Posted March 14, 20214 yr So benefits of most things being rolled over from 2020 is that I don't have to write a new intro spiel for this years running order thread! Here's what I wrote more or less at this time last year; So we're still waiting on the last few stragglers (Noted repeat offenders Malta, Russia, Azerbaijan and North Macedonia still outstanding) and Portugal will be all wrapped up around midnight GMT but even then I think we've got a fairly solid idea of what kind of thing those countries are likely to bring - and one thing I think we've missed this year due to the backloading of the song reveals is discussions about the running order/differences between the halves of the semis. So this is what we're looking at Semi One First Half Australia Belarus Ireland Lithuania North Macedonia Russia Slovenia Sweden Second Half Azerbaijan Belgium Croatia Cyprus Israel Malta Norway Romania Ukraine Semi Two First Half Austria Czech Republic Estonia Greece Iceland Moldova Poland San Marino Serbia Second Half Albania Armenia Bulgaria Denmark Finland Georgia Latvia Portugal Switzerland And also some initial observations which I don't think are that much different this year! First general observations: JESUS CRISTO Semi One is the biggest bloodbath I've ever seen at this stage of the game. Australia and Ukraine will have a fight on their hands to keep their 100% Qualification record. The flip side of that is that Semi Two, specifically the back half of Semi Two has a lot of stuff that you wouldn't call as a definite qualifier. There'll probably be one or even two songs that qualify by virtue of being in the "easier" semi that then do absolutely nothing in the final and help the UK finish 22nd rather than 24th.
March 14, 20214 yr For Semi 2: 01. Czech Republic - Benny Cristo - Omaga 02. Estonia - Uku Suviste - The Lucky One 03. Moldova - Natalia Gordienko - Sugar 04. Austria - Vincent Bueno - Amen 05. Serbia - Hurricane - Loco Loco 06. Poland - Rafal - The Ride 07. Greece - Stefania - Last Dance 08. Iceland - Dadi og Gagnamagnid - 10 Years 09. San Marino - Senhit - Adrenalina 10. Portugal - The Black Mamba - Love Is On My Side 11. Switzerland - Gjon's Tears - Tout l'univers 12. Latvia - Samanta Tina - The Moon Is Rising 13. Georgia - Tornike Kipiani - You 14. Denmark - Fyr & Flamme - Ove os pa hinanden 15. Albania - Anxhela Peristeri - Karma 16. Bulgaria - Victoria - Growing Up Is Getting Old 17. Finland - Blind Channel - Dark Side
March 14, 20214 yr Am I right in deducing that there's only 2 female belters this year - Albania and Slovenia? (If Efendi and Destiny don't bring belters) One in each semi? That could benefit both of them.
March 14, 20214 yr Author I guess you could argue for the inclusion of Latvia in the female belter category? Plus I could see Malta feasibly bringing a big soul belter if they want to play to Destiny's strengths.
March 14, 20214 yr True about Malta. I wouldn't see Latvia taking votes from Albania - votes from fans of big ballads. Edited March 14, 20214 yr by Colm
March 15, 20214 yr Apart from Austria and Estonia....it's a very pop heavy first half. I'd definitely class Estonia as pop. Definitely more so than Czechia.
March 15, 20214 yr I suppose I meant upbeat numbers. What some would call bops. Edited March 15, 20214 yr by Colm
March 15, 20214 yr I'm sure Lithuania will end the first half of semi 1, and Cyprus gets to close the 2nd half
March 15, 20214 yr 1. Serbia 2. Poland 3. Austria 4. Greece 5. Estonia 6. Moldova 7. Czech Republic 8. San Marino 9. Iceland - 10. Portugal 11. Latvia 12. Georgia 13. Albania 14. Switzerland 15. Denmark 16. Bulgaria 17. Finland I think Czech Republic would make a great opener, but with Greece/Moldova/San Marino/Serbia all delivering big, up-tempo female entries, I feel like you've got to start with one to help spread them out? And between those four I think you need to save San Marino (and the Flo Rida gag) and Moldova (I'm imagining something BIG with loads of Kirkorov money pumped into the performance) until later, so it comes down to the other two and Greece were penned into open last year so I'm changing it up and gone with Serbia. Again, cos they were due to be in slot #2 last year, I'm letting Estonia off the hook and gone for something else that I don't think people overly care about. From there I try to alternate between either tempo and/or male/female acts. For the second half, I don't think you want to end on too slow a note, nor something that is instantly dead on arrival, so we land on Finland. Denmark get quite lucky as I don't think you can bury them too early when we have slow numbers from Portugal/Georgia/Switzerland/Bulgaria that need breaking up, and the latter two as big favourites aren't going to be thrown on too early.
March 16, 20214 yr Semi 1 1. Ireland (potentially Belarus) 2. North Macedonia 3. Australia 4. Sweden 5. Russia 6. Slovenia 7. Lithuania - 8. Israel 9. Ukraine 10. Croatia 11. Belgium 12. Azerbaijan 13. Norway 14. Cyprus 15. Romania 16. Malta I find this semi more of a struggle to pick an opener from, Macedonia/Sweden/Slovenia are too slow, Russia/Australia a bit too 'noisy'/out there and then Lithuania...too much of a favourite? So I give it to Ireland kinda by default, a solid track that has enough life to kick us off. Belarus will go 2nd with whatever they send if they happen to still compete, but if not you've got to sacrifice Macedonia or Slovenia, and I feel like Slovenia is more likely to be the "surprise jury fave" of the year. The second half is easier to order, Norway has to go somewhere in the middle as he's the only male on vocal duties and I can not see a situation where Destiny doesn't close the show - it's a big fave, a great positive note to end on AND from what I can gather, the meaning of 'je me casse' is roughly 'OK, I'm out'.
March 16, 20214 yr I just created a Youtube playlist so that I can cycle through all the entries and tried to put them into a running order that I thought would work well: Semi Final 1 01 Lithuania 02 Slovenia 03 Australia 04 North Macedonia 05 Ireland 06 Russia 07 Sweden 08 Azerbaijan 09 Romania 10 Israel 11 Cyprus 12 Norway 13 Ukraine 14 Croatia 15 Belgium 16 Malta Semi Final 2 01 Czech Republic 02 Austria 03 San Marino 04 Poland 05 Moldova 06 Estonia 07 Greece 08 Iceland 09 Serbia 10 Georgia 11 Denmark 12 Albania 13 Portugal 14 Latvia 15 Switzerland 16 Finland 17 Bulgaria
March 20, 20214 yr For semi 1, Belarus can go 2nd if they end up competing. 01. Australia - Montaigne - Technicolour 02. North Macedonia - Vasil - Here I Stand 03. Ireland - Lesley Roy - Maps 04. Lithuania - The Roop - Discoteque 05. Slovenia - Ana Soklic - Amen 06. Russia - Manizha - Russian Woman 07. Sweden - Tusse - Voices 08. Cyprus - Elena Tsagrinou - El Diablo 09. Belgium - Hooverphonic - The Wrong Place 10. Israel - Eden Alene - Set Me Free 11. Romania - Roxen - Amnesia 12. Croatia - Albina - Tick Tock 13. Norway - Tix - Fallen Angel 14. Azerbaijan - Efendi - Mata Hari 15. Ukraine - Go_A - Shum 16. Malta - Destiny - Je me casse
March 20, 20214 yr Author Semi One in my headcannon 01 Lithuania: The Roop - Discotheque 02 Slovenia: Ana Soklic - Amen 03 Belarus: Galasy ZMesta - Some Shit Song 04 North Macedonia: Vasil - Here I Stand 05 Australia: Montaigne - Technicolour 06 Russia: Manizha - Russian Woman 07 Sweden: Tusse - Voices 08 Ireland: Lesley Roy - Maps 09 Ukraine: Go_A - Shum 10 Romania: Roxen - Amnesia 11 Israel: Eden Alene - Set Me Free 12 Azerbaijan: Efendi - Mata Hari 13 Norway: TIX - Fallen Angel 14 Cyprus: Elena - El Diablo 15 Malta: Destiny - Je Me Casse 16 Belgium: Hooverphonic - The Wrong Place 17 Croatia: Albina - Tick Tock - Lithuania seem the most obvious song to get the party started/make a bold impression from the off with Slovenia given the sacrificial second place slot. If Belarus don't turn up in Rotterdam then Australia can be swapped around to put in between Slovenia and North Macedonia to break up the run of ballads. Throughout the rest of the run I've tried to break up the higher and lower tempos where possible. - Norway has to go somewhere in that middle of the second half/after a break to give them set up time for the props. And Cyprus to follow them just for the symbolism of going from "fallen angel" to El Diablo. - Croatia close the show with a similar high energy number with Belgium providing the cushioning between Croatia and Malta in song 15
March 20, 20214 yr Author And for Semi 2 01 Czech Republic: Benny Cristo - Omaga 02 Poland: Rafal - The Ride 03 Serbia: Hurricane - Loco Loco 04 Austria: Vincent Bueno - Amen 05 San Marino: Senhit - Adrenalina 06 Moldova: Natalia Gordienko - Sugar 07 Iceland: Dadi Freyr - 10 Years 08 Estonia: Uku Suviste - The Lucky Ones 09 Greece: Stefania - Last Dance 10 Portugal: The Black Mamba - Love Is On My Side 11 Latvia: Samanta Tina - The Moon Is Rising 12 Bulgaria: Victoria - Growing Up Is Getting Old 13 Albania: Anxhela - Karma 14 Georgia: Tornike Kipiani - You 15 Denmark: Fyr & Flamme - Ove os pa hinanden 16 Switzerland: Gjon's Tears - Tous l'univers 17 Finland: Blind Channel - Dark Side - Main challenge here is how to spread out the pop bangers in the first half. I ended up with this version on the basis that there'd be a break after song 5 so there's time to get your breath back between San Marino and Moldova - Czech Republic seem like a good opener for something high energy. I didn't think I could put both Amens in the death slot so Poland goes there for something that's poppy but not particularly high impact with Austria used to break up a run of bangers later on - The second half was a lot easier to go with the contrasts. Finland makes the most sense as a closer with hopefully a big stage show with a lot of fireworks and Switzerland just before as the most hyped up entry for a strong contrast. - If we're keeping the breaks in the same place as Semi 1 then the second one would go between Albania and Georgia which works well enough (for a pee break)
March 30, 20214 yr Running Orders have been released on the official Eurovision Instagram! View this post on Instagram View this post on Instagram
March 30, 20214 yr My first scattered thoughts are that this looks good for Finland and Bulgaria, not good for Russia, both of those in second are sacrificed, Denmark will be a less than stellar finish and will probably sink for that, intriguing openers on both fronts.
March 30, 20214 yr Georgia, Albania, Portugal, Bulgaria is going to be a drag. Edited March 30, 20214 yr by Colm
March 30, 20214 yr I'd good that Ireland come after N Macedonia. I really don't think Lithuania is certain to qualify, any more. Edited March 30, 20214 yr by Colm
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