AUSTRAL I A
ALBAN I A
GRAND FINAL
GRAND FINAL
Song: Promise Performers: Voyager Songwriters: Daniel Estrin, Alex Canion, Ashley Doodkorte, Scott Kay, Simone Dow AUSTRALIA Semi-Final 2 Televote total: 149 points 1st place Grand Final Total: 151 points Juries: 130 Televote: 21 9th place • Despite winning their semi-final, the voting public seems to have abandoned them in the Grand Final, though the juries helped them achieve a Top Ten position, with 12 points coming from Iceland and Portugal..
ALBANIA Semi-Final 2 Televote total: 83 points 9th place Grand Final Total: 76 points Juries: 17 Televote: 59 22nd place • After missing out on the Grand Final last year, the Balkan state scraped through from their semi. However, the Swiss public awarded them 12 points in the Grand Final. Song: Duje ( Love It ) Performers: Albina & Familja Kelmendi Songwriters: Eriona Rushiti, Enis Mullaj
Carrying the weight of over 20 years’ ambition with what may potentially have been Australia’s final participation in the contest, Voyager clearly had a lot resting on their shoulders. Having pulled it out of the bag and won Semi-Final 2, there would be no stopping Danny and the gang, and indeed, there wasn’t. Wheeling a real Toyota MR2 on to the stage is one way to do it, and Voyager packed the explosive energy of a full concert into the duration of Promise , culminating with a guitar vs keytar solo and slow, synchronised headbang. Voyager were on fire! The entire arena sang along with the song’s anthemic chorus and looking at the elation on Danny, Simone, Scott, Alex and Ash’s faces by the climax, they knew they’d done their country proud. Alex Storer
You can’t beat an old-fashioned Balkan romp! I didn’t expect this to go through to the Grand Final - I thought its appeal might be limited, but was delighted to be proved wrong. While its Grand Final result wasn’t great, at least it qualified from its semi. Albina and her family gave it their all - the siblings obviously inherited their lung power from their parents. And what made the performance work was the ‘good feel’ factor of the family singing together - you could sense how proud they all were. Of course helped by excellent chemistry as you would expect. The performance made good use of the stage with the family standing together at various stages while the mainly black and red lighting adding to the passion of the song. I especially liked the use of the waving red hankies. Hass Yusuf
ARMEN I A
AUSTR I A
GRAND FINAL
GRAND FINAL
Song: Who The Hell Is Edgar? Performers: Teya & Salena Songwriters: Pele Loriano, Ronald Janeček, Selina Maria Edbauer, Teodora Spiric AUSTRIA Semi-Final 2 Televote total: 137 points 2nd place Grand Final Total: 120 points Juries: 104 Televote: 16 15th place • The voting public didn’t turn up for them in the Grand Final as they did in their semi-final. Though the Belgian jury gave them a 12.
Song: Future Lover Performer: Brunette Songwriter: Brunette ARMENIA Semi-Final 2 Televote total: 99 points 6th place Grand Final Total: 122 points Juries: 69 Televote: 53 14th place • After a comfortable semi-final result, it was a somewhat disappointing outcome in the Grand Final. But the public in France and Georgia awarded Brunette 12 points each. Nice neighbour and diaspora?
Luckily Brunette held her balance - always brave to sing on a slope, but everyone wants to be different. You certainly got your money’s worth here - Future Lover was essentially three songs in one spread across four acts, one of which seemed like a dance interval. It sort of worked. You could tell Brunette was loving it. There she was lying down with pink marbling lighting engulfing her, then suddenly she erupts in rather dramatic fashion with stark black and white lighting - making good use of her shadow and hair extensions. And she wanted us to know that she could dance as well (with fab thigh-length boots). The country has a good track record of getting through to the Grand Final, and this was yet another worthy effort. Hass Yusuf
Having sailed through the second semi-final in second place, any chance Teya & Salena, the ghost of Edgard Allen Poe and their multiple figures on the LED screen behind them, had vanished when the producers sacrificially chose the girls to open the Grand Final. This led to a finish in 15th place with 120 points. Even with its coruscating criticism of streaming royalty rates, following the contest the song had been streamed enough times to reach number 48 in the UK charts. While in Liverpool, both girls, who met on the TV programme Starmania , revealed they had been inspired to take to the stage when watching Molitva win for Serbia in 2007. The girls also discovered that Edgar Allen Poe had cropped up in a song by The Beatles, I Am The Walrus . Marcus Keppel-Palmer
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AUTUMN 2022 ● VISION
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