iceland - This Is My Life - Euroband - 68 pts
9. (6) Albania - Zemrën e lamë peng - Olta Boka - 67 pts
10. (18 ) Macedonia - Let Me Love You - Tamara, Vrčak & Adrijan - 64 pts
11. (12) Bulgaria - DJ, Take Me Away - Deep Zone & Balthazar - 56 pts
12. (2) Sweden - Hero - Charlotte Perrelli - 54 pts
13. (7) Switzerland - Era stupendo - Paolo Meneguzzi - 47 pts
14. (16) Malta - Vodka - Morena - 38 pts
15. (17) Cyprus - Femme fatale - Evdokia Kadi - 37 pts
16. (5) Lithuania - Nomads In The Night - Jeronimus Milus - 30 pts
17. (9) Belarus - Hasta la vista - Ruslan Alehno - 27 pts
18. (8 ) Czech Republic - Have Some Fun - Tereza Kerndlova - 9 pts
19. (15) Hungary - Candlelight - Csézy - 6 pts
The final took place the Saturday after the 2 semi-finals had taken place. The finalists were the 10 qualifiers from each semi-final plus defending champions Serbia and the Big 4. Returning to the Eurovision stage were Dima Bilan & Charlotte Perrelli who'd both successfully negotiated the Semi's on their return (one slightly easier than the other). Dima was looking to improve on his 2nd place from 2006 whilst Charlotte was hoping to emulate Johnny Logan and become a double winner of the contest. The Serbian entry was written by former competitor (and host of this contest) Željko Joksimovic. The voting was predictable in parts and frankly bizarre in other parts (none more so than Bulgaria giving Germany 12 of the 14 points that they received all night - solely because one of the members of German representatives No Angels was Bulgarian). Spain had a pre-qualifying round hosted online through myspace and it was won convincingly by a bizarre act called Rodolfo Chickiliacuatre who wanted us to dance the "chiki chiki". France chose renowned musician Sébastien Tellier who appeared onstage in a golf-cart and for the first time ever performed the French entry entirely in English. The UK once again chose to pick a talent show loser - this time X Factor's Andy Abraham runner-up to Shayne Ward in 2006. There was a lot of controversy regarding the voting with so many of the top marks being predictable and the winner was clear very early on in the proceedings...not because it was the best song or best performance but because it had the biggest voting diaspora. Veteran UK commentator Terry Wogan was upset not only with the "friendly voting" but also with the last place achieved by the UK citing "institutionalised racism amongst Eastern European Nations" and that they would never vote for a black man east of Berlin...until it was pointed out to him that the only coloured winner of the contest represented Estonia - very much west of Berlin. Wogan would later resign as UK commentator after almost 40 years of doing the job. Dima Bilan became the 5th artist, and the first male, to finish both 1st & 2nd in ESC...the others were Lys Assia, Gigliola Cinquetti, Linda Martin & Elisabeth Andreassen
RESULTS
1. (24) - Russia - Believe - Dima Bilan - 272 pts
2. (18 ) - Ukraine - Shady Lady - Ani Lorak - 230 pts
3. (21) - Greece - Secret Combination - Kalomira - 218 pts
4. (5) - Armenia - Qele Qele - Sirusho - 199 pts
5. (25) - Norway - Hold On, Be Strong - 182 pts
6. (23) - Serbia - Oro - Jelena Tomašević feat. Bora Dugić - 160 pts
7. (12) - Turkey - Deli - Mor ve Ötesi - 138 pts
8. (20) - Azerbaijan - Day After Day - Elnur & Samir - 132 pts
9. (7) - Israel - The Fire In Your Eyes - Boaz Mauda - 124 pts
10. (6) - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Pokusaj - Laka - 110 pts
11. (14) - Latvia - Wolves Of The Sea - Pirates Of The Sea - 83 pts
(17) - Georgia - Peace Will Come - Diana Gurtskaya - 83 pts
13. (13) - Portugal - Senhora do mar - Vânia Fernandes - 69 pts
14. (11) - Iceland - This Is My Life - Euroband - 63 pts
15. (16) - Denmark - All Night Long - Simon Mathew - 60 pts
16. (3) - Albania - Zemrën e lamë peng - Olta Boka - 55 pts
(22) - Spain - Bailar el chiki chiki - Rodolfo Chikiliacuatre - 55 pts
18. (15) - Sweden - Hero - Charlotte Perrelli - 47 pts
(19) - France - Divine - Sébastien Tellier - 47 pts
20. (1) - Romania - Pe-o margine de lume - Nico & Vlad - 45 pts
21. (9) - Croatia - Romanca - Kraljevi Ulice feat 75 Cent - 44 pts
22. (8 ) - Finland - Missä miehet ratsastaa - Teräsbetoni - 35 pts
23. (4) - Germany - Disappear - No Angels - 14 pts
24. (10) - Poland - For Life - Isis Gee - 14 pts
25. (2) - United Kingdom - Even If - Andy Abraham - 14 pts