Have you heard of the Intervision Song Contest? I had not before reading the long and detailed article below which charts the history and includes comments from performers.
The Soviet Union could not take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. It was not a member of the European Broadcasting Union, the club of western broadcasters that organised the show, so it set up a rival competition and called it Intervision.
Engelbert Humperdinck is feeling confident as he sets off for Baku. "I think it (Love Will Set You Free) has a very strong chance because it was written by two very good people, Sacha Scarbek, an Ivor Novello-winning writer, and Martin Terefe, who's a great producer and a great writer." Humperdinck also answers critics who have voiced concern about his age, amongst other things.
Da da da dum! It's time for the first Eurovision Song Contest semi final. Da da da dum! Lots of flashing lights, waving flags, and scantily clad women. Is that Albanian woman singing or giving birth? More flashing lights, waving flags, and scantily clad women with fluorescent butts pole dancing, Woki Mit Deim Popo! Russian grannies, Colin Farrell in a lumberjack outfit singing for Moldova, Jedward in their tin man outfits getting wet. Da da da dum!
And finally, Sara Cox. Are we on? Are we on?... Jedward, hi I love you...Hi Jedward, is that you?...Yo! Yo! Yo! Jedward... Lovely stuff, excellent, lovely stuff.
In case you are wondering. These are the ten countries through to Saturday's final.
Romania, Moldova, Iceland, Hungary, Denmark, Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Russia, Ireland.
Moore Not Less 4371 posts (2002 - 2007) Moore Than (2012 - 2016)
Sad Austria didn't get through. great song.
as for the Programe, It was like watching a Bad school TV media exercise, Very Amateurish.
Not what I expect from the BBC.
Love the Russian Grannies, I'd never heard them Before. -{
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Erm, what's this? Does this mean the UK won't even be appearing in the show then and that the Hump has been Dumped? Is this a new way of doing Eurovision, whittling it down in advance?
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,756Chief of Staff
Erm, what's this? Does this mean the UK won't even be appearing in the show then and that the Hump has been Dumped? Is this a new way of doing Eurovision, whittling it down in advance?
They have done it this way for a few years now...and the UK - along with Italy, Spain, Germany & France - get automatic qualification as they stump up most of the money !
The Hump is on first on Saturday....gives him a chance to get to bed with his Horlicks at a decent time )
Hmmm, bearing in mind the BBC is licensed by tax payers money I'm surprised this is one handout the Tories aren't looking into a bit more... we fork out for them to give us 'nul' points.
Hump's single has dropped out of the charts already, peaking at around his age I understand.
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,756Chief of Staff
Hmmm, bearing in mind the BBC is licensed by tax payers money I'm surprised this is one handout the Tories aren't looking into a bit more... we fork out for them to give us 'nul' points.
Was surprised Austria didn't get through but at least it left a vacancy for the woman with the birds nest on her head !!!
This is purely speculation on my part. They didn't qualify because much of the audience in Eastern Europe (in particular) did not take kindly to seeing scantily clad women with fluorescent butts doing pole dancing......Then again, it could be they just didn't like the song.
I liked the song, bonkers Eurovision style.
Moore Not Less 4371 posts (2002 - 2007) Moore Than (2012 - 2016)
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,756Chief of Staff
Hmmm, bearing in mind the BBC is licensed by tax payers money I'm surprised this is one handout the Tories aren't looking into a bit more... we fork out for them to give us 'nul' points.
What !! And have the rest of Europe hate us ???
Ah...right...yes... )
Yes, Yes, and now take the final hit:
) ) )
President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Engelbert Humperdinck explains his reasons for backing Germany. His mother and grandfather came from there. He also did his military service in Germany and took his name from a German composer. "My blood is English but my heart is with the Germans. So I'll be singing on Saturday for all Germans, especially for German women."
The second semi final wasn't quite the same, pale by comparison to the first. No Russian Grannies, bonkers Austrian's, or Jedward. The three songs that stood out for me from Serbia, Ukraine, and Sweden all made it through along with Lithuania, Bosnia & Herzegovinia, F.Y.R. Macedonia, Norway, Estonia, Malta, Turkey.
On to Saturday's final. Now that Engelbert Humperdinck has decided he is singing for Germany, who is going to sing for the UK?
Moore Not Less 4371 posts (2002 - 2007) Moore Than (2012 - 2016)
On to Saturday's final. Now that Engelbert Humperdinck has decided he is singing for Germany, who is going to sing for the UK?
Silly old fool 8-)
I've seen him a few times being interviewed and he wont give an opinion on any of the other songs. What a bore ...
As for last night, it was a bit of a bore fest. Tuesday was much better.
Nice to see we aren't the only ones affected by the block voting. Thought it was a shame the Netherlands ( strange headwear) and Portugal didn't get through. I was also surprised Belarus didn't make it either. Quite liked the Lithuanian song, sung by John Barrowmans love child.
Estonia was a boring derge and apart from some funky foot work,I'm not sure Malta deserve their place. As for Turkey .......
As luck would have it my viewing on Saturday evening will have to be suspended until Sunday morning as I now have to work .... ... will have to replace alchohol with a mug of coffee and a bacon buttie )
In my modest opinion, we just tries to appease his largest fanbase (>65, female) which is majorly based here due to his name (not that we have such a bad taste...).
President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
i heard the hump on the radio this morning, the interviewer asked him 'what will you do if you dont get a good score? have you prepared for that outcome?'
hump replied 'no, its not really anything i've thought about'.
love the pma hump, but damn i think you better get prepared )
Well Sir Miles the only country which is stubborn enough to stick with their language in the contest are France. Maybe you know that for french radio stations there is even a law to play 50% french songs.
On a sidenote: I am getting a lot of messages over my webpage and everbody tries to write in english - with one exception....
French people seem to assume, that everbody speaks their language - 100% of all requests from there are - you have guessed it - in french
President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Congratulations to Loreen and Sweden on their emphatic victory in the Eurovision Song Contest, worthy winners. It was nice to see the Russian Grannies do so well. Their song was pretty much an irrelevance, but as Graham Norton said, it's hard to be cynical because they were so charming. I had a big smile on my face while they were performing.
It was a pretty humiliating night for Engelbert Humperdinck (which he did not deserve) but he was always going to be up against it, especially singing first. He performed well but the UK is going to need something much more dynamic than a half decent ballad to get anywhere near a chance of victory.
Overall, the final was a bit of a disappointment. There were some good songs and performances but there wasn't enough novelty or variety for it to be really enjoyable.
Moore Not Less 4371 posts (2002 - 2007) Moore Than (2012 - 2016)
I watched the Engelbert Humperdinck performance on YouTube and I agree that he performed as well as he could. The song however was awful - It was like Walt Disney meets Simon Cowell in a crack lounge. The kind you would find in cabaret on a cheap cruise ship.
Comments
Age no barrier for Eurovision 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18044209
The Soviet Union could not take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. It was not a member of the European Broadcasting Union, the club of western broadcasters that organised the show, so it set up a rival competition and called it Intervision.
The Cold War rival to Eurovision
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18006446
Eurovision 2012: Engelbert Humperdinck says 'I have a great chance'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/eurovision/9274227/Eurovision-2012-Engelbert-Humperdinck-says-I-have-a-great-chance.html
And finally, Sara Cox. Are we on? Are we on?... Jedward, hi I love you...Hi Jedward, is that you?...Yo! Yo! Yo! Jedward... Lovely stuff, excellent, lovely stuff.
In case you are wondering. These are the ten countries through to Saturday's final.
Romania, Moldova, Iceland, Hungary, Denmark, Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Russia, Ireland.
as for the Programe, It was like watching a Bad school TV media exercise, Very Amateurish.
Not what I expect from the BBC.
Love the Russian Grannies, I'd never heard them Before. -{
No, but it's what we expect from Eurovision
Russian Grannies .... What can I say? My life is complete ... Utterly fabulous
And an even better group name - Trackshittaz
I thought the Russian grannies were pushing it a bit - even for Eurovision ! 8-)
Roger Moore 1927-2017
They have done it this way for a few years now...and the UK - along with Italy, Spain, Germany & France - get automatic qualification as they stump up most of the money !
The Hump is on first on Saturday....gives him a chance to get to bed with his Horlicks at a decent time
Hump's single has dropped out of the charts already, peaking at around his age I understand.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
What !!
Ah...right...yes...
Could you imagine if we had to do the qualifying rounds ??? We'd never see another final - EVER!
As far as I'm concerned it's money well spent. A least we always feel like we're in with a chance just cos we're in the final .
The Hump being on first at least allows us to just sit back and enjoy the show and forget his song like the rest of Europe will
Was surprised Austria didn't get through but at least it left a vacancy for the woman with the birds nest on her head !!!
This is purely speculation on my part. They didn't qualify because much of the audience in Eastern Europe (in particular) did not take kindly to seeing scantily clad women with fluorescent butts doing pole dancing......Then again, it could be they just didn't like the song.
I liked the song, bonkers Eurovision style.
And for me too...and that's rare nowadays
And we can't get beat on penalties
Yes, Yes, and now take the final hit:
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Engelbert Humperdinck: I'm backing Germany at Eurovision 2012
http://www.metro.co.uk/tv/900042-engelbert-humperdinck-im-backing-germany-at-eurovision-2012
Send him to the tower...
Roger Moore 1927-2017
On to Saturday's final. Now that Engelbert Humperdinck has decided he is singing for Germany, who is going to sing for the UK?
Silly old fool 8-)
I've seen him a few times being interviewed and he wont give an opinion on any of the other songs. What a bore ...
As for last night, it was a bit of a bore fest. Tuesday was much better.
Nice to see we aren't the only ones affected by the block voting. Thought it was a shame the Netherlands ( strange headwear) and Portugal didn't get through. I was also surprised Belarus didn't make it either. Quite liked the Lithuanian song, sung by John Barrowmans love child.
Estonia was a boring derge and apart from some funky foot work,I'm not sure Malta deserve their place. As for Turkey .......
As luck would have it my viewing on Saturday evening will have to be suspended until Sunday morning as I now have to work ....
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
hump replied 'no, its not really anything i've thought about'.
love the pma hump, but damn i think you better get prepared
Vive le droit à la libre expression! Je suis Charlie!
www.helpforheroes.org.uk
www.cancerresearchuk.org
LOL ... This is one seriously delusional dude
( shame is, it's actually quite a good song)
Hey bondtoys....any chance of your entry singing in German this year ? Or are they trying to win and so will sing in English - AGAIN
On a sidenote: I am getting a lot of messages over my webpage and everbody tries to write in english - with one exception....
French people seem to assume, that everbody speaks their language - 100% of all requests from there are - you have guessed it - in french
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
It was a pretty humiliating night for Engelbert Humperdinck (which he did not deserve) but he was always going to be up against it, especially singing first. He performed well but the UK is going to need something much more dynamic than a half decent ballad to get anywhere near a chance of victory.
Overall, the final was a bit of a disappointment. There were some good songs and performances but there wasn't enough novelty or variety for it to be really enjoyable.