And of course the big question is...

Has Andrew Lloyd Webber written the song that will take us to 'douze points'?...

I was waiting for you to start this thread

I'm not sure if I'll be able to watch it. Depends on the inlaws

I'll be in a hotel in deepest Suffolk. Hope the TV works...

I'm putting it on to record

I won't tell you the result then

It's ok, you can tell me the result It'll probably be weeks til I get round to watching it

I can think of so many things I would rather do than watch & listen to the EVSC but even so I will probably be sitting there with the family being surprised / appalled (delete as appropriate) by the various entries. I'm looking forward to hearing someone other than Wogan complaining about nationalistic voting patterns (why is this a surprise?) but I'm not sure if his replacement will be less or more irritating.

I don't think I'll watch it this year, especially as the UK always seems to come last and the irritating Graham Norton has replaced the legendary Terry Wogan...

Car Expert

I never watch it.

Why not watch it this year!

My piano teacher, Ivories, has chosen this Saturday for the annual concert, what a shame.

play some ABBA in tribute

I'm going to a 'Eurovision Party'. The mind boggles....

We always watch it and I love Terry Wogans comments. It won't be the same this year without him.

Come to think of it I think I might be out for most of it as Emsoboe is playing with Sax group in a concert.

It's more likely that he's written the song that will be the blot on his career. We could have an amazing song, but would never do well at Eurovision.

I plan to take full advantage of the absence of both children and do anything other than watch it. After years of enforced watching (or at least, of having to watch if in the lounge!) I'm really looking forward to it!

Not optimistic then, Sarah!...

We usually go round to a friend's house for a Eurovision party. I told my wife I wasn't going this year. She's invited them to come to our's to watch it!!!!

We're having a barbecue for my son's birthday in the afternoon. I've told her I'm staying outside all evening drinking with his mates!!!

She hopes I get wet!!!

"Quite frankly I don't give a .... "

Or something like that from Gone with the wind...

I have the second semi final on at the moment...

Ummm, is there anyone else out there who's not a big fan of ALW. Some of his songs are truly like Miiiddniiiight ......

I used to love watching this....And now I can't bear it! A huge part of the fun for me was trying to guess who would vote for who, and watching the scores change. I think once I realised that every country engaged in 'tactical' voting, the whole thing lost its appeal. As I'm not an ALW fan either, I think it's probably just as well I'm away for the weekend

We usually have a party for this and mark the countries ourselves.

but we only really watched it for Terry's sarcastic comments, which were very amusing.

not sure it'll be the same without him

Ahh I love it! I'll definitely be watching it though I seriously doubt that ALW's song will make any difference to the points. I'll be heading over to my friend's house; we always watch it together every year, but he doesn't like to admit that he's secretly a huge fan I'll miss Terry Wogan this year!

I'll be watching it here in Turkey. It's unbelievable how serious this contest is in Turkey. In the school where I work the bell between lessons is the Turkish entry song - and it has been for the last month. The song itself is played everywhere continually. I'm sick of it, although apparently it has a good chance of winning. (Or so everyone here tells me.)
I haven't heard the English entry.

I haven't heard the English entry either Nor am I fan of ALW.

The English entry is...well......interesting......Jade is a great singer but the song is just
Interestingly, ALW didn't write it; he just did the music, or so the Guardian says:
here

If I voted (which i don't), i would vote for Estonia- their entry is beautiful AND has cellos in!
here

I'm not a fan!!!
I don't mind listening to/seeing the musicals and stuff, but I'm not a fan of the man himself... grumble grumble lol, *must not start ranting about ALW*

As for eurovision, I think some of my friends will be over, and we're planning on cooking pizzas from scratch, so we'll probably have it on to dance around the kitchen to hahaha be a giggle even if we are probably doomed to lose in the political-ness of it all!

Yup! That'll be a strong contender if not the winner. It has Eurovision sound written all over it - that's not to say it isn't good, it's quite memorable which in my book is important (and I like the cello's too).

I lovedd the winner.
I didn't like UK entry much this year althouhg I was mighty proud we're 5th rather than last.

Did anyone like Norway?
I didn't know that he could still play even though his bow was falling apart :B

I liked the fiddle playing the Norwegian entry, but by the second time I had heard it I found the song a bit annoying. Oh and his bow wasn't falling apart, it was only a hair that had come loose - it happens. Jade really sang her heart out and did well at fifth. Shame they couldn't have given her a better song.

Overall I thought it was one of the better Eurovision shows and I enjoyed Graham Norton's commentary more than the past commentaries of Terry Wogan. My favourites were Croatia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovena and Ukraine. I voted for more than one country and also voted for one country more than once, although that was by mistake.

Britain is criticised abroad for having a sneering attitude to the Eurovision and for not taking it seriously. At least we made an effort this year and the score showed that.

I think the new voting system worked well, seemingly much more balanced ...although I'd have liked to have seen some kind of break down as to, how the public voted and how the panels voted and then the overall combined rankings from each country based on the two...I'm not sure if that's even possible, but just interested really!

I too preferred Graham Norton to Terry Wogan!

Malta made a bad mistake. They sent a real singer with a good song instead of a dolly bird (or pretty boy) with a novelty dance act.

I don't see how Norway managed to capture the popular vote. If that is democracy in action we are politically doomed.

It was just awful. I mean the dancers were very fit and athletic, the girls were gorgeous, and the boy was good looking, but his pitch was way off, he must have been miming the violin, judging by thte state of the bow, and the song was dire. Graham Norton said he wanted to punch the Norwegian boy after suffering the song for a whole week. I felt the same way after about 10 seconds.

At least Iceland and Estonia did well. Both had some musical merit, as well as good performances on the night. So, unlike the organizers, the voters are not entirely insane.

Apparently the show is popular in Australia. They should enter a song next year. After all, if Israel can be an honorary European country, why not Australia

No he wasn't

Ah right, I'm not a violinist, so I didn't know. pardon me.

Yeah I kind of figured that they were al mimed rather than played live.

I didn't like Norway. I liked Sweden though and they hardly got any points.

Please don't take what I said as criticism. Violin bows lose hairs with time but it looks spectacular if it happens when you are playing some flashy piece. It is distracting but it doesn't affect the sound.

Norway have a history of winning with fiddle music. In 1995 they won with
Nocturne which I thought was really beautiful. I mean I can still remember it which is saying something. It sounds Irish, but I believe that Norwegian music strongly influenced Scottish and Irish folk music.

I actually really quite liked the Norwegian song. I voted for Armenia though, so I obviously have strange tastes as they didn't get any points from the UK.

Or perhaps it was the other way around. Grieg's great-grandfather was a Scotsman originally named Greig - he reversed the vowels to make his name sound more Norwegian after settling in Norway.

I quite liked Norway's entry - and my my, he was a pretty boy! But I'm very glad we came 5th...I wonder what they'll do next year?!

Yes, I liked Sweden too! I also liked Germany - and they were nearly last!

I was exhausted last night but something made me stay awake (or be continually poked awake by teenage offspring...) because of past associations; we used to watch it as a family when I was a child and gave them all marks. No matter how ###### the songs were, it was fun to do, and I sort of have a hangover from that.

And I thought Graham Norton was actually pretty good too!

The Swedish girl was obviously terrified. Whenever she had to sing quietly the wavering in the voice showed through. Otherwise she might have done a lot better. But like a dozen other songs, the Swedish one was cobbled together from bits an dpieces of several I had heard before.

To show how rubbish it all was suppose that something like say Miley Cyrus doing "Seven Things" had been amongst the entries. Would it not have won by a mile, and obliterated Norway's effort.

It is not great music, but it is professional and well done, and in a different class from anything in Eurovision.

I didn't think the Swedish one was that great. She could obviously sing and the song was ok, but you could hear any of the words especially when she went up high (I assume she was actually singing words and not just warbling )

Best song won on the night, in my opinion. Good to see the UK doing a lot better than of late too.