Live Rolling Blog – Eurovision Jury Voting Dress Rehearsal

Jury Voting Dress Rehearsal Live Rolling Blog 21:00 CET – See who nailed the performance!

This is your LIVE ROLLING BLOG of the all important Jury Final Voting Dress Rehearsal.

Tonight the Juries will cast their votes that will determine 50% of tomorrow’s overall country votes.

You know the drill now! Just refresh the article to get our live comments from the performances and give you my opinion (me being Garrett and a few people coming from the press centre)

So sit back – get a beer, a glass of wine or if like me a cup of tea – and #JoinUs for our comments – this is going to be interesting. HERE WE GO!

#OMG – Conchita singing the opening song AND FLYING through the air!

I think I have just wet my seat but it is SO WORTH IT!

Now a Dina Garipova (Russia 2013) video montage of peace and #BuildingBridges

1 – SLOVENIA

Slovenia

Cracking start to the show. Vocals great and full of energy. The crowd loved it. Top 10 one thinks!

2 – FRANCE

Lisa Angell for France at Eurovision 2015. Photo : cardamome.over-blog.com

What a shame that France got the dreaded #2 slot. Professional and stunning – not going anywhere in the voting.

3 – ISRAEL

Israel

The audience just made this song go interstellar! Fun, sexy and who doesn’t love to be dripping in Gold. If Juries do their job and select a song that could be a hit then this will be knocking on the Top 5 door

4 – ESTONIA

Estonia

Cool classy and a contender! Nothing more to say!

5 – UNITED KINGDOM

Electro Velvet for the UK at Eurovision 2015. Photo : YouTube

Well Electro Velvet have put in their BEST performance of the week at the right time! The reaction in the hall was immense! The volunteers in the press hall were all doing the Charleston dance. Look not a winner but the UK put in a sterling performance.

6 – ARMENIA

Armenia

Oh we had problems. Inga pulled out of some of her notes. Genealogy looked positively scared. The UK before them rained on Armenia’s party. Hight teens one thinks

7 – LITHUANIA

Lithuania

OMG – I want to me Monika and get a smacker from Vaidas. Electric in the hall and that kiss has us all swooning. My dark horse.

8 – SERBIA

Serbia

The reaction of the night! Bojana clearly loving the whole experience and is fast becoming endearing to all. The audience exploded and this has to come shooting up the position.

9 – NORWAY

Norway

I have never been a fan of this song so bear with me as I try and be constructive. Sung well but for me the clunky choreography screams of cancelled Westend and Broadway Musical. For me this brought down the party atmosphere after Serbia. Having said that this could be your ‘Accidental Winner’ – not scoring many 12’s but getting lots of 6’s and 7’s in a close contest.

10 – SWEDEN

Sweden

Ehhhh – #PERFECT! The audience were all recording the performance on their mobile phones. Note and dance perfect. I do like Stockholm in May!

11 – CYPRUS

Cyprus

Uber cute and I think this will go down a treat with the juries tonight. He is like the young brother you all want to have. Keep a close eye on this. Hard to come after a huge song like Sweden but John pulled off with style!

12 – AUSTRALIA

Eurovision Ireland Meets Guy Sebastian at the London Eurovision Party. Photo : Eurovision Irerland

#OMG – Guy brought the hose down! Well me and Emma Backfish danced our pants off to this in front of 2,000 journalists – video to follow! We were #AMAZING! Top 5!

13 – BELGIUM

Belgium

Loic has just put him in contention for Belgium’s second win at Eurovision! Perfect song, perfect singer and perfect presentation. Worth a flutter! Massive crowd reaction. Bring in the Belgians!

14 – AUSTRIA

Time for the home crowd! The Makemakes had the crowd AND their piano on fire to the delight of the Viennese audience. They are just so cool and will NOT disgrace the Austria in the scoring. Probably 10-20. Don’t forget they are going on tour with One Republic next week after Eurovision so they are already winners!

15 – GREECE

Greece

A good ballad sung well but gets a little forgotten in a sea of blue and sequences and when you see what is next you will forget it altogether.

16 – MONTENEGRO

Montenegro

Montenegro’s answer to Robert Palmer and Knez is on cool customer. This went down a treat here in Vienna and will be Montenegro’s best ever result at Eurovision!

17 – GERMANY

Ann Sophie – Black Smoke

Baby Got Back #JustSaying! This has been flying under the radar and I think this will sit well with juries. Certainly not a contender but not a last place!

18 – POLAND

Poland

I told you all this would qualify and you would not listen to me! I am telling you this will get a few points tomorrow night. Beautiful backdrop and a classic ballad sung beautifully. It’s all well “Beautiful”

19 – LATVIA

Latvia

Aminata rocks the hell out of this funky song that is a triumph of modern contemporary music. When she hits those high notes in the chorus the crowd went wild and so did I in the press hall! This could edge a Top 10 place if the juries appreciate just how good this song is

20 – ROMANIA

For me this song gets lost now coming after Latvia. HOWEVER this is a song that I see juries loving. Performed very well but I would not expect anything less from an experienced band – dare I say it – too experienced!

21 – SPAIN

Edurne Official Video

At the risk of being lynched by the Spanish media surrounding me that was a whole lot of nothingness from Spain. Edurne looks like she is auditioning for Harry Potter while she crouches down and pretends to cast a spell on us all. Accidental last place. It sounds like a rejected Loreen song from 2012 before she found ‘Euphoria’

22 – HUNGARY

Hungary

If Dana was to return to Eurovision then I would expect she would sing something as boring as this. I have to admit that this song leaves me cold and I feel like it is a charity song! Not doing it for me!

23 – GEORGIA

Georgia

I ADORE NINA!!!! This kicked some serious ass and Nina gave it some real attitude just like the song calls for. This has to give Georgia their best result at Eurovision or there is something wrong with Europe!

24 – AZERBAIJAN

Azerbaijan

I LOVE Elnure. He has the voice of the contest and a stunning backdrop. The notes he hits are amazing! Just he doesn’t need the dancers! I still love it.

25 – RUSSIA

Russia

Polina was sensational though she looked notably nervous with the weight of expectation on her shoulders. She has nothing to worry about. This was #Stunning. Sochi is still on the cards!

26 – ALBANIA

Albania

A new dress and a new found confidence from Elhaida. She nailed it tonight and that false ending in the song had the audience clapping. You go girl!

27 – ITALY

Oops – The singer with the glasses was off key for one of his solo pieces. He ripped out his ear piece and you could see his colleagues giving him a glance. Look here is the deal for me – They can sing, they are a handsome trio but for me they sing alone and don’t react with each other on stage. I was left feeling disappointed after that performance and the press at my table were in agreement – not a winner but if like in Sanremo the public could come to Il Volo’s rescue tomorrow. They need it after that performance

OK PREDICTIONS

I am gonna give you a round the table vox-pop of who people think were in the Top 5 performances

Garrett 

Russia, Australia, Sweden, Belgium and Israel

Emma

Belgium, Sweden, Russia, Italy and Australia

Phil

Russia, Sweden, Belgium, France and Israel

Ludwig

Italy, Sweden, Australia, Belgium and Russia

Kath

Belgium, Sweden, Australia, Norway and Italy

Roy

Russia, Italy, Belgium, Sweden and Australia

John

Russia, Italy, Norway, Latvia and Australia

OVERALL TABLE

Australia – 6 Votes

Sweden – 6 Votes

Russia – 6 Votes

Belgium – 6 – Votes

Italy – 5 Votes

Israel – 2 Votes

Norway – 2 Votes

Latvia – 1 Vote

Conchita brings us some stomping songs from her new album ‘Conchita’. We have the anthemic ‘You are Unstoppable’ and then the DANCETASTIC ‘Firestorm’ #AMAZING!! Get ready to hear this in the clubs and on the radios everywhere!!!

Now we have the winner of Junior Eurovision 2014 Vincenzo and he reprised his 2014 winning song to massive applause!

Now a look back at how the winners of Eurovision over the decades have celebrated their victory!

Now we are told there will be a surprise performance tomorrow that they didn’t show us.

Now we have a voting sequence and let me tell you one thing ‘MICROWAVE’ – After every points we get a BING! Or for the older viewer it is like the noise from Blankety Blank!

Nicky Byrne – of Westlife – tries to speak Irish and fails miserably! Stick to English Nicky

Just for the record – in the voting sequence Austria WON!