Malmö, Alcazar and Eurovision!

The best weekend since I moved to Sweden! Maybe the best weekend of my life! Left Linköping at 8am. Had only slept for about 4,5 hours the previous night and I wasn't supposed to get any sleep the entire weekend. Hadn't booked any rooms in Malmö. Anyway I arrived in Malmö at 11:00. Went around the city for a while and then went to the arena. Saw some of the greek OGAE members and then went back to the center. There was no chance I'd meet the artists in the arena. All Eurovision related locations are near the central station (including the hotels ;)) so I began walking toward the Eurovillage. As I was walking I saw some people across the street with accreditation tags and there was one woman who seemed so familiar. I was too far, she had sunglasses on but I could swear it was Hannah Mancini from Slovenia. So I said to myself "go closer, you have nothing to lose". I went there and yup! It was Hannah! I took a photo (of course) and I chatted with her for a while. She's amazing and extremely friendly!

I went to the Eurovillage after that. Klapa s Mora from Croatia, Zlata Ognevich from Ukraine and Hannah would perform there. After that they'd all give an interview to Andreas Lundstedt. Apart from the gig with Alcazar he'll be all week in Malmö interviewing the artists. You can watch the interviews here.

Andreas interviewing Hannah

After the interviews I met both Klapa s Mora and Zlata. I also saw Hannah and we talked again. I asked her about the fb pages. If both of them are official because both are getting updated. She said one was created especially for Eurovision and probably it will stop being updated after the ESC. She joked and said "just like both of them" hahaha. I already had. We said goodbye and Hannah said "see you". I mean which artist says "see you"? They usually say "nice meeting you, bye"... Really liked that "see you". It's like she wants to keep contact with the fans! Pretty great!

Anyway, I went to grab something to eat and then walked around the city for a while. Went back to Eurovillage and Andreas was in the "Super-studio" with Tess and Lina. An Alcazar interview!

Watched them while they were being interviewed. They also sang "Stay The Night" a capella. When they were done I met Tess and Lina. We talked for a few minutes and they left. I stayed there until Andreas was done and I met him after he finished. Talked with him for a while as well. The gig at WONK club would be at 2:30am and it was around 22:00. As I said I wasn't supposed to get any sleep while I was in Malmö but I was too tired. So I was lucky to find a hotel with free rooms with a good price. Slept for about an hour and a half and then went to the club. Saw them performing and then I got to meet them. Backstage... Here they are!

I was too tired but really happy. Hadn't seen them all three at the same time since August 2011! Went back to the hotel at around 4am. The sun was rising!

Slept for 5 hours, had breakfast, checked out and went back to the Eurovillage to spend the last day in Malmö. Estonia had a party there. Tanel Padar and Ott Lepland started singing. Then PeR got on stage and then Birgit. Krista Siegfrids was supposed to sing as well but she didn't come. I don't know why. Missed the chance to meet her. Met Ott, PeR and Birgit though. After the party Switzerland, Montenegro, Lithuania, Austria and Greece would perform at the Eurovillage. Met Natália Kelly, Takasa and Koza Mostra & Agathon. I also got a Austria's and Greece's promos. And a chocolate from Estonia with Birgit's face on it. Is this their promo this year? lol

I also saw the boys and Nina from Montenegro along with Andrius Pojavis from Lithuania but didn't take a photo. The lead singer of Dorians was also walking around at the Eurovillage wearing a hood and sunglasses. It was like he didn't want people to recognize him. lol Later I met Lozano & Esma from FYROM. There were two girls there, no older than 20, who literally got crazy when they saw Esma! They almost fainted! They were like "oh my God! Esma! I can't believe it! oh my God!". I mean, Esma? Seriously? o.O

Later in the afternoon I saw Andreas again. I asked him if he'd be interviewing any artists and he said he would. Takasa, Zlata and Margaret Berger. When I asked him he didn't remember which artists were coming for an interview so he looked at his schedule and he saw Margaret's name. He told me about her interview in a "look what I got for you ;)" way because when I met him after the gig we talked a bit about our favourite songs this year. And of course I told him Norway is my winner. I met Margaret after her interview and she was the last artist I met. On Sunday was the opening party so all the artists were there.

Looked at my watch two hours before my train was leaving and I got depressed. Didn't want to leave! But stupid money and stupid uni (just for these two ESC weeks)! :( But seriously if Eurovision takes place near me next year I'm going! With accreditation and everything! I don't know how, but I'm going!

ESC 2013 - Rehearsals Day 2

DAY 2

Montenegro - Who See - "Igranka" (1st rehearsal) 
Astronaut suits? Really? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Ok this is the worst gimmick ever! The song itself was in my bottom 3 this year. Now with this performance it definitely stuck there!

Belgium - Roberto Bellarosa - "Love Kills" (1st rehearsal)
I watched the backstage footage and I thought ok really nice outfits. Then I saw the rehearsal and oh my God! Did the female dancers really have to wear those dresses? The dance routine looks ridiculous.

Belarus - Alyona Lanskaya - "Solayo" (1st rehearsal)
It looks like Alyona didn't wear her stage outfit. We didn't get to see much of the rehearsal so I can't say a lot. I love disco balls (ain't it obvious?) but this one? I don't know...

Moldova - Aliona Moon - "O Mie" (1st rehearsal)
So they took Sabina's gimmick and took it a step forward. Ok... It looks nice and as I said I like Moldova's song this year. The dancers are a bit "off"...

Ireland - Ryan Dolan - "Only Love Survives" (1st rehearsal)
Could the dancers be more gay? No, it's not a bad thing. I'm just pointing it out. I love Ryan's outfit and the song is growing on me. I still find it a bit repetitive and in this case, this repetitiveness is a bit annoying.

Cyprus - Despina Olympiou - "An Me Thimase" (1st rehearsal)
I'm not a fan of this kind of dress. Pastora Soler wore a similar dress during her tour and I really disliked it but ok, Despina's is much better. She's alone on stage (at least it looks like it) and correct me if I'm wrong but the last time a Cypriot was alone on stage was in 2004... ;) Naah, the song isn't as good as "Stronger Every Minute".

Lithuania - Andrius Pojavis - "Something" (1st rehearsal)
First thing I noticed, the camera is following him! Oh God! Why do we have to see those close-ups? His facial expressions=irritating!! His outfit looks identical to the one he wore in the NF which is nothing wow. Oh and yeah, I still find nothing likeable in the song.

Serbia - Moje 3 - "Ljubav Je Svuda" (1st rehearsal)
Oh my God!! Please bring back the NF outfits!!!! These are horrible!! I love the song but these outfits? H O R R I B L E ! ! ! I liked the vocals but I'm still in shock!! Change the outfits! Just change them!!!

ESC 2013 - Reviewing the countries beginning with "L", "M"

Latvia sends PeR with the song "Here We Go" written by  Ralfs Eilands and Arturas Burke.
Sorry Latvia but this is bad. Really really bad! I seriously can't listen to this more than once. Seriously I don't have anything else to say, other than I completely dislike it!
Latvia competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #1.

0pts from me and good luck to Latvia!

Lithuania sends Andrius Pojavis with the song "Something" written by Andrius Pojavis.
Ok song but I hate that "yeeeeeeeah". And his facial expressions are so disturbing! I really can't look at Andrius while he sings. When I don't like a song I just don't know what else to comment so I stop here... 
Lithuania competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #10.

2pts from me and good luck to Lithuania!

Malta sends Gianluca with the song "Tomorrow" written by Boris Cezek and Dean Muscat.
Cute song. I don't see Malta in the final but this is nice... Quite cheesy lyrics but ok... I wanna see how they're gonna present this. I think it's gonna be something like their NF. Gianluca and a band...
Malta competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #6.

5pts from me and good luck to Malta!

Moldova sends Aliona Moon with the song "O Mie" written by Pasha Parfeny and Yuliana Scutaru.
I like it! Really beautiful melody! And it's written by Pasha! I disliked his entry but this one is great! And I like Aliona's voice! I think this will do really well! Or at least I hope so!
Moldova competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #12.

7pts from me and good luck to Moldova!

Montenegro sends Who See with the song "Igranka" written by Dejan Dedovic (Dedduh), Mario Djordjevic (Noyz) and Djordje Miljenovic (Wikluh Sky).
I wanna copy-paste the comments on Montenegro that I made last year! This is horrible! I gave 0 points to last year's entry and I give 0 to this one too! But if I had to compare these two I'd give 0,5 to "Igranka" but still, it's horrible!!! Oh dear Montenegro! Please send a decent entry someday!
Montenegro competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #9.

0pts from me and good luck to Montenegro!
 

ESC 2013 - Lithuania picked its song

Yup, more "old" news but I'm trying to comment all the songs that are being chosen for the ESC and so far I think I've done it. And I will try to keep up.

So, Andrius Pojavis will represent Lithuania with "Something". The chorus sounds very familiar. Once again, I don't know which song it reminds me. And once again, whenever I say "it sounds familiar" I'm not talking about plagiarism! It's an ok song. It lacks that "something"... ;)

Well, it's too early to form a full opinion about the songs...