Armenia’s Artsvik released an LED eagle, Portugal’s Salvador Sobral sang in front of an enchanted forest and Poland’s Kasia Mos dazzled in a white bandage dress. But in the end only 10 of tonight’s eighteen artists managed to sing their way into the Eurovision 2017 grand final.

They are: Moldova’s Sunstroke Project, Azerbaijan’s DiHaj, Greece’s Demy, Sweden’s Robin Bengtsson, Portugal’s Salvador Sobral, Armenia’s Artsvik, Australia’s Isaiah Firebrace, Cyprus’ Hovig and Belgium’s Blanche.

Semi-Final 1: Reaction

Eurovision 2017: Semi-Final 1 qualifiers

The ten qualifiers are listed in the order in which they were revealed. During the qualifiers’ press conference afterwards each act drew which half of the grand final they would perform in. We’ve listed these below.

First half

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Moldova
  • Poland
  • Portugal

Second half

  • Australia
  • Belgium
  • Cyprus
  • Greece
  • Sweden

Semi-final 1: Eliminated acts

  • Albania
  • Czech Republic
  • Finland
  • Georgia
  • Iceland
  • Latvia
  • Montenegro
  • Slovenia

The biggest shock of the night was Finland’s non-qualification. All week Norma John have drawn loud applause in the Eurovision press room owing to Leena’s stellar vocals and the generally haunting atmosphere.

The bookies got that one right. But they stumbled with Poland, having suggested that she wouldn’t make it. She nailed it vocally and said that success comes down to being a good person. She’s all about the karma, y’all.

Did your favourites make it through? Sound off below!

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Koufis
Koufis
7 years ago

OMG GUYS! The Greek entry was supposed to be presented in a very different way. The Ukranian production agreed to What Fokas initially thought. But just FIVE days prior to the rehearsals the Production said to Fokas that the roof couldn’t hold the props it was supposed to. What we see is the 1/3 of the actual performance. Demy was supposed to sit on a swing almost in the whole performance and the lifting machine is there so as Demy could sit on the swing. Right in front of her a glass surface similar to what we have now ,but… Read more »

Ana
Ana
7 years ago
Reply to  Koufis

Finally someone!!! This just proves how horrendous host Ukraine is and how ignorant some of the eurovision fans are. My point is that as we could all see from the rehearsals she could hit every note, and if this years host was for example sweden the staging would be top quality. Shame!

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
7 years ago

@zoolander: You are right. From my eyes and ears, having heard all the songs and seen all the videos, the 2nd semi is the tougher of the two. Having said that, this is how I scored last night’s 1st semi (+ qualifier): 9.62 Finland (Norma John: “Blackbird”) 9.61 Portugal (Salvador Sobral: “Amar Pelos Dois”)+ 9.43 Armenia (Artsvik: “Fly With Me”)+ 9.41 Iceland (Svala Björgvinsdóttir: “Paper”) 9.41 Sweden (Robin Bengtsson: “I Can’t Go On”)+ 9.38 Belgium (Blanche: “City Lights”)+ 9.34 Moldova (Sunstroke Project: “Hey, Mamma!”)+ 9.33 Georgia (Tamara Gachechiladze: “Keep The Faith”) 9.31 Latvia (Triana Park: “Line”) 9.29 Azerbaijan (Diana ‘Dihaj’… Read more »

Bert
Bert
7 years ago

They should establish a new rule for the semi finals: countries that gave their 12 points to 1 particular neighbouring country in at least 3 out of the past 5 years should NEVER be in the same semi final. The rules today are clearly not good enough, cause Cyprus in my opinion would never have qualified without the usual 12 points from Greece. And Greece also got the easy 12 points from Cyprus in return. Poor Finland…

Rufio Feelwix
Rufio Feelwix
7 years ago

I did find the sound to be strange. The first string of songs all seemed to be a struggle vocally (except Georgia). I was a bit embarrassed that I dragged some friends to watch this. My qualifiers were: Armenia (amazing) Moldova (finally liked it, very good!) Portugal (thought he overdid some of his twitches) Iceland (slayed…got chills!) Azerbaijan (struggled vocally and thought some of the choreography was a bit weird) Sweden (not the same spark though) Finland (goddess) Georgia (seriously…that voice!) Latvia (she was a bit off though) Cyprus (last qualifier, very cool staging) NO! Belgium (love this song, but… Read more »

Rory
Rory
7 years ago

Why on earth did they allow Armenia, Cyprus and Greece to share a semi?

Laburnum
Laburnum
7 years ago

Latvia, Finland and Iceland were all far more deserving than Belgium for that last spot. City Lights is a good song but it doesnt come across that way whden live. Australia, Sweden, Cyprus and Greece were also very meh.

Stan
Stan
7 years ago
Reply to  Laburnum

It was a random order. Belgium usually is the last one to be called. Three years in a row now. I think Belgium was second or third

In The Navy
In The Navy
7 years ago

I just want to share my very simple opinion on three of the qualifiers form last night, who (in my opinion) delivered absolutely awful performances and do not deserve a place in Saturdays Grand Final: Australia: I have absolutely loved the effort the Australian delegation has put into Eurovision over the past couple of years … so what’s happened here? Isaiah’s performance last night was not qualification worthy, the camera work did not suit the staging, his energy was lacklustre and his vocals were all over the place (You’re no Mariah Carey Isaiah, so l leave those kind of notes… Read more »

SpirK
SpirK
7 years ago

I think that you guys are a bit more cruel than needed for Greece. She wasn’t bad vocally, she just didn’t hit the high note of the chorus, but the rest performance was vocally satisfying. You’re talking about the high note being hit by the backing vocalists like that has never happened before. Ira Losco last year also didn’t hit the high note (walk on wateeeer woohoooooo), Molly Petersson Hammar hit it for her as Ira sang the low note. It wasn’t bad and the juries rated Malta on their top 5 despite being obvious that she didn’t hit the… Read more »

zoolander
zoolander
7 years ago

Everyone keeps saying how tough this semi-final was, but in fact there were only 2 performances which I thoroughly enjoyed watching with interest and pleasure. Those were Finland and Portugal. I can also understand people voting for Poland’s vocals and Cyprus stage presence. But the rest were such a disappointment. Particullary Belgium and Australia were a huge letdown, as the studio versions were among my favorites. Blanche was almost painful to watch. Enough has been said about Greece, I can only add that I am glad the vocal abomination Montenegro did not go through.

Nerdy
Nerdy
7 years ago

Interesting point about Demi’s performance. We’re all familiar with the fact that her backing singers do the high C note in the chorus on “this is loooooove”. But earlier in both verses there is the same high C note on the lyrics “I will never let you dooooooown” and she has no problem hitting it.

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
7 years ago

After predicting 8/10 and a night’s sleep, here are my random thoughts. – Portugal’s: Ecstatic for the qualification. Staging is perfect. Silent audience was mesmerising. However, not my all-time favourite performance by him. Some of the faces came across a bit aggressive. Missed the pink square pocket to give a hint of colour. – Belgium: Very very happy for Blanche that they made after such bad press (I gladly had to bite my own tongue). – Finland and for Iceland: I am very very sad for both, but it was not a surprise to me. I think both entries in… Read more »

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
7 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

Didn’t you think that Greece and Cyprus had pretty good staging though?

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
7 years ago
Reply to  Briekimchi

Yes I do for Cyprus and that must have been an important factor to qualify. 😉 Greece was also ok, but came across a bit too camp, for my taste.

(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
7 years ago

I’m sad for Albania and Georgia, but other than that the results were fine.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
7 years ago
Reply to  (J)ESC Fanatic

Same. Albania deserved to go through based on the song and Georgia deserved to go through based on performance in my opinion.
I feel Belgium and Australia have been rather lucky!

Bernhardina
Bernhardina
7 years ago
Reply to  (J)ESC Fanatic

Completely agree! If this was a music-contest Albania and Georgia would have qualified for sure.

Devilchu
Devilchu
7 years ago

Yessss!! Salvador was the King of the evening!! He did so well, go for gold Portugal!! <3

All my favorites except one made it through. Poor Finland. </3

Best of the evening: Portugal, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Finland

Worst: Greece(Demy could not hit a single high note, her voice could curdle butter), Latvia, Slovenia…and my own country Sweden. Robyn your vocals were really off on the big night, sorry. D:

Escaddict
Escaddict
7 years ago

The worst act was Belgium. City Lights is a dreary song to begin with and at the Semi Final the vocals were dreadful & Blanche gave a wooden performance. Horrible, in every way.

JP
JP
7 years ago
Reply to  Escaddict

Well that’s a matter of personal taste isn’t it. I think this song is stunning and her performance matches the song in every way!!!

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
7 years ago
Reply to  Escaddict

I thought Blanche’s vocal was really bad tonight. Along with Triana Park, it is not what I would expect from professional singers sadly. Hard to take when Finland and Georgia were so much better vocally but just with less interesting songs.

Bernhardina
Bernhardina
7 years ago
Reply to  Escaddict

I agree. Belgium was terrible, one of the worst of the night! And I’ve never been a big fan of the song BUT I think the song itself is worthy of the final, HOWEVER the performance in the semi was NOT deserving!

CryWolf
CryWolf
7 years ago

Strange how very few people seem to have problems with the very average quality of the sound. Most of the voices sounded way to hard, the voices were too much upfront, you heard them above the music, they didn’t blend very well together with the music as is the case during most live concerts. By doing this the whole semi-final became a bit lackluster. The singers from Greece, Montenegro, Albania have very average voices so they were lost from the start (Greece can thank again their diaspora). Belgium, with a very fragile voice, became by times pretty strange and not… Read more »

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
7 years ago

All deserved, except for Australia (baaad live vocals, no stage presence, appalling visuals) and Cyprus (useless song). Poland really surprised me, I was never fond of the song until last night.

Thomasfan22
Thomasfan22
7 years ago

Well i predicted FInland not qualifying but i’m still a bit shocked.
My biggest shock was Latvia though. I absolutely loved them! How didn’t they qualify?
Also, Cyprus shouldn’t have made it.

Trocatroc
Trocatroc
7 years ago

Watching from home, most of it sounded really awful. The standout was Portugal because the guy can actually sing and Moldova because it was fun and catchy and it’s the Eurovision and people want to dance as well as be moved. The other standouts were the big 5 clips, particularly UK and Italy.

Kostka
Kostka
7 years ago

So happy about Poland. Kasia deserves this as she had one of the best performances this night. She slayed. She was phenomenal and this moment when was only violins, it sounded epic at stage with crowd around. One of the song that worked out during concert. I’m happy about Azerbeijan and Belgium. The second one till now is best performance from Blanche. Eventhough few other singers were better at quality voice, this song couldn’t stay in semi. Still hope she’ll improve, even a little. Portugal and Armenia – it’s great they’re still with us. I couldn’t imagine grand final without… Read more »

Napaw
Napaw
7 years ago

Another thing: what exactly was up with the sound last night? All artist couldn’t be heard when they were saying their thank you’s right after performing?

Marcu
Marcu
7 years ago

FINLAND no go through?
F U EUROPE
FFFFFF UUUUUUUUU

Flynn
Flynn
7 years ago

Why is everyone ripping on Demy for not hitting a couple of notes and defending Sweden as one of their top 5 when Robin was out of tune the entire time. It was almost as bad as Montenegro in vocals department but nowhere near as entertaining

Racal
Racal
7 years ago
Reply to  Flynn

“Not hitting a couple notes”? She just stopped singing when the high notes came and let her backing vocalists take over, somehow hoping that no one would notice. Don’t go to Eurovision with a song you can’t sing yourself otherwise it’s just lip-syncing, that’s all I’m saying…

But I agree with you: Sweden was equally bad and off key the whole time. It was 15th in my ranking after the semi.

TasM
TasM
7 years ago

If there’s one country that screams jury-bait it’s ebu darling Australia. Isaiah was horrible vocally in times. Perhaps he was saved by the staging (thank Sacha Jean Baptiste for that matter). Y’all complaining about Greece, but apart from the high note, the rest of the song was absolutely fine-and the staging too. Belgium qualified because of the fans of the studio version. City lights has enough views on Youtube and spotify and fans who don’t worry about Blanche being anti-charismatic and shy on stage. Kudos to Cyprus, saved by the eventful staging and Hovig was on point vocally. I am… Read more »

a
a
7 years ago
Reply to  TasM

stop with the spam

Racal
Racal
7 years ago
Reply to  TasM

“Belgium qualified because of the fans of the studio version. City lights has enough views on Youtube and spotify and fans who don’t worry about Blanche being anti-charismatic and shy on stage”. Fans represent only a very small portion of the viewers, it’s certainly not enough to make a song go through. Most people discovered the song last night, and it was enough to make them vote for it (otherwise she wouldn’t be topping iTunes charts all over Europe since last night). “Kudos to Cyprus, saved by the eventful staging and Hovig was on point vocally”. An “eventful staging” that… Read more »

TasM
TasM
7 years ago
Reply to  Racal

In the case of Belgium, the song had millions of views before the semi,and was the song that was the second most watched after Italy. Yes, it had some new fans but it was also on charts before. There was a considerable amount of people who had already loved the studio version enough to want it to go through. What’s interesting was that i watched the semi final with my non-eurofan friends who didn’t know anything about Loic Nottet and Cyprus and thought Hovig had better stage presence than Blanche, whom they had forgotten after Azerbaijan and asked me to… Read more »

PavlosGr
PavlosGr
7 years ago

Hello. Here in greece we gathered with my friends to watch the semi (they are not eurofans, it was the first time hearing the songs, except from the greek one). Here are their reactions: 1.Sweeden : 12 bad, 1liked the staging 2.Georgia: 13 bad 3.Australia: 13 nice song bad staging 4.Albania: Nobody liked it, but 1 of my friends was impressed by her vocals 5. Belgium: 8 amazed, 2 nice song but boring staging, 3 boring 6. Montenegro: Non stop laughing 7.Finland: 2 Amazed, 1 liked it, 10 boring 8.Azerbaijan: they all liked the song and the staging 9. Portugal:… Read more »

(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
7 years ago
Reply to  PavlosGr

It’s very interesting to see how non-eurofans vote.

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
7 years ago
Reply to  PavlosGr

Interesting

Leo M
Leo M
7 years ago

Delighted Cyprus and Belgium qualified but surprised Finland didn’t make it. It is like Greta Salome all over again. She sang it beautifully and the staging was amazing, not like Greece and Australia which was two of the worst vocals. Poland was the biggest grower for me, she nailed it and could spring a suprise in the final and finish top 10.

Marco
Marco
7 years ago

Finland’s song needed more than one listening to feel it (for non-English speakers), and I think that is what have killed Finland. I loved the melody, the lyrics…and when there was only one spot left, I wanted Finland so hard to pass, even though I knew the spot was for Belgium

mikespain
mikespain
7 years ago
Reply to  Marco

I don’t know why everybody compares finland and belgium
both should have passed

and Cyprus or Poland should’ve not

Racal
Racal
7 years ago
Reply to  mikespain

That’s only because Belgium was announced last, so people simplemindedly assume that the choice was between them and Finland. 😉 And yet for all we know, Belgium might have placed 1st or 2nd and qualify comfortably, at the expense of no one.

Btw, Belgium also didn’t get any neighbouring vote last night, contrary to Finland/Sweden, Greece/Cyprus/Armenia (Hovig is of Armenian heritage), Azerbaijan/Georgia/Armenia, etc. So if anyone took Finland’s place, I’d say it might very well be Greece (only thanks to Cyprus’ 12 points), Cyprus (thanks to Greece’s and Armenia’s 12), etc.

Irene
Irene
7 years ago
Reply to  Racal

Oooor… Finland couldn’t get through in spite of Sweden’s (and nordic friends) 12 points. Seriously Portugal trashed Finland in the dreadfully boring demographic is all.

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
7 years ago
Reply to  Irene

If Estonia had been in this semi, Finland would surely have made it through.

Irene
Irene
7 years ago
Reply to  CookyMonzta

So you’re saying Finland barely didn’t pass on 11th place. We’ll learn the results anyhow eventually~~~
Personally for me even if Portugal didn’t exist that song didn’t deserve left scoreboard in the final (let’s not be too harsh and say no final).

dudedil
dudedil
7 years ago
Reply to  Racal

If you think Azerbaijan and Armenia vote for each other, you don’t follow Eurovision or understand global politics.

AndersP
AndersP
7 years ago

It will be interesting to see how the jury and public votes deviated. Australia was awful last night, Belgium and Sweden were very disappointing. They may have been much better on Monday. Maybe it is time to reconsider having the juries vote on the actual live broadcast. I’m so upset about Finland, it was magical (up until the point our commentator interrupted them midway). It should have been a qualifier over some of the out of tune rubbish that succeeded. On another note, did anyone else notice how little atmosphere there seemed to be last night compared to previous years.… Read more »

Jane
Jane
7 years ago

It was a good result, I think.. Although I’d rather see Latvia or Finland in grand final instead of Azerbaijan, cause as I love the studio version of Dihaj’s song as much I hate the live performance. She sounded horrible, it was weird, I didn’t like it. Anyway, congratulations to Kasia, Hovig and Blanche. You were my favourite last night, good luck in the final!

ijyahoo
ijyahoo
7 years ago
Reply to  Jane

Almost all countries had very bad sound mix. Only those with modest sound arrangements were fine, like Moldova, Armenia,Sweden,Cyprus.But every song with a bigger production…. The music too low, singer too loud and you can hear every little breath and mistake which you shouldn’t and they sound off key though they aren’t. Horrible. That was not Diana`s or Tamara`s, Lindita`s mistake.

LAHAYANO
LAHAYANO
7 years ago
Reply to  Jane

Lol and you think Latvia sounded good?!

The girl couldn’t sing!

Jane
Jane
7 years ago
Reply to  LAHAYANO

Both of them can’t sing obviously, but both of them got great songs. I like Latvia’s performance more, but it’s just my opinion. And that doesn’t mean I hate Azerbaijan or something. I love Skeletons even more than Line, it’s an amazing song and was on my top ten. I just didn’t like her live show. Latvian performance was nice for eyes (more than for ears), colourful, I like it. I just think that Dihaj could do that better. I also agree with the first comment about bad sound, last years it just sounded better and more professional, even camera… Read more »

ijyahoo
ijyahoo
7 years ago
Reply to  Jane

Personally, I liked Latvia`s studio than Azerbaijan`s. But yesterday, I changed my opinion after seeing overall performances

Ste
Ste
7 years ago

On the whole I thought the right songs went through this year – BUT I thought Svala from Iceland really nailed it and it was a real shame she didn’t go through. She sang beautifully and really shone….two years in a row of injustice for Iceland!

Bravo to Greece, Belgium and Azerbaijan – all essential tracks for the final!

Ste
Ste
7 years ago
Reply to  Ste

Oh and I forgot to say WHY DID ANYONE VOTE FOR AUSTRALIA? He looked terrified that he was gong to fall off that treadmill….!

Trevlo
Trevlo
7 years ago
Reply to  Ste

Sweden had the treadmill and probably won the semi final

AurelianTamisan
AurelianTamisan
7 years ago

The nice surprises in this semi: Moldova and Poland. Moldova, simple and effective, they simply stole the show last night. Poland impressed vocally, with a good song, Kasia did exactly what should had to reach the final. The big dissapointments: Georgia, Montenegro and Belgium. Georgia, too monotone, no staging show, she didn’t use her powerful voice at her biggest potential, she didn’t get the song at the highest level. Montenegro, less show on stage than expected and bad vocals. Belgium – no comment. And of course, the biggest dissapointment of the evening, Finland not reaching the final. Great song, normal… Read more »

mikespain
mikespain
7 years ago

Totally disargree with your spamming comments everywhere on the site
Belgium was really good and she is getting better every time!
Finland indeed should have reached the final

Azerbaijan and Cyprus could have stayed out for me

mikespain
mikespain
7 years ago

what do you think about the 3 hosts?

to me they were boring, not funny at all, and their english was…(no comments)

Last year in Sweden they were so funny and did it soooo much better

Kimo
Kimo
7 years ago
Reply to  mikespain

Last year in Sweden were only gay jokes.

M_K
M_K
7 years ago

Some thoughts on yesterday’s show: *I did not like the performance by the three hosts. We all know that they follow in big footsteps, but this was close to cringeworthy – their “jokes” are even below JESC standards. *The stage looked much better on screen than I expected. *Jamala was AMAZING last night, I really enjoyed both her performances. Can’t wait to see her in the final again. *The Verka Serduchka segment was very entertaining – seems like Ukraine has its own Linda Woodruff now. Maybe Verka should have hosted the whole show instead (that would have been great) –… Read more »

ceee
ceee
7 years ago
Reply to  M_K

Verka can’t speak english. And the hosts were just that_HOSTS_they were not trying to steal the show.

M_K
M_K
7 years ago
Reply to  ceee

Well, they were trying to be funny but it didn’t work, that’s the reason why it was terrible.

ceee
ceee
7 years ago
Reply to  M_K

Good or bad jokes, I liked that the hosts presence was minimal and only when needed.

Zebb
Zebb
7 years ago
Reply to  ceee

I was bored with their pronounciation. They tried too much to imitate some fluent accent or whatever and that sunk down all their textes. Also I would replace brunette guy for some comedian, in better scenery.

Hadiraja
Hadiraja
7 years ago
Reply to  Zebb

It was obvious that the hosts were trying to imitate an American accent (except Timur) but it didn’t play out rather well because the hosts already have a thick Ukrainian accent. Timur on the other hand didn’t but he had such a thick Ukrainian accent that you sometimes couldn’t understand what he was going to say (thank God for our commentators!). The regular hosts should skip the exaggerated American accent and just try to articulate as good as possible.

Napaw
Napaw
7 years ago

Considering that to this day I’m still not over Margaret not winning the Polish National selections last year it will take me a while to accept that Finnland did not make it last night.

The song clearly stood out and honestly, I even considered Blackbird a potential winner.

No offence but how did Australia win over Finland? It is beyond me… where were the juries? How did it not receive 12 points from every jury from each Country?

I was shocked last night to say the least.

AurelianTamisan
AurelianTamisan
7 years ago
Reply to  Napaw

It seems that Australia is a ‘must’ qualifier every year, beside what they’re sending. Think if Albania or Iceland would have had that song with that interpreter. Would they have qualified? I don’t think so.

Málna
Málna
7 years ago
Reply to  Napaw

The same here. After yesterday show I really thought, that Finland or Iceland will qualify over Australia… I don’t like this performance, boring and not memorable at all. But also I have two suprises: Cyprus and Poland. Cyprus – great vocally and this thing with walking on the line was great – I voted for them. Poland – I was suprise by her vocal skills, and all staging. I didn’t like Latvia – I was very dissapointment about this preformance 🙁

DenizNL
DenizNL
7 years ago

Very happy with the results. It was a tough semifinal.

MTD
MTD
7 years ago

I am just waiting for Saturday to see Greece ending bottom 5. 🙂

Hovig elevated that (copy) song of his to an entirely new level and he was really top notch. I am happy for him. His performance was easily one of the best (performance wise, song wise…well, it’s “Human”). Georgia was also great vocally.

All in all, kind of a terrible audio mixing for many entries. Sweden included. The show itself, kinda boring. Having looks and not script, ain’t actually a winning material (the hosts).

Savvas
Savvas
7 years ago
Reply to  MTD

WTF dude? Get a life. You cannot consider yourself a fan when you wish a country bottom 5. After that, just prepare yourself because Demy is there to take the crown!

LAHAYANO
LAHAYANO
7 years ago
Reply to  Savvas

I don’t wish anything bad on Greece or the Greek delegation, but that girl has only her looks going for her.

Song is utter tripe and she cannot even reach the notes herself which is really quite sad.

I would put her firmly last in the final. That’s not where I expect her to end up, mind you, it just didn’t do anything for me.

Rhingo
Rhingo
7 years ago

Boring semi. Almost everything was predicted beforehand. The stupid part however is that many undeserving acts got through. Seriously – Belgium and Australia were very bad and only Isaiah’s performance was surprisly so. During rehearsals he was on point. In their place Finland, Georgia would have been better even with both being dreadfully boring.
As a whole there was little competition. It was either bad song with good vocals or good song with bad vocals. Disappointed.
SF2 will slay however. 14 of the songs has very good chance to qualify and only 10 will go through ^^

Dew
Dew
7 years ago

The production this year is so bad!!! The sound mixing, staging, crowd, and the hosts are really bad. I miss Stockholm now………

Olsi
Olsi
7 years ago
Reply to  Dew

I think the same. Also the stage wasn’t so much interactive with singers as in Stockholm! It was the poorest show ever. Even Kyiv 2005 was much better.

AndersP
AndersP
7 years ago
Reply to  Dew

It’s really disappointing this year. I had high hopes for the stage after seeing the photos, but visually, this is worse than Oslo 2010, even with all the LED screens.

Arc
Arc
7 years ago
Reply to  Dew

Yes. It felt very amateurish (of course by Eurovision standards, but still). Sometimes when the camera panned out you could see large areas with no people (the crowd also seemed more dull and quiet than previous years, don’t know why that is), camera angles were off and during Finland’s performance there was actually a cameraman in the picture, the hosts were pretty awful, there were a lot of mixing problems and during many of the performances it felt like the artists couldn’t hear themselves properly. Not impressed. I’m sort of hoping for Sweden to win again so at least we’ll… Read more »

Zebb
Zebb
7 years ago

About this nagging over Greece and Cyprus I’ve got some discussion in my room and two other agreed that Cyprus can go through. Both were damn unoriginal at staging, but Hovig was convincing while Demy deadly bored us. Those that I personally regret – Georgia should be over Greece or Poland, albeit strongly sung by Kasia and obviously winning by support. I really loved Svala, wasn’t much fan of song, but she made my heart and she sounded great. Finland, closing my top5, somehow didn’t made it that touching for me, but they still deserved to pass through. Australia was… Read more »

Zebb
Zebb
7 years ago
Reply to  Zebb

I forgot to add:
Portugal – less gimmicks from Salvador, exactly how I wanted! It was so lovely!

LAHAYANO
LAHAYANO
7 years ago
Reply to  Zebb

I cannot wait for Portugal to finally take home the title after almost 50 attempts.

Wouldn’t mind a Belgian win either although us Dutchies next door would probably never hear the end of it. You deserve it, lieve Zuiderburen.

Eve
Eve
7 years ago

This is very close to my prediction, yay, I failed only for one place 😀 I adore Latvia’s song, but let’s face it, performance was disaster! I didn’t see any energy and atmosphere required for that song, she was just staring at the camera and looked like freakin’ Annabelle doll! ( she should put pink wig, that would give her smoother and more funky look). Everything looked so amateurish and fake! I’m glad that Cyprus go through, Hovig’s performance was excellent, he owned that stage with great and positive energy, although I’m not fun of the song. On the other… Read more »

Milla
Milla
7 years ago

Now Italy has a true challenger in Portugal in the final. That is the most interesting part. The clip from Italy in yesterdays semifinal was not convincing. Too much was happening and Francesco seemed all over the place as well, like a hyperactive child. Perhaps all worked up about the hype surrounding him. Portugal deserves to win. I actually thought that Sweden would miss the final. Because the vocals and the backdrop was probobly among the worst. But Robin and his dancers delivered a steady performance on those treadmills in other ways. But we won’t have anything to do with… Read more »

ceee
ceee
7 years ago

I’m happy with the qualifiers, and about the 3 male hosts, I like them too.
Yes, their jokes were predictable, self irony about loving selfies, but last year the hosts sing and danced. What could Ukrainians do ?
Sing more ?
Dance more ?
I like that they’ve choose simplicity.

Eve
Eve
7 years ago
Reply to  ceee

Agree, people are too harsh, they did well <3

Denis
Denis
7 years ago
Reply to  ceee

They could be funny!

LAHAYANO
LAHAYANO
7 years ago
Reply to  ceee

I didn’t mind the hosts either, though I don’t understand why they couldn’t have found three guys that spoke better English.

The blond one was fine in my opinion, the other two were slightly less comprehensible.

Verka
Verka
7 years ago
Reply to  LAHAYANO

Actually in interviews they speak perfect english, even proved that can have british accent (not requested), I don’t know what happened on stage, but I don’t care.
Some people will always love Petra and Mans, just like they will always love Melodifestivalen and everything that is there will be pure gold for them, I try to ignore that.

Gemelli5
Gemelli5
7 years ago

I had completely different favourites before the semifinal but so many artists didn`t deliver. This was the weakest semifinal I have ever seen and I have seen all of them. Here is my unpopular opinion in alphabetical order:

Best: Cyprus, Poland
Good: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Czech Republik, Finland, Georgia, Sweden
Meh: Albania, Australia, Belgium, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Moldova, Portugal, Slovenia
Worst: Montenegro (I haven`t seen anything so bad for years)

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
7 years ago
Reply to  Gemelli5

@Gemelli5: Regarding your comment on Montenegro, you will when Fusedmarc from Lithuania take the stage tomorrow. The term “exceptionally bad” doesn’t even cut it, especially when I think even Vilija’s performance in 2014 is much better.

Denis
Denis
7 years ago

I don’t think why people assumes Portugal won the semi final. He couldn’t even win televotes in Portugal, why should he do it here? Because fans say so?
Doubt very much he won. Juries favour English language songs and songs with hit factor. None of it is true for Portugal.

LAHAYANO
LAHAYANO
7 years ago
Reply to  Denis

Is that why Portugal is charting in so many countries?

I’m not surprised by a Portuguese language song doing well. Ai seu te pego and Balada (admittedly, they were Brazilian) did well across Europe too.

JP
JP
7 years ago
Reply to  Denis

But you don’t need to win any of the votes (jury or televoting) to be the overall winner. And you “don’t think” or you “don’t know”?

Benny
Benny
7 years ago

Georgia and Albania should of qualified. I did expect more from Albania performance, as personally it didn’t look dramatic enough in my opinion. If Sasha Jean Baptiste helped with choreographing Albanias performance, it could of stood out in a dramatic way- more stunning than Georgia, whose performance was amazing! Her vocals were top notch, though. I hope she gets the chance to duet with Mariah Carey some day!

Hi
Hi
7 years ago

Pys sad that the bad Sonys go to the final. I whould se Finland, Montenegro and Slovenia, not bad Song from Aizerbaidjan, Armenia and the worst Song this year Portugal. Its sooo boring

JP
JP
7 years ago
Reply to  Hi

You need to buy a few SIM cards, go to an area bordering many countries and vote.

it made me happy
it made me happy
7 years ago

Haha im so happy that Finland did not qualify!! It was good lesson to so called better people who believe that they are something special because they only were able to understand it. It was funeral song and nothing special. Club la perse would have qualified and maybe some other finalists too. Finland choosed worst song and hopefully those better people does not anymore vote. Also it was other countries jurys which voted that song. Of course they vote worst song. Song was actually so bad and boring that it lost interest in Finland to whole competition this year. Eurovision… Read more »

LAHAYANO
LAHAYANO
7 years ago

It’s not called the Eurovision Happy Song Contest.

It because of people like you that many countries keep sending joke entries and gimmicks rather than serious artists with good songs.

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
7 years ago
Reply to  LAHAYANO

@LAHAYANO: Aye! If Carl Espen (Norway 2014) could make the final and finish 8th with a sad song, so could Norma John.

Esc fan
Esc fan
7 years ago

I watched the show with non eurovision fans-they listened to the songs for the first time. Some of their reaction:
Greece: they loved it
Armenia: they liked it a lot
Portugal: mixed reactions. Some absolutely loved it, others didnt
Ajerbaijan:They loved it
Belgium:they liked the song but not her performance and facial reactions
Finland:they said that the graphics are good but the song dull
Australia:they didnt like it at all
Moldova:mixed reactions, mostly negative

adam0806
adam0806
7 years ago

Strictly based on the live performances (vocal + staging + wow factor),

01 – Sweden (? staging)
02 – Finland ? (? vocal)
03 – Poland (? vocal)
04 – Cyprus (? staging)
05 – Moldova
06 – Georgia ? (? vocal)
07 – Portugal (? vocal)
08 – Azerbaijan (? staging)
09 – Armenia
10 – Albania ?
11 – Iceland
12 – Belgium
13 – Slovenia
14 – Australia (? vocal)
15 – Latvia
16 – Montenegro (? vocal)
17 – Czech Republic
18 – Greece (? vocal)

Blue Rain
Blue Rain
7 years ago

Sorry but I didnt like Finland.It was kind of boring. Australia was even worse…

Ern
Ern
7 years ago

Seriously, did people actually think Greece would fail to get into the final?

The gay swans alone were enough to put Greece through. However, to be fair, Demy has got to step-up her game in time for the grand final, or she will not get into the top 10.

Ron
Ron
7 years ago
Reply to  Ern

Even if she hits those high notes that she missed every single time, there’s no way this is making the top 10. In 2008 maybe, in 2017 nope.

Ern
Ern
7 years ago
Reply to  Ron

Gay swans !!

Greece will land somewhere between #7 and #15 in the grand final, regardless of how she sings on that night.

She will have the support of the Greek diaspora, gay swan lovers and friendly neighbors (Cyprus, Albania, Armenia and some others). Also, Fokkas Evangelinos’ friends on the juries will give him a few votes.

The issues is whether her vocals will deter some voters, so she does need to perform well to get into the top 10.

Just Me
Just Me
7 years ago
Reply to  Ern

Greece has a generic pop song (not like the one form 2916) and they have a long history of always going in the final. I dont know why so many peope thought Greece will not qualify

Lara
Lara
7 years ago

Seriously, I’m the only one who’s not surprised about Cyprus and Finland. Personally I love both, but I was pedictable that Hovig will qualify… Firstly the running order helped him… It looked very nice on TV… Then, oh come on… I am almost sure that he got the highest points from Armenia and Greece. Again, the running order killed Finland… The song was great but seriously, while making my top I forgot that they even performed… I’m more shoked that Latvia didn’t make it..