Saturday 14 May 2011

Tonight's The Night! Eurovision 2011 Grand Final

For some people it's one evening's TV entertainment. But for some of us tonight is the culmination of 6 months following national finals, attending Eurovision preview parties, casting our votes in fan polls, watching rehearsal videos, analysing betting odds and the running order and finally predicting who we think will win the final.

Last night I attended the final dress rehearsal, now renamed the jury final. I can tell you you're in for a treat. The biggest surprise will come in the way Germany has decided to position the green room and announce the votes. Let's just say the audience won't have to be watching the big screens to see the green room action.

Some of the guests delivering points will include Danny Saucedo for Sweden, Safura for Azerbaijan and Ruslana for Ukraine.

The interval act will consist of 2 songs performed by a notable German performer whose name I'm afraid I've forgotten.

PREDICTION TIME

Still the big favourite with the bookies at less than 2/1 my money (literally) is on France to win. The winner is usually something different from the rest and Sognu really does stand out.

France's middle position in the running order could work against them though. For the last 10 years the winner has come from the last 8 songs to perform. The only contender I can see here is Azerbaijan. They seem dead-cert to finish top 4 and a win is not out of the question.

Other countries I expect to place highly are UK, Ireland, Sweden and after a long-held resistance maybe even Hungary and Greece!

It remains to be seen if Ukraine's sand lady will wow audiences enough to give them a top 10 finish and although the crowd will be deafening for Lena's performance it's debatable whether the audience will get it after just one listen.

One thing's for sure, tonight promises to be 3 hours of great entertainment and tomorrow it will all be over for another year  :-(


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