Because Hazel has monopolised a lot of the press conferences and interviews, and has demonstrated that she is very much in charge of the show. She has constantly spouted crap about Riverdance, instead of letting the focus fall on Kasey. Add to that, as several have mentioned, she has continually ignored the advice given to her, that basically all agree would have improved the act.
I already said earlier this week that I felt her pushiness was deflating Kasey and making her lose confidence. That, in my opinion, is exactly what happened.
Kasey isn't stupid. I'm sure she picked up on the dislike towards Hazel and the Can Linn concept.
Greece also gave a bad vocal performance, but their confidence and staging carried them through.
Excellent points. I watched the first Irish press conference in full and Hazel completely dominated it and spoke for more time than Kasey (and the Irish HOD hardly got a word in).
I bet there's a lot that went on that we don't know about but it ended up with Kasey looking very uncomfortable on stage and as if she wasn't enjoying herself at all.
Hazel Kaneswaren was very hands on. She put together Can Linn and hired Kasey, and the blond dancer guy choreographed the act. It's actually she that was refusing to take on board any criticism, so the buck stops with her for the result.
I think that blonde dancer is a good pal of Hazel's so hence her likely reluctance to kick him to the curb;)
I has to laugh at her delusion though when offering her explanation for the staging.
Saying that she wanted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Riverdance and that the dancers were supposed to represent darkness and light fighting each other.........errr how the hell did she expect viewers to pick up on that?!!
She made a mighty hames of it>:(
The whole Can-Linn concept was a bit stupid, in the end, wasn't it?
I mean, who were they? Were they even there (or was the woman on the hand drum the sum total of Can-Linn?)
Can-Linn was all the wasters involved in their scheme! Should've seen the alarm bells at the start with the way it's "Can-Linn featuring Kasey Smith" they jumped on the Riverdance shtick and then it was almost like they thought "oh crap yeah, it's a song contest isn't it, quick find a singer!" Kasey was the spare part from the outset.
The whole Can-Linn concept was a bit stupid, in the end, wasn't it?
I mean, who were they? Were they even there (or was the woman on the hand drum the sum total of Can-Linn?)
Hazel is getting a lot of mentions here, but it was all her doing. She put the whole 'concept' together and came up with the name (and hired Kasey to front it).
It's kinda weird that Ireland did zero promotion for the song either this year. Didn't even go to the London show? Perhaps things were not exactly rosy behind the scenes.
Just a few brief thoughts on tonight's semi final, incidentally:
Took the bus to the venue for the first time rather than the boat and was pleased to find out that the atmosphere was as lively and jovial by road as it was by water, and similarly efficient too.
Felt a bit sorry for the guy who was sitting next to me, who could barely see any of the stage because sitting in front of him was a guy dressed in drag with the tallest fake beehive hairdo you could possibly imagine.
There was an unexpected twist to the warm up tonight; other than the DJ playing past Eurovision hits and floor manager extraordinare Henrik running through the usual bits and bobs, we got to see Nikolaj come onto stage promising to kiss every member of the crowd and starting off with the warm up guy - no, really, he did
The atmosphere was so electric in the arena it could've powered the place on its own, frankly; huge cheers, masses of waving flags, people in fancy dress, lots of dancing, people waving their phone lights to the Norweigan performance, it was such a fantastic display of energy and enthusiasm and joy, frankly, and I hope that came through the TV screen itself.
Also worth mentioning that a fair amount of that was provided by seemingly several hundred UK fans who were in the arena tonight, and if you saw lots of Union Jacks flying, that was probably down to the fact that the UK fan club had its party at the Fan Café just a few hours before the second semi began - and Pollaponk were the special guests
The star of tonight's show, of course, than Conchita, as there was not one member of that crowd who wasn't supporting her; they were mesmerised during her performance, she got a standing ovation and her name were chanted after the performance, during the reprise and when she was interviewed in the green room - at which point it was so loud that you couldn't hear what either she or Lisa were saying.
The culmination of all this, of course, was the bedlam when Austria were announced as the last qualifier - although I dare say there was a bit of relief intertwined with that as well as a few people around me were saying things to the effect of "surely not...?"
Other big reactions came for Malta, Israel (lots of disappointment when they didn't go through), Finland, Poland, Ireland, Greece, Romania, Switzerland - everyone bar Georgia, really
I'll finish by reiterating something I've said in pretty much every one of this reports I've done over the years, namely if you consider yourself to be any kind of Eurovision fan you have to go and see it in person because the true atmosphere of the thing has to be felt and seen to be truly believed, really - and you can do that even if you can't get a final ticket by going to either the second semi or the jury final.
I'm going to the latter tomorrow and I'll let you know how it goes in general and, more importantly, for Molly.
I think that blonde dancer is a good pal of Hazel's so hence her likely reluctance to kick him to the curb;)
I has to laugh at her delusion though when offering her explanation for the staging.
Saying that she wanted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Riverdance and that the dancers were supposed to represent darkness and light fighting each other.........errr how the hell did she expect viewers to pick up on that?!!
She made a mighty hames of it>:(
The good news is we'll never see her near Eurovision again. One wonders what RTE really thought of her this year, and if there were tensions behind the scenes between them and her.......maybe they were trying to change aspects to the act and she was having none of it, who knows? She seems a very domineering personality.
It's kinda weird that Ireland did zero promotion for the song either this year. Didn't even go to the London show? Perhaps things were not exactly rosy behind the scenes.
Indeed, they could have gone to Amsterdam and London very cheaply.
I think Berkmann is counting his chickens before he's even laid an egg. Conchita will piss all over Sweden and remain in the memory of voters despite her early slot, Sweden wont. Nice lights, shame about the song. It's an identikit Melfest tubthumper sung reasonably well, but nowhere as memorable as Austria. Coming after a break can be a problem as well if people have gone off to restock the nibbles/wine/have an Eartha Kitt/crafty Harry Wragg on the balcony and are a bit slow coming back. Austria=memorable, Sweden=Ikea beige sofa. I like the song but it's not stand out, wow factor which it needs in that slot.
Netherlands. I think they will struggle coming after the home roar for Basim. His uptempo number and the home crowd reaction will I think overshadow the Dutch, sadly. I still think they will do well, but I'm not sure they will win.
Norway. I think sadly this might have now lost the chance to get a win, the quiet performance will get lost so early in the running.
UK. I don't think we could have asked for a better slot. So long as Molly can give the right performance it could do well. There was a theory years ago that the UK used to have erratic voting for late slot novelty acts because all the p*ssheads from the pubs used to vote for the funny ones they caught as they walked in from the battle cruiser. Perhaps Molly might get a voting bounce from the late arrivals from the tavernas and bars of Europe! Seriously though, she's not a fading crooner or rocker, the rest of Europe think the BBC have taken the contest seriously this year and I think they will see it as a credible act, and we will get votes for that.
Felt a bit sorry for the guy who was sitting next to me, who could barely see any of the stage because sitting in front of him was a guy dressed in drag with the tallest fake beehive hairdo you could possibly imagine.
No-one attracted this more tonight, of course, than Conchita, as there was not one member of that crowd who wasn't supporting her; they were mesmerised during her performance, she got a standing ovation and her name were chanted after the performance, during the reprise and when she was interviewed in the green room - at which point it was so loud that you couldn't hear what either she or Lisa were saying
:D
Yeah during the green room chat with Conchita, Lise couldn't even get a word in edgeways at times, because of all the cheering!
I think Berkmann is counting his chickens before he's even laid an egg. Conchita will piss all over Sweden and remain in the memory of voters despite her early slot, Sweden wont. Nice lights, shame about the song. It's an identikit Melfest tubthumper sung reasonably well, but nowhere as memorable as Austria. Coming after a break can be a problem as well if people have gone off to restock the nibbles/wine/have an Eartha Kitt/crafty Harry Wragg on the balcony and are a bit slow coming back. Austria=memorable, Sweden=Ikea beige sofa. I like the song but it's not stand out, wow factor which it needs in that slot.
Netherlands. I think they will struggle coming after the home roar for Basim. His uptempo number and the home crowd reaction will I think overshadow the Dutch, sadly. I still think they will do well, but I'm not sure they will win.
Norway. I think sadly this might have now lost the chance to get a win, the quiet performance will get lost so early in the running.
UK. I don't think we could have asked for a better slot. So long as Molly can give the right performance it could do well. There was a theory years ago that the UK used to have erratic voting for late slot novelty acts because all the p*ssheads from the pubs used to vote for the funny ones they caught as they walked in from the battle cruiser. Perhaps Molly might get a voting bounce from the late arrivals from the tavernas and bars of Europe! Seriously though, she's not a fading crooner or rocker, the rest of Europe think the BBC have taken the contest seriously this year and I think they will see it as a credible act, and we will get votes for that.
There again what do I know.
In the arena maybe, but I think this will have no effect whatsoever on the viewers at home........why would they prefer Basim's cheesy entry to the classy Dutch one?
Felt a bit sorry for the guy who was sitting next to me, who could barely see any of the stage because sitting in front of him was a guy dressed in drag with the tallest fake beehive hairdo you could possibly imagine.
You'd think they'd have stumped up and bought Linda a backstage pass.
The good news is we'll never see her near Eurovision again. One wonders what RTE really thought of her this year, and if there were tensions behind the scenes between them and her.......maybe they were trying to change aspects to the act and she was having none of it, who knows? She seems a very domineering personality.
That she most certainly does!
Her pathetic response to the constructive criticism of the dancers was to give them even more prominence in the performance....almost like she was sticking up two fingers!
She was far too obsessed with the Riverdance anniversary and hellbent on staging a performance around it, making Kasey appear almost surplus to requirements.
In a nutshell, she hadn't a damn clue.
In the arena maybe, but I think this will have no effect whatsoever on the viewers at home........why would they prefer Basim's cheesy entry to the classy Dutch one?
I agree on TV the Dutch will look more classy but there is often a feel-good factor in the tv audience when the commentator reacts to the arena reaction for the home team, and I also think the fact the songs are polar opposites - one catchy, the other subtle and restrained might also count against it. Could of course work the other way, I hope so as the Dutch ought to get a decent result if only to get rid of the overbearingly awful memories of their last winner, Dinge-Dong. I think we've punished them long enough now for that.
Just got it from an impromptu night out making me miss the semi :
So sad for Israel but I wasn't surprised. As good as Mei was, the styling was aggressive and voters don't like aggressive voices, especially women. I think we can safely say that's Israel gone, no qualification since 2010.
However very happy for Poland and Slovenia! I have said from the beginning that as long as these two qualify I would be a very happy boy.
I haven't been the biggest fan of this contest but I do have to say that the final looks amazing and we are definitely in for a good showing on Sat.
I agree on TV the Dutch will look more classy but there is often a feel-good factor in the tv audience when the commentator reacts to the arena reaction for the home team, and I also think the fact the songs are polar opposites - one catchy, the other subtle and restrained might also count against it. Could of course work the other way, I hope so as the Dutch ought to get a decent result if only to get rid of the overbearingly awful memories of their last winner, Dinge-Dong. I think we've punished them long enough now for that.
Don't forget though that the Netherlands could even be favourites by Saturday, so they surely have nothing to fear from anyone. Even if Basim was to go bigger in the arena, it doesn't really mean anything or make viewers less likely to vote for NL.
Comments
Excellent points. I watched the first Irish press conference in full and Hazel completely dominated it and spoke for more time than Kasey (and the Irish HOD hardly got a word in).
I bet there's a lot that went on that we don't know about but it ended up with Kasey looking very uncomfortable on stage and as if she wasn't enjoying herself at all.
I think that blonde dancer is a good pal of Hazel's so hence her likely reluctance to kick him to the curb;)
I has to laugh at her delusion though when offering her explanation for the staging.
Saying that she wanted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Riverdance and that the dancers were supposed to represent darkness and light fighting each other.........errr how the hell did she expect viewers to pick up on that?!!
She made a mighty hames of it>:(
Can-Linn was all the wasters involved in their scheme! Should've seen the alarm bells at the start with the way it's "Can-Linn featuring Kasey Smith" they jumped on the Riverdance shtick and then it was almost like they thought "oh crap yeah, it's a song contest isn't it, quick find a singer!" Kasey was the spare part from the outset.
Let's hope we do better than 9th!
Hazel is getting a lot of mentions here, but it was all her doing. She put the whole 'concept' together and came up with the name (and hired Kasey to front it).
Took the bus to the venue for the first time rather than the boat and was pleased to find out that the atmosphere was as lively and jovial by road as it was by water, and similarly efficient too.
Felt a bit sorry for the guy who was sitting next to me, who could barely see any of the stage because sitting in front of him was a guy dressed in drag with the tallest fake beehive hairdo you could possibly imagine.
There was an unexpected twist to the warm up tonight; other than the DJ playing past Eurovision hits and floor manager extraordinare Henrik running through the usual bits and bobs, we got to see Nikolaj come onto stage promising to kiss every member of the crowd and starting off with the warm up guy - no, really, he did
The atmosphere was so electric in the arena it could've powered the place on its own, frankly; huge cheers, masses of waving flags, people in fancy dress, lots of dancing, people waving their phone lights to the Norweigan performance, it was such a fantastic display of energy and enthusiasm and joy, frankly, and I hope that came through the TV screen itself.
Also worth mentioning that a fair amount of that was provided by seemingly several hundred UK fans who were in the arena tonight, and if you saw lots of Union Jacks flying, that was probably down to the fact that the UK fan club had its party at the Fan Café just a few hours before the second semi began - and Pollaponk were the special guests
The star of tonight's show, of course, than Conchita, as there was not one member of that crowd who wasn't supporting her; they were mesmerised during her performance, she got a standing ovation and her name were chanted after the performance, during the reprise and when she was interviewed in the green room - at which point it was so loud that you couldn't hear what either she or Lisa were saying.
The culmination of all this, of course, was the bedlam when Austria were announced as the last qualifier - although I dare say there was a bit of relief intertwined with that as well as a few people around me were saying things to the effect of "surely not...?"
Other big reactions came for Malta, Israel (lots of disappointment when they didn't go through), Finland, Poland, Ireland, Greece, Romania, Switzerland - everyone bar Georgia, really
I'll finish by reiterating something I've said in pretty much every one of this reports I've done over the years, namely if you consider yourself to be any kind of Eurovision fan you have to go and see it in person because the true atmosphere of the thing has to be felt and seen to be truly believed, really - and you can do that even if you can't get a final ticket by going to either the second semi or the jury final.
I'm going to the latter tomorrow and I'll let you know how it goes in general and, more importantly, for Molly.
(Wasn't very brief in the end, was it?
When the winners were AUSTRIA!!
Did I say I was in Linz atm...
The good news is we'll never see her near Eurovision again. One wonders what RTE really thought of her this year, and if there were tensions behind the scenes between them and her.......maybe they were trying to change aspects to the act and she was having none of it, who knows? She seems a very domineering personality.
Indeed, they could have gone to Amsterdam and London very cheaply.
I think Berkmann is counting his chickens before he's even laid an egg. Conchita will piss all over Sweden and remain in the memory of voters despite her early slot, Sweden wont. Nice lights, shame about the song. It's an identikit Melfest tubthumper sung reasonably well, but nowhere as memorable as Austria. Coming after a break can be a problem as well if people have gone off to restock the nibbles/wine/have an Eartha Kitt/crafty Harry Wragg on the balcony and are a bit slow coming back. Austria=memorable, Sweden=Ikea beige sofa. I like the song but it's not stand out, wow factor which it needs in that slot.
Netherlands. I think they will struggle coming after the home roar for Basim. His uptempo number and the home crowd reaction will I think overshadow the Dutch, sadly. I still think they will do well, but I'm not sure they will win.
Norway. I think sadly this might have now lost the chance to get a win, the quiet performance will get lost so early in the running.
UK. I don't think we could have asked for a better slot. So long as Molly can give the right performance it could do well. There was a theory years ago that the UK used to have erratic voting for late slot novelty acts because all the p*ssheads from the pubs used to vote for the funny ones they caught as they walked in from the battle cruiser. Perhaps Molly might get a voting bounce from the late arrivals from the tavernas and bars of Europe! Seriously though, she's not a fading crooner or rocker, the rest of Europe think the BBC have taken the contest seriously this year and I think they will see it as a credible act, and we will get votes for that.
There again what do I know.
Yeah during the green room chat with Conchita, Lise couldn't even get a word in edgeways at times, because of all the cheering!
In the arena maybe, but I think this will have no effect whatsoever on the viewers at home........why would they prefer Basim's cheesy entry to the classy Dutch one?
You'd think they'd have stumped up and bought Linda a backstage pass.
That she most certainly does!
Her pathetic response to the constructive criticism of the dancers was to give them even more prominence in the performance....almost like she was sticking up two fingers!
She was far too obsessed with the Riverdance anniversary and hellbent on staging a performance around it, making Kasey appear almost surplus to requirements.
In a nutshell, she hadn't a damn clue.
I agree on TV the Dutch will look more classy but there is often a feel-good factor in the tv audience when the commentator reacts to the arena reaction for the home team, and I also think the fact the songs are polar opposites - one catchy, the other subtle and restrained might also count against it. Could of course work the other way, I hope so as the Dutch ought to get a decent result if only to get rid of the overbearingly awful memories of their last winner, Dinge-Dong. I think we've punished them long enough now for that.
also I noticed only 3 western countries are out this year whist 7 eastern ones are out not sure where I would place Israel though
So sad for Israel but I wasn't surprised. As good as Mei was, the styling was aggressive and voters don't like aggressive voices, especially women. I think we can safely say that's Israel gone, no qualification since 2010.
However very happy for Poland and Slovenia! I have said from the beginning that as long as these two qualify I would be a very happy boy.
I haven't been the biggest fan of this contest but I do have to say that the final looks amazing and we are definitely in for a good showing on Sat.
Don't forget though that the Netherlands could even be favourites by Saturday, so they surely have nothing to fear from anyone. Even if Basim was to go bigger in the arena, it doesn't really mean anything or make viewers less likely to vote for NL.