OK - time for the recap...

Sat in 2nd row at the finals next to the Norwegians. You can imagine it was a bloody brilliant night, full of atmosphere. I promise you the opening part of the show looked just as amazing in the arena. Thats the first time I really liked Dima Bilan.

Downside to the show - well, that morning the gay parade attempted to start and the police arrested everyone. The tv news showed that, but neglected to mention the amount of people who were injured etc. I believe that included one of the guys from De Toppers - the Dutch entry. When we got to the arena it was surrounded by police. We were asked to hide our flags and to stick to the pathway made the line of the police. You could see the looks on their faces like they were one step away from clubbing us all to death. Friggin' scary shit. I went in via the media entrance to avoid them all - probably best for guys who are wearing kilts (I was like their protection being a female, hehe).

After the show my friend Paul and I were interviewed by Russia Today news - featuring the GAYEST man ever as host. Paul lent me his Union Jack flag as we stood in the freezing cold waiting for the interview to start live to air. I'm most certain I looked thoroughly shocking and now I'm told I'll get a copy of it on dvd to watch over. arghhhhhhhhh!

Went to the afterparty where much free alcohol (as per usual) was consumed, as well as some very alcoholic strawberries and icecream. We didnt spot many acts there - they had their own VIP section.

Around 6am the party was winding down and despite my best efforts to leave, Paul kept pulling me back inside. In the end he dragged me over to Euroclub, insisting it would still be open. It wasnt.

Anyway, best thing ever! I cant wait for Oslo Eurovision 2010!

Oh, theres only one night left with everyone here for Final and I feel like the comedown has already started. It will be utterly empty on Sunday night :(

Its like Melbourne Comedy Festival comedown or Edinburgh Fringe comedown. And I hate it. I think I've taken the right decision though to book into a hotel for tomorrow and just sleep it all off after a MASSIVE one planned for tonight. I only know 2 people still here on Sunday night - 2 Norwegians. So we are going to dinner together on Sunday which is nice.

I truly love the Eurovision spirit

If I told you I've made about 60 new friends here I wouldnt be exaggerating. There's most people from the UK fanclub - about 40 of them. And at least another 4 UK people from the media. There's a group of 5 Norwegians. 2 Russians. A handful of Swedes. 10 Irish. 3 Spaniards (who in fact were screaming at me from across the road "Australian girl" because I was walking alone to Eurocafe and they wanted me to wait and walk with them to be safe). I don't know, there's a lot of others... too many people. I have had so many photos with people taken as the "aussie girl". Probably more than Alex for Norway! Apparently he 'doesnt do photos' cause too many people ask for a photo with him.

Oh yeah, and I'd say 90% of them are gay men. You dont come to Eurovision to pick up as a woman, thats for sure. Simon from the UK club last night had 2 women (who we suspect were the 2 dopey Russian girls who blog on esckaz) trying to pick him up. I had to tell them in broken English that they are in the wrong place. hehe

Plans are already underway for next year. If Norway wins, I'm there!

I have been ordered to take my inflatible flag tonight by everyone to show off the Aussie flag. I'm in 2nd row. Its BOUND to be on the broadcast. Please, please watch the final for me, if nothing else. Its on Sunday at 7pm.

Here's also hoping nothing bad happens today. The gay parade is on and hopefully no-one gets hurt. I think everyone I know is smart enough to stay well away. But theres also been reports that the police found bullets and a gun hidden in the arena on Tuesday night - possible Eurovision assassination? Fucking frightening. But you cant live your life being scared all the time.

We went out till 8am last night/today. We came home on the Metro with packed carriages of workers heading to their jobs staring at us. Excellent semi to celebrate (because we all got the countries we wanted through and the songs were fantastic).

Qualifiers were:
Greece
Norway
Azerbaijan
Ukraine
Lithuania
Estonia
Denmark
Croatia
Albania
Moldova

As expected, we sat behind the Greeks which meant the audience was extremely loud. They have heaps to be proud of though - Sakis was unbelievable visually. I waved my flag for Norway. We all got up and danced to Ukraine.

We might all be going to Athens next year...

Anyway, all that fantastic stuff happening meant it was a big party back at Euroclub with the two favourites, and it means we got back an hour later than the night before.

I met the other 2 Aussies here last night. I'm not alone! 2 guys from Canberra, my old home town (at least during 2009).

And my mate Ewan finally emerged from his press bunker and came out with us. He got me a 'anti crisis girl' singlet. I love him!!!!
People saw me jumping up and down and squealing miles away, and just knew it had something to do with Svetlana stuff :)

This is what Eurovision is really about. I get the same buzz as Melbourne years ago. I know this will become an addiction and I'll want to see everyone year after year at this event.

OK, last night was fricking awesome!
I stumbled back into my apartment around 7am.

I swear those blisters on my toes look a lot worse than they feel. I'm so wearing my boots tonight instead.

Eurocafe... its basically a 24 hour party venue for Eurovision fans. Its a restaurant by day, nightclub by night. It also a karaoke room and a press centre.
You may as well say though that after 1am, its a gay bar. Wall to wall gorgeous gay men dancing to Eurovision songs. Well gay men and a few women. There arent too many female Eurovision fans here (at least attending the parties).

Never really thought I'd be singing and dancing along in a nightclub to the Albanian entry from this year. hehe. It is so much fun though. The place pumps energy by the litre.

And woooo! 2nd semi tonight!

Now, this semi is going to be fucking amazing! I want you all to watch it on Saturday at 7.30pm on SBS.

Keep an eye out for:
Greece - it is just such a spectacular presentation. The Greek fans are REALLY REALLY LOUD. And so they should be. I think they are sitting right in front of us tonight (we are 9th row). It looks excellent (and hopefully sounds good too on the night)
Norway - cause its my favourite little fairytale
Ukraine - acrobatics, sexy Roman costumes, catchy tune...
Netherlands - its totally kitsch but we've all decided we love it. We will be dancing in the crowd so please watch for us!

Predictions:
Greece
Norway
Ukraine
Azerbaijan
Lithuania
Estonia
Moldova
Denmark

Cyprus will just miss out because she hits some bum notes.

Oh god I'd love to see the Netherlands go through. Its utterly shamefully enjoyable.

Woah! one semi down, one semi and a final to go.

Like everything else in this fine city, there was a lot of confusion as to where and how to get to our seats. No-one at the arena spoke English at the doors and there were no signs pointing to where the Fan Zone was. Eventually through hand signals, I worked out I had to go downstairs. Then they had the doors closed right up until 30 minutes before the show which got people really angry. On the floor, there were no signs as to the seating area so I sat in this great seats that I assumed was mine, only to be told that no, we were at the side of the stage - not the greatest view - blocked by those swinging cameras. Thus, you will not see any of the UK fanclub waving our flags, or me waving my inflatible hand :(

I can understand why we had those seats - you need to seat the fanclubs of the countries actually in that semi final in front of the stage first. We will get our chance on Saturday at the final. I think our seats for the next semi arent bad though. 9th row in the centre.

We didnt have any real car crash entries this year. A few bum notes though. We thought Andorra looked good, and Switzerland and Belarus. We rated them quite highly. But the qualifications to the finals were:
Bosnia
Turkey
Armenia
Iceland
Finland
Malta
Portugal
Sweden
Israel
Romania

Anyway, makes sense. All the Scandis voted for each other and got through. And pretty girls won over rock songs as per usual.

Apparently the UK tv cut to interviews with acts instead of showing the interval act (which was AMAZING!). Travesty.

The afterparty entertainment last night was a Russian drag show. Quite a good one. It opened with a Kylie set and the boys reckoned they put it on just for me :P
I drank about 4 beers in 20 mins leaving me a little tipsy.

I was chatting away to the guys about the semi and noticed the lead singer of Bosnia standing right next to me (Davor from Regina). I leaned over and said 'congratulations' and he hugged me to say thank you and then grabbed my pass around my neck and pointed at it and said "AUSTRALIA! Are you really from Australia?". He seemed really excited.
Davor and I ended up chatting for quite a while about Australia. He has family that live in the Gold Coast. He says he would like to go on holidays around Sydney and Queensland after this to relax. I was giving him some tourist attraction recommendations.
So he's a really excellent guy. I mentioned I was staying around the corner from their hotel and said I was very welcome to join them on the bus home from Euroclub. We left around 4.30am when things were dying down and god I wish I had a camera last night! The Bosnians are so happy (as to be expected) and were all singing on the bus. I'm so very very happy for them. I said I want them to win for me because I have bets on them at very good odds.

So... I've had about 3 hours sleep, feeling seedy, but I have a semi 2 rehearsal to attend in a couple of hours. Gotta be there to see Norway and the Ukraine perform! Then home to sleep and off to the Russian party tonight. Should be a big one.

1st day at Eurovision

I've landed in Eurovision! I'm now in Moscow.

I thought for a while I wouldnt be. My driver wasn't there to collect me and I did all sorts of broken English and finger pointing to organise a taxi at a set rate. Then on the way to the apartment Tanya rang (the landlady) and said the water is broken in my flat and I'm staying somewhere else. Its further away from the arena. I still dont have an actual address of where I am staying, so thank god I've got a great sense of direction.

On the plus side, when I got off the plane in Moscow there was a girl holding a Eurovision card and I went up to her and skipped the entire immigration queue of about 50 people. Turns out she thought I was from the Finnish delegation. Hilarious but very helpful.

The metro system here is very much like London and the stations are stunning inside, but its not user friendly. I only had 2 stops to go to get to the arena but even so it took me 2 hours to find the metro entrance! When I did finally negotiate the metro system I then took 40 minutes to find the arena and then the accreditation area. Fortunately no queues there as I really expected. I have a shiny big electronic photographic pass now to wear everywhere, then I got a Eurovision scarf (very cute!) and a metro card for 70 free trips. I unfortunately dont get a bag or a book like the press do. I also dont get access to the press area after tomorrow (when the shows start).

I snuck into the press conference of Germany today which was uneventful, stole a Patricia Kaas from France promo cd, and saw the UK rehearse. The UK does look and sound amazing. I do think now it may go top 10.

And then there was the opening night party. On entry I was given free wine, then I was directed to the buffet - bread tables, meat tables, salad tables, dessert tables and nibbles. The food was constant but settled on Strogonoff and potatoes. Stood and watched the Dutch, Icelandic, Czech Republic and Belgian entries getting interviewed. Had more free wine. The show 'Legends of Eurovision' started and I went up the front and saw Ruslana (who is just so gorgeous) and Dima Bilan and Carola and Genghis Khan (remember that song 'Moscow'? It was excellent there!) and Tatu and so many other acts...

Then I followed that up with even more free wine. During my time there I was interviewed by Swiss radio about their entrant and whether I think it will make it to the final (I do), and had copious amounts of photos taken of me.

I have tons of photos I need to upload, as well as video clips.

As for my hopes for this Eurovision, I have now:

1. Officially danced to Brainstorm 'My Star' at a Eurovision party.

2. Acquired the first of my free promo stuff

3. Seen Ruslana

Three particular wishes left:

4. A photo with Alexander Rybak from Norway (not yet, but I *do* have a photo of him up close)

5. Make friends with the Latvian delegation (Intars is apparently ill and wasnt there tonight)

6. Acquire an 'Anti Crisis Girl' tshirt. (everyone here is wearing them so I'm asking lots of people if I can have one too)

Next - 1st semi 1st rehearsal to attend, then the Dutch party at 7pm and the Azerbaijani party at 11pm. Big day.

1st rehearsal, 2nd semi thoughts

The rehearsals for the 2nd semi just concluded. Quite the surprising bunch - much stronger in total compared to semi 1. But some that have been rated highly fell a bit flat in my eyes, whilst some of them really shone (and amazingly, I picked those ones aaaaaaaaaaaages ago!)

Here are my thoughts on the 2nd semi (in order of personal idea) :

Definite qualifiers: Ukraine, Norway, Azerbaijan
Good chances: Greece (but this rehearsal was a BIG mess), Denmark, Lithuania, Moldova
Borderline: Netherlands, Hungary, Serbia
Need improvement: Albania, Estonia, Croatia, Ireland, Slovenia, Poland, Cyprus, Latvia, Slovakia

Let's be honest, Ukraine is a standout. Yes, more so than Norway (there I said it! I've got a banner for supporting Norway, but the one I think will win is Ukraine). As I said what feels like many moons ago now, we shouldn't discount Svetlana. I think there is still more to be seen in terms of performance, but already its got me 'oooh'ing and 'aaaah'ing. Perhaps this is too flamboyant, more focus should be on the song, not the acrobatics. But how good does it look and sound? It certainly caught everyones attention.

Most people watching and voting for Eurovision won't know the songs or see the clips beforehand. Therefore it HAS to be eye catching and an instaneous song. In terms of competition both Norway and Ukraine have it by the bucketload.

Right now I'm rubbing my hands together and patting myself on the back for taking a bet on Ukraine 3 weeks ago at 60/1. Just put another bit of money on it at 27/1. If I win, I'll get $1140 in total (around 570 Euros). Thats at least another week of holidaying for me in Europe :)
I believe its going at 19/1 now on some betting website. Put it on whilst you can.

1st rehearsal, 1st semi thoughts

Its been a while since I blogged because its been mayhem here in Oz for me.

I'm leaving for Moscow and Eurovision tomorrow!

The Euros have been bought, the bag packed, the contacts made, the tickets and visa secured...

Between work and sleep I've pretty much lived and breathed Eurovision stuff. The rehearsals started on Sunday and they are conveniently scheduled in the evening Australian time, so I have been following the events online via other blogs (the excellent 'All Kinds of Everything' and 'On Europe' livejournals particularly), and then EscToday, Oikotimes, and obviously Eurovision.tv websites, and YouTube clips.

So far only 3 acts have REALLY impressed me. Armenia, Bosnia and Norway.
There have been plenty of 'good' acts and plenty of 'ohmigod! I hope they improve in the next week' acts. And then there's the ones worth having a giggle over... so far Czech Republic, Serbia, Belgium (although I like the song, it does look rather over the top) and Latvia.

Here are my thoughts so far for qualification in the first semi
(in my preferenced order - borderline I'm not sure of, could easily been taken over by the 'needs improvement' acts) -

Definite qualifiers: Bosnia, Armenia, Turkey
Good chances: Switzerland, Malta, Iceland, Portugal
Borderline: Sweden, Finland, Romania
Need improvement: Bulgaria, Israel, Montenegro, FYR Macedonia, Belarus, Andorra, Czech Republic, Belgium.

Yesterday, the most impressive acts were Norway and Denmark. It does seem to be a good year for the Scandis.

Today is probably the most exciting of the rehearsal days. Looking forward to seeing the unknown but possible favourites Greece, Azerbaijan, Ukraine.