First off all I must apologise for the last blog. I thought I’d posted it last night, but I hadn’t! So I’ve just posted that.
Today has been a big day for Eurovision 2008! All the delegates flew to Belgrade, Serbia to attend The Head of Delegations Meeting. The order for the semi-finals and the grand final were announced as well as the order the countries will announce their votes in the final!
FIRST SEMI FINAL (20th of May)
Delegation heads from Azerbaijan, Greece and Russia were drawn to decide themselves in which positions they’d like to start. The running order of the countries was drawn.
1. Montenegro, 2. Israel, 3. Estonia, 4. Moldova, 5. San Marino, 6. Belgium, 7. Azerbaijan, 8. Slovenia, 9. Norway, 10. Poland, 11. Ireland, 12. Andorra, 13. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 14. Armenia, 15. The Netherlands, 16. Finland, 17. Romania, 18. Russia, 19. Greece.
SECOND SEMI FINAL (22nd of May)
Delegation heads from FYR Macedonia, Portugal and Denmark were drawn to decide themselves in which position they’d like to start. The running order of the other countries was drawn.
1. Iceland, 2. Sweden, 3. Turkey, 4. Ukraine, 5. Lithuania, 6. Albania, 7. Switzerland, 8. Czech Republic, 9. Belarus, 10. Latvia, 11. Croatia, 12. Bulgaria, 13. Denmark, 14. Georgia, 15. Hungary, 16. Malta, 17. Cyprus, 18. FYR Macedonia, 19. Portugal.
THE PRESENTATION OF POINTS
It was also decided by draw in which order the 43 countries will give their points during the Final. The points will be presented in the following order: UK, FYR Macedonia, Ukraine, Germany, Estonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Albania, Belgium, San Marino, Latvia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Israel, Cyprus, Moldova, Iceland, France, Romania, Portugal, Norway, Hungary, Andorra, Poland, Slovenia, Armenia, Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey, Malta, Ireland, Switzerland, Azerbaijan, Greece, Finland, Croatia, Sweden, Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, Montenegro, Georgia and Denmark.
THE FINAL (24th of May)
The delegation head from Serbia was so lucky to be drawn to decide in which positions they would like to start. The running order of the other countries was drawn.
The Final slots will be filled out as soon as the Semi-Finalists are known.
PLEASE NOTE: All information in this article is based on statistics. The draw analysis is not supposed to be taken too seriously - of course it is always impossible to predict the outcome of the competition.
Making their minds up – the self-chosen positions
The first three countries drawn in the two semi finals and the first country drawn in the final were allowed to choose their positions themselves and we can only see few surprises: Greece decided to perform last in the first semi final and Russia to perform second last as well as F.Y.R. Macedonia and Portugal chose to take the last two positions, too. Azerbaijan was the biggest surprise going for a spot early in the running order – number seven – while Denmark will be number 13. In the final, host country Serbia was drawn first and decided to go for spot number 23 (third from last).
Openers
The first semi final will be opened by Montenegro, which takes part for the second time. Last year, they were early in the running order too and did not make it to the final. The second semi final will be opened by Iceland – the country has to perform at number one for the third time already after 1988 and 2003. On second position, Sweden will follow, which is an interesting draw as these two entries are early fan favourites and both are in the same genre and style. The final will be opened by one of the qualifiers from the semi final.
Closing entries
Greece will close the first semi final and it is the third time overall that the country performs last (previously they closed the contest in 1985 and 1995). It has to be said that no up-tempo song has qualified from the last spot in a semi final so far but regarding Greece’s success in recent years, they nevertheless have no reason to worry. The second semi final will be closed by Portugal; they previously performed the final entries in 1984 and 1986. Both ballads that were performed last in a semi final so far made it easily to the final, which should give the country hope, but those two entries have also fallen dramatically in the final. Nevertheless, Portugal must have the best chances to do well for many years. The final will be closed by a semi final qualifier.
The curse of #2
The songs performed second in the Eurovision Song Contest traditionally don’t do very well. In fact, no song performed second in a semi final has ever made it to the final. Israel has the unlucky spot in the first round – for the second year in a row already! In the second semi final, Sweden will perform at number two for the first time since 1960. As this entry follows the Icelandic entry, which is in a similar style, the voting in the second heat will be especially exciting. Even more interesting is spot number two in the final: it went to the United Kingdom for the seventh time overall and the third time in seven years. However, the United Kingdom is the country that is generally the most succesful at this position achieving the highest position from this spot at all (2nd place in 1965) and the highest top ten placing since the serious introduction of the televoting (3rd/4th place in 2002). It is also the second year in a row and the third time in four years that a big four country will perform at number two.
The (less obvious) curse of #3
Entries performed at number three have even done as worse as songs at number two and no song has qualified from a semi final from this position. Estonia, which has never qualified from the semi final so far will be number three in the first semi final while Turkey got that spot in the second heat. Obviously, Turkey has not to worry that much as the country was very succesful and recent years and the only Turkish winning song was very early in the draw, too: it was number four in 2003.
Other remarkable facts
- Like on every other occasion before, Belarus will perform in the first half
- Finland was drawn to number 16 again, its winning position in the 2006 semi final. However, as only 19 countries take part, they are later in the running order this year.
- For the first time Bulgaria is drawn in the middle. Previously, the country was always either very early or very late in the running order.
- With number 18, Russia got its fourth latest position ever but counting backwards, it is even the latest draw ever. However, two of the three entries that were similarly lately were among Russia’s least succesful ones.
TIME TO GO
In the next blog I will reveal the plans Serbian broadcaster RTS have for Eurovision 2008 and all about the theme, logo and stage. (Prepare for some pretty rad pics and vids).
Bye, Matt x
