Huge improvements in Spanish second semifinal

After last week's 4-hour marathon, I was dreading what RTVE, the Spanish broadcaster had under the sleeve for their second semifinal. I had read that a shorter (much shorter, I begged) show would take place on Saturday, with technical problems fixed, the stage re-designed and, particularly important, the sound improved. A lot was said about how this was unfair to first semifinal participants, but I think that when such improvements benefit the audience, they should be welcomed, not criticized.

Well, the lovely hostess, popular Spanish singer Alaska welcomed the crowd, presented the jury, and after performance of the always great Rosario, what really matters to us took place.

To open the show we had girl band Diqesi, with a rather good song called Subiré (I'll climb up). The problem with this kind of song is that it could have struggled in Moscow (had it made it to the final, and then won the whole thing). While it's catchy, up-tempo and, well, quite fun, it doesn't have what it takes to be successful in ESC, particularly in one of the countries that has a harder time picking up votes from all around Europe.

Next up was Roel, one of the hot favorites, with his wonderful Y Ahora Dices (and now you say), backed up by Anabel Conde, Spain's representative in 1995, and who in her day was ESC runner up (losing to the very famous Nocturne). The act worked well, although his vocals were slightly off key at times. Hers were, as expected, flawless.

Third in the line up was Salva Ortega. The song is Lujuria (Lust), which has been claimed to be a blatant copy of Sarbel's Yassou Maria. I do find the resemblance, but also with more than one Ricky Martin hit. Still, the act works perfectly, he pulls it off, and I thought was a dead certain qualifier (I was wrong, he only managed second chance). One note to Salva, if he was to read this blog... the sweat stains in the shirt don't particularly make a good visual impact, either wear a different color, or work heavily in some sort of sweat control therapy (if such thing even existis).

Fourth was the night's hottest favorite, and one of the biggest candidates to win the whole thing and fly the Spanish flag to Moscow, Soraya, with La noche es para mí (The night is for me). This girl is pure fire, the song is magnificent, and it will definitely be a really really really tough decision for the Spanish public and jury to choose between her and Melody (let's face it, it's all down to these two girls) in the national final. The performance was simply flawless. The only bad note was probably the dress... it couldn't have been less flattering, even if they had tried, and let's not forget that, love it or hate it, ESC has become an image contest as well. This is my personal fave to go to Moscow (although it wouldn't bother me to see Melody win).

If Soraya had left the bar up, next performer, Virgina, brought it even higher with her lovely ballad, True love. The mixture between English and Spanish sounds incredibly good, her vocals are flawless, and here I had another dead certain qualifier in tonight's show. Hats off to Virginia, everything was just perfect in her act.

Sixth to perform was the band Calipop, with Burbuja (Bubble). The performance was nothing special, the vocals were terrible and the song is dreadful. Nothing more to say.

The turn was up for Ángeles Vela, with her Vístete de Primavera (Dress up Like Spring), which was a good surprise, since I didn’t really expect much of this one. True, it would sink in ESC (as it did), but the performance was rather fun and optimistic. I liked it, even if I didn’t want it to qualify (nor did I think it would).

Eighth was Jorge González, another of the favorites to move forward to the final. The song, Si yo vengo a enamorarte (If I come here to court you) is real good stuff, catchy, and pretty much what you might expect from a good Spanish entry. However, the vocals at times were shaky, which, took some of the great impact it might have had. Still a good overall performance, which sent him directly to the final.

What can be said about the next one? Electronikboy with Mon petit oiseau (My little bird). Sung in what with very good faith can be called French, it was plain pathetic… or plain and pathetic (I know, I had already used this comment in another post, but this performance gave it a whole new meaning). This is certainly one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen, not only in a ESC selection, buy in everything that may be considered as good taste. I have no doubt that when one of the juries said that some of the performances of the night had been pathetic, he was simply referring to this one.

To close the night we had Leahter Boys, with We’re living in a bar. The song is quite good, and the performance worked well with it. Even if it was not my cup of tea, I admit it did look very professional, and got the crowd cheering a lot.

Well, the voting commenced; differing from the first semifinal, the jury vote will be given together, instead of each one of them giving the points separately. The result was pretty much the expected: 1 point for Electronikboy, 2 points for Calipop, 3 points for Leather Boys, 4 points for Ángeles Vela, 5 points for Diqesi, 6 points for Roel, 7 for Salva Ortega, 8 for Jorge González, 10 for Virginia and 12 for Soraya.

The televote results partially agreed with the jury, giving the lowest scores to Electronikboy and Calipop, and the three top marks to Jorge González, Virgina and Soraya as well. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, respectively, went to Roel, Diqesi, Ángeles Vela, Leather Boys and Salva Ortega.

The final results were clear: Soraya, Virgina and Jorge González were going to the final directly after exact agreement between the jury vote and the televote, and Salva Ortega would have a second chance.

Thus ended a great show, with much improvement from the first one, with no surprises in the results and leaving us all quite happy.

NOTE: Spanish broadcaster has made further changes to the selection process, and Saturday 28 will see both the third semifinal and the final in one single show, so this weekend’s show promises to be yet again a long show, but probably a really exciting one. Don’t miss it!