With all the rush to get our mobile app out on Tuesday (bit.ly/esccommentary to download it for your iOS device), we missed posting a Spotter’s Guide for the first semi-final. But never fear, we’ve answered your emails, and it has returned for tonight’s show.
So settle in with your own thoughts, and a few pointers from the ESC Insight team, with a few points to watch out for and think about in the second semi-final of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest.
The Final Countdown
The joke that the rock fans make about ‘Europe’ finally makes it to the stage tonight with host Petra Mede getting the honours of broadcasting it around Europe. It happens pretty quickly, so this is an easy spot. But if you want a perfect example of comedy callback technique, keep watching….
Will you start the fans, please!
Is it The Crystal Maze dome, or Noel Edmonds’s Grab a Grand? No matter which cult TV game you go for, the Azerbaijani man-in-a-box routine screams ‘We want to win. Again’ Who’s got their visas ready for May 2014?
Finland’s Kiss
It’s already built up some momentum in the press, but the kiss between the happy couple at the end of Krista Siegfrid’s ‘Marry Me’ is getting a lot of PR across Europe. If Finland make it through to the final on Saturday night expect some reactionary stories to appear to keep the bandwagon rolling.
Israel and ‘That Dress’
Please, try and focus on the song…
Albania’s three minute Prog-rock opus
Seriously, this is everything prog-rock should be. Its a mythical story of a Campbellian hero who spurns the call to action, is pulled towards the underworld (okay the satellite stage), to fight his demons with the power of musical fire before ascending back to the stage and his rightful reward.
Except it does it in just three minutes, and has a zombie John Peel on bass guitar.
Special mentions for other spotting targets include Daniel Kitson singing for Hungary, Malta’s karaoke lyrics, Macedonia’s Margarita Pracatan, the first stage dive at Eurovision, and Emil, the oldest man at Eurovision… ever. He’s 95.
What are you looking forward to seeing tonight? Leave us a comment!
I would love Albania to qualify with Identitet, but I just can’t see it happening unfortunately.