The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 is over and despite a low turnout (at our place, of course, not in total as apparently over 10 million people watched it in the UK) it was still quite excellent.
The quality of the songs was as variable as usual, although certainly not as soul-destroying as has been in the past. There were a middle patch of songs that were especially good (in the context) and I was worried that I was giving out too high scores too early by about song 10. Not to fear as they soon nose-dived, but it was good all the same.
The voting does, of course, leave something to be desired. Eastern Europe seems intent on dividing states like a rampant single-celled organism trying to reproduce until they have enough countries to vote for each other. It’s even enough for one MP to call an early day motion to change the voting system.
Our scoring and judgement was first class, it goes without saying. We had the projector set up with the scores on the wall and you can download our Eurovision scoresheet here.
Ukraine scored highly for sheer laughter but Hungary were truly robbed. They made the fatal mistake of actually entering a good song and I was surprised to see them come through the semi-finals. Scooch, for the UK, didn’t get votes from anyone except some political votes from Malta.
The contest itself was one by Serbia, who were represented this year by Jimmy Krankie (shown right). The song was okay if a bit anonymous and was certainly a surprise winner for us.
Next year I’m expecting more of the same: songs varying from passable to atrocious, voting doing the same, and some more snide comments from Terry Wogan who must never be allowed to retire.
The official Eurovision 2007 scores
Our improved Eurovision 2007 scores