Stockholm is all set for the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 here on Saturday night. 20 countries have qualified from two Semi-Finals and join the big 5 plus the host country Sweden in a contest that will be watched by over 200 million people, and this year the USA and China are broadcasting the show live.
In a very clever move by the EBU to boost the American TV audience they have invited global superstar Justin Timberlake to perform live as the interval act.
As usual there was all the drama from the two Semi-Finals which included a Russian judge at the jury Semi Final apparently posting their votes on the Internet, this resulted in that particular jury member being expelled and her votes void.
The Armenian singer was clearly seen holding up a flag in the green room that was supposedly banned, the flag was from the Armenian region of Nagorno Karabakh.
The delegation have been warned that if they continue to wave that flag they will be disqualified.
There were the usual shouts and groans of “why did they qualify or why didn’t they” from the collective members of the press plus the “bad loser” delegations blaming bad staging.
Scandinavia will only have one country represented in the Grand Final and that is the hosts Sweden, as Norway, Iceland, Finland and Denmark all failed to make it.
7 time winners Ireland also missed out despite having former Westlife singer Nicky Byrne singing for them.
One happy member of the press put money on Lithuania to qualify to the final at odds 1000/1 so they’ll be buying the drinks at the after party.
So who will win on Saturday night?, the bookies favourite is Russia but Ukraine and France are also tipped to do well. 5 times winners United Kingdom have slowly climbed up the betting, the boys “Joe and Jake” have won a lot of fans while being here in Sweden with an uptempo tune that just might give the UK their best result since 2009 when Jade Ewan finished 4th.
Just a reminder that the event is called the Eurovision “Song” Contest and Australia seem to have taken note of that. A little woman with a big voice belts out a terrific ballad and won a standing ovation from the crowd at her Semi-Final.
Remember if Australia wins the event they get to choose which European country gets to jointly stage the show next year.
I have to mention the hosts Mans Zelmerlow and Petra Mede who hold it all together with the right amount of humour and professionalism and performed an excellent song and dance number at the opening of Semi Final two.
So settle down into your favourite armchair on Saturday night and watch a spectacular TV show and remember you can also watch online at www.eurovision.tv.
