The Wedding Bells Were Ringing In Semi Final Number 2

Kyiv’s International Exhibition Centre witnessed history in the making on Thursday night, as the line up for the 2017 Eurovision Grand Final was confirmed.

Macedonia’s Jana Burčeska announced her pregnancy live to the world on tv, Croatia’s Jacques Houdek gave us a flavour of what might have happened if Pavarotti had decided to join Westlife and Romanian duo Ilinca and Alex Florea transformed the music industry as we know it - all in the space of two hours.

And yes, there was also the small matter of the result: While ten nations’ dreams were realised, a further 8 were brutally crushed by the voting public.

It was another evening of incredible viewing from the Eurovision Song Contest.

A Life-Changing Eurovision

It is often (probably) said that the Eurovision Song Contest is a life-changing experience, and never has that been more true for Macedonia’s Jana Burčeska.

Not only did she use her postcard (that bit of video they show before the performance) to tell the world that she was pregnant, but later on in the semi final her boyfriend, or should I say her fiancé, asked her to marry him live on the telly.

Happily, she said yes.

Unhappily, she was then unceremoniously eliminated from the competition.

Say what you like about our audience this evening, you can’t accuse them of not taking their voting responsibilities seriously.

So who did go through?

With UK viewers having voted in the first semi final on Tuesday, round 2 was a slightly more relaxed affair.

Whereas on Tuesday we all analysed performances, studied graphs and made copious notes to decide who we were going to vote for, all we could do this time around was watch and - more importantly - enjoy.

For half of Europe, however, there was a very difficult decision to be made. And while for some dreams were realised, for others their Eurovision journey was over just as soon as it had begun.

But it needn’t all be doom and gloom for the unlucky eight who went out. Their performances will live on, available for all to see on the BBC Eurovision website, and surely they must be able to take some comfort from that.

Mustn’t they?

Romania Reinvented The World Of Music

Anyway, forget the results. What really matters is that at Eurovision 2017, and before our very eyes, Romania turned the music industry on its head.

That’s right. For their entry the Romanians took one yodeler and one rapper, and put them together to create what the internet has dubbed yodelrap. And it’s utterly incredible.

As you’d expect, Ilinca and Alex Florea were very well received, and as far as the bookies are concerned there’s a reasonable chance that they could come away with the trophy on Saturday night.

Well, nobody saw that coming

Even today, in 2017, there are some questions that our greatest minds have been unable to put to rest.

Is it scone as in cone (for the record - no it isn’t) or scone as in gone? Do you put the milk in first or the tea bag? Is Euphoria the greatest Eurovision song of all time? Nobody, really, can answer any of these questions for certain.

Except, perhaps, for one man.

At the start of the year, when the big bosses sat round the table at Croatia Eurovision HQ, they had a decision to make: Were they going to enter a feel-good pop ballad or a powerful and moving operatic performance?

Step forward Jacques Houdek, the man who secured his place in the final with a song that is both of these things at the same time.

He’s a pop star, he’s an opera singer and, seemingly, a part-time philosopher. Is there anything he can’t do? We’ll find out on Saturday...

Sounds like quite the semi final then - is that everything?

Absolutely not!

Belarus’s entry threw caution to the wind by performing on a boat (without any life jackets).

Fan favourite Kristian Kostov from Bulgaria breezed through to the final at just 17 years of age - presumably with a note from his parents to take into school on Monday morning.

And all-round Ukrainian hero Verka starred in the hotly-anticipated Series 2 of our very own BBC Eurovision scandi-drama The Force!

All of this means we’ve got an absolutely unbelievable final in prospect on Saturday night.

When, for the first time, the UK’s Welsh wonder Lucie Jones will take to the stage - with a real chance of winning.

She might not be the outright favourite, but everything points to the fact that her song Never Give Up On You is a real winner on the continent, and there might well be one or two ‘douze points’ flying around come the end of the night.

Add to that yodelrap, some Swedish people dancing on a treadmill, the world-famous Epic Sax Guy and more people wielding stringed instruments than a recital of Brahms’s Violin Concerto in D Major (just Googled that, and there really are quite a few) and you’ve got a recipe for a sensational evening of television.

We’ll see you on Saturday - reserve your spot on the sofa now!