Lopez Blogs

Bit of live blogging from me this evening.

Firstly, "Your Country Needs You": it's still cheap and tacky but I suppose it's better than nothing. As I predicted, the Emperors of Soul went tonight, as they were in the bottom two with...Jade! Yes, she-who-can-do-no-wrong was in the danger zone, but inevitably saved by The Lord. Who soooooo obviously wants her to win.

Whereas here at EuropeCrazy HQ we're supporting......MARK!!!

Mark must win. He has the best voice and the most consistent performances, and he doesn't need to resort to screeching or flashing his legs to impress. When I found out he was singing Justin Timberlake - another favourite of this blog - I was quite concerned but he pulled it off.

So it's Mark, Jade and The Twins - ????????? - to next week's final.

Mark must win, if only to give the UK a chance of not-being-last in Moscow.

Meanwhile over in Norway:

I only managed to get a decent connection to the first heat of Norway's MGP in Kongsvinger when the interval act - a tribute to Kate Gulbrandsen's "Mitt Liv" was on, so the only two songs I heard were the two qualifiers to the final.

Results:

Espen Hana and Surferosa to the second chance round - I'll check these songs out later :)

"Tricky" by Velvet - shock horror, a girl band who are capable of singing live and in tune! My only concern is those heels - they're a bit of a health and safety hazard aren't they! I like this: it's bright and contemporary in that currently-in-vogue electropop style, although it won't win.

Thomas Brondbo to the final. What are those 'earrings' and drab cardigan about? "Det Vart En Storm" is terribly old fashioned wave-your-hands-from-side-to-side schlager, which you would probably need to be a certain type of Norwegian to understand I guess.

Hopefully NRK will get its act together and give us slow-internet-connected people a chance to watch tonight's show again, although from what I've been reading it wasn't the best line-up of songs tonight?

One more thing: Maria Haukaas Storeng. Hasn't she, em, "grown"!