On this page you can see my predictions for the first semi-final 2011 which were made in late April. Now clearly I underestimated the obvious dislike for Swahili in Europe and massively underestimated the Colby reject with the voluptuous busoooms. To anyone watching throughout Europe there were very noticable problems during this transmission.
Firstly each national commentator was cut-off from their audience when the power to the booths went down and wasn't restored. To BBC3's credit, they at least had an under-prepared Scott Mills in London to bally on through. Out of everyone, the Brits know not to trust the German machine. Perhaps more importantly the first five songs of the semi were mixed abjectly. Vocals were much louder than the backing tracks. It was perhaps no surprise then that none of these five songs got through to the final. I expect a declaration of war from Norway very shortly. They'll be blood amongst the cod of the Baltic...100's of handbags will be floating down the Kiel Canal...
For the record only five of my top ten got through, but it's a spoilt paper as far as I'm concerned. I had 3 of the first 5 on to get through and none of them did, but with proper transmission it might have made the first 20 minutes of the show less purgatory than it turned out. I cannot remember a worse Eurosong show, and thank heavens that some of the crud can be eliminated (Lithuania got past the Domestos though..Raab thrived).
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Are you desperate for entertainment during a midweek evening in May? Are you the type that flicks through the channels like Sumo TV and SyFy? Then there's every chance you'll come across the first Semi Final of the 2011 contest on Tuesday the 10th of May. And my, you'll need a strong constitution. I cannot recall a weaker evening of Eurosong, and I still remember last year Semi 1. Whenever I think back to that Tuesday, a glassy frozen expresion crosses my face.

Anyhow there is a thimblefull of decent songs from this show, and I can't even say the rest are a mixed bunch. The utter garbage that is Armenia is down to qualify in 10th which says a lot about the musical strength on offer here. Only the top two can really be said to be strong songs, with Azerbaijan and Hungary fighting it out for top spot. Turkey & Russia will obviously make it. Serbia I like. Norway, Poland, and Georgia have a tiny bit going for them. The rest are either utterly without merit or just plain forgettable. Sadomasochists will get a major kick out of Lithuania this year, three minutes or aural hell.

I've also had a pop at the other semi final here and the final already, so confident am I at the predictions below (also I'm not going to be able to update them following the semi-final). You can view it here.