Semi Final 2 Review

Qualifiers: Lithuania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Ukraine, Sweden, Macedonia, Norway, Estonia, Malta, Turkey

Azerbaijan are going for the whole ‘light your fire’ as the slogan for this years contest. Semi Final 1 lit that fire in style and substance, so much so it would give the Olympic torch a run for its money. Then came Semi Final 2 and that fire was damped so much it’s lucky the spark is still there.

And it always shows that running order and diaspora will always help, in no other world would Bosnia & Herzegovina have been able to qualify. As dullness goes, it was right up there, and should never have qualified, but well, it did. And at the expense of some decent songs as well. Eva Boto for Slovenia was pretty spectacular, she didn’t look like a 16 year old singing, more like a professional, but she failed to make it, and for that I will always blame Bosnia. Seemingly no matter what Bosnia send, they will qualify with ease anyway. Sigh.

And likewise with Lithuania, sure it’s a lot better than the Bosnian entry, but I struggle to see that qualifying if that wasn’t dead last. It’s even quite enjoyable once he gets past the ‘blindfold’ part, which is a positive. Ukraine, like usual, probably qualified with ease, but unlike Bosnia, they have sent a song I’d have probably sent through as well. Especially in this semi final. It’s upbeat, and while her singing is a bit annoying, it’s a nice change to have.

The expected also qualified, and it was quite a risk announcing Turkey at the very end. The song is nowhere near up my street, I can’t stand the singer or the lyrics, but being Turkey and certainly being very popular in this region will always help. Serbia, fronted by Mr. Slick himself, produced a charming, and slightly more relaxed opening than what we saw on Tuesday night. Sweden looked pretty impressive on the stage, but I have my doubts if it is the favourite everyone claims it to be. It will be a good challenger, and is clearly a unique song starting from a fantastic position. Norway looked slick on screen, even if I wasn’t terribly impressed with his vocals.

I was though still delighted for Macedonia and Malta. Kaliopi sung her heart out and it really was a fantastic change from the slow ballads in the first half of the draw, I certainly enjoyed it and I was delighted to see it qualify. I’ve liked Kurt Calleja as a bit of a guilty pleasure from the start, his performance last night justified a top 10 finish without a doubt.

There are very few choices I disagree with from those who qualified, but considering it was just such a weak selection of choices, it still remains uninspiring.