Eurovision Song Contest 2014

[p85]

And yet, in the jury system, we seem to get less bloc voting - or is it just a mere coincidence that for the fifth time in only six years, a country from the Western half of Europe (after Norway, Germany, Sweden and Denmark) has won the ESC?

All of those Western European countries would have won even without 50/50 voting system. Those songs were 1st in the televoting.

I’m starting to wonder if the current Jury system is a good idea as well.

When the Azerbaijan jury gives Armenia the lowest score (and vice versa), that’s not so surprising and it’s also reflected with the televote. But the UK, Ireland and the Netherland all put Poland at the bottom of their jury rank, the complete opposite of the televote.

“My Słowianie” wasn’t the best song in the competition, but it was still good and with a fun, entertaining performance, and Cleo sang well. The juries probably didn't like the "soft porno" staging, but on the other hand German and Italian juries weren't bothered by the boobies. It’s the old question: are we judging the staging or the song?

Austria was 4th in the televoting in Poland, 19th in jury voting. Result: 11th place and 0 point for Austria.

[Citius Altius Fortius]

The shows were brilliant! I am very lucky about the result - Austria will be a wonderful host like the Danes, Swedes before..

I wouldn't have had a problem if the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary, Norway, Iceland, Italy or UK had won - the Danes were very kind, but there were major issues in the organization:

- the surroundings of the venue was a mess (e.g. you have to go over sand pavements/grounds, which you have to pass to and from the venue (which was not good since it was raining before/after some of the shows)

- the bus/boat transportation was o.k.

- bad organization of entertainment (in London were a lot of volunteers, who cheered up the waiting people in the queues before and after the event - nothing was there in Kobenhavn: a kind of aggressive atmosphere emerged before the final, when the people had to wait a long time before the closed doors in a tent before the "venue shed"
- the worst thing was that the venue shed was accessible from one side only - everybody on the left side in the "arena" had to enter the venue from the right side - no separation between visitors, who had seats and those who had standing tickets

- the "bar" in the "venue shed" closed right after the end of show - no drinking was available and it rained cats and dogs outside after the final

- the rest rooms and the cloakrooms were not inside the "venue shed" but outside - that meant you might had to wait before the rest rooms/cloakrooms in the cold/windy/rainy weather...

I will post some pics later

I WILL GO TO VIENNA (or GRAZ or any other Austrian City)

[Ripley]

Thought the staging of the contest was excellent - love the idea of using an old industrial building. I really liked the Spanish entry and the Greek performance stood out as the most pumped of the evening. Really liked Austria, but the best song by a mile was the Dutch Country and Western performance.... just an amazing quality song. As for the UK, I liked it and think it should have scored higher but I've long since given up on any prospect the UK can win this... and frankly I don't really give at toss.

Its impossible to separate politics from performances if you have acts representing countries. Felt mildly sorry for the Russian twins but was glad that perhaps the Russian viewers got a glimpse of the real world view of their country's actions, rather than their nationalistic, propaganda driven media view of the world.

Personally, I would restrict the ESC to EU/EFTA countries. I don't think the audiences or media regulators in non EU countries are sophisticated enough to see beyond their own noses. Mind you, that may mean the UK would end up leaving the ESC in 2017....

[Mr Tickle]

I really like the idea of Salzburg next year.

The Copenhagen show looked amazing, interesting reading your comments on the actual arena Martin.

[yoshi]

So they're the candidates? Interesting, they'd have to plonk a roof on the Red Bull Arena, Graz I think is probably too small. Vienna is the obvious candidate, the Stadthalle doesn't look that big in the picture but it must be. Doesn't Innsbruck have any arena left from 76? They must have, but I guess it's small or booked.

I'm going by the pics Scotguy posted in the 2015 thread.

Actually scratch that, wrong thread. Oops :blush:

[Citius Altius Fortius]

I just recognised that many of my photos didn't work, due the lights in the arena - many are blurred or have a very kind colour...

[Scotguy]

HERE IS HOW THE CHINESE FANS VOTED

BEIJING, CHINA – Chinese Eurovision fans have voted for their favourite 2014 entries. The public had the right to vote from a single IP address from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to select their favourites. There is growing interest in Eurovision in China with many references to the country during the actual Eurovision show in Copenhagen. Sweden won the Chinese vote by a landslide, while Austria came only 16th. Notably, Ireland and Montenegro came second and third.

01. Sweden 368 votes
02. Ireland 192
03. Montenegro 169
04. Spain 139
05. Norway 138
06. Switzerland 135
07. Azerbaijan 134
08. United Kingdom 133
09. Armenia 129
10. Denmark 127.
11. Romania 121
12. FYR Macedonia 109
13. Russia 108
14. The Netherlands 105
15. Ukraine 103
16.-Austria 99
17. Slovenia 97
18. Belgium 91
19. Israel 84
20. Greece 80
21. Iceland 79
22. Poland 73
23. Belarus 73
24. Portugal 70
25. Germany 68
26. Italy 62
27. France 61
28. Estonia 54
29. Finland 53
30. San Marino 53
31. Albania 48
32. Hungary 37
33. Latvia 30
34. Malta 25
35. Lithuania 16
36. Moldova 13
37. Georgia 4

[The Tower Bridge Fox]

Interesting Chiness vote, Three of my favourites in the top four.

Also,

I compared Moldovers national final performance with there semi final and studio version

And they changed the baking track for the semi finals adding a horrible string element that didn’t fit,

They should have left it as it as and they probably would have qualified.

There nationasl final performance and studio versions were infinitely better that the semi final,

It just shows you have to hold your nerve in Eurovision,

The bookies favourites change all the time

you have to leave your song alone.!!!!!!!!

[BethnalGreen]

Can't say I am a fan of the Digital Spy Eurovision forum. Too much rubbish written in between the interesting posts. You need to be reading it several times a day to keep up with it and after a short while it gets very tedious. I mean, there seems to be a competition for everything on that site. Miss a week and you have to read through all kinds of rubbish to find an an interesting snippet. I have another forum I use that I will keep secret. The people are much more informed and concise and you can easily refer to it in a hurry.

I am sorry Beth, forgive me for not consulting you before deciding to post a few more things on gamesbids. :-) The problem for me is that gamesbids does not let you cancel membership. I just can't resist popping in to read the London legacy thread but rarely post anything except eurovision at this time of year. Although even that has died a death on this forum.

I wont even go into the ridiculousness I have been reading over the last week on gamesbids. Well maybe a little rant, it wouldn't be me if I didn't. Bullying? Grow the hell up. If you like to antagonise and get off on hearing your name discussed on a daily basis, then you reap what you sow. Don't like it? then go. The only thing that concerns me more than the mods reaction, are the Disney threads, truly bizarre. What has this forum descended into? The only thing that makes it bearable these days is the odd fight, and now you can't even do that. How dull to just listen to a load of liberals(in the British sense) trying to calmly debate every thread and make everyone follow the rules and see things the same way.

I must admit I don't see the appeal of forums as much as I used to. I have a few Eurovision geek friends and a partner who is as eurovision obsessed as me, that pretty much renders eurovision forums almost redundant for me. My friends/partner are all at least sane and have a point of view worth listening to. I went to the Eurovision final in Dusseldorf and had an amazing time. I loved the atmosphere and the show itself but have to say, most Eurovision fans attending these events are the strangest people I have ever met. Not to mention obnoxious, childish and lacking of manners. It's like your worst gay club, but with no hot guys to compensate.

Anyway, I'm off now to enjoy my bank holiday weekend. I may post here again, I may not. It all depends on how bored I am. I am both gay and Gemini after all, changing my mind like the wind.

I only mentioned it as I recently came back to the DS fantasy eurovision forum (escape from the crap of normal day job which ironically is bids lol. However, as I mentioned to yoshi who recognised me from here? I was ashamed not to remember him (not going to make that mistake again as I now feel I know him better than a lot of you guys!). I have loved having CAF and yoshi around, but would love i even more if Lee etc was there! Obviously after his post I am replying too not going to happen