[Nicky91]

This year's representatives of Ukraine at Eurovision-2022, the Kalush Orchestra, decided that the best thing they can do for the country now is to support Ukraine with their performances and through communication with the European audience.

"Kalush Orchestra will go to Turin, perform live at Eurovision" - said the band's frontman Oleg Psyuk at a performance in Lviv.

Therefore, for the first time since the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the band gathered in Lviv and began preparations for a performance in Turin.

"Today we met with the band for the first time in Lviv to rehearse all together, not online. And soon we will go in honor of Ukraine, in the framework of Eurovision, on a fundraising tour "- added Oleg.

"Kalush Orchestra" agreed to take part in promotional concerts on the eve of Eurovision. At all events, the band plans to raise funds to help Ukraine. Details of the promotion and events in which the Kalush Orchestra will participate will be announced in the coming days.

our winners are going to italy after all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


good news, also to make trophy handover ceremony no more any awkward

[Nicky91]

so far amazing at the pre-parties are

Poland, Australia, Malta, Norway, Serbia, Albania, Armenia



disappointing are: Austria (LOL), Montenegro (strong low notes but disgustingly bad high notes), Czech Republic (earpain on those high notes), Ireland (Brooke is lovely but the whole thing comes across as very amateurishly performed, and not always the best vocals)



meh: North Macedonia (good vocals but nothingness of a song, i feel nothing with Circles)



Belgium mixed, sometimes good, sometimes a bit mediocre but he is going through extra vocal training, song is not my cup of tea though the whole Bond/R&B fusion

[Nicky91]

now only Madrid pre-party left as for pre-party season

[Nicky91]

[Nicky91]

am so excited for next month


countries i root for

in semi 1 ofc Netherlands, but also Slovenia and Moldova the most and i have to admit Greece is growing kinda on me, Amanda has a nice voice very Birdy very London Grammar-ish


in semi 2 my 110% support is for Malta (shame i cannot vote for our Queen) but Emma Muscat is a STAR with even more potential to become more internationally famous after this contest no matter what, she is so the right performer for this kind of uplifting feel good music, song might be basic but she lifts this up to another level of greatness with her amazing live performing qualities, she can do better than some expect her to and i fully believe in her either, also self-acceptance and self love is very important, and don't judge a book by its cover is sooooo what i stand for as well - i mean she might be a pretty girl from incredibly wealthy family but despite all of that she can feel pain as well, i love her for having worked hard herself to where she is now as an artist and a professional pianist (passion for playing piano since the age of 5 can you imagine, and delivering awesome chopin piano covers at age of just 15)


and that chorus ''take it or leave it, i am what i am'' so many truths there


everyone is perfect who they are for themselves, i also believe in a utopian world with lots of love, and everyone being appreciated for who they are in their own unique lovely ways, and a world without hate and war

[Nicky91]

3 weeks till ESC

[Nicky91]

Youtube video

Youtube video

first two house party performance episodes, next friday will have the last episode 3



very nice they still do this very amazing performances and also nice to hear other work too from some of the contestants of this year

Malta's Emma Muscat (from Palazzo Paraiso a historical building in malta) with her 2020 song Sangria (which samples K3 Tele-Romeo) very nice italian summer bop, nice acoustic take of that behind her piano

Intelligent Music Project of Bulgaria, with another past work of theirs, Every Time


and Croatia's Mia Dimsic with a past work song in croatian, contrast to her entry guilty pleasure



UK's Sam Ryder also acoustic from York Hall, a venue from his hometown

[Nicky91]

https://wiwibloggs.com/2022/04/23/se...iewers/271769/

Semi 1 interval acts confirmed

Diodato (Italy's 2020 entry before that edition was cancelled due to covid)


DJ Dardust, Benny Benassi and Sophie & The Giants for the ''Dance of Beauty''


opening act with drone laser choreography and laser displays

what the stage looks like and how this design works exactly

[Nicky91]

Sophie and the Giants are like a huge name, amid lockdown times their song with purple disco machine ''hypnotized'' was massively popular

Benny Benassi umm well who does not know his hits ''satisfaction'' ''cinema'' and his remixes for ''california dreaming'' and also his remix for italy's 2019 entry Soldi by Mahmood




for UK viewers this year semi finals are on BBC3 instead of BBC4, and UK votes in semi final 2

[Nicky91]

first rehearsals for semi 1 will begin in two days from now



and we got another interval act confirmation, Il Volo are back (Italy 2015 third place)

and they will perform in second semi final while we wait for the results

https://eurovision.tv/story/il-volo-second-semi-final


https://eurovision.tv/story/samya-eurovision-backstage

Samya will again do her backstage content like last year in Rotterdam




today second wave of ticket sales

https://eurovision.tv/story/eurovisi...t-tickets-2022

[Nicky91]

01 Albania (Ronela Hajati - Sekret) Albanian, English (few phrases in spanish)
02 Latvia (Citi Zeni - Eat Your Salad) English
03 Lithuania (Monika Liu - Sentimentai) Lithuanian
04 Switzerland (Marius Bear - Boys do Cry) English
05 Slovenia (LPS - Disko) Slovene
06 Ukraine (Kalush Orchestra - Stefania) Ukrainian
07) Bulgaria (Intelligent Music Project - Intention) English
08) Netherlands (S10 - De Diepte) Dutch
09) Moldova (Zdob si Zdub & Advahov Brothers - Trenuletul) Romanian (one repeated phrase in english)
10) Portugal (MARO - Saudade Saudade) Portuguese, English
11) Croatia (Mia Dimsic - Guilty Pleasure) English
12) Denmark (REDDI - The Show) English
13) Austria (Lum!x Ft Pia Maria - Halo) English
14) Iceland (Systur - Međ Hćkkandi Sól) Icelandic
15) Greece (Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord - Die Together) English
16) Norway (Subwoolfer - Give that wolf a banana) English
17) Armenia (Rosa Linn - Snap) English

https://eurovision.tv/event/turin-2022/first-semi-final

01 Finland (The Rasmus - Jezebel) English
02 Israel (Michael Ben David - I'm) English
03 Serbia (Konstrakta - In Corpore Sano) Serbian, Latin
04 Azerbaijan (Nadir Rustamli - Fade to Black) English
05 Georgia (Circus Mircus - Lock me In) English
06 Malta (Emma Muscat - I AM WHAT I AM) English
07) San Marino (Achille Lauro - Stripper) Italian, English
08) Australia (Sheldon Riley - Not the Same) English
09) Cyprus (Andromache - Ela) Greek, English
10) Ireland (Brooke - That's Rich) English
11) North Macedonia (Andrea - Circles) English
12) Estonia (Stefan - Hope) English
13) Romania (WRS - Llámame) Spanish, English
14) Poland (Ochman - River) English
15) Montenegro (Vladana - Breathe) English
16) Belgium (Jeremie Makiese - Miss You) English
17) Sweden (Cornelia Jakobs - Hold Me Closer) English
18) Czech Republic (We Are Domi - Lights Off) English

https://eurovision.tv/event/turin-20...ond-semi-final


AQ's

09) Italy (Mahmood & Blanco - Brividi) Italian

France (Alvan & Ahez - Fulenn) Breton

Germany (Malik Harris - Rockstars) English

Spain (Chanel - SloMo) Spanish

United Kingdom (Sam Ryder - Space, Man) English

https://eurovision.tv/event/turin-2022/grand-final


profile, info pages with galleries and more background in these links or in this wikipedia link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovi...g_Contest_2022

[Nicky91]

two other british acts in this years contest besides Sam, but as non-participants


Sophie and the Giants for semi 1 dance of beauty interval, and of course one of our 3 hosts, Mika (well known from hits like Big Girls You Are Beautiful, We Are Golden, Kick Ass, Happy Ending, Relax Take it Easy) and he will apparently also premiere a new song in this contest what is among rumours

[Nicky91]

current top 10 odds to win, as of April 28th 2022, 2 days pre-rehearsals

1. Ukraine 42%
2. Italy 15%
3. Sweden 10%
4. UK 6%
5. Spain 4%
6. Poland 3%
7. Greece 2%
8. Norway 2%
9. Netherlands 2%
10. Australia 1%

odds to qualify

semi 1

1. Ukraine 92%
2. Netherlands 91%
3. Greece 90%
4. Norway 90%
5. Albania 80%
6. Armenia 77%
7. Portugal 74%
8. Moldova 68%
9. Switzerland 62%
10. Lithuania 51%
------------
11. Austria 50%
12. Latvia 49%
13. Iceland 35%
14. Croatia 34%
15. Denmark 23%
16. Slovenia 18%
17. Bulgaria 18%

semi 2

1. Sweden 91%
2. Poland 89%
3. Australia 78%
4. Finland 77%
5. Serbia 75%
6. Estonia 75%
7. Belgium 74%
8. Azerbaijan 62%
9. Czech Republic 61%
10. Cyprus 58%
------------
11. Malta 51%
12. Romania 45%
13. San Marino 35%
14. Montenegro 33%
15. Georgia 29%
16. Israel 26%
17. North Macedonia 20%
18. Ireland 20%

.

https://eurovisionworld.com/odds/eurovision


returning artists for this year are

Stoyan Yankoulov (previously took part in 2007 (Water) and 2013 (Samo Shampioni) for Bulgaria)

Zdob si Zdub (previously took part in 2005 (boonika bate toba) and 2011 (So Lucky) for Moldova)

Mahmood (previously took part in 2019 (Soldi) for Italy)

Ihor Didenchuk (member of Kalush Orchestra) (previously took part in 2021 as a member of Go_A for the song Shum)

in addition former backing vocalist now set to compete as lead artist, Ihan Haydar (member of Denmark's girlband REDDI) (previously in the backing vocals for Soluna Samay in the 2012 contest for her song Should've known better)

.

[Nicky91]

https://wiwibloggs.com/2022/04/28/eu...m-game/271971/

semi final 2 opening act known: focus on italian gestures and tribute to Just Dance rhythm game

[Nicky91]

tomorrow last of pre-party's, actually intended for April 23rd but postponed one week later to April 30th

Adriatic Party

taking part in that one are

France: Alvan & Ahez
Azerbaijan: Nadir Rustamli
Sweden: Cornelia Jakobs
Australia: Sheldon Riley
Latvia: Citi Zeni
Croatia: Mia Dimsic
Germany: Malik Harris

and 3 additions whom weren't scheduled to attend on 23rd but are for tomorrow

Malta: Emma Muscat
Bulgaria: Intelligent Music Project
Moldova: Zdob si Zdub, Advahov Brothers

https://eurovoix.com/2022/04/26/croa...preparty-2022/

[Nicky91]

https://eurovoix.com/2022/04/29/euro...-inside-arena/

face masks are mandatory inside the arena


good decision




----------------------------------------------------

Youtube video

tonight episode 3 of 3 from house party 2022

among whats in store tonight

Ukraine Kalush Orchestra
Czech Republic We Are Domi
Iceland Systur
Albania Ronela Hajati
Belgium Jeremie Makiese
more from Portugal's MARO

and several other surprises

[Nicky91]

Slovenia's LPS had a 11 hour long bus drive to Turin, instead of travelling by plane

wow

[Nicky91]

AJ Odudu is the UK spokesperson @Parmnion your queen having that honour

[LaLaLand]

Did I hear right that we won the jury vote!?!

[Denver]

Originally Posted by LaLaLand

Did I hear right that we won the jury vote!?!

It's a not an official win but its one of the bigger pre event votes they do

[Liam-]

Wait what?

[Denver]

Originally Posted by Liam-

Wait what?

The UK has won the Eurojury and finished second overall after the online vote was included, last year it predicted the top 3 jury votes correctly

[Nicky91]

i myself think Iceland, Portugal could be the dark horses for this year


also hope Finland will do well, because i am a stan for The Rasmus, for Lauri especially, sexy and likeable rock dad



and Czech Republic hopefully doing well, i love Dominika, she's so charismatic and i love she is kinda following in her dad's footsteps into the PalaOlimpico venue where he won a bronze medal for Czechs at the 2006 winter games at ice hockey

[Nicky91]

https://eurovision.tv/live-blog-saturday-30-april

live blog for day 1 of first rehearsals, first half of semi 1

[Nicky91]

albania: pink hair, and accompanied by 4 bare-chested male dancers


not Ronela turning it into a Britney tribute act