Hyvää iltaa Eurooppa/Good evening Europe !

Tonight,the country that won last year’s public vote and came second at Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool , will choose their successor to Käärijä in the Grand Final of Uuden Musiikin Kipailu ( we’ll just stick to UMK for ease of reference tonight, since my Finnish is non existant !) . The show will take place at the Nokia arena in Tampere , Finland and will be hosted by Pilvi Hämäläinen, Benjamin and Viivi Pumpanen. Seven artists will compete for the Golden ticket to Malmö, Sweden, where they will represent Finland . Tonight’s competing acts are :

1. Sini Sabotage – Kuori Mua
2. Cyan Kicks – Dancing with the Demons
3. Jesse Markin –Glow
4. Mikael Gabriel x nublu – Vox Populi
5. Sara Siipola – Paskana
6. SexMane – Mania
7. Windows95man – No Rules!

A combination of Jury and Public voting will decide the winner, with 75% public vote and the remaining 25% by a Jury Vote .Please join Eurovision Ireland as we bring you our live blog of the proceedings in Tampere , when we will give you our comments on the acts as they perform and our thoughts as to whether Finland have a possible winner this year, following on from last year’s excellent result. Please do let us know any thoughts you may have too, in our comments box too .

You can watch the show via Finnish broadcaster YLE  HERE OR HERE

LIVE BLOG STARTS HERE

It’s still too early yet ! Please do #joinus at 20.00 CET , 19.00 GMT when we will be linking up to to the live link and looking forward to an action packed evening.In the meantime , to get you in the mood for the show, here’s a look back at last year in Liverpool, when Kaarija almost took Finland to victory with the lively “Cha , cha cha”. We will see him later in the show tonight!

Hello and welcome back . I am just having some difficulty getting into the live webstream, hold on there!

Just in now Starting off with a song by Kuuma and Benjamin

The crowd are loving it !

We have the presentation of tonight’s finalists , in the form of a parade, similar to the flag parade at Eurovision. The duo finish off their opening number. Big cheer from the crowd !

We meet the hosts , Viivi, Benjamin and Pilvi , you’ll grow to love them as we proceed through the evening. All in red !

They explain the proceedings for the evening and that you can get commentary in English, Ukrainian , etc ! You can get English commentary at https://areena.yle.fi/1-67897911

First act up tonight …..

Sini Sabotage – Kuori Mua

Starts off sat at a piano , dressed in what looks like an oversize bed quilt , she gets on top of the piano and rolls around, then is joined by four female backing dancers on stage with pink skirts , which they use as fans , I could be fooled into thinking I was in Japan with that fan backdrop!. Background is pink, with some green . It’s very in your face choreography and there’s an element of sultry , sexy moves from Sini. It’s a good performance but I am not sure whether this may be a bit too much for the more conservative Eurovision fans .

Cyan Kicks – Dancing with the Demons

This is a bit like watching a combination of Ruslana meets Maneskin. The group are dressed in black leather , the staging is dark with strobe lighting, pyros .Now Finland generally do well when they send rock to Eurovision . It’s certainly got the crowd going but I can’t help but feel that a bit more drama could be put into the staging to give the full package , more pyros for example . I don’t feel this is as good as past rock numbers Finland have sent , though if they polish the staging up a bit , they could do ok if selected.

Remember…..to keep up with the blog just REFRESH THIS PAGE !

Jesse Markin –Glow

We’re back to rap again and Jesse is dressed in a jacket and trousers with a green woolly hat .Looks like he’s wearing track suit bottoms! Joined by two equally casually dressed backing dancers. Now rap has mixed fortunes at Eurovision and while this is lively enough, I find it a bit too repetitive and shouty and I don’t think the song goes anywhere . But then what do I know?

Mikael Gabriel x nublu – Vox Populi

The guys start off behind two large podiums , looking bamboo like, a bit like Kaarija’s stage prop last year ! stage backdrop starts off with brightly coloured semi circles and changes pattern throughout the song. The guys then join each other at one podium , they are dressed in quite futuristic outfits. The key change happens , we get an almost operatic voice change , then the faces of the two singers become the backdrop. This is lively and fun , a little in the way that Kaarija was last year.If there’s one thing I could criticise, I don’t think they have quite the captivating stage presence and charisma that Kaarija has . They certainly engaged the audience well though. My fave so far.

Sara Siipola – Paskana

Sara starts off alone on stage , in an all in one suit off the shoulder suit with silver buckles all over . There’s strobe lighting , smoke effects and the stage lights up at the edges . Sara gives her all in the performance and she definitely has stage presence .No backing dancers or singers needed, Sara can sell this song on her own . Could girl power do the job for Finland in Malmö?

SexMane – Mania

According to the English commentary , he wants to communicate his changing moods through the song He’s already very popular in Finland, apparently.Big cheer from the crowd before he starts.He’s dressed a bit like a warrior with ropes attached to a harness around his clothing , dark staging effects . The song is called Mania and it does come across as very manic and chaotic on stage. I can see the message he wants to put across ,but not sure whether the rest of Europe will “get ” this . The crowd seem to like it .

Windows95man – No Rules!

The last song of the night……that was quick ! Apparently the message of the song is that you don’t have to be someone you are not, just be yourself .Hence that’s why the title is “No Rules!”. We start with what looks like a large paper mache egg on stage from which the guys appear from the top. One dressed in an outfit which looks like it’s been through the shredder, the other in a Windows 95 tee shirt and shorts . We also get two backing dancers , they dance along then the guys release pyros from a hose and their shorts !! It’s got everything! A bit of craziness, fun . Again, this is very in your face, much in the way Kaarija was last year .The audience love this !

And that’s it! You’ve seen them all ! The hosts explain how to vote and the voting starts!

We get the traditional recap of the songs. Who is your favourite tonight ?

Back with the hosts just to fill in time while voting goes on ….

Just to remind you that the public decide 75% of the vote tonight, with the remaining 25 coming from juries.

We get a performance from one of the hosts , Pilvi

We’re just getting a little interval film of the acts listening to each other’s songs via headphones.

Pilvi is in the Green Room talking with the acts .

We are still getting reminders to vote, so some way to go yet.

The Finnish harmonic orchestra are performing a version of Cha Cha Cha, last year’s Finnish song performed by Kaarija !

Another interval act….the much loved Katri Helena who has represented Finland at Eurovision in the past.She’s looking well !

Back to the hosts. The results are apparently in soon, according to the English commentary!

Another song recap ! I guess we’re just filling in time but there’s the main interval act to come, who I think you will all know very well ! :-)

Voting is now closed !

Here are the jury votes.By the way the spokesperson isn’t a panel member but a guest spokesperson

Armenia – 8 to Sara Siipola ,10 to Sexmane 12 to Sini Sabotage

Spain – 8 to Cyan Kicks 10 to Mikael Gabriel 12 to Sara Sipolla

Ukraine 8 to Sara 10 to Cyan Kicks 12 to Mikael Gabriel

Luxembourg – Their spokesperson impressing the hosts by speaking fluent Finnish !

8 to Mikael 10 to Cyan Kicks , 12 to Sara Sipolla

Slovenia – Joker Out are the spokes people ! They sang for Slovenia in Liverpool last year

8 to Jesse Mrkin, 10 to Sexmane 12 to Sara Sipolla

i thought Sara would do well with the juries,it’s a real jury friendly song !

so far…..

 UK , it’ s our Olly as the spokesperson !!!

8 to Cyan Kicks 10 to Sara Sipolla , 12 to Windows95 !! Very different voting from the UK !

And Finally Sweden, the ESC host country -8 to Sara Sipolla 10 to Sini Sabotage 12 to Jesse Markin !

Result after Jury Vote …Sara in the lead but remember, we have the televote to come and things can change !This is only 25% of the vote .

Another little interval film with the acts trying to guess the other’s songs in a game .

I think we’re coming to the main interval act now……. It’s………

Kaarija !!!! with Erika Vikmin !!!

He’s swopped the green for a nightshirt and night cap !! they are great performers !

Now onto a performance of Cha cha cha , to a big cheer from the audience !! he is a hero to them !! Ahhh the memories of Liverpool and sitting in the crowd at the M and S Bank arena watching this !! :-)

Back to a recap of the position so far , the public vote is to come …..

Remember everything can change here……

Starting off with the act with the least votes working up… as it’s done in ESC

Windows 95 – 285 points, puts them top for now 313 points , that’s a big score

Jesse MAKIN 76 POINTS 110 OVERALL

Sexmane -74 points ,110 total moves him to third for now

Sini Sabotage -27 points -65 total

Mikael Gabriel x Nublu 136 points total 178 , puts them 2nd for now

CYAN KICKS 80 points, puts them 3rd

it’s Windows 95 or Sara Sipolla !! This is tense !!!

And it’s Windows 95 Man who have won !

Have to say that I am not at all surprised at this result .It’s got all the ingredients to make an impact at Eurovision. I thought the public would go for this .They are just setting up the large egg on the stage again !

Windows 95 Man will perform in the First Semi Final on 7th May in Malmö.

What do you think?Do you think Finland have chosen wisely ?

That ends our coverage for tonight. Thanks for joining me . Keep looking out for more Live Blogs from us in the weeks to come . Goodnight Europe !

Author: Sarah Rudman

Source : YLE