Finland, the host country of Eurovision Song Contest 2007, started its search for the one who will follow Lordi�s footsteps tonight. The Eurovision fever is already steadily rising in the country and the first semi final was widely published both on TV and papers. TV2 and Radio Vega broadcasted the show live from Tampere Tohloppi TV-studios.

This morning both Iltalehti and Ilta-Sanomat featured Euroviisut on their front page and even Helsingin Sanomat dedicated it a full page article. And it is only the first of four semifinals! Things have really changed in Finland since Lordi’s victory! Last night Hanna Pakarinen was interviewed on TV in a prime time news show and she seems to be really thrilled about the whole Eurovision adventure.

Asko Murtomäki, YLE’s commentator and author of the book Finland 12 points! Suomen Euroviisuhistoria said in Iltalehti it’s clear none of tonight’s three artists have tried to make 'Eurovision' songs but stick to their own style and music, which is positive. He also believes some kind of Lordi effect will be heard in May when most likely we will hear more rock oriented songs in the Eurovision Song Contest than ever before.

Jaana Pelkonen and Heikki Paasonen are hosting the four semi finals and the final with the help of comic Simo Frangén. Both Jaana and Heikki are riding high on the list of the eventual Eurovision Song Contest 2007 presenters as well. They have already hosted the Finnish finals in 2005 and 2006 and also the home coming concert of Lordi in May 2006 in Helsinki’s Market Square, where nearly 900.000 people sung Hard rock hallelujah. It’s the Guinness Book of records’ worthy world record of karaoke!

Here’s how the evening progressed on the stage (that looked much better than in the photos):

Jani & Jetsetters Etupenkillä/At the front seat (music Nalle Ahlstedt, lyrics Sirpa Peltola)

A sunny surfboard song in Hawaii shirts and catchy chorus. Good solid performance vocally but no show.

Hanna Pakarinen Tell me what to do (music Lasse Kurki, lyrics Lasse Kurki-Hanna Pakarinen)

A rock power ballad with a hint of country. Big hair and white gothic inspired long dress. A performance Anna Vissi would be proud of!

Thunderstone Forevermore (music Thunderstone, lyrics Nino Laurenne)

Melodic hard rock with long hair, high notes and black cloathing. Add some fire works, good light show and catchy chorus.

At this point it was time for the first guest star, Taiska. She took part in Euroviisut 1981 when her Hiroshima came third and added another song to her string of hits in the late 70’s and early 80’s. She did a sort of a come back last year with a compilation album with two new songs. One of them Saat saattaa mua was the Finnish entry in the OGAE Song Contest where she unfortunately came last with zero points!

Jani & Jetsetters Musta sulhanen/Black groom (music & lyrics Tuure Kilpeläinen)

Moodier one of their entries, inspired by Pulp Fiction they say. All grooms dressed in black with full moon behind them and a lady in black lace wandering around. Another solid good performance. And tonight was the very first time for them on live TV!

Hanna Pakarinen Leave me alone (music Martti Vuorinen-Miikka Huttunen, lyrics Martti Vuorinen-Hanna Pakarinen)

A catchy rock song with a pop song chorus. Dressed in long black dress she looked stunning and had even two wind machines! Great camera work and lightning and the song is a fan favourite. Got the biggest applause so far.

ThunderstoneFace in the mirror (music Thunderstone, lyrics Nino Lauranne)

Another solid heavy rock song with interesting melodic hooks. Same stage show if there is any really.

Comic Simo Frangén’s Eurovision News were next. First he played a piece of Moldova’s entry and showed a clip of Albanian’s entry with his sarcastic comments. A list of other so far selected artists followed. Then he announced Geir Rönning will sing in Latvian final and some Finnish will be seen also in Bulgarian finals in the shape of Teddy.

Arja Saijonmaa was his guest and they talked about her participations in Finland and Sweden, and the fact the artists these days sing for any country who will have them. All with irony and humour of course! Then some speculation of the presenters and Jaana Pelkonen and Heikki Paasonen top the polls. Next he praised the great success the United Kingdom had last year, only 18 places lower than Finland! Good enough a reason to send a reporter to London to find out if people there still remember Lordi. And no, they didn’t. To wrap up his news he had some crazy gossip on tonight’s artists.

Next the stage was Ann-Christine’s, who sung for Finland Play boy in 1966 and gained a respectable 10th place. Today she lives in Sweden and sings only occasionally.The voting started on Saturday at noon and lasted until 8pm. The songs were presented on radio the previous Monday and have been available on YLE’s website www.yle.fi/eurovision all week.The song that got more votes from each artist will proceed to the final in Turku on February 17.

Here are the results:Due to problems with the computer and/or monitor Hanna’s results were first given wrong and Thunderstone’s were not given on screen at all. We will add the full results as soon as YLE makes them available. These three songs qualified:

Jani & Jetsetters: Musta sulhanen (will be performed as number 3 in the final)

Hanna Pakarinen: Leave me alone (will be performed as number 1 in the final)

Thunderstone: Face in the mirror (will be performed as number 10 in the final)

Update: The complete results have now been published on yle.fi:

Etupenkillä Jani & Jetsetters 47 %

Tell me what to do Hanna Pakarinen 31 %

Forevermore Thunderstone 36 %

Musta sulhanen Jani & Jetsetters 53 %

Leave me alone Hanna Pakarinen 69 %

Face in the mirror Thunderstone 64 %