The Lithuanian national final to determine the country's representative at this year's Eurovision Song Contest 2010 is about to be held. Twelve acts will compete for the Lithuanian ticket to Oslo.
How to watch?
A high quality webcast is available herewhile a low quality webcast is available here.
Another webcast will be provided here.
The show will also be broadcast on eurovision.tv here (requires octoshape plugin).
Participants
- Agama – Field of Kings
- AistÄ� PilvelytÄ� – Melancolia
- Ruslanas Kirilkinas – I love a boy who's in love with a fairytale
- MerÅ«nas – Rosa
- RamÅ«nas Difartas – Blues of life
- Monika LinkytÄ� – Give away
- InCulto – East European Funk
- Evelina Sašenko – For this I’ll pray
- Sasha Song & Nora – Say yes to life
- JÅ«ratÄ� MiliauskaitÄ� – Let it rain
- Eden – Nirvana
- Amberlife – Material world
Your opinion
- You can vote for your favourite song in our poll here.
LIVE
The show has just started and tonight's is welcoming the national and international viewers who are following the Lithuanian national final.
A video montage about the draw of the running order is shown. The twelve acts competing tonight are introduced one by one.
1. Agama – Field of Kings
Current esctoday.com poll result: 2nd (18.7%)
Agama opens the line-up of tonight's twelve hopefuls bidding to represent Lithuania at this year's Eurovision Song Contest. She is performing the mystical, spheric song Field of kings. Agama is dressed in a black leather outfit and a cape and accomponied by a drummer and four fire jugglers.
Field of kings is quite reminiscent of the kind of music being played during rituals of certain cults thus leaving a bit a religious touch, although its' intention is not clear. It certainly is a different entry, not usually to be found in national finals and might not be Lithuania's safest bet for a decent placing at the Eurovision Song Contest. However, we must not forget that there is no such thing as "unsuitable for Eurovision".
2. AistÄ� PilvelytÄ� – Melancolia
Current esctoday.com poll result: 1st (30.4%)
AistÄ� PilvelytÄ� is – without a doubt- the most frequent performer in the history of Lithuanian national finals. Her first participation was back in 1999, when another AistÄ� went on the represent Lithuania with the song Strazdas. PilvelytÄ� starting entering again in 2004 and also took part in 2005 and 2006. In 2007, she reached 3rd place with Emotional crisis and in 2008, she came even closer to victory, reaching 2nd place with Troy on fire. This year, she is back with Melancolia, a song written by Rafael Artesero, the behind behind the Andorran Eurovision Song Contest entries of 2005 and 2006. As the song title implies, it is an emotional ballad about the poignant feeling someone experiences when their truelove leaves. AistÄ� manages to transmit the song's sentiment very well on stage andher vocal performance is quite impressive. Some obvious criticism might be targeted at the not so tasteful mittens she is wearing. However, she seems very comfortable with this song as she was in 2007 with Emotional crisis- indeed, Melancolia could by far be considered as AistÄ�'s best bid for Eurovision so far. Statistically, after a third and a second place, she should occupy the first place this time and things are looking pretty good for her to finally get to represent Lithuania at the big Eurovision stage.
3. Ruslanas Kirilkinas – I love a boy who's in love with a fairytale
Current esctoday.com poll result: =4th (10.3%)
Ruslanas Kirilkinas definitely gets the award for the song with the most literal message. As the the title suggests, he is singing about "being in love with a boy who's in love with a fairytale", clearly hinting at last year's Eurovision Song Contest winner from Norway, Alexander Rybak.
Ruslanas is wearing a white t-shirt and blue, glittery trousers. He is being supported by two dancers and three backing singers, dressed as maids. It remains to be seen if Alexander Rybak might have to worry too much about being chased after by Ruslanas in Oslo.
4. MerÅ«nas – Rosa
Current esctoday.com poll result: 10th (0.9%)
Merūnas is performing Rosa, a classical ballad in Italian language. He is wearing a black suit and is being supported by four female backing singers. As expected from singers of his genre, his vocal performance is faultless but it is more than questionable if his song is the way to go for Lithuania in Oslo, as it is very forgettable and and indifferent.
5. RamÅ«nas Difartas – Blues of life
Current esctoday.com poll result: =11th (0.5%)
Despite what the title implies, Ramūnas Difartas' song is not a typical blues song, it's actually quite happy and easy-going. And so is the performance. Ramūnas is being supported by four backing vocalists and as a gimmick, there's also a clown on a bicycle on stage. All in all, the song is quite old- fashioned and doesn't leave much of an impact.
6. Monika LinkytÄ� – Give away
Current esctoday.com poll result: 8th (2.8%)
Another song with a positive message. Monika's song Give away is about the right balance of "sharing" and "receiving" in life. She and her four backing singers are placed diagonally on stage which makes the act look more like a group, instead of Monika being the leading artist. The song itself doesn't go anywhere and remains too unimpressive to have a say in tonight's battle about the ticket to Oslo.
7. InCulto – East European Funk
Current esctoday.com poll result: 3rd (12.6%)
InCulto already took part in the 2004 Lithuanian national final and again in 2006, where they managed to reach 2nd place with Welcome. This time, they are giving it another try with East European Funk, a song which most people either love or hate. The five band members are dressed unitarily and the stage performance of their funky number features some gimmicks.
One might have expected the ending of their song to be even more fast-paced. They won the televoting in their semi final so they definitely can rely on some support but the jury was not equally crazy about them so it is quite doubtable if it will be enough for victory.
8. Evelina Sašenko – For this I’ll pray
Current esctoday.com poll result: =11th (0.5%)
For this I'll pray is a rather typical ballad with incredibly bland lyrics that would definitely be at risk of being overlooked at the Eurovision Song Contest. However, Evelina's vocals are really good and her performance is quite believable. She manages to act both reflective and positive, conveying the message of her song. She will probably struggle in the battle of tonight's ballad votes with Aist� Pilvelyt�.
9. Sasha Song & Nora – Say yes to life
Current esctoday.com poll result: =4th (10.3%)
Sasha Song already represented Lithuania at last year's Eurovision Song Contest, coming 23rd in the final with his self- written song Love. This time, is duetting with Nora. Say yes to life obviously is a very positive song about embracing one's life. Sasha, Nora and their four backing singers are wearing different outfits in various colour, definitely making the stage performance look more colourful than the song itself. Say yes to life doesn't develop therfore fails to leave an impression. Sasha and Nora did win the jury voting in their semi final but an overwhelming majority of the public was favouring Aist� instead.
10. JÅ«ratÄ� MiliauskaitÄ� – Let it rain
Current esctoday.com poll result: 9th (2.3%)
Jūrat� Miliauskait� is accompanying herself with the guitar and is being supported by four backing vocalists. Her song is a rather typical pop tune, making quite indifferent an impression. She is one of the jury wildcards and therefore not very likely to get one of tonight's better placings.
11. Eden – Nirvana
Current esctoday.com poll result: 7th (5.1%)
Eden are another one of tonight's jury wildcards. They are performing the metal song Nirvana. The leading singer's vocals are really strong, as is the simple yet effective performance. He manages to capture the melancholy of this song on stage. Despite getting a tad repetitive towards the end, it certainly belongs to tonight's stronger, authentic entries and would be a nice Eurovision Song Contest entry.
12. Amberlife – Material world
Current esctoday.com poll result: 6th (5.6%)
Amberlife made it to the final following Donatas Montvydas' disqualification. Their singer's vocals are good but the song itself is not the most impressive one out of tonight's bunch. An ordinary national final entry, but not a winner.
This concludes tonight's performances. Our poll will be closed in five minutes.
At the moment, Aist� Pilvelyt� is leading the televoting ahead of InCulto.
A recap with all twelve performances is being shown.
Our poll is closed for voting now. You can find the updated results above.
The results are coming in.
InCulto have won the national final and will represent Lithuania in Oslo.