AZERBAIJAN, FINLAND, Hungary and Russia were among the highly touted countries whose songs qualified last night for Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest final.
Perhaps the most surprising non-qualifier was Turkey, whose Live it Upfollowed a formula (a hard rock-style number by an all-male band) which has worked very well for the country in recent years; last year, they finished second with a very similar entry.
The combination of 50 per cent votes from expert juries and 50 per cent televoting seems to have helped understated numbers such as Lithuania's ballad C'est Ma Vieand Switzerland's quirky In Love for a Whileget through to the final.
Iceland qualified with the folksy number Coming Home, which has a compelling back story: the composer Sjonni Brink died in January and the song is performed by his friends as a tribute. The other countries which qualified last night were Serbia, Greece and Georgia.
These acts will join the 10 finalists selected from tomorrow's semi-final, along with the five automatic qualifiers: France, the UK, Germany, Spain and – returning this year after a 14-year absence from the contest – Italy. Unlike in recent years, several of these "big five" entrants are hot contenders for overall victory. France's Sognu, sung by operatic tenor Amaury Vassilli in the Corsican language, has topped polls for several weeks; and I Canby UK boyband Blue is currently in the bookmakers' top three.
The quality overall at last night’s event is widely felt to be lower than in tomorrow night’s semi-final, at which Ireland’s Jedward will compete against the hotly tipped acts from Sweden, Estonia, Bosnia and Denmark. Several of last night’s acts, in particular Emmy from Armenia, sang out of tune.
The contest is being staged in the 24,000-seat Esprit Arena, usually the home of Fortuna Düsseldorf FC. Lena Meyer-Landrut, who won the contest last year for Germany, has returned this year to defend her title with the sultry ballad Taken by a Stranger, currently tipped to finish in the top 10 on Saturday.