The next steps of the Eurovision 2019 journey are in motion. With all 41 songs now entered, the Head of Delegation meeting is now taking place in Israel. Here, each broadcaster will submit their songs formally, along with staging plans and more.
As part of the HoD meeting, host country Israel also draws their spot in the grand final running order at random. We now know that Kobi Marimi will open the second half of the grand final, as he sings 14th in the running order.
Kobi Marimi – Home
There’s some not-so-good news with that for Israeli fans hoping for double success. The last time that a host nation performed 14th was Austria’s The Makemakes in 2015. They, of course, ended up as the self-appointed “zeroes of our time”…and scored the dreaded nul points. Let’s hope “Home” avoids that unwanted accolade too!
Of course, there’s some more recent good news from spot 14. Mikolas Josef scored the Czech Republic’s best ever result from that position in 2018, finishing 6th in the grand final. Australia’s Isaiah also finished in the top ten in 2017 from the same spot.
The Olsen Brothers also took victory from the same position in 2000 – so not all hope is lost!
Now they have all the songs, Israeli broadcaster KAN will get the chance to select the running order for both the semi-finals. Following the semi-final allocation draw, they’ll put songs in the best order for production and to create a memorable, engaging show for viewers.
The date for announcement has varied over the years, but we can expect news soon: the running order for the semi-finals was unveiled on April 3 last year.
Do you think Israel has a good spot in the running order? Can Kobi pull off a better home country result than what we’ve seen recently? Let us know your thoughts down below.
welp this won’t help him escape last place
what happened to the review video?
The wiwibloggs review hit the nail on the head – Israel did a fantastic job with this song and it will do really well. I admit I was highly skeptical of Kobi, but this is great. There are similar reviews all over, such as here: https://youtu.be/Ok1aR2UL-OQ The people who comment on this site are so out of touch with reality. I believe it is a kind of feedback loop here where a few people start an opinion and everyone cycles it. The results do not align with the comments on this site (the wiwibloggs video reviews are very good). Several… Read more »
Yet another review saying the same thing as wiwibloggs – https://youtu.be/LH9IsoDhHDs
Oh please, if you wanna troll about UK, at least do it under some UK- related article!
Sorry but wiwibloggs when you will show about Albania ?? They took out a new video clip ! Yoy are too late
The sad news coming from the reference group is Bjorkman being the show producer again. Waiting his retirement so he can stop messing up the contest
I agree to some extent with you but let’s not deny that all that he wants to do is make eurovision like melfest with prerecorded vocals and generic pop. The only positive attribution he made is the voting system and the fact that it has suspence now.
Many people say that he will take Jon ola’s place, which will make his power even bigger. And that won’t be good I think. He doesn’t care about the history of the contest or playing fair. He just wants to make ratings.
omg not at all! He didnt did anything about the mess 2 years ago with russia and ukraine, and he also remained silent this year! How on earth a show that is created to unite people allows a country to ban another or to blackmail a chosen artist! I remember the statement by ebu on that was something generic saying that they cant intervene. Maybe they couldnt do anything with maruv, but in 2017 they could. That was an all time low
What is up with the prerecorded vocals? I missed those news.
Are we talking backing vocals?
Yes, melodifestivalen uses prerecorded backing vocals
I think that the voting system is the worst of his additions, because much of the suspense is fake. Showing Cesár Sampson in a four-way split screen with just three reveals to go last year is a case in point. He’d already had his televote points, so there was no way AUT could stay ahead of ISR / CYP / ITA. Yet Björkman thought it was a good idea to pretend an act in that position could still win.
I want that ESC job one day. I dare to dream. I’m getting on a bit though. Can’t hold on forever. 😛
If his stage Presence and everything is well on the night, honestly although I have my favourites like Portugal, Cyprus, And know Serbia and Switzerland and quite some others songs are good, I don’t see why Israel can’t either win again, or place highly, his song is authentic, it’s got a good ethnic feel to it, he’s charismatic when he sings, so if my favourites don’t win, I wouldn’t mind Israel winning again if they could afford to host next year. Good luck Israel.
Israel should be happy if they don’t end up in the bottom with Germany
Oh I haven’t heard Germany yet is it any good, do you recommend listening to their song.???
Yeah I just heard Germany and wow. its sad how they sent such a high quality song last year, to sister sister, I’m really surprised I think Israel has a better chance then them at not being at the bottom.
Honestly, he wouldn’t even qualify if he wasn’t an automatic qualifier. Imo, he will end up 20-26. The song has nothing special, and I’m sorry to say, but he seems very boring to me. ‘I am someone, I am someone’, singing only about himself. Not relatable at all.
It seems that you really but really didn’t get the message of the song….it talks about the journey our soul is facing until we reach a point we accept our selfs and appreciate our self’s…returning home…means returning to your self ..to find a rest for your self….how can you even think that kobi sings about himself coming from ego,? What’s wrong with this world.. people are writing bad comments on songs they don’t even understand
Well there’s you pulled my heart, I took it in, it made me someone, I am someone, that’s quite relatable to people I imagine.
Even Germany is better than this boring song for me.
Kobi was very bad boy who suffered from very low self esteem…the scars made him someone(:
*fat not bad(:
appallingly bland
Host getting last again, how to ruin your fantastic UP-TEMPO win by sending a slow snoozefest next.
Israel ZERO POINTS!
Eurotrash fans are only looking for bops and divas. Eurovision fans looking for quality. This is it! Quality.
I couldn’t agree more!
My ranking of the 41 songs:
1. Italy
2. Netherlands
3. Sweden
4. Switzerland
5. Cyprus
6. Norway
7. Spain
8. Greece
9. Malta
10. Estonia
11. Belgium
12. France
13. Czech Republic
14. Romania
15. Portugal
16. North Macedonia
17. Israel
18. Denmark
19. Russia
20. Armenia
21. Azerbaijan
22. Ireland
23. Australia
24. United Kingdom
25. Montenegro
26. Serbia
27. Croatia
28. Finland
29. Moldova
30. Germany
31. Austria
32. Lithuania
33. Poland
34. Iceland
35. Albania
36. San Marino
37. Latvia
38. Slovenia
39. Belarus
40. Hungary
41. Georgia
Hahaha have you put Ireland at number 22 on purpose
Yes.. hehe.. 8p
Imagine if Ireland qualified and came 22nd in the final, that would be ironic!
I love to see my country first. That’s a feeling… 🙂
By this song, I’m guessing they don’t want us back next year!
Yeah we chose quality so we won’t have to host again.,,(:..you enough trash pop songs that can make thier country host next year….if Portugal is not taking this contest it tells everything…this is art, ,novation…not the trash pop songs that are leading the gambling sites . ..we all know that trash is usually what most people listen too
Thank you for enlighten us all with your endless wisdom, Gili. Happily there are wise people like you who tell others what is art and what is not, and what people should like!
What about Israel last year? That was also leading the odds, and was also a bop? What did you say last year? That the contest needs bops and ballads are boring and trash probably. So biased and subjective.
Anna dear. Don’t confuse Gili with me. (I mentioned bops and Divas) Toy is not a good or a quality song and I couldn’t care less if it would win or not. I only cared about the world getting to know the huge musical talent that is Netta. And this year the world needs to hear the amazing live vocals Kobi is known for in Israel. He also got a quality song… That’s just a bonus.
I was answering to Gili.
do we know the date for semi-finals running order?
good luck kobi
like the Israeli and the netherlands songs!
Not a bad draw, all things considered.
True, but opening the second half ain’t bad. It’ll be set off.
I am more concerned who would get the cursed number 2 in grand final.
A ballad which is still able to qualify but bad enough to be the victim?
Lithuania? Austria? Hungary? But I do like the Lithuanian song.
That’s why it should be a random draw for everyone !
No way, how to EBU fix draw for their babies.
OMG, how did ESC survived from 1956 to 2012. And i don’t agree with the so called point of view of organizers to make shine the songs. Having Cyprus, Switzerland and Malta back to back would decide the viewer which one is really the best from similar style because having one perform #5 for example and some other at #22 will do more favour to the song coming last.
I think the producer’s running order has its merits, but I don’t like the way they favor the big “contenders” by giving them the prime 20-25 slots, and dumping apparent no-hopers into No. 2. Spain will probably open the show this year if they get drawn in the first half. I don’t like the predictableness of it all. The running order becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We know that spot will not give to Australia,Sweden,Malta,The Netherlands,Belgium, all EBU babies . Maybe Russia will sing 2nd in final.
Yes, we know that because none of those countries will even perform in the first half except for sweden and sweden actually has a good song -_-
I mean, lots of good songs have tanked because of bad draws. I think specifically of when the Netherlands, who had a chill acoustic ballad, got drawn right next to Germany, who had a better chill acoustic ballad, in 2004.
Last year when I knew my #1 Czech Republic had been allocated to number 14, right after France who got the best spot 13, I was mad that they were trying to push France up at the expense of Czech Republic, but it turned out Mikolas did better than France.
And the worst I remember was Hungary 2005 drawing 1st position for the final. At that time the big 4 and automatic qualifiers had already drawn their position. So the remaining spots were allocated to the qualifiers and the order was decided by sort ascending with the qualifiers announcement. 10 enveloppes randomely picked by the presentators and bang they picked first the enveloppe of Hungary.
The Big 5 draw their half on the opening ceremony.
The big 5 draw first their half a few days before the first SF. Last year 4 of the big 5 have drawn top half.
Ziv, it will be a slow tempo song which has only scraped through to the final. They won’t give a bad draw to a strong contender. Which is a pity, because we’ll never see a winner from number 2 under the current regime
And it got us the last place. Well with that song and the homophobic band it was predictable.
With voting system from 2016, Austria would be on 23 th place with 40 points all from juries ,Germany 25 th. UK would finished last on 27 th place with 19 points.
Off topic but albania has released the revamped version and the official music video
Something tells me that he would have looked equally excited in the picture if it had been any other number between 1 and 26.
I don’t think he really felt excited. If he could choose, I bet he would not pick 14.
Gosh the host guy is so annoying…
Glad I’m not the only who thinks that…
He’s just building rapport among others, that’s all. Oftentimes, humorous.
If he is annoying then you are the master of it…
Well, for me neither of our “zeroes” deserved to come last – not even one point for the burning piano?
Evi Papamichael, Head of Delegation from Cyprus, who finished second last year behind Israel’s Netta, had the honour of executing the draw under supervision of Jon Ola Sand. The outcome: Israel will perform 14th in the Grand Final.
I was under the impression that the host country can choose their running order? That’s what Germany did in 2011?
Portugal’s running order was drawn
Beautiful song and an amazing singer. Israel is behind you Kobi! (because not doing so will not be smart). Good luck Kobi. Best male ballad this year (alongside Netherlands)
I’m also Israeli, but let’s be honest: Kobi is not a particularly interesting singer and the song is terrible. Kitria was the only finalist who could have helped us avoid the host curse.
How is your remark helpful? How does it help I have Kobi, the song or Israel in eurovision? Don’t be right be smart. (look back at Israelis remarks about netta from March of last year)
Don’t be right. Be smart. Either help the Israeli entry or stay quiet. Don’t hurt us!
People should really stop treating Eurovision as a battle between nations where you have to stand up and root for your own.
You don’t have to. You just have to realize that going against it doesn’t help…
I agree (I’m not Israeli btw). I know very well the Israeli music industry and, even though Kobi is an amazing singer and I pretty like the song, I definitely think that his song doesn’t represent Israel. You folks, you have Stephan Legar, you have Noa Kirel just to name the popular names
14th, perfect for the bathroom break.
Yes, because some people are just full of ….
It’s usually the position after a fan favorite. What are the odds!
Adult diapers are a thing now.
doesn’t stop people from spreading you-all-know-what-i-am-talking-about all over the internet 😀
Doesn’t alter the fact that the song is dismal!
When will we know the draw for the semis?
This song is more jury-friendly anyway. So the position won’t really affect its result much.
Not sure about that. This somehow reminds me of The Greatest Showman and This is me; the movie was killed by critics but got tons of love from the public. Home can move many.
The only concern with performing 14th and even 15th is that traditionally stronger entries in the first half tend to get put in the 9th to 13th spot, making it potentially a hard act or group of acts to follow. Then again, a good song shines from any position in the running order so concern shouldn’t be needed for a decent entry.
it depends which songs will come before and after, but with so many ballads this year they will have a hard time separating them
I think you’re right void. There are going to be some good ballads which will be overlooked on the night.