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After years of will-they-won’t-they speculation, it appears that Czech Republic – one of the few East European countries not to have graced a Eurovision stage with their presence – will finally make their contest debut in Helsinki next year. According to the Eurovision website Oikotimes , Czech national broadcaster Ceske Televizije is already making plans for a national final, to be held in March next year. The channel’s head of music and dance, Radim Smetana, said around ten competitors would battle it out to perform the Republic’s first ever Eurovision entry, with the public invited to vote for their favourite via mobile phone and email.

Although the full line-up of countries won’t be confirmed for some time, next year’s Eurovision has the potential to be a crowded one. Aside from the Czech Republic, it’s still possible that Georgia, who is now an active member of the EBU, could make its debut (following speculation they would do so this year), while Serbia and Montenegro could now both enter as separate countries, following the Montenegrin vote to become an independent nation in May.

And there’s also suggestion that Austria, who sat out the 2006 contest following a poor result the previous year, may return to the line-up in 2007 – as may Hungary, who also withdrew from this year’s event for financial reasons.

The most interesting rumours, however, surround the possible comeback of old favourites Luxembourg, who haven’t taken part since 1993 despite having one of the best track records in Eurovision history Apparently one of the country’s broadcasters, Tango TV, is set to become a member of the EBU this summer – and has already said it wants to see the Grand Duchy back on the Eurovision stage. Frankly it’s a prospect Team Eurovision is pretty excited about – after hearing the ‘Luxembourg are coming back’ rumours every single year, could it be that they’re finally about to come true?

After several weeks of speculation, it’s been announced that Eurovision 2007 will be held in the Finnish capital Helsinki. The Hartwall Areena, a major venue in the city which can seat up to 12,000 people, has been chosen to host the contest which next year will take place on May 10 (semi-final) and May 12 (final).

While we’re not in the least bit surprised that Helsinki has been chosen as the host city, it’s worth noting that Lordi’s victory was greeted with such huge enthusiasm back in Finland that cities were positively queueing up for the chance to host the contest. No less than seven put in a bid to stage Eurovision 2007, with other hopefuls including the southern towns of Tampere and Espoo, the city of Turku (regarded as the cultural capital of Finland) and Rovaniemi in Lapland (which also happens to be the birthplace of Mr Lordi himself).

Meanwhile, the dust has barely settled on the 2006 contest, the enthusiastic Scandinavian nations are already starting to think about their efforts for 2007! The Danish delegation has announced that their song for next year’s contest will be chosen on February 10 next year, while Sweden is already accepting submissions for Melodifestivalen 2007 – the national final at which the Swedish entry is chosen. Sweden’s broadcaster SVT has said that would-be entrants have until September 19 to submit songs – and you can find out more at their official website – that is, if you speak Swedish…..

We always knew that Lordi wouldn’t just disappear from memory after their Eurovision victory in Athens, and sure enough they’re now set to make their mark on these shores. The masked Finnish rockers will be touring the UK in October, with dates as follows:

October 26 – Nottingham Rock City
October 27 – Carling Academy Birmingham
October 29 – Manchester Academy 3
October 30 – The Garage, Glasgow
October 31 (Halloween!) – The Forum, London

Tickets are priced £10 except for the London date where they’re £11.50 and are on sale now from venues and most major ticket agencies.

Meanwhile, for those seeking a further fix of Lordi, their winning song Hard Rock Hallelujah is released on Tuesday – yes, that is 6/6/06. Having entered the charts this week at No 59 on download sales alone, the band stand a good chance of scoring a top 40 hit next week – and there’s every chance that they could become the first Eurovision winners to top the UK charts since Nicole did the honours in 1982. If they land themselves a chart-topper, we reckon they’ll become the first Finnish act to score a No 1 hit in the UK. That’s unless anyone can tell us otherwise…

In other Lordi news, we couldn’t help chuckling over the cover of Private Eye this week. Follow this link to see what we mean.

Despite his failure to drag the UK out of its Eurovision doldrums, 2006 participant Daz Sampson has said he’d be prepared to do it all over again. “I feel it’s my destiny to win it, and I simply have to go back and try it again,” he said on his website shortly after finishing 19th in Athens last weekend. “How many UK entries do you know who, having been the victim of a touch of neighbourly voting, have come back to these shores saying ‘I want to go and do it again’?
“I have what it takes to win this. I have learned lessons from the week which will stand me in good stead for next year. I have to go again.”

While we’re quick to admire Daz’s determination, we should just point out one thing to him, which is that in order to take part in next year’s contest he has to be voted in by the British public – and having finished so low down the scoreboard this year, would they be prepared to give him a second chance? It’s hard to say, really since Teenage Life divided audiences so sharply – it seemed to be one of those love it or hate it kind of entries – but one thing we do know is that despite his low score Daz certainly didn’t disgrace himself on the night. Team Eurovision thought he gave one of the best performances a UK act has given in recent years, and it’s a shame that didn’t translate into a few more points – although it’s worth noting that those points did seem to come from a wider spread of countries than in recent years. Perhaps our low finish was less to do with other countries not liking us, and more to do with Teenage Life being the wrong song at the wrong time? Daz’s love of Eurovision has endeared us to him, and it makes a refreshing change to see a UK representative being so enthusiastic about the contest after the apathetic competitors we’ve fielded recently, but if he does want to make an impact next year he’s going to have to come up with something completely different.

Still, it’s not all bad news for Stockport’s finest – according to midweek sales figures Teenage Life is set to rocket up the charts to number five on Sunday, giving him the highest chart placing for a UK entry since our 1997 winner Love Shine A Light. He may soon find himself up against some stiff Eurovision competition however, since Lordi’s winning entry Hard Rock Hallelujah, is released here on June 6 – and we smell a hit.

Meanwhile, Daz isn’t the only person who’s expressed an interest in representing the UK next year. Former Smiths frontman and self-confessed Eurovision fan Morrissey has suggested that perhaps the BBC should approach him about taking part if they want to improve their current standing in the contest. “I was horrified but not surprised to see the UK fail again,” he said during a gig at the London Palladium earlier this week, “And there is one question I keep on asking: ‘why didn’t they ask me?’ That question is going round in my head.” Morrissey for Helsinki 2007? Now that we would like to see.

The dust has barely settled on this year’s Eurovision and already the voices of dissent are starting to make themselves heard – the ones complaining that the whole thing is political, that everybody simply votes for their neighbours and that it’s about time the whole thing was scrapped. But this year, for every naysayer there have been just as many who have said that Finland thoroughly deserved their win, that Lordi’s victory will open the door for a much wider range of musical styles to make their mark in future contests. And that’s very true. Once you cast aside the novelty value of the costumes and masks, the fact remains that a band who actually played their own instruments and performed their own songs managed to buck the trend of scantily-clad ladies winning Eurovision with elaborate choreography, that we’ve seen for the past four years.

Not that there’s anything wrong with the latter of course. We’ve enjoyed the recent run of winners – Sertab was especially good in 2003 and we loved Ruslana’s shouty stomping show in 2004. But what Lordi proved last night was that it is possible for other types of music to make their mark, and while their image may seem gimmicky to some, in reality there was very little gimmick to their performance – they simply did what they’ve done at live shows all across the continent, and it worked spectacularly well.

But more importantly, this is one victory which, try as the cynics might, they can’t possibly blame on political voting. When the words ‘Finland have won the Eurovision Song Contest’ were spoken last night, one member of Team Eurovision was heard to remark, “Well, that’s something I never thought I’d hear.” Because as we’ve mentioned so many times before, Finland had, up until this year, one of the worst track records in Eurovision. They first took part in the contest in 1961, but over the past 45 years the highest they’d ever finished was sixth (and that was in 1973). Recently, their fortunes had been even more dismal, constantly slipping out of the contest in the relegation era of the 90s, and failing to make it out of the semi-final for the past two years despite their best efforts.

Yet despite their lack of success they’ve always carried on plugging away, sending a song almost every year and never flouncing off in a huff and refusing to take part in the face of poor results (unlike some countries we could mention) or crying foul and blaming politics when the voting didn’t go their way. Instead they’ve just carried on trying to do better, most likely in the hope that they would, eventually, win the contest. And now it’s happened, you can’t help thinking how much they deserve it. While some countries may try to be different and innovative in an effort to succeed in the contest, Finland nailed it this year. After over four decades of poor results, they had nothing to lose by sending Lordi to Athens – had they flopped once again, at least they could say they made an impression – but as we all know now, it was a gamble that paid off quite brilliantly.

As for political voting – well, there were obvious neighbourly votes being exchanged last night (Moldova and Romania for example), but accusing Finland of winning through that method would simply be futile. Over the years, while other Scandinavian countries may have exchanged top marks, or former Soviet states voted for each other (and let’s not forget Finland’s close proximity to Russia, Estonia and the like), they’ve always neglected Finland, either throwing a small handful of points their way or, in many cases, ignoring them completely. This time around, though, only two nations (Albania and Monaco) failed to give them any points at all, and the fact that even Greece (in the absence of Cyprus) gave them top marks (instead of plumping for the more obvious likes of Romania or Turkey) further underlines the fact that this was one contest that was won on merit, rather than anything else.

Lordi have said themselves that they hope this opens the door for other styles of music at future Eurovisions, and certainly we’re looking forward to seeing whether the 2007 contest is stuffed to the gills with little Lordi clones, hopping around the stage in giant platforms and latex. But apart from the possibilities it brings, we’re also hoping that Finland’s victory, after all this time, inspires some of the other older participants who are still chasing their first win, to buck up their ideas and come up with something really exciting and innovative next year.

Portugal, for example, have been in the contest since 1964 but are still awaiting that first victory (and in fact they haven’t even troubled the top ten since 1996), and their recent entries have suggested they may even have given up trying to win. Perhaps this might spur them on to pick a stronger song next year, and follow in Finland’s footsteps. Similarly, Malta and Iceland have yet to win, despite coming close on several occasions – and while they do both have a tendency to enter good songs (not that they had much in the way of success this year), maybe this will inspire them to try just a little bit harder and really deliver the goods in future years.

For now Finland have proved that a victory is possible, even if it’s a long time coming – and that you don’t necessarily have to be from Eastern Europe or the Balkans to score a victory in Eurovision these days. When Daz Sampson started shouting about how it was “time for a change” and it had “been a long time”, who could have thought how prophetic his words would be? Obviously he was referring to the UK’s recent track record at Eurovision, yet somehow those words seem strangely true of Finland. So whatever your opinion of this year’s winner, let’s give the Finns their dues and look forward to Helsinki 2007. Because we’re already excited by the prospect.

In other news…

The ten countries who have automatically qualified for the 2007 final are as follows:

FINLAND (host nation)
RUSSIA
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
ROMANIA
SWEDEN
LITHUANIA
UKRAINE
ARMENIA
GREECE
IRELAND

They’ll join the Big Four (the UK, France, Spain and Germany) in the final, while as per usual the remaining ten countries will be chosen in the semi-final. Provisional dates for next year’s are 10 May for the semi-final and 12 May for the final.

Meanwhile, Finland not only won the final convincingly but also scored a victory in the semi-final as well (winning Team Eurovision a spot of extra pocket money into the bargain). The top five in the semi was completed by Bosnia and Hezegovina, Russia, Sweden and Lithuania – all of whom scored top ten places in the final.

As per usual, we like to make predictions as to how Eurovision will turn out, and this year was no exception. Here’s a rundown of where we were spot on and where we slipped up…..

WHAT WE GOT RIGHT

ROMANIA
We said: “We’re not quite sure if it’s strong enough to score the Romanians their first win. But it’s definitely in contention – and we’ll be surprised if it doesn’t land them another top ten placing.”
What happened: Well, Mihai didn’t quite manage to snatch victory from the all-conquering Finns, but he did finish a very respectable fourth, thus securing Romania’s place in the final for the second consecutive year.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
We said: “This is their strongest effort for years, and not only is it a very likely finalist, but it could give them their best result yet.
What happened: Hari Mata Hari managed to finish second in the semi-final and third in the final. Sounds like a pretty good result to us.

IRELAND
We said: “Assuming it qualifies for the final, we can’t help thinking this could do rather well.”
What happened: It did qualify for the final. And gave the Irish their best result in years, so much so they automatically qualify for next year’s final.

LITHUANIA
We said: “Its sheer awfulness may well work in its favour – it’s virtually critic-proof, and novelty tracks have a habit of outperforming expectations.”
What happened: OK, so we didn’t predict it to make the final, but based on what we said in our review this ultimately wasn’t much of a surprise to us. They finished sixth, the same spot occupied by Austrian funnyman Alf Poier in 2003 and Moldova’s drum-banging granny last year. Not bad going considering they’ve never even finished in the top ten before – now they go straight to the final next year.

UKRAINE
We said: “This is so radically different from everything else in the semi-final we reckon it’s got a fighting chance.”
What happened: Ukraine surprised a lot of people by not only making the final but getting a pretty decent result too – Tina Karol’s seventh placing was enough to secure them a place in next year’s final. Just shows how a decent performance can change a song’s fortunes.

MOLDOVA
We said: “It’s a weak song and the fact it’s on second will do it no favours whatsoever. We’re betting that Moldova will find themselves back in the semis next year.
What happened: Apart from the inevitable 12 points from their ‘friends’ Romania, there was very little love in the room for Moldova, who finished 21st with just 22 points. Back to the semi finals, indeed.

WHAT WE GOT WRONG
GERMANY
We said: “This is Germany’s best effort in years, giving them their best shot at victory since Nicole first strummed a guitar in Harrogate.”
What happened: Despite being earmarked as a potential winner (and not just by Team Eurovision), Germany finished 15th with just 36 points. Admittedly, they did rather better than other Big Four countries but it’s still far from a victory. Could it be that it’s the entire Big Four that are suffering at the hands of other entrants, and not just the UK? This really should have done a lot better.

CROATIA
We said: “Silly lyrics aside, we wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised to see this one finish in the top five – and deservedly so.”
What happened: Like Hungary last year, Croatia could only muster up a mid-table finish, coming joint 12th (with FYR Macdedonia) with 56 points. Not a bad result, but hardly an outstanding one, and not enough to rescue them from the semi-final next year. Still, we did acknowledge this was love it or loathe it stuff, and it clearly didn’t appeal across the board.

MALTA
We said: “We’re beginning to think this could be another dark horse that does a lot better than people have predicted.”
What happened: We’re not quite sure, to be honest. OK, so it wasn’t a great song and Fabrizio’s performance was far from brilliant, but there were many worse songs in the contest than this, and they definitely deserved to get more than one point. Like Finland, Malta have been trying to win for ages without success – let’s hope their time comes soon, and they don’t have to suffer any more results like this one.

TURKEY
We said: “We’re going to stick our collective necks out and say that of all the favourites to make the final this is the one that’s most likely to miss out.”
What happened: Well Turkey did make the final, and didn’t do too badly either – although their 11th placing means they just miss out on qualifying for next year. So we were half right – and let’s not forget that if one of next year’s top ten withdraw (as happened with Serbia this year), then they’ll very likely be in.

SWITZERLAND
We said: “It’s a load of manipulative old nonsense. Bet it wins…..”
What happened: It didn’t. But in this instance, we were quite relieved to be wrong.

After 45 years of trying, Finland have finally won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. Heavy metal act Lordi scored a whopping 292 points with their song Hard Rock Hallelujah, fending off competition from second placed Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, who finished third.

The UK, meanwhile, finished in 19th place with 25 points.

More to follow.

Well, we were expecting something spectacular and we got it. Greece have certainly spared no expense in staging their first ever Eurovision, with an elaborate stage and lavish opening performance featuring Helena Paparizou and an intro involving dancers on a large floating golden sphere. Presenters Maria Meneunos and Sakis Rouvas made quite an entrance too, flying in on wires ,and thankfully stayed in the background for most of the first half. But what of the songs themselves? Well, here’s what we thought:

SWITZERLAND – a rousing start to the show, but we’re still struggling to get over the monumental cheese factor of this one. Top marks to Israel’s Liel though whose powerful voice carried the others through.

MOLDOVA – we weren’t expecting much from this one, and to be honest Moldova did nothing to change our minds. Arsenium, Natalya and their dancers looked and sounded chaotic.

ISRAEL – another one we weren’t expecting much from, and despite his best efforts Eddie delivered a rather flat performance of a bland song. Back to the semis next year, we think.

LATVIA – please go away. Now. And take your creepy shoebox puppet with you.

NORWAY – the first genuinely decent performance of the night (as we were expecting), Christina had a decent song and did it justice. As we expected, the sheer awfulness of the preceeding songs helped it stand out even more. One to watch, if we’re not mistaken.

SPAIN – two honorary members of Team Eurovision proclaimed that they quite liked this one. The rest weren’t nearly so impressed. Could it be the fact that the Ketchup girls sounded so horribly out of tune?

MALTA – stood out as the first uptempo song of the night, but Fabrizio sounded rather out of tune. Still, we were rather taken with the energetic dance routine.

GERMANY – the Lightning lads and lasses didn’t disappoint. A real breath of fresh air after some of the earlier performances. Our only slight quibble was that Jane Comerford sounded a bit muted.

DENMARK – we’re still not keen on the song, but we have to admit Sidsel turned in a lively, spirited performance, the kind which could just turn her fortunes around. Nice dance routine too.

RUSSIA – one member of Team Eurovision quickly pointed out Dima’s resemblance to Owen Paul, but despite that he delivered the goods, turning in an assured performance. Even if it’s not the most exciting song visually (scary lady in the piano aside) it’s a definite contender.

FYR MACEDONIA – we were really looking forward to seeing FYROM again after their assured turn on Thursday night but Elena just wasn’t as good somehow, despite her best efforts. Still, we think this could be one to watch.

ROMANIA – we’d heard mixed word of mouth on Mihai in rehearsals, but we found it hard to fault his performance – he was note-perfect here, making all the earlier performances look even dodgier. Bets of the night so far.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA – yet another fabulous performance from Hari Mata Hari. Sheer class. Another potential winner.

LITHUANIA – again, we think this is beyond criticism since we were surprised to see it in the final at all. Still, they looked like they were enjoying themselves even if the joke has worn off a little since Thursday.

UNITED KINGDOM – we didn’t know what to expect from Daz, but he totally blew the Lithuanians out of the water. Love the song or hate it, he surpassed even our expectations and however the UK fares, he can be proud of his performance tonight.

GREECE – we were expecting some real fireworks from Anna Vissi, but the performance was a tad subdued. Which is a real shame, given this power ballad demands a bit of power.

FINLAND – just when you thought Lordi couldn’t top the other night, they went and did it – much to the amazement of members of Team Eurovision who hadn’t seen the semi-final. We seriously think they could win now.

UKRAINE – another great performance from Tina Karol, confirming our theory that she could do a lot better than first thought.

FRANCE – after a run of good songs, this was a real let-down. This was the point when Team Eurovision headed to the kitchen for the chocolate pavlova.

CROATIA – the last non-qualifier whose performance we hadn’t seen, Severina was as lively and spirited as we were expecting. That said, it was one that really divided Team Eurovision – some absolutely loved it, others thought it was a shouty racket.

IRELAND – another classy performance from Brian Kennedy. Again as the only ballad in this section of the line-up it came as a welcome change of pace.

SWEDEN – Again, we admit Carola does a professional job but we still think there’s something clinical and over-polished about the whole thing – just as we thought in the semi-final.

TURKEY – a pleasant surprise. We haven’t liked this song up to now but thought Sibel did a really good job. A definite improvement on the semi-final performance, and we’re starting to see the appeal.

ARMENIA – a rather subdued end to the night from Andre. But we’ve said all along this could be a dark horse, so don’t rule out its chances.

This time last week, we were pretty certain we knew who was going to win Eurovision this year. In fact, we were all but packing our bags for Berlin 2007, so confident were we of a German victory. But fast-forward seven days, and as the dust settles on the semi-final and we gear up for Saturday’s main event, we’re not so sure.

The fact is, there were so many good performances in this year’s semi-final – several of which took us by surprise – that just a few hours before the final kicks off we’ve come to realise that this is the most wide-open contest in years. While we still reckon our favourites Germany are in with a great chance, and Greece and Croatia are still definite contenders, there are a few new ones creeping up on us that we never even considered.

For example, what about FYR Macdeonia? We’ve had our eye on their song for a while now, but Elena’s performance on Thursday night was so slick and polished that it only served to make the surrounding efforts from Monaco and Poland look even weaker than they were. If she holds it together in similar fashion tonight, then she really can’t be ruled out of the running.

Then there’s Ukraine – which is one of our favourites in this year’s line-up and always had been, but we’d resigned ourselves to the fact that it probably wouldn’t make it through. One sensational turn from Tina Karol later, however, and the song’s fortunes had completely changed. And while we’re still sceptical that she could bring the Ukrainians their second victory, we think she’s going to do a lot better than everybody first thought.

As for Lithuania – well, when the audience failed to get Silvia Night’s joke, it cleared the pathway for the year’s other ‘novelty’ entry to sneak up and pull a surprise attack, sailing through to the finals and nabbing the semi-final spot before Daz (which many think is actually a bad thing, since they’re rather in danger of stealing the UK’s thunder). We’d dismissed this song as a load of old nonsense – and let’s face it, it still is – but we’ve rather warmed to LT United in the past few days, largely because they really seemed to be enjoying themselves up there – and what’s more, they seemed genuinely shocked to have landed a place in the final (the same could be said of many Eurovision viewers, but we had a feeling something like that might happen). As silly as We Are The Winners may be, we can’t help thinking that Lithuania could turn out to be this year’s Moldova, and actually finish in the top ten. Either way, we’re looking forward to their performance in the final – in a strangely warped kind of way.

We’d been saying all along that if Ireland were to make it through to the final, they had the potential to do a lot of damage – and now they have qualified, we’re still thinking that. Brian Kennedy has a great draw in the running order, and will come as a real contrast to Croatia and Sweden, who perform before and after him – and it’s worth noting he’s the only real ballad in that part of the draw (France of course have a mid-tempo song but as one of the year’s major outsiders ,we can’t see it posing much of a threat). In other words, the Irish could get their best result in years.

Of the finalists, we should also add Norway to our list of potential contenders. Word of mouth from Athens suggests Christine Gulbrandsen has been terrific in rehearsal, and Alvedansen should really stand out as one of the few good songs in the very early part of the draw. And given that this kind of folky tune always has its fans, this could be one to watch.

And let’s not forget about Finland. So much has been said about Lordi already – we particularly liked the interview on the BBC Ten O’Clock News yesterday when they were sitting by an Athens swimming pool on sun loungers in full costume – that we’re not going to say any more, but suffice to say they were terrific on Thursday night and thoroughly deserve their place in the final, hype or no hype. At this stage, we wouldn’t put it past them to win the whole thing, given the amount of interest they’ve generated (not to mention the amount of new viewers they’ve brought to Eurovision who’ll be tuning in just to see them) – at the very least they could finally break Finland’s run of bad results.

Finally, we should cast a speedy eye over the UK’s chances. Well, coming so soon after Lithuania, and so close to Greece and Finland isn’t necessarily going to do Daz any favours, but he still seems on course to give the UK a distinctly better result than they’ve enjoyed recently. To be fair, we said the same thing last year with Javine, hence the reason we’re so hesitant about predicting his fate in the contest – but we still think Teenage Life is one of the better entries we’ve sent in recent years, and we’re keeping everything crossed for a good result. In fact, given our recent track record, we’d even be thrilled if he were to finish around 11th or 12th – again, it would probably bring the naysayers out against our chances in the contest, but it would still be a considerable improvement on the past few years. A top ten finish, meanwhile, would probably shut those people up for good – but for now, we’ll just wish Daz the best of luck and see what happens.

But to be honest, this is such a wide open field that who’s to say the winner won’t turn out to be a song we’ve completely overlooked?? With the possible exception of a handful of countries (France, Moldova, Spain, Latvia) it really is anybody’s race this year. We’ll be back after the contest with a review of the event plus other thoughts and statistics – but for now, Team Eurovision hopes you enjoy the final. Because we know we’re going to.

Following Thursday’s semi-final, we now have a complete running order for this year’s final. And it’s as follows:

SWITZERLAND
MOLDOVA
ISRAEL
LATVIA
NORWAY
SPAIN
MALTA
GERMANY
DENMARK
RUSSIA
FYR MACEDONIA
ROMANIA
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
LITHUANIA
UNITED KINGDOM
GREECE
FINLAND
UKRAINE
FRANCE
CROATIA
IRELAND
SWEDEN
TURKEY
ARMENIA

Our thoughts on the running order

Before we start, a few words on the qualifiers themselves. Our final predictions saw us correctly predict seven of the finalists (and we did have Armenia as a possible spoiler and qualifier in our original predictions, so we claim that one too!) Despite reservations over Belgium, we really thought Kate Ryan would make it after her performance tonight – however, while we’re surprised not to see her in the final, we’re certainly not shocked. Our main disappointment is the absence of Slovenia, who we think really did deserve to go through – but we’re thrilled to see Ukraine make the cut – we loved Tina Karol’s song from the first time we heard it and it was a fine example of how a great performance can turn an outsider into a definite qualifier. We now feel that she’s definitely one to watch on the night.

The semi-finalists joining the line-up are at something of an advantage this year – the fact that the first nine slots have already been filled by finalists means that they all steer well clear of the dreaded second spot (poor Moldova!) and none of them have to kick proceedings off either (this is probably good news for Armenia’s Andre, given how nervous he looked at having to start the semi-final).

Russia have snagged the first final spot – singing tenth – and it’s not a bad starting position (let’s not forget Ruslana won a couple of years back from tenth place in the running order) While there’s a strong performance from FYR Macedonia to follow, he’ll benefit from coming right after Denmark’s forgettable effort.

Having sung eleventh in the semi-final, FYR Macedonia have landed the exact same spot in the final, and it shouldn’t do them any harm at all. Elena was terrific in the semi-final and should do well from this starting position also. Could be one to watch on Saturday.

Coming just after the halfway mark are Bosnia and Herzegovina, who gave a superb performance in the semis. The fact that Hari Mata Hari is sandwiched between two very different songs – from Romania and Lithuania – should help this classy effort to stand out even more. We’re increasingly beginning to see this one finishing in the top five.

We’re still not quite sure what Lithuania are doing here – but we can only think it’s at the expense of Iceland, since there was only ever going to be room for one novelty song in the final, and since Silvia Night appeared to be less than popular in Athens it paved the way for LT United to slide through and steal her thunder (the fact they seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely on stage probably helped). To be honest, wherever they are in the final is unlikely to make a difference – we can’t see them doing particularly well and they should just be happy to be there – but it’s definitely good news for our Daz, who performs right after them, when you consider some of the finalists he could have followed.

Ukraine and Finland were two of the highlights of the semi-final, singing one after the other – and they’re performing consecutively in the final, only this time the other way round. We originally thought that Tina Karol would be all but forgotten once Lordi took to the stage, but she was so good in the semi that her close proximity to the Finnish rockers shouldn’t make a whole lot of difference. The only thing is, this time she’s on stage straight after them, and we now know what a hard act they are to follow. Will be interesting to see how she fares, but we have a feeling that both of these are going to do rather well.

And so to the last four, all of which are qualifying semi-finalists – and they should all count themselves very lucky, since a late spot in the running order is always considered an advantage. This could be good news for Ireland, whose gentle ballad comes as a stark contrast to the lunacy of finalists Croatia (singing right before them). Sweden’s Carola has a great draw which should only further cement her chances of doing well, while the penultimate slot – often thought of as one to watch – falls to Turkey. Since we’re still quite surprised they qualified, we’re not entirely sure that having such a great spot in the running order is going to help them. And as for Armenia, who get to finish things off – well, we can’t help thinking that like Lithuania, Andre should just be happy to be there. But with a few shocks and surprises in the qualifying list, who knows what’ll happen on Saturday night?

These are the ten countries – in the order in which they were drawn out – who will be joining the the 14 other countries in the final on Saturday….

RUSSIA
FYR MACEDONIA
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
LITHUANIA
FINLAND
UKRAINE
IRELAND
SWEDEN
TURKEY
ARMENIA

And here’s what we thought of the show:

ARMENIA – is it just us or did Andre sound ever so slightly out of tune tonight? We so wanted Armenia to do well on their very first try but coupled with dodgy sounding vocals and some just plain weird dancing, we’re not so sure. What a shame.

BULGARIA – having gotten over all the initial jokes about Mariana Popova being a character on Rentaghost, she took us by surprise by being not half bad. The song is still far too screechy and whiney for our liking though, especially when the transvestite backing vocals kick in.

SLOVENIA – we’ve been rooting for this one from the very beginning, and Anzej certainly didn’t disappoint. Best performance so far, one which only served to highlight the weakness of the previous two.

ANDORRA – another letdown. We really liked Jenny’s song when we first heard it, but her voice just didn’t seem up to the task on the night. And we can only assume that the underwear-clad backing dancers have had their dresses impounded by Greek customs.

BELARUS – Polina certainly gave it her all with a spirited performance, but it wasn’t enough to cover up the fact that the song just isn’t very good. And we still have no idea what language she’s singing in.

ALBANIA – again, a weak song, but nonetheless a nice, if unspectacular performance from Luiz. We don’t reckon he has much of a chance of qualifying though.

BELGIUM – anticipation has naturally been running high for the first of the evening’s favourites, and despite mixed word of mouth from Athens Kate Ryan did pretty well (and fab dress too). On the basis of this, we’d be very surprised if she didn’t qualify.

IRELAND – is it just us, or was this slowed down considerably on stage? Nonetheless, a classy performance from Brian Kennedy, and one which certainly surpassed the expectations of many.

CYPRUS – we’re still not keen on the song, but we have to admit Annette sold it pretty well. Could still qualify on the strength of that performance.

MONACO – lots of colour and vibrancy as we expected, but spoiled by Severine’s wildly unpredictable vocals. One member of Team Eurovision pointed out the resemblance to Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini early on. We’ve been wondering what it sounded like!

FYR MACEDONIA – one of the best of the night so far. Elena looked great, sold the song superbly and the dancers complemented her performance rather than dominating it. Puts some of the other weaker performances to shame.

POLAND – very rarely are Team Eurovision rendered speechless, but Poland’s performance, complete with its extravagant costumes and fireworks , just about did it for us. So mad that it could just work in the Poles’ favour.

RUSSIA – his dancing’s still a bit peculiar, but otherwise Dima lived up to our expectations and did very well indeed. Can’t see this one missing out on a place in the final.

TURKEY – like the song itself, there was something missing from this performance for us. Maybe it was that the vocals sounded a bit flat, or perhaps it was Sibel’s rather tacky outfit and scary tattoos. We just don’t know.

UKRAINE – the contrast between Sibel and Tina wasn’t hard to spot. Quite simply, Tina was fab and turned her fortunes in the contest round with this performance.

FINLAND – the one we’ve all been waiting for, and they so didn’t disappoint. Lordi combined fireworks, pyrotechnics and bat wings to deliver the performance of the night.

NETHERLANDS – Finland was always going to be a hard act to follow, and although the Netherlands tried their best there was something curiously flat about this performance. Which brings us on to…

LITHUANIA – who in turn made Poland look quite sane. They’re not going to qualify, surely??

PORTUGAL – not quite as bad as we first feared, but it’s still not great by any stretch. Can’t see this one making it out of the semis.

SWEDEN – couldn’t quite make out Carola’s Bacofoil outfit but performance was nonetheless as slick as we had expected. Is it just us though or is the whole thing a tad clinical?

ESTONIA – this was always going to fare poorly next to Sweden and the average but unremarkable performance just highlighted the fact the song isn’t really that good.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA – very classy performance from Hari Mata Hari that didn’t let us down (even if he seems to have borrowed Serbia and Montenegro’s band from 2004). A very real contender to win the semi-final, we think.

ICELAND – arriving in Eurovision territory amid a wave of hype, we didn’t know what to expect from Silvia Night. But for all the sparkliness of the performance we can’t help thinking the joke has worn off.

It seems that Team Eurovision aren’t the only ones with an opinion as to who’ll be taking top honours on Saturday. A panel of Eurovision experts organised by the BBC News website has tipped Belgium to win this year’s Eurovision. The jurors - including former Eurovision winner Jorgen Olsen, Maltese diva Chiara, legendary ‘nul points’ Norwegian Jahn Teigen, and the UK’s very own Nicki French and 1982 host Jan Leeming - listened to all 37 of this year’s entries and selected the 10 they believe will do well in Athens. The UK and Ireland both made the chart:

1. Belgium
2. Greece
3. Sweden
4. Romania
5. Malta
6. Russia
7. Switzerland
8. Germany
9. Ireland
10. United Kingdom

The full story and profiles of the panel can be found here

OK, OK, we know we made predictions for the final a few weeks back – but based on our changes in opinion, what we’ve heard from the rehearsals so far, and the fact that we reserve the right to change our mind at any time, here are Team Eurovision’s final predictions for who’ll be qualifying from the semi on Thursday night. In no particular order…

FINLAND – we’ve predicted this one from the first time we heard it, and we’re more certain than ever now that Lordi will be taking their place in the final come Saturday – and very favourable word of mouth from Athens, suggesting their performance is spectacular, seals the deal. In fact, we wouldn’t put it past them the win the semis outright – and possibly give Finland their best ever result in the final while they’re at it.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA – we’ve heard nothing but good things about Hari Mata Hari’s rehearsal performances, and the song is one of those ones which improves with every listen. Not only almost certain to qualify, but a potential semi-final winner too.

SWEDEN – it would be a big shock if Carola didn’t make it through to Saturday (and she’d have to screw up big time in the semi-final to damage her chances – which she won’t). She’s the favourite to win the semi, and is in with a chance, but we think one of the above might beat her to the top spot.

RUSSIA – another strong song, which apparently has been going down very well with rehearsal audiences in Athens, and should make it to the finals quite easily. It’s also another contender to win the semis, although to be honest we reckon it’s a long shot.

BELGIUM – early word on rehearsals has been mixed, and it remains to be seen whether Kate Ryan will ‘do a Selma’ and fail to make the finals on the strength of Thursday’s performance. We’re putting her in here because we think she’ll be lucky and squeak through regardless – but she’s going to have to live up to pre-contest expectations on the night.

FYR MACEDONIA – again, mixed word of mouth from Athens – some are saying it’s slick and polished, others reckon it lacks a certain something. However, given FYROM’s 100% success record in the semis, we reckon it’s in regardless.

SLOVENIA – we’re keeping everything crossed for this one – it might be an outsider but we really think it has a shot.

IRELAND – leaping from our potential spoilers into the qualifiers list, word of mouth suggests Brian Kennedy’s performance is strong enough to take Ireland back to the finals, despite previous suggestions that it was a bit of a no-hoper. We, however, have said it all along – this stands a very real chance of qualifying and could do a lot of damage if it does.

UKRAINE – this one temporarily slipped from our top ten, not because we don’t love it, but because we thought it was a genuine outsider. However, Tina Karol’s reportedly excellent performance has turned it into a real contender, so we’re sticking with our original prediction and saying it’ll make it to the final.

ICELAND – tricky one. Apparently Silvia Night is being loved and loathed in equal measure in Athens, and was even booed when she took to the stage for the dress rehearsal. And we can’t help feeling that the whole phenomenon has backfired a bit and caused her to lose some of her sparkle. That said, the voting public watching the semi-final are unlikely to be aware of her shock value antics in Athens and will go on the basis of what they see in the night. And her reportedly flamboyant performance should still see her go through – but we can’t see her winning.

Possible spoilers

Armenia – with the appearance of Ireland in our final line-up, someone had to go and sadly we think it might be Andre. Still think he’s in with a chance though and if any of our chosen ten don’t make it then we reckon he’s in.

Turkey – we’ve said before this one’s not our favourite, but a decent performance could help it sneak into the final nonetheless.

Cyprus – we like this one even less than we like Turkey, but word from Athens is favourable, so much as we hate to say it, Annette could well be in with a chance.

Poland – dropped slightly in the rankings, once again due to mixed word of mouth from the rehearsals, but the song still has its fans – as to Ich Troje – and that could help its cause.

Netherlands – again, not getting a favourable reaction from Athens – but this one’s grown on us a little in the past week. Right now we reckon it’s borderline but a top ten placing isn’t out of the question.

With just 24 hours to go until the semi-final kicks off in Athens, it’s been revealed that the format for next year’s qualifying round is set to stay the same. Initial reports had suggested that only 10 countries – the top six from this year plus the UK, France, Spain and Germany – would automatically receive a place in the 2007 final, with 14 countries going through from the semi. However, the EBU’s Eurovision organiser Skante Stocksvelius has told a press conference in Athens that it’ll be business as usual next year, with 14 countries qualifying automatically and 10 making it through from the semi-final. Apparently logistics for rehearsals has been cited as the reason for keeping everything the same.

Stockselius also explained how the change in voting this year – in which each country announces only its 8, 10 and 12 points – will work. Apparently a scoreboard will appear on screen as countries are being called up to vote, and their points from 1-7 will flash up on the board rather than being announced by the juror – but even though they’ll appear faster than they would be if they were announced, the audience will still have enough time to see them and react accordingly. The final three countries to vote, meanwhile, will announce their results in their entirety. So in other words, even though the new voting sounded like it would put a dampener on one of the highlights of the contest, it might not be quite so bad after all – and the new, speedier system might even stop it from becoming dull. But we’ll reserve judgment until we’ve seen it for ourselves on Saturday.

The BBC kicked off its week of song contest coverage on Tuesday night with Boom Bang-A-Bang: 50 Years Of Eurovision. Hosted by Terry Wogan – well, who else? – the show took an hour-long trawl through the past five decades, from the black and white, orchestra-led days of the 1950s right up to Greece’s 2005 triumph. Daz Sampson also showed up to perform Teenage Life, offering Team Eurovision its first chance to hear the schoolgirl-clad backing vocalists sing live (and very good they sounded too).

For the most part, the show was yet another opportunity to wheel some of the best, worst and tackiest clips out of the archives, with the likes of Nicole and Hugo and Freddi and Friends putting in an appearance alongside Bucks Fizz, Johnny Logan and other contest winners. We’d seen quite a few of these on previous clip shows yet some – Jemini’s disaster in Riga, for example, are always entertaining no matter how many times you see them.

There was also the chance to see interval acts (remember the Wombles in 1974?), presenters breaking into song and even the odd gaffe (our favourite being presenter Toto Cutugno’s inability to count at the 1991 contest in Rome). The whole thing was a bit on the hurried side, and it would’ve been nice to hear some more of the songs accompanying the clips (since many simply appeared for a few seconds in compilations), but there was still plenty to enjoy here. If nothing else, it’s gotten us in the mood for Thursday’s semi-final.

Now that we’ve had a chance to hear all of this year’s entries – repeatedly – it’s time for Team Eurovision to make a few predictions. We’ll be posting our final semi-final qualifiers list in time for Thursday night’s show, but for the time being here are the countries we expect to see fighting it out for the top spot come finals night….

GERMANY – to be honest we think the contest is pretty wide open this year but if we were forced to pick a likely winner this is the one we’d go for, quite simply because a) it’s one of the best songs in the contest – simple, effective yet tremendously appealing and b) everybody seems to love it. They’ve waited 24 years for a second victory but we think it may finally be time.

GREECE – host countries traditionally do well but then it tends to be because they come up with a damned good song (let’s just forget about the Ukranian effort last year) – and 2006 is no exception. The best ballad in the contest, it should land comfortably in the top five, if not win altogether.

CROATIA – bit of a dark horse, this one, but the East European voters will love it – how well it does will depend on what the rest of the continent thinks. That said, we reckon that as long as Severina delivers a good performance on the night, she’s in.

ROMANIA – took us a while to warm to this one, but we’re loving it now. A good solid dance track that should do very well indeed – not sure it’s strong enough to win completely but should score the Romanians their second consecutive top five placing.

FINLAND – early word from Athens is that Lordi’s performance is superb, so much so that many are now tipping them to win both the semi-final and the final itself. Not sure about that, but if they’re as good as everybody’s saying, we see no reason why they shouldn’t give the Finns their best result yet.

Possible spoilers

Bosnia and Herzegovina – as we saw with Serbia and Montenegro in 2004, voters find this kind of ethnic ballad hard to resist – and he’s a great performer, which should help.

Russia – another good solid effort, again probably not a winner but has the potential to create an upset in the top five.

Sweden – we’re certain Carola will finish in the top ten, but we’re not sure about the top five – she’s definitely in with a chance but could just as easily miss out.

Belgium – one of those songs that’s likely to work with those viewers hearing the songs for the first time on the night. As long as Kate’s performance is up to scratch she should get plenty of votes.

UK – we’re not in the least bit sure about this, to be honest. But word from Athens is that Daz delivers the goods, so who knows – it could actually happen.

We’ll have to wait until next weekend to find out how Daz Sampson fares in Athens, but right now he’s not doing too badly in the UK charts. His Eurovision entry, Teenage Life, has gone into the UK Top 40 at number 13 – and although it might have missed out on a top ten placing, it’s still scored the highest chart position for a UK Eurovision song since Precious’ Say It Again, which reached number six in 1999.

Daz has a fair way to go up the charts before he matches the success of past Eurovision entrants such as Katrina and The Waves, who made number three in 1997 with their contest winner Love Shine A Light – but he’s done better than Javine, who only managed number 18 last year with Touch My Fire. The last UK Eurovision hopeful to top the charts was Gina G’s Ooh…Aah Just A Little Bit in 1996 – but of course Daz could go higher if he does well in Athens. Let’s see what happens next Sunday….

….and kick off your week’s worth of Eurovision viewing with Boom-Bang-A-Bang: 50 Years of Eurovision, BBC One’s own tribute to the Song Contest which is being shown this Tuesday at 10.35pm on BBC One.

Hosted by Eurovision stalwart Terry Wogan, the show promises a celebration of the contest’s five decades, including a performance from the UK’s hopeful Daz Sampson, and some of the best – and worst – Eurovision moments ever. We’re told this will include all of the UK’s wins, Abba’s victory in 1974 and a look back at the last time le Royuame-Uni hosted the contest, in 1998.

Not sure what else it’ll include, but with 50 years worth of clips at their disposal, there’s bound to be a few choice gems in there. We’d like to think the likes of Guildo Horn and Dana International will make it into the highlights – and let’s hope that old clip of Freddi and Friends gets pulled out of the archives too. As for the worst?? Well – as overplayed as it may now be – Jemini seems almost inevitable….