2011: Semi Final 1 [My Thoughts]

I thought it was a great show. I ended up watching it on line on the Eurovision site after a while because the UK commentators were annoying me with their lack of knowledge and general mocking of some people. I thought Poland did a great job, the performance was good and Magdalena's vocals were great if a little shakey in the middle. Norway also had a great performance, Stella's vocals weren't the strongest but she isn't the greatest singer, she did, on the other hand have a great rapor with the audience. Albania's performance was great, Aurela's vocals were amazing I feel though that the staging wasn't so good, at points during the performance it was hard to see the stage through all the smoke. Emmy's performance of 'Boom Boom' for Armenia was not very good, she was dancing around too much and so her vocals were affected. I don't think the fact that the song isn't very good helped either. Turkey on the other hand did a good job with their performance, I didn't get why there was a need for the weird cage in the centre of the stage when the performance was just as good without it. Nina served her country well with her performance, she sang it very well and the staging was perfectly fitting with the song. Russia was one of my favourite performances of the evening, Alexey really knows how to perform to the crowd and his vocals have been consistent throughout all his rehearsals and again tonight. Anna Rossinelli gave a sweet performance for Switzerland which was vocally good but I found it a little boring. Georgia's only downfall is that their song is bad, well the chorus is bad and that's the most important part, their performance was good vocally if a little shouty in parts but it was well staged and controlled. Finland's entry I also found to be boring even if he did look like he was wearing a blousse, vocally it was top notch but it just dragged on a bit like Tom Dice did last year. Malta's entry again it's not a very good song, I understand it has a powerful message but it's not very up to date, it's sounds like a mix of Albania's entry last year "It's All About You" and Germany's 2003 entry "Let's Get Happy". I was disappointed with San Marino's efforts this evening simply because Senit's vocals let it down, the song isn't the best of the entries this year but it's a pretty little song, Senit sounded very husky and low which affected the performance for me. Croatia gave a good performance tonight, could have been a bit better vocally and Daria seemed to be walking around aimlessly a lot. Iceland's song is not one of my favourites in fact it was nearer the bottom of my list but after hearing the story behind the song it gives it a whole new emotion, vocally it was great and the simple staging was very good. Ahh Kati Wolf, this is my favourite entry this year. I really want Hungary to take the trophy and bring Eurovision to Budapest. Surprisingly though, this wasn't one of my favourite performances tonight. Kati was audibly nervouse, her vocals were all over the place and there was too much strobe lighting on the stage that it seemed to dwarf the performance, that being said it was the only song in which the crowd cheered all the way through. Portugal, well, the vocals were very good and I understand that the song has a good message to get across but I think maybe it would have been easier to get across in English, don't get me wrong I'm all for a native language entry but if you're trying to send a message then it's best to do it in a language 99% of the audience understands. Lithuania was a surprise this evening, the song is a bit on the boring side but the vocals were amazing. I didn't understand why she signed a few lines in the second verse though. Azerbaijan .. my favourite performance tonight, the staging, the vocals, the song .. all 3 were perfect, I especially liked when the light fountain came from the roof of the arena. Greece also gave a fantastic performance, it was vocally very good and I liked the dancing later on, Stereo Mike sounded a bit raspy but I'm sure it was intentional.

In regards to the 10 countries that went through I think they all deserved to go through, their performances were all respectable. I would have like to maybe see Norway, Poland & Croatia in the final but the people have voted. Including me .... for Hungary .... Twice!