Perhaps you have already circled the date of this Saturday, May 14 in red in your diary, sent out invitations to your friends and stocked up on chips… In other words, you have probably already planned to watch the final of the Eurovision which will be broadcast that evening from 9 p.m. on France 2 live from Turin, with Laurence Boccolini and Stéphane Bern on commentary.
Perhaps you will also skip the semi-finals broadcast this Tuesday and Thursday on Culturebox, channel 14 of TNT… And that’s a shame!
Just following the Eurovision final is like arriving at a party when the atmosphere is already at its height. There’s not a crumb or drop left of the quiche or house cocktail that everyone rushed to before your arrival. You also missed the guests who have already left and, who knows, you may have missed out on a great meeting.
Slovenian disco and Georgian rock
If there are semi-finals at Eurovision, it is, alas, to bring back some of the candidate countries towards the exit door and give them an appointment next year… Forty songs are in the running this year. There can only be twenty-five in the final. At each semi-final, ten get their invitation card for Saturday where they will join those of the “Big 5” countries. The latter, namely Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the United Kingdom are the VIPs, the automatically qualified, because they bring the biggest financial contribution… (Yes, because the ‘Eurovision is not a casual aperitif.)
If some countries like Ukraine, the Netherlands, Sweden or Serbia should not have too much trouble qualifying this year, others are more worried. And it would be a shame to miss it. Regarding the first half, we fear to “lose”, for example, the nice Disko Slovenian juveniles and the relaxing ballad of the three Icelandic sisters in their native language. On the second half side, we recommend the Georgian proposal, Lock Me In, with “Brit Pop” sounds, which – unfairly – does not excite fans of the competition, and that of the iconoclast Achille Lauro. Star in Italy, he represents the micro-state of San Marino by making boxes on his song stripper : it’s too much and that’s why it deserves a look.
Do you have something to say
Also note, if you follow the first semi-final from France, that you will be able to vote to help your favorite artists qualify for the final, by sending one or more SMS to 73003 – the details of the process will be explained to you in due course. . Something you can’t do for the second half.
This Tuesday, you will also be entitled to a preview of the performances, recorded during the general rehearsal on Monday evening, of our French representatives, Alvan and Ahez, and of the Italian duo Mahmood and Blanco. Thursday, it will be the turn of the Briton Sam Ryder, the Spaniard Chanel and the German Malik Harris to be entitled to their little sequence in the spotlight.
Finally, during these semi-finals, you will not be in unfamiliar territory. You will thus be able to judge the qualities of Mika, master of ceremonies alongside Laura – Loneliness – Pausini and Alessandro Cattelan, the transalpine Nikos Aliagas.
The interval acts, that is to say the artists who will perform while waiting for the results to be revealed, will also undoubtedly tell you something. This Tuesday, DJ Benny Benassi and producer Dardust will be on stage at the Pala Alpitour with the British group Sophie and The Giants. Diodato, the singer who should have represented Italy at Eurovision 2020 – canceled due to the pandemic – is also announced. Thursday, it will be the Il Divo trio, third in Eurovision 2020, who will come to play the distinguished guests. So, have you been convinced to stock up on new chips for these two extra evenings?