Adrian Kavanagh, 18th May 2015
Does the language that a song is sung in matter at the Eurovision Song Contest? A review of past success levels at the contest by language, as well as a review of the numbers of times that different languages have been used since the abolition of the national language rule in 1999, would seem to confirm this. Read the rest of this entry »
Adrian Kavanagh, 18th May 2015
1956: First ever Eurovision Song Contest was held in Lugano, Switzerland. Seven countries took part (the six founder members of the EEC and Switzerland – Austria, Denmark and the United Kingdom would all enter the contest in the following year). For the only time in the contest’s history, each act performed two songs. Jury members were, for the only time, allowed to vote for their own country and only the winning song was revealed by the jury – Refrain by Lys Assia – and no further voting details/places were revealed. Only solo artists were allowed to take part, although duos were permitted in 1957. The songs were limited in terms of time to three and a half minutes (with this being reduced to three minutes for the 1958 contest). Read the rest of this entry »
Adrian Kavanagh and Johnny Fallon, 16th May 2015
Each year, Eurovision throws up a new selection of thirty-something or forty-something new entries. Some are immediate classics, while some sink without a trace in the semi-finals. The great thing about Eurovision is that different people will have different favourites and this is always the case with the annual (well annual since 2013) review of the different entries by Johnny Fallon and myself. As a classic TV show once put it, it takes different stroke to review Eurovision. And so it is the case here. There’s me with my cool, edgy, taste in music. And then there’s Fallon. A man for whom “Rock ‘n Roll Kids” was probably just that bit too much edgy back in 1994…. Anyway, for what it’s worth, here’s our views on all of this year’s entries… Read the rest of this entry »
Adrian Kavanagh, 7th April 2015
As I used this model to successfully predict the Azerbaijan win at the 2011 contest and also Denmark’s win in 2013, I am going to use this to tease out who the likely qualifiers will be now that we know the running order for the two 2014 Eurovision semi-finals. Those of you who have read The Eurovision Handbook 2013 (as well as the 2014 edition of this – sadly low purchase levels of this notwithstanding…) will know that I used this same model to (sort of!) successfully predict most of the qualifiers for the 2013 and 2014 final.
Adrian Kavanagh, 23rd March 2014
Having finished “Playing With Numbers”, ORF, the Austrian television producers, who are hosting this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, have today announced the semi-final running order allocations for the two semi-finals in this year’s contest. (As of the past few years, there is no longer a draw to determine positions in the running orders of Eurovision semi-finals and finals – with the exception of one to determine whether acts will perform in the first or second half of a contest – with the exception of position taken up by the Host country in the Final. Instead, the host television producer decides on the running order, ostensibly to make sure that different types of acts are balanced throughout the running order in order to improvement the entertainment value of the show. This is – I would argue – an overtly large level of power to give to the host producers, given that statistics show that an act’s chances of doing well at Eurovision can be significantly helped/hindered by their position in the show’s running order.)
Figure 1: Average points per position in the running order at Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals between 2008 and 2014
Ireland has been allocated the second position in the running order for Semi Final 2, being scheduled to perform just after Lithuania, who open the show, and San Marino, who will perform third on the night. Read the rest of this entry »
Adrian Kavanagh, 9th February 2015
The entries for this year’s EuroSong were premièred on the Ray D’Arcy show today… Read the rest of this entry »
Adrian Kavanagh, 26th January 2015
As I used this model to successfully predict the Azerbaijan win at the 2011 contest and also Denmark’s win in 2013, I am going to use this to tease out who the likely qualifiers will be now that we know the running order for the two 2014 Eurovision semi-finals. Those of you who have read The Eurovision Handbook 2013 will know that I used this same model to (sort of!) successfully predict most of the qualifiers for the 2013 final.
Adrian Kavanagh, 26th January 2015
The semi final allocation draw for the Eurovision Song Contest has just taken place:
Eurovision Semi Final 1 (19th May):
Performing in First Half: Greece, FYR Macedonia, Estonia, The Netherlands, Moldova, Finland, Belgium, Armenia
Performing in Second Half: Serbia, Denmark, Belarus, Romania, Russia, Albania, Georgia, Hungary
Big 5/Host countries voting in this semi final: Spain, Austria, France
Eurovision Semi Final 2 (21st May):
Performing in First Half: Norway, Ireland, Czech Republic, Lithuania, San Marino, Malta, Portugal, Montenegro
Performing in Second Half: Switzerland, Azerbaijan, Slovenia, Latvia, Poland, Iceland, Israel, Cyprus, Sweden
Big 5/Host countries voting in this semi final: Germany, Italy, United Kingdom
A look back at the previous post, as well as the next post, will show that this is a rather good draw for Ireland, although it does contain a number of countries, such as Norway, Switzerland and Israel, that tend to be relatively generous towards Irish ballads but that also often tend to ignore the more up-tempo Irish entries.
Adrian Kavanagh, 11th January 2015
The draw for the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest semi finals takes place on Monday 26th January in Vienna. After this draw, Ireland will know whether its act will be taking part in Semi Final 1 (on 19th May 2015) or Semi Final 2 (on 21st May 2015) and will also know the 15/16 other countries that will be competing against this act for one of the ten qualifier slots from this semi final. The three Big 5/Host countries that will have the right to vote in this semi final will also be known after this. This post will assess the possibilities facing Ireland ahead of this draw and pinpoint what would be an ideal/nightmare draw for the Irish act. Read the rest of this entry »
Adrian Kavanagh, December 23rd 2014
The official Eurovision website confirmed on 23rd December 2014 that 39 countries were to take part in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria. This means that 33 countries will be taking part in the two semi-finals – 16 in one semi-final and 17 in the other – making semi final qualification a slightly more difficult prospect than it was in 2014, when the smallest ever semi-final in contest history (the second semi-final which involved just 15 countries) took place.
This would have amounted to two more countries than the number that took part in the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. However, the news released on 10th February 2015 that Australia would be participating on a one-off basis in the 2015 contest means that 40 countries will now be competing in Vienna. Australia will – as with the Hosts and Big 5 countries – not have to participate in one of the semi finals (meaning the semi-final format remains the same despite Australia’s late entry) and will instead proceed directly to the Final. Australia will get to vote in the Final, but also in both of the semi-finals – which is not the case for the states in the Big 5 and Hosts grouping as these only get to vote in one of the semi-finals.
Adrian Kavanagh's Blog 