Lopez Blogs

Firstly, thanks to Acer Ben for pointing out that I’d left Poland out of my 1st semi-final review. Very sorry about this! However, the bad news is that their entry "For Life" by Isis Gee (after Norway and before Ireland in next Tuesday’s running order) does not really float my boat as it’s a ballad, although admittedly she has a very good voice.

Now on to my first part of my review of the second semi-final, as I haven’t got enough time tonight to review it all.

First on isn’t a good spot in the running order, but Iceland have sent yet another cracker this year: the rather wonderful "This Is My Life" by Euroband, which is a great big slice of Euro-dance, the kind of which always goes down well at EuropeCrazy HQ. One of the year’s best.

Second spot is an even worse place to be so let’s hope that Sweden breaks the curse of the running order and gets through to the final. Charlotte should make a good job of delivering "Hero" however she should ditch those dodgy backing singers/dancers and wear something a bit more "classy" as she’s getting too old for those mini-dresses. :)

Turkey has gone all rock this year, which maybe isn’t a good move for them, but there is something I quite like about "Deli" by Mor Ve Otesi, kinda reminiscent of a Turkish version of Calogero! Diaspora votes guaranteed, blah blah blah.

Guess everyone’s pre-determined this year’s winner then - Ukraine. "Shady Lady" by Ani Lorak is a little similar to "Hero", but she’s younger than Charlotte, hotter than Charlotte and the end result has just that bit more oomph.

Lithuania have thrown their chances away yet again with "Nomads In The Night" sung by Jeronimas Milius, it’s a kind of operatic-musical-theatre number which will probably be propping up the bottom end of the scoreboard.

I’ve only ever loved one entry from Albania - "Zharr e Ftohte" by lovely Luiz Ejlli, which didn’t even make the 2006 final. This year’s song "Zemren e Lame Peng" by Olta Boka is pleasant enough and "Balkan" enough to get a few votes.

I was one of that (very small) minority who liked "Vampires Are Alive" last year and thought Switzerland was robbed. Hopefully justice will be done this year with "Era Stupendo" by Paolo Meneguzzi. It’s good to hear the Italian language at Eurovision again. He looks great and sounds great and hopefully the presentation/staging will not let the song down.

More songs to follow, hopefully same time tomorrow!