A total of four countries held a semi final in their selections for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest on Friday and Saturday. For those who missed the shows, let's take a look back on what happened in Norway, Denmark, Lithuania and Iceland.
Norway
The betting odds for the second Norwegian semi final were very close to the results: Crash! and Maria Haukaas Storeng were predicted right to go straight to the national final on 9th February. Anne Hvidsten, who was seen last by the bookmakers and Zuma got a wildcard for the second chance round on 6th February. Cube and Sven Garås were eliminated from the competition.
- You can read the esctoday.com interview with Maria and Crash! right after the show here.
- You can watch the show again here.
- You can order the MGP CD here (€ 17.95 + postage).
- You can order other Norway-related Eurovision Song Contest material here.
Denmark
The second and last semi final in Denmark saw the bokkmakers's favourite Simon Mathew qualifying for the national final on 2nd February. Faroese band The Dreams (predicted third) also got a ticket for the final while Josefine & Lars and Sandee May were the more surprising qualifiers having been seen in eighth and sixth position by the bookmakers respectively.The eight acts from the two heats that have not qualified don't have to worry at all since they are going to entre the second chance round to be held on Danish radio. Last year, the later winner DQ had to qualify through the second chance.
- You can read more about the second chance competition here.
- You can pre-order your official Denmark Melodi Grand Prix CD through our partner store, CDON.com now for €17.95 here.
- Click here to purchase other Danish Eurovision Song Contest related material.
Lithuania
After a long show with a webcast of suboptimal quality, another four music acts got a ticket for the national final on 2nd February: Sasha Son, Raimonda, Funny Beatand Ingrida Ziliute. They join the four qualifiers from last week's show and the two acts that will directly enter the national final.
Iceland
The first Icelandic semi final has been held and the song Lullaby to peace was eliminated from the competition, not a surprising result according to the esctoday.com readers. This also means that we know the first two participants for the national final on 23rd February: Magni Ásgeirsson (his duet partner from the quarter final, Birgitta Haukdal, had withdrawn from the competition) and Páll Rósinkranz.
Stay tuned for a preview on what will happen around Europe this week!
