###Live ESC Semi Final 1 Its Time To Get Out Of The Closet Thread###

Damn Serbia.  The dream of the win is over but the 12 and 19 (I got £2 of the £3 traded at that price ) on the Top 10 is at least looking good right now

Shirley acts win from first half?

Loic

Dead slots dotted all over iirc

yes GB last years winner

Are you still watching on your phone hems?

belgium, estonia and russia tops Itunes for the moment

Cheers..I'll google it unless there is a link?

Yep.....getting draw quickest on Twitter though

Belgium 1H

FFS

More winners have come from 2nd half than 1st half from all the contests.

I'd be amazed if Russia didn't win that semi final. It was loaded with Eastern European countries

KGB having a field day with the fecking draw

Someone with an Umbrella has just knocked on my door

Swedens stick man hems.

Mary Poppins?

lol corby

I think it has a poisonous tip

If I'm not around tomorrow........

If it was Polonium you should survive until the final

Albania: Second half
Armenia: First half
Russia: Second half
Romania: Second half
Hungary: Second half
Greece: Second half
Estonia: First half
Georgia: Second half
Serbia: First half
Belgium: First half

May 19, 2015 -- 11:21PM, hemsby wrote:

I think it has a poisonous tip

Ironic way for a taxi driver to meet his end

and the big 5 plus Austria and Australia will draw tomorrow in their press conference.

come on Russia!

Been happy to take on Italy all along but the red I built up on Russia was just for pocket money.  Never dreamt it would come back to haunt me.

At the end of the day Italy is opera.......

so you think Italy are no hopers, GB?

lady gargoylarina will finish 2nd behind Russia. Great performance tonight, must be said.

I mean 2nd behind Italy, ofcourse.

what about Sweden?

May 19, 2015 -- 11:52PM, wisewords wrote:

so you think Italy are no hopers, GB?

No hopers a bit harsh but going by popera history on this I wouldn't be surprised if it bombed. Finland tonight showed what happens when you go too far outside the ESC bubble.

no offence intended by this comment, but that performace/song by Finland was dreadful.

Russia like an unstoppable train

To be truly politically correct you had to judge Finland same as others. Any sympathy votes would have been patronising. That said I enjoyed it more than some that qualified...but I am an old punk myself.

yup. I judged them on their performance and the quality of their song. I prompty layed them @ 1.9 to qualify as it finished.

Last chance to lay out for any Sweden backers you don't want to be in the brown stuff on Saturday night, imo Mann won't trade lower than he is now he's on a rocket to failure. Only will drift from here.

I have big green on both Italy and Russia. Can someone lay out to me why Sweden are the favourite? because I'm really not feeling it at all

He won some Swedish contest to represent them. his song sounds a bit like 'Lovers on the sun' by Guetta. his song is meant to have an impressive lightshow / visuals. he's good looking to attract the females? what else?

to attract the females and males*

the only way Russia can be buried is some pressured campaign to highlight their homophobia... (kinda what that journalist was trying to do with his question tonight)

May 20, 2015 -- 12:04AM, wisewords wrote:

yup. I judged them on their performance and the quality of their song. I prompty layed them @ 1.9 to qualify as it finished.

Finland were getting a LOT of 16th places on those youtube Favourite Song videos. Suggested there was nothing in the zeitgeist for them.

http://esctracker.com/
Looking good for Russia, Belgium and Estonia. Nothing else from the semi has made an impact

I thought you were on Belgium bear?

I am yeah, I really like it.

3rd fav

Belgium the surprise in the charts for me. I find it rather cold
Not surprised by Russia and Estonia. Not surprised nothing else has made an impact either. A very poor semi compared with Thursdays

The betting clearly suggesting Russia won easily but will find it tougher in the final

I'm not convinced Russia won, and if it did it would have been close.

As you say, the final is a much harder set of circumstances to overcome

Yep. All of it's mates in this semi. Countries friendly to Russia or with a significant Russian minority

May 20, 2015 -- 12:43AM, five leaves left wrote:

http://esctracker.com/Looking good for Russia, Belgium and Estonia. Nothing else from the semi has made an impact

Is there an historical link between downloads and outcome? Will yesterday's semi be caught by this before Saturday? I see Estonia doing best and I can see people listening to this on their ipod but I thought it came across dull last night. Russia doing well but mostly with their neighbours who will vote for them anyway. Belgium like Estonia...one to listen to more than watch. I guess familiarity with the song helps rather than hinders. Wonder how Conchita did given it was a bit of a late arrival to the party.

Wonder away

Italy 2H
Spain 2H

4 second half slots left

...apologies 5 second half slots left

wow only 5..for 15 left or are more known?...be fun watching market after next semi. Russians el drifto a bit I see. No insiders or market just assuming they won semi?

Looks like an assumption / knowledge they won their Semi Final,plus of course a 2H draw I think.

If Estonia are 17s after that performance I'm holding my nerve for now on Serbia. I see Italy are only troubling the itunes charts in one eastern country...154th Estonia...I still think they are there to be taken on...has all the smell of France and Sweden mockpra bombs to me. No operatic tradition in most of these countries.

I thought Italy sounded fantastic this morning tbf Bails,plus a 2H draw.Can an operatic song win ESC? This is by far the best one to try IMO.

Spain throwing the kitchen sink into the staging this morning......

http://youtu.be/lo54opM8Eg8

Germany 2H.

4 second half slots left.

off topic but just found my way to latvia's dress rehearsal from earlier in the week. Wowowo blows me away. With jury love can see this 5top 3 in the semi. They love this stuff

May 20, 2015 -- 11:25AM, George Bailey wrote:

If Estonia are 17s after that performance I'm holding my nerve for now on Serbia. I see Italy are only troubling the itunes charts in one eastern country...154th Estonia...I still think they are there to be taken on...has all the smell of France and Sweden mockpra bombs to me. No operatic tradition in most of these countries.

Agree Gb re Italy. I mean I actually like a lot of popera but this one left me cold. Too slow an intro

This performance?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOGdsrgEJpA

Rules made to be broken hemsby I guess but for me its worthy but ultimately dull. For some reason I backed them a while back at skimpy odds on the HS (4/1) so a small green for me but I hope trends do for them. I can see them drifting.

Spain no chance of course but might nick a few votes off Russia. I have translated the song and its something like "Manchester is a sh1thole and if you don't move to Real you can forget having any more backdoor boogie for a while".....should have sang it in English.

May 20, 2015 -- 11:44AM, bexley wrote:

May 20, 2015 -- 11:25AM, George Bailey wrote:If Estonia are 17s after that performance I'm holding my nerve for now on Serbia. I see Italy are only troubling the itunes charts in one eastern country...154th Estonia...I still think they are there to be taken on...has all the smell of France and Sweden mockpra bombs to me. No operatic tradition in most of these countries.Agree Gb re Italy. I mean I actually like a lot of popera but this one left me cold. Too slow an intro

I hate popera but agree with hems. It's the best entry of it's type

Best but still not good enough...lay lay lay

May 20, 2015 -- 10:49AM, George Bailey wrote:

May 20, 2015 -- 12:43AM, five leaves left wrote:http://esctracker.com/Looking good for Russia, Belgium and Estonia. Nothing else from the semi has made an impactIs there an historical link between downloads and outcome? Will yesterday's semi be caught by this before Saturday? I see Estonia doing best and I can see people listening to this on their ipod but I thought it came across dull last night. Russia doing well but mostly with their neighbours who will vote for them anyway. Belgium like Estonia...one to listen to more than watch. I guess familiarity with the song helps rather than hinders. Wonder how Conchita did given it was a bit of a late arrival to the party.

This was how it looked on the 9th May last year after the 2nd semi (from the DS thread)

ESC tracker / itunes
1. Netherlands
2. Austria
3. Armenia
4. Hungary
5. Sweden trending downwards

Ah right thanks. A decent indicator then.

horse...add these to your price thread?

Not too bad. Not in the correct order but it had the top 5.

Tracker, as I have said before is much more informative than any polls. Between that and the market moves this event is ripe for money buying

leaves, your view on latvia?

I really like it. It should stand out in the same way Belgium did

Is esctracker a real time thing or based on weekly downloads or similar?

Reading the DS thread, Austria took the lead soon after that post

Thanks, I think its an amazing performance and should be very telegenic

Yep, great staging too

It's constantly updated. Slovenia was #54 in Slovakia last night

UK 1H

....could open the show as sofabet man just tweeted.

ffs

I'm hoping Sweden do

My bets are falling like the Autumn leaves

Sweden makes sense also.....enables stick man to be set up and checked.

im backing Sweden now tolay off after his performance in the semi. I think every chance it gets 1st half draw. I dont reckon they want sweden again so soon

Australia rehearsal getting some negative feedback well rather underwhelmed

Just 2 countries currently trading below 100 drawn in the 2H so far AFAIK.

France 1st half

Oz 1H

Yay. Slovenia and the Golden boy 2H would be nice tomorrow. Assuming they qualify 

Indeed......2H is a real snooze fest of ballads so far,Slov or Golden B in 2H would really stand out.

Sweden 1H would be great also

Of the Top 10 in betting,6 first half slots,2 second half slots,2 still to decide.

IIRC 3 2H slots left,7 1H slots ?

Internet went down again. 6 and 4 isn't it?

Copy and paste from wiki

First half
  Armenia English Genealogy "Face the Shadow" —
  Australia English Guy Sebastian "Tonight Again" —
  Belgium English Loïc Nottet "Rhythm Inside" —
  Estonia English Elina Born & Stig Rästa "Goodbye to Yesterday" —
  France French Lisa Angell "N'oubliez pas" Don't forget
  Serbia English Bojana Stamenov "Beauty Never Lies" —
  United Kingdom English Electro Velvet "Still in Love with You" —
Second half
14th  Austria English The Makemakes "I Am Yours" —
  Albania English Elhaida Dani "I'm Alive" —
  Georgia English Nina Sublatti "Warrior" —
  Germany English Ann Sophie "Black Smoke" —
  Greece English Maria Elena Kyriakou "One Last Breath" —
  Hungary English Boggie "Wars for Nothing" —
  Italy Italian Il Volo "Grande amore" Great love
  Romania Romanian, English Voltaj "De la capăt (All over Again)" From the beginning
  Russia English Polina Gagarina "A Million Voices" —
  Spain Spanish Edurne "Amanecer" Dawn

Yep...that makes it 6 1H & 4 2H ....apologies.

Second half crying out for an uptempo number.

Marj and the Golden boy to the rescue