Two Eurovision entries in UK midweek top 40.

And a whole load more in the top 200:

Two Eurovision new entries in today's UK singles chart

Eurovision makes just two tiny dents in the UK Top 100 singles chart today, at #93 and #99. Bonnie Tyler makes the top 200 for the first time at last. (It's been out for weeks!) She will probably disappear next week, but Emmelie's winner has been selling well since last night and may make the Top 40 next week.

Eurovision - tonight's final

It's all about the music, remember, so try not to think of the above photos when you are watching Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ireland tonight. (They're songs 20, 25 and 26 respectively, in the order they appear here.)

By all accounts (and pictures) from rehearsals yesterday, tonight's Eurovision final is going to be pretty special. Even for those who watch it to take the piss and think all the songs are rubbish, there are things happening tonight which will delight many a Eurovision party across Europe, and I think especially the UK audience. I'm not going to say too much, but there's an Olympic-style opening, a new song from ABBA's Benny and Björn, more Lynda Woodruff and something special from her alter ego, Sarah Dawn Finer, which has had people in tears already. 

I was really hoping that Bonnie Tyler might get as high as the top fifteen tonight. I thought that would be the best we could hope for, given that the song is a grower, not a shower. But then, last night, the tweets started flying in during the jury final. "Awful start for Bonnie", "Bonnie lost it at the start but picked up" and, even worse, "A possibly drunk Bonnie Tyler gives her worst performance of the week in the jury final". My heart sank. It's Eurovision 2011 all over again, when Blue did a vocally dodgy jury final performance and hardly picked up any jury votes, meaning that their highly respectable 5th place from Europe's televoters from a much better Saturday performance could only pick them up to 11th place overall. So, it looks like a lot of our points have gone AWOL already, unless the juries were very forgiving and really like the song. We shall see.

I've only placed three bets for tonight, as Paddy Power have restricted their each way payout this year to top three, rather than their usual top four. (I wish I knew why.)

It seems too obvious to go for Denmark, and there's little money to be gained, but I think it will be there or thereabouts, so I've done it anyway. There'll be a resigned sense of anti-climax if the favourite all year ends up winning again, just as Loreen and Alexander Rybak did. The Danish final was my first exposure to any of this year's songs, way back in the snowbound depths of Winter. (I hadn't paid any attention to the Swiss and Albanian songs that had already been picked.) As soon as I saw Emmelie's performance, before it had even won in Denmark, I said, "This could win Eurovision." Then it won that night and I was pleased. But I always hoped something better would come along and replace it as favourite or 'more obvious winner', but nothing has, and that's a shame, but hardly Denmark's fault. It's an immediate song, very well performed. It will be fine if it wins, but is it just a bit too much like an Irish entry from the '90s, or is that WHY it will win?

Azerbaijan is definitely one of the performances of the night, as well as best shirt-wearer, best muscle, best eyebrows, best YouTube fitness videos, best shirtless photos in the gym etc. If you believe the much-touted idea that Azerbaijan won in 2011 because Turkey failed to progress from their semi-final, allowing Azerbaijan to suck up all the votes that would automatically have gone Turkey's way, then you'll be justified in thinking they're going to do it again. With a better song tonight, and a man in a box, they could do it again, and fans will be horrified.

Ireland is the performance that stuck in my head most from the semi-finals. It had everything. Leather, nipples, muscles, drums, camp dancing and, above all, a solid vocal on a modern track from the lovely Ryan. I'd be overjoyed if this being in the final slot sees it win. And remember, the only other time Eurovision was held in Malmo:, Ireland won!

Ideally, I'd like a first time country to win tonight, so if Iceland, Malta or Georgia manage it, I will be planning my holidays next year. The latter two will have to up their game from Thursday though, where both were a bit disappointing.

If not a first time country, then the Netherlands would be my choice. They have my favourite song this year, by a mile, but it is not suited to an arena.

I feel sure that the UK's televote will put Greece top again. (It's Greece. It's a drinking song. Two reasons for the UK to love it.) The UK jury will probably peg it back though, so Greece may not get our douze points, but they'll be close.

I'll be in a pub in Birmingham. The same one where we watched Alexander Rybak win. I'm in charge of scoring. Lordi help us! Enjoy the show!

The UK's favourite UK Eurovision entries - Top 10

Ken Bruce revealed the top ten from the Radio 2 website vote yesterday, in his excellent programme from Malmö. I recommend listening to the whole show on the iPlayer in the next six days, as he had some interesting guests (Loreen, Michael Ball, Kate Robbins, Mike Nolan, Jay Aston) and a novel version of Eurovision Popmaster as well. The programme is here.

The winner was as I suspected, but not all the results were entirely predictable. (Scooch!) No sign of Nicki French or Jessica Garlick in the top 20 though, which is a shame and a shocker, respectively.


01 Making Your Mind Up - Buck's Fizz (1981, 1st/20)

02 Puppet On A String - Sandie Shaw (1967, 1st/17)

03 Love Shine A Light - Katrina & The Waves (1997, 1st/25)

04 Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit - Gina G (1996, 8th/23)

05 Save Your Kisses For Me - The Brotherhood Of Man (1976, 1st/18)

06 One Step Out Of Time - Michael Ball (1992, 2nd/23)

07 Beg, Steal Or Borrow - The New Seekers (1972, 2nd/18)

08 Congratulations - Cliff Richard (1968, 2nd/17)

09 Flying The Flag (For You) - Scooch (2007, 22nd/24)

10 I Can - Blue (2011, 11th/25)
_____

11 One Step Further - Bardo (1982, 7th/18)

12 Boom Bang-A-Bang - Lulu (1969, =1st/16)

13 Are You Sure? - The Allisons (1961, 2nd/16)

14 It's My Time - Jade Ewen (2009, 5th/25)

15 Let Me Be The One - The Shadows (1975, 2nd/19)

16 Better The Devil You Know - Sonia (1993, 2nd/25)

17 Teenage Life - Daz Sampson (2006, 19th/24)

18 Knock, knock, who's there? - Mary Hopkin (1970, 2nd/12)

19 Where Are You? - Imaani (1998, 2nd/25)

20 Love Will Set You Free - Engelbert Humperdinck (2012, 25th/26)

I've been on the radio!

I was, somewhat unexpectedly, broadcasting to the nation earlier this evening, when I was invited onto the Mark Forrest programme on the BBC's national local radio network. I know that 'national local radio' seems a contradiction in terms, but it is a programme that rounds up "the best of the day's local radio" on all 39 BBC local radio stations at the same time, except those which are broadcasting sport (which unfortunately included my own local station, BBC WM). They have 1.6 million listeners, apparently. (Except for those who are listening to sport.)

The question was this: 'Do you still BELIEVE IN Eurovision?'

Do you see what they did there? I'll leave it a moment for the hilarious topicality of this to sink in.

Okay? Good.

Some silly man has started a petition (already rejected by our wise and never-erring government) to persuade the UK to pull out of Eurovision (or 'Eurovison', as he calls it on the petition).

The petition is here. It has one signatory. (The man who started it, I assume.) So, not exactly a mass movement, but enough 'controversy' on which to hang a radio debate between me and the man who started the petition.

Anyway, that's all you really need to know. You can just hear the 'debate', such as it is. Here it is.

The Eurovision bit starts at 1:13:00, but if you can't bear to hear some 'comedy' songs for Eurovision from local radio, and the angry xenophobes who seem to be dragging their knuckles around the streets of Bedfordshire (shudder), skip to the beginning of my bit at 1:22:20 (after the Jamie Cullum single). It's all over by 1:27:10, apart from listeners' reactions.  (And yes, the host really does use the phrase, "Chris camp".  Almost as if he knew.)

I had so much more to say, but this is the way that trivial radio debate goes. (Goodness knows, I listen to enough of them on 5 Live.) My slight dissatisfaction with hardly saying anything that I'd prepped, including not mentioning languages, exposure to cultural diversity and the family entertainment factor, is outweighed by the fact that petition man's 'argument' (if he really had one) crumbled. I always find that 'facts' can get in the way of 'unsubstantiated flimsy opinion' and so it proved. Armed with some actual facts from a couple of friends, I was able to give factual answers, to which my adversary didn't really seem to have any reply. I was gagging for a fight after this, I can tell you! Bring on the proper debate! Feed me facts and watch me roar! (Albeit in my sinusitis-affected nasal drone.)

Anyway, I believe the final score was:

Eurovision 1-0 Naysayers.

Result! I've saved Eurovision for you, the UK. Be grateful! Buy me a drink or something! (I couldn't resist tweeting BBC Eurovision to point out that I have effectively been doing their PR for them, but I am actually happy to do that and knock back the BBC-knockers.)

Some Eurovision fans on twitter seemed grateful. I can't really ask for anything more than that. But my ex-boyfriend (of sorts) from 1986 heard the interview going out live from his home in the States, which meant he was hearing my voice for the first time since, ooh, about 1986. THAT was weird. But brilliant. And my friends in Brussels were listening to it live as well, which was also brilliant.

If you keep on listening to 2:15:30, some very astute person called Jonathan from Bury St. Edmunds says that *I* am right, so there you go. Case closed.

What do you think? Please feel free to leave a comment.

The UK's favourite UK Eurovision entries

Ken Bruce is broadcasting his Radio2 show from Malmö this morning, from 09:30-12:00 BST. He'll be revealing the top ten UK Eurovision entries, as voted for on the Radio2 website recently.

Unfortunately, the vote wasn't open long enough for slowcoaches like me, so my vote for Bardo hasn't counted, and they've ended up at number 11. Ken counted down (and played) numbers 20-11 earlier this week, and here they are. The top ten must surely include our four missing winners; Sandie Shaw, Katrina & The Waves, Buck's Fizz (probably the #1) and Brotherhood Of Man. The other one, Lula, has already been played, at number 12.

The other six, I would guess, will include Jessica Garlick, Gina G, Frances Ruffelle, Kathy Kirby, Olivia Newton-John, Cliff Richard, Cliff Richard again, Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson, Clodagh Rodgers, Lynsey de Paul & Mike Moran and The New Seekers. Oh, hang on, there's not room for all of them. And what about Nicki French? Drama!


11 One Step Further - Bardo (1982, 7th/18)

12 Boom Bang-A-Bang - Lulu (1969, =1st/16)

13 Are You Sure? - The Allisons (1961, 2nd/16)

14 It's My Time - Jade Ewen (2009, 5th/25)

15 Let Me Be The One - The Shadows (1975, 2nd/19)

16 Better The Devil You Know - Sonia (1993, 2nd/25)

17 Teenage Life - Daz Sampson (2006, 19th/24)

18 Knock, knock, who's there? - Mary Hopkin (1970, 2nd/12)

19 Where Are You? - Imaani (1998, 2nd/25)

20 Love Will Set You Free - Engelbert Humperdinck (2012, 25th/26)

Eurovision: Semi-final 2 - pointless predictions

After the 'spectacular' 'success' of Tuesday's predictions (7 out of ten - moving swiftly on...) let's try again.

Eurovision: Semi-final 1 - pointless predictions

Confused: Lithuania's Andrius Pojavis.

Eurovision kicks off tonight in Malmö. The real voting actually started last night, with the second full rehearsal of the show, AKA the jury final. Belgium did their song twice, due to technical problems. The international juries have cast their votes based on these performances, so half the votes are done and dusted already.

Statistically, it's easier this year to predict the ten songs that will make it through, as we have fewer songs than last year. And this semi-final is easier than the second, as we only have sixteen songs; on Thursday there will be one more.

So, sixteen songs, with ten going through. All we have to do is pick the six who won't make it, right? Even a person who hasn't heard any of the songs will get four right, as it's impossible to do any worse than that.

The problem with this semi-final is that it's probably the weakest ever, since the format was introduced, with some really poor songs and a low level of variety. Thank goodness SVT successfully lobbied the EBU Reference Group (which runs Eurovision policy) to abolish the draw for running order, so they had the freedom to program the show in a way which would, in theory, make a better television event. However, they did have a draw, before many of the songs were chosen, to determine in which half of each semi the countries would perform. For semi 1, this unfortunately produced a first half of eight songs which ended up as seven female soloists and one male group. So, from the start, SVT had to make the best of a bad job and did the only thing they could - they stuck the Croatian men at song four, in the middle of the solo women. This alone will probably see Croatia through - but they do have a memorable song as well, so they should be okay. They're then followed by a run of five which are arguably the five most interesting songs, all in a row. So the strong section runs from song 5 to song 9, encompassing Denmark (favourites to win the whole shebang), Russia (sickeningly schmaltzy ballad), Ukraine (possibly the contest's strongest singer), Netherlands (my favourite of the whole 39) and Montenegro. The latter isn't everyone's cup of char, but as there's a shortage of brain-numbing bassline dubstep rap in this contest, it stands out like a throbbing thumb, and will hopefully liven up the final, but those in Malmö seem to think it's a borderline qualifier.

When we played this prediction game after the Boom Bang-A-Bang preview party in Manchester last month, based on watching the official videos, I was only able to name five qualifiers straight away. I then added a sixth. Then I was stuck. I thought that only six really deserved to make the final, and I grudgingly threw in four more to make up my ten predicted qualifiers. Inevitably, during the rehearsal process, some songs have risen through the ranks because of good rehearsals, unexpectedly good vocals or just the mind-numbing repetition which makes journos and fans think something is good on the ninetieth hearing, forgetting that most of Europe will only get to hear it once. Estonia seems to be the case in point for this one. Stuck at song two, in Estonian, I don't get it, but apparently Birgit's performance is very good.

So, we can rule IN:

04 Croatia
05 Denmark
06 Russia
07 Ukraine

11 Belarus

13 Ireland


We can rule OUT:

01 Austria

03 Slovenia

10 Lithuania

14 Cyprus
15 Belgium


That leaves us with just five in the grey area, from which we need to pick four more:

02 Estonia

08 Netherlands
09 Montenegro

12 Moldova

16 Serbia

It's probably worth mentioning at this point that the three automatic finalists who vote in this first semi are Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom. For the songs in the grey area, this may give the edge to Estonia, who could pick up points from all three. I think the UK and Sweden will like Anouk for the Netherlands. Serbia and Montenegro are both helped by having each other, plus Croatia and possibly Slovenia, Moldova and Belarus to give them points. As we've ruled out songs 14 (Cyprus - no friends here) and 15 (Belgium - terrible, by all accounts), I simply can't leave out Serbia at song 16 (the end). The last song usually gets through, and it seems inconceivable that the final three songs could all fail. 

I've concluded that the one I'll leave out is Moldova, despite my love for Aliona Moon's hair. They don't have Romania to help them out with a 12 this time. I should add that friends in Malmö see Moldova qualifying, so I'm sticking my neck out here and favouring Montenegro's appeal to the youth vote instead.

So, to clarify, my predicted ten finalists are:

*
02 Estonia
*
04 Croatia
05 Denmark
06 Russia
07 Ukraine
08 Netherlands
09 Montenegro
*
11 Belarus
*
13 Ireland

*

16 Serbia

If there's a shocker, it will be Lithuania qualifying. No one seems to like it, but he's cute (see above) and the UK always gives Lithuania big points. We will again. They've qualified at least twice before when no one has rated their song. It will really throw a spanner in the works if he gets through.

One final thing to add. I haven't watched ANY rehearsal videos. I've also read no more than a handful of rehearsal reviews, so this is based entirely on my initial impressions of the songs from ages ago, the videos, my own memory/analysis of former voting patterns and statistics, plus facebook comments from friends in Malmö. It will be interesting to see if this proves any more accurate than the predictions I've made in past years after attending most of the rehearsals in the hall, which have usually led to me getting eight right, occasionally seven, once nine, but never ten. We shall see. Enjoy the show!

Today is brought to you by the letter 'E' and the number 13.

It's 2013 and today is the 13th. It's also the start of Eurovision week in Malmö, with the first semi-final tomorrow night.

By a marvellous numerical coincidence, today is also the thirteenth anniversary of the last Eurovision in Sweden, held in Stockholm's Globen Arena on Saturday 13 May 2000.

Eurovision 2000 was the first one I attended abroad, as I didn't go to Israel in 1999, so it's full of great memories for me.

Song number 13 that night was Spain's 'Colgado de un sueño', sung by Serafín Zubiri.

The song that finished 13th was the fabulous 'No Goodbyes' by Linda Wagenmakers (and her enormous dress) for the Netherlands.

No song scored 13 points.

I think we've milked this for all it's worth, don't you? Nicki French (as far as I know, but she'll let me know) has no connection with the number 13, but she was our entry that night, so, er, let's play that song again.

Shining a light on Eurovision 1998

Last Friday, 3 May, was the 16th anniversary of the UK's last win at Eurovision, when Katrina & The Waves finally brought it home. Then, when they'd finished visiting home, in Kansas, they came back to their adopted UK. This, Nigel Farage, is how much we depend on immigrants.

Within hours of that first victory since 1981 happening (and please note that 16 year gap; we'll be returning to this later), a good friend of mine, a local writer, had said to me, "Let's lobby Birmingham City Council to hold it here!" I thought he had a valid point. We had the venues and the city centre infrastructure, but I wasn't convinced that the BBC would contemplate hosting Eurovision out of that there London, especially after such a long gap. Anyhow, I did nothing, but someone took it seriously, the council took up the challenge and hey presto! In the late Summer of 1997 (far, far later than it would be now), it was declared that Eurovision would indeed be coming to just down the road from my house, the next year. 

And so, Birmingham's NIA (National Indoor Arena) hosted Eurovision and the G8 conference just a few days apart, in the highest profile month in our city's history.

The Eurovision final (for that's all it was - we were still six years away from a two-show contest) took place on Europe Day, Saturday 9 May 1998. That's fifteen years ago tonight. I was there. I'd been accredited during the week leading up to it, for Gay Times. I had interviewed Dana International by phone to her Tel Aviv apartment back in March, in the issue that was now in the shops. My multi-lingual friend had also been at the NIA all week, lending his tongue to anyone who required assistance. We went to parties and press conferences and photo shoots. We didn't really go to rehearsals, because they were effectively in secret. Oh, how times have changed! (Having said that, this year's Eurovision has seen a slight return, with the first rehearsals in Malmö being held without journalists allowed in; a wise move, which allows the artists to acclimatise to the stage, without their nervous first rehearsals being splattered all over YouTube within seconds and chances written off within minutes.)

So, happy Europe Day! Let's relive a few of my highlights from my first Eurovision final, fifteen years ago tonight - as posted by me on facebook earlier this evening. Oh, and that 16 year gap between our last two wins? Well, it's a sixteen year gap again, innit? Bonnie's going to win. You can't argue with stats like that.

x x x x x x x

Forgive the indulgence for a few moments, but the 15th anniversary of Eurovision's last trip to the UK (and my first Eurovision show in the flesh) is worth celebrating. Here's the first song to be performed in Birmingham, by Danijela from Croatia. It still sends shivers down my spine, partly because the lights went down and it meant the show was starting, and partly because it's one of Eurovision's best ever songs, with a superb (but simple) performance. (A bit of arm-waving and a hoody routine. You can't go wrong.) She came 5th. The UK gave her a measly 2 points.

...and here (starting at 6:23) is the bit that EVERYONE remembers from Eurovision 1998. All of us in the hall thought that Ulrika had said the bitchiest thing ever to the poor Dutch woman. I nearly fell off my chair laughing, as it seemed so outrageous. In reality, Ulrika was only repeating what Conny Vandenbos had said herself, and was a victim of the delay on the line. However, the truth is nowhere near as funny...

...and here's my favourite artist from Eurovision in Birmingham; Mihalis Hajiyannis from Cyprus. Well, just look at him. I spent the whole of media week at the NIA doing exactly that and chatting to him whenever I could. Eurovision week also introduced me to the fact that we had a Greek/Cypriot cultural centre here in Birmingham, and we went to a small party there one night where (a) the food was gorgeous and (b) I saw Mihalis being mobbed like a superstar by girls of Greek/Cypriot origin from Birmingham. They already knew who he was, and it blew my mind. It was an interesting insight into the cross-cultural mix in our city and in Eurovision. He came 11th, with only 3 points from the UK.

Cyprus was followed on stage by Edsilia from the Netherlands. At the time, my favourite song of the 1998 contest, and one which I think has stood the test of time. (The dance mixes and English versions are great.) On the way to a party at the Sea Life Centre (as you do) in Eurovision week, Edsilia had said that, if she won, I could organise a promo tour of gay clubs for her in the UK. And so, with her 'only' finishing 4th, despite being the UK's second favourite of the night, my forthcoming career as concert promoter went out the window...

...and here's the UK's favourite song of the night. Our twelve points went to Chiara, who looks very serious here, but she had endeared herself to all and sundry during the week by donning a '70s disco wig at The Dome and throwing herself around the dancefloor to funky disco numbers...

And finally, the winning reprise (as seen on German TV). The artist who I had interviewed back in March 1998 for my first full Gay Times interview only went and won the damn thing, in my home town! It was all too much to take in. What a glorious night! Happy memories.

PS. In 1998, the 9th of May was hot and sunny all day, not pissing it down, as it is tonight.

Guess who's back. Back again.

Dear reader,

It was very nearly two years ago, on 17 May 2011, that the (unintentionally) final post on my former blog, World Of Chig, slipped forth unnoticed into the world. Posted as a final 'mopping up' exercise, just after I had driven myself back home from my solo drive to Düsseldorf (via Brussels) for Eurovision (and a stag weekend), it was never supposed to be the end of my blog, especially as it was just six months away from celebrating its tenth anniversary.

Little did I know then that the usual period of the well-documented PED (post-Eurovision depression) would evolve into apathy, get complicated by unemployment and illness into something approaching real depression, and then be fatally scuppered by complications involving the closure of my old Freeserve/Orange e-mail account. In short, I no longer have access to the editing function on my own blog, so World Of Chig is officially finished. It is an ex-blog. It has ceased to be.

And there I've left it for 24 months. I've been happy to exist in cyberspace on facebook (to a lesser and lesser extent) and increasingly on twitter. (Especially on Thursdays and Saturdays, for televisual reasons.) I have also tried existing in the real world. Sometimes, this can be socially rewarding too, I have reminded myself.

But, recently, particularly with twitter itself and the hardly-noticed death of Thatcher both re-energising my enthusiasm for political debate and with last Monday (6 May) seeing the unique convergence of my birthday, a Bank Holiday, glorious weather and the start of Eurovision rehearsals in Malmö, I was thinking it might be time to start blogging again.  Throw into the mix two significant Eurovision anniversaries for the UK which have occurred in the last week, including tonight's 15th anniversary of Eurovision happening here in Birmingham... and here we are. I was posting some of my memories of Eurovision 1998 on facebook this evening and thinking to myself, 'these should be on my blog, but I don't have a blog any more'. So, I've done it. Let's start again. 

World of Chig is dead.

Long live Chigworld!

(Almost whole seconds have gone into thinking about this new title, as you can tell. However, if you think it's a bit poor, please bear in mind that World of Chig's REAL title, which I had to look at each time I was on the Blogger edit page, was 'Chig's Life and Thoughts', due to a very hurried decision in 2001. Chigworld is a move forward, as far as I'm concerned.)

So, let's start by reposting the stuff I was putting on facebook earlier, to celebrate today's 15th anniversary of Eurovision in Birmingham.