Live: Finland decides

by Ilari Karhapää 95 views

After three semi finals it�s time for the second chance round and the final in Finland. Helsinki�s Kulttuuritalo hosts the joint show presented by Jaana Pelkonen and Peltsi Peltola. This is Jaana�s farewell for TV at least for now as she is heading for another career. However, she he will be remembered always as the hostess of the 2007 Eurovision song contest in Helsinki.


You can watch the show live on YLE’s website here.

Live report by Ilari Karhapää

Second Chance

The venue is packed now and the show is ready to start. Jaana and Peltsi are on stage explaining the procedure of the evening.

Ninja – The battlefield of love

Ninja is doing a good job. Vocally as good as it gets supported by her women in granny's underwear and crazy guy jumping around. Propably the campest act in Euroviisut ever. Will televoters warm up to it tonight?

Jippu – Kanna minut

Jippu is doing yet another touching performance of her song dressed in black flower dress and no shoes but socks. Her added backing vocalists really help the song but is the song too difficult to convince people in 3 minutes?

Crumbland – Pleasure

A good solid performance from this grunge indie rock group. If the rock people are watching tonight this sould qualify.

Hanna Marsh – Broken flower

Hanna has changed her coreography from the semi final and it works much better now. Dressed in a Greek style dress the whole presentation has a little hippy feeling to it. She exists the stage with a huge applause.

Vuokko Hovatta – Virginia

Vuokko, who has done the leading role in musical Evita! She sings flawlessly this theatralical song about Virginia Wolf. The crowd absolutely loves it.

Jenna – Sinua varten

Jenna has changed her dress so a less original one but nothing is going to save this forgettable number with useless dancers that seem to be doing morning gymnastics.

The second chance round is now over and now it's time to vote two of them to the final. Voting lines are still open and here comes the recap.

Now it's time for a guest stars: Aikakone. They were one of the biggest acts in Finland in the 1990's and now ready for a comeback. And yes, they are also Euroviisut veterans, runners-up in 2002. They sing Vuoristorata, one of the three new songs on their Greatest hits album released yesterday.

Ok, it is time for the results!

To the final will go Crumbland and Vuokko Hovatta!

And here starts the final….

MovetronCupido

The 90s europop is alive and well, it seems. The song (or band?) is one of the pre-contest favourites. The stage act is all over the place and pyros and smoke are featured along with fancy dresses. Päivi Lepistö, the lead singer is doing vocally quite good and seems to be enjoying herself on stage.

Kristian Meurman – Jos en sua saa

Kristian leads the fan poll at the moment, from the bottom though. His self penned song is considered a bit boring and indeed, it's quite a sleeping pill…. A cellist and two backing vocalist are on stage with him, all in black.

Cristal SnowCan't save me

Cristal himself declared earlier this week he is not satisfied with nothing but top-3. He's in back while the backing group is in white, all with hoods. He got one of the loudest applauses in this afternoon's dress rehearsal and is wildly welcomed on stage here tonight, too. Although he isnot the best singer in this competition, he vocally manages welltonight. And the audience seems to like him a lot!

Mikael KonttinenMilloin

Mikael is the fan favourite to win and would make an interesting entry after two (hard) rock entries. Somehow the song is very Finnish and makes think of old Finnish black and white movies. Mikael wears a smart suit and the backing girls innocent 50's dresses. Vocally perfect as always. He exists the stage with a huge applause making way to another super favourite…

Teräsbetoni – Missä miehet ratsastaa

Nothing but a win would be a big surprise for them tonight with this mixture of Dschingis Khan and metal rock in Finnish. Should they win the song will remain in Finnish and I guess most Europeans will be happy for that! The stage act includes surprisingly pyros, smoke and a very explosive ending!

Kari Tapio – Valaise yö

Kari Tapio (63) last particiapted in 1988. He caused a minor scandal after his semi final win stating he thinks Eurovision has lost its meaning and turned into circus with sword swallowing, strip tease and other acts with nothing to do with music. Then he stated should he win he won't go to Belgrade to sing about love if the situation there is still unstable. However, his song is performed with professionalism that a long career gives to an artists. Later we will see who's watching tonight: the rockers or televoting grannies.

Crumbland – Pleasure

And here they come again, fresh qualifiers from the second chance! Crumbland gives a solid performance again. Could this be the surprise of the evening making it all the way to the superfinal?

Vuokko Hovatta – Virginia

Her qualification can be considered a bit surprising but Finns do like this kind of songs and indeed it is a good one and performed very well. She has also said should she win the song will remain in Finnish.

Ok, we have now heard all the songs and it's time for a recap. The voting lines are still open.

The voting lines are now closed and the stage is cleared for Hanna Pakarinen who represanted Finland last year in homeground. She has a new look; short hair and girly dress. Her title Leave me alone is more actual than never: after this she will off to a long break. Hanna is singing perfectly once again, sporting also a nice tan from Thailand so she has managed to get over her fear of flight.

And now it's time to announce the three artists in the super final: The first one is Cristal Snow! The second one is Kari Tapio!And the last one is Teräsbetoni!

The lines are now zeroed and voting starts again.

Cristal Snow – Can't save me

We are gonna make Europe crazy, top-3 is what I want, he said in the rap part. Another good solid performances. Out of these three I would personally choose this one, and the audience in the hall seem to agree!

Teräsbetoni – Missä miehet ratsastaa

Another performance of this camp metal with testerone filled lyrics.

Kari Tapio – Valaise yö

Kari Tapio also performs his ballad again. Did you notice one of the backing singers is Johanna Pakonen, a fan favourite with Kerta viimeinen a few years back?

We have now heard again the superfinalists and the voting lines are open for another ten minutes and will close at 21 CET. The results programme will start then.

And here come the real results….

There have been over 340.000 votes. Third one is with 27% Cristal Snow.

Hanna Pakarinen is now on stage with the envelope of the winner's name… 38,9% for Teräsbetoni 33,0% for Kari Tapio, Uh ah! Uh ah!