Our last review of the Grand Final

01 Ukraine – The guy with the bright eye

• The opening entry is a real catchy one. The unique look of Melovin will also get a lot of attention, especially with his bright contact lens. Like other Ukrainian entries in the past there are a lot of props on stage. At the end the stage is on fire. A bit less on stage would have been desirable to bring his good voice in the foreground.

02 Spain – Sticky honey and pure love

• This is a true love story. These two guys met at the national Spanish final and have fallen in love immediately. Spain is getting crazy with these two young singers, there is even a reality soap on TV with them. Lovely to watch them singing, touching and kissing on stage. This is 100% kitsch. It would be a miracle if this entries does well.

03 Slovenia – Power outage

• This naughty singer with pink hair is presenting an electro styled song with a never seen music break! It should have the effect that the music has gone away and Lea animates the audience to sing instead. It’s a funny idea, but it destroys the song completely. This song is also hard to sing-a-long.

04 Lithuania – Tears of happiness

• What a lovely singer. Ieva is sitting on stage, attracts with her naturalness and purity. Only a few people counted on her, now she is in the Top 10 of the bets. Listening to her soft and lovely voice is a pleasure, the chorus is very touching and makes a lot of people cry. This is the most authentic entry this year – a gem.

05 Austria – Roman heroic column

• The handsome Austrian singer is having a stunning stage, looks like the elevator from Lisbon. Cesár looks like a hero on a pillar. The grey outfit is a matter of taste. His voice is strong and the whole atmosphere of the song appears authentic.

06 Estonia – The glass break song

• Opera is always nice, but at Eurovision? This one will definitely bring your glasses to break. There are endless high notes and Elina looks like from outer space in her mega large dress on a ladder. The colour projector was unbelievably expensive. Nice to watch, but not a winner.

07 Norway – Alexander’s music-lesson

• Let’s go to school and learn to write a song with the former ESC winner Alexander Rybak. The melody is catchy, but the air-instruments and the raps part appears artificial. It’s a high goal to win ESC twice, the competition is strong, so a big name is not everything.

08 Portugal – Getting lost in the garden

• The host country’s entry is a calm and decent song about the tragic loss of the singer’s grandmother, who used to love the garden. Now Claudia is walking through the garden, full of thoughts and positive memories. The composer supports Claudia on stage. A dark and stunning stage with a dreamy melody. A great host entry.

09 United Kingdom – Back to the 90’s

• This is a nice pop song in the 90’s style. SuRie brings back a little bit glamour out of that time back again. The white outfit looks great on SuRie and the illuminated props help her to shine in the best way. With her energy and experience on stage this is going to be a solid performance.

10 Serbia – The folk festival 2018

• This sympathetic group has more members (15) than allowed on stage (6). This is the only entry with real traditional approach. There is a huge amount of instruments on stage as well, spherical singing goes through the bones and the song goes faster later on. Not easy to catch by first time hearing.

11 Germany - For all fathers and sons

• What a wonderful calm song - a kind of relief after the weird melodies before! The friendly singer Michael Schulte has improved his placing in the bets. It goes up and up and up…The strong voice, the authentic personal message make a great German entry. Since the first rehearsal the press centre was delighted, might this be the underdog this year?

12 Albania - Tattoos and hard tones

• The Chinese channel which has been banned now has also censored Eugent’s cool tattoos. This cool guy brought Albania back into the Grand Final with his cool rock song. Let’s support this entry with votes, as everybody should be as he is, with or without tattoos. The strong voice is phenomenal and not even rock lovers will vote for him.

13 France – Strict design with a strong message

• This elegant entry has an important message as it’s about the refugee topic, a little girl named “Mercy” is born on the Mediterranean on her way to an unsure future. Musically and optically one of the best entries and one of the big favourites. This could also be a great summer hit, catchy and to sing a-long. Douze points!

14 Czech Republic – The cute schoolboy

• Watch this one! It’s the second time for the Czech Republic ever being in the Grand Final. Tonight they are going to have the best chances ever. Mikolas is a cheeky and lovely guy, who will certainly gain a lot of new fans. His little backpack, short trousers, suspenders and long stockings he and his background dancers look like schoolboys with a sexy choreography. Mikolas will have the gig of his life. He started as a street musician, tonight 200 million people can watch him dancing and singing his own song.

15 Denmark - Back to the year 1492

• Pack your pirate hats, telescope and scimitar and escape to another century when seafarers explored the oceans. Rasmussen has captured that experience on stage with a mystic melody and a strong chorus. It’s about to put your weapons down and make peace instead. A very noble goal.

16 Australia - The OZ Helene Fischer

• It seems that Australia also has Helene Fischer (German hit wonder). A pushy hit beat from the first to the last second of the song underlines this dance track. That’s what people love to hear on a Eurovision party. Jessica is dressed in nacre colours like pearl in a beautiful shell. Helene Fischer will definitely cover this song. But no victory for Down Under this year.

17 Finland – Getting rid of your nightmares

• The Finns have put everything possible on stage. A rotating object on a spacey tower turns Saara around, she even has to sing overhead. A cheeky choreography underlines this danceable radio hit. It’s all about getting rid of the monsters in your hear. Let Saara scream them out for you.

18 Bulgaria – The spaceship leaves earth

• This song truly has something out of space. The spherical atmosphere, the dark rhythm and the fervently Bulgarian-American voices will be the 100% goose-bumps guarantee. Even the lyrics are dark, this entry stands out in a very positive way. Is this the Eurovision winner this year? We would say: Sofia 2019

19 Moldova – Confusion danger

• Entries from Moldova often have a lot of props on stage. This year they have a magic cube with uncountable doors where DoReDos play hide-and-seek. Body elements appear and disappear, doors open and close, quite hard to follow after two glass of beer. At the end DoReDos have doubled the amount of band members. The melody is very traditional Moldovan. Catchy, but not a winner.

20 Sweden – Prince or Michael Jackson?

• The young and handsome Benjamin is having the coolest light installation in this ESC, which has extra been brought from Sweden to Lisbon. A real advantage is to bring your own things with you, as there are no LED walls in the Arena. Benjamin’s dance moves really look professional, the way of singing and dancing goes in the direction of Prince or Michael Jackson. This will do well, as always for Sweden.

21 Hungary – Oropax required

• This is a really hard rock song. If you don’t want to disturb your neighbours, turn the volume control down. These fresh and enthusiastic guys are all very friendly, but on stage they are getting wild, do stage jumps and scream their guts out. Many people seem to like it here in Lisbon.

22 Israel – The crazy chicken song

• Chicken sounds good – the Israeli entry is the craziest this year. The joker Nettais a very special person, DJ in Tel Aviv having Chinese waving cats on stage and flipped out background dancers. Netta squeaks like a chicken. This one really polarizes, the young crowd loves it, but this is nothing for the elderly. What a brave girl. Next year Tel Aviv?

23 The Netherlands – Let’s go to the bar

• Waylon’s second ESC appearance as a soloist is totally different from “Calm After The Storm”. The song is about sex, drugs and Rock’n Roll, so let’s go to the next bar and have some fun. Quite rough for a Eurovision song, but it will have its fans.

24 Ireland – Gay love for China

• Ireland is back in the Grand Final! The nephew of is want to bring Ireland its 8th victory. A lovely stage show with two male guys dancing and romancing on a bench under a lantern, all is black and beautiful, a piano player. A great love song and this is one of the reasons, why China cannot transmit the ESC, as they censored this entry because of gay love. Eurovision does not tolerate discrimination. Thumbs up!

25 Cyprus – The sex bomb on fire

• This is one of the highlights tonight! So do not leave the living room or party. The sexiest female singer this year will bring a lot of energy into the Altice arena. In this entry everything is elaborated for 100%, the dance steps, the light, the movements, her hair. With her funny and relaxed attitude Eleni has won a lot of new friends here in Lisbon. Let’s the wooden ceiling won’t get fire.

26 Italy – A message to the world

• This is serious song, already #1 in Italy, won the San Remo Festival. It’s about the terror attacks in the world. Even if the song is not that catchy, it has its harmony and becomes better after listening to for a couple of times. Forza Italia.

Author: Bernd LemmermannEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Public relations, Editor, Journalist

About me:
As one of the founders of eurovisionlive.com I am responsible for the interviews with the singers and the editorial content. My passion for the Eurovision Song Contest exists since my early childhood. The exotic music, different cultures and languages have given a lot of inspiration to me. Since my very first ESC in Dublin 1994 I particularly appreciate the get together and friendship of all the nationalities and Riverdance was a thrill!