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 - Reviewing the countries beginning with "G", "H"

Georgia sends Nodi Tatishvili & Sophie Gelovani with the song "Waterfall" written by Thomas G:son and Erik Bernholm.
Very indifferent even if it is written by G:son. There's not much to tell here. I find it really boring and I'm gonna take a guess and say that this will stay in the semi.
Georgia competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #15.

1pt from me and good luck to Georgia!

Germany sends Cascada with the song "Glorious" written by Yann Peifer, Manuel Reuter, Andres Ballinas and Tony Cornelissen.
My #2 this year! Do I need to say more? LOVE the full version but I'm totally fine with this version even though it sounds like something is missing after the chorus. It's too abrupt. But I can accept anything as long as I have my favourite part there! That is, "crash and burn and lose my mind". In the version they performed at Echo the second part of the first verse is missing! At least it's back in the ESC version!
Germany competes in the final. Running order TBA.

12pts from me and good luck to Germany!

Greece sends Koza Mostra ft Agathonas Iakovidis with the song "Alcohol Is Free" written by Stathis Pachidis and Ilias Kozas.

I totally hated this when we picked it. I gave us zero points just like I did back in 2010. I ended up supporting and loving our entry in 2010. I will definitely not love "Alcohol Is Free" but I don't mind listening to it now. If only Agathonas wasn't there... The song would have been so much better without him! I'm still against the title even though we'll get many points from the nordic (and not only) countries... xD

Greece competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #9.

4pts from me and good luck to Greece!

Hungary sends ByeAlex with the song "Kedvesem" written by  Alex Márta and Zoltán Palásti Kovács.

First of all, I give them some extra points for sending this in hungarian! Such a lovely melody. I don't know if they'll make it in the final but I like this! Very relaxing and I love listening to such music at night!

Hungary competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #12.

7pts from me and good luck to Hungary! 

Greece 2013 - With Koza Mostra & Agathonas Iakovidis to Malmö!

Ok my home country picked its entry tonight. It's Koza Mostra & Agathonas Iakovidis with "Alcohol Is Free". God I don't like it! 0 points! My favourite was Thomai Apergi with "One Last Kiss". Yeah I know it's too Nina Zilli but it was the only song I liked out of these 4 we had. Alex Leon ft Giorgina with "Angel" and Aggeliki Iliadi with "Hilies Ke Mia Nyhtes" were the other two.

Apart from the results I loved the entire show! It was amazing! Ruslana, Marija Šerifović, Dima Bilan and Alexander Rybak were there and performed their winning entries along with other Greek artists. (the videos should be on YouTube soon) However the highlight of the night was totally Vicky Leandros who sang "Apre Tois" with Helena Paparizou! Helena sang also a new remixed version of "My Number One" Vegas. (thanks to helenapaparizouclub.gr for the videos!) 

We also had Despina Olympiou, the Cypriot entrant with "An Me Thimase" and Eleftheria Eleftheriou with Ivi Adamou singing a mash-up of their 2012 entries. Really nice! 

So yeah, great night, horrible result!

Greece 2013 - The songs

All day at the uni, then at work, now I'm back and it's time to comment my country's candidates.

Aggeliki Iliadi - "Hilies Ke Mia Nihtes"
Ok that's not greek music. It's more a mixture of arabic and turkish music but it's not uncommon to hear such songs in Greece. I totally dislike that genre. Really really not my cup of tea.

Alex Leon ft Giorgina - "Angel"
What the hell is this? I have one word to describe the music of this song. Hubbub (thanks to google translator coz I never wanted to use that greek word in english before). The rest of it is just too bland. Nothing special and very forgettable.

Thomai Apergi - "One Last Kiss"
Well hello there Nina Zilli! But I actually like this. I think it's my favourite! Totally not greek but it's closer to what I like!

Koza Mostra & Agathonas Iakovidis - "Alcohol Is Free"
Ok that's just horrible! I listened to this once. I can't do this again.

So I obviously have a clear winner. Compared to last year, this NF has more diversity which is a good thing. Yeah it's not the music I like but I'm not Europe... ;)