I have to say that I was quite disappointed in this year’s line up.

Last year there were some great songs: the UK’s entry was half decent and I also liked all of these ones:

• Nina Zilli – Out of Love (Italy)
• Pasha Parfeny – Lăutar (Moldova)
• Soluna Samay – Should Have Known Better (Denmark)
• Anmary – Beautiful Song (Latvia)
• Joan Franka – You and Me (The Netherlands)
• Filipa Sousa – Vida Minha (Portugal)

This year it was all a bit disappointing. Apart from one or two of the entries, absolutely nothing stood out – not for the right reasons anyway. I mean… Romania, what on earth were you playing at? That song was painful to listen to! Italy’s song was just dreary – the whole way through; Germany’s song certainly was not “Glorious”; and Bonnie Tyler couldn’t even sing!

What on earth has happened to music in Europe in the last year?

But they weren’t all bad…

Some countries did put an effort in. My highlight of the night was Greece’s entry, performed by Koza Mostra, a ska/punk band from Thessaloniki. They were joined by Agathon Iakovidis, singing a song entitled “Alcohol Is Free”. I suppose you could call it a sort of Greek version of Madness. Here’s how it looked when it went out on Greek TV.

Now I have to say that those lyrics were very cleverly written. For those who don’t understand Greek, they were singing about a driver who was drunk whilst driving along the Via Egnatia – that’s the motorway which goes East from Igoumenitsa, towards Ioannina, Grevena, Thessaloniki, Kavala, and on to the Turkish border. And because the driver was drunk, he felt like he was on a boat.

My favorite two lines were “Δε μας φταίγαν τα ουισκάκια…μπόμπα ήταν τα παγάκια” (which basically blames the ice, not the whisky for making him drunk) and “Αλκοτέστ και τροχονόμος…δεν είναι για μας ο δρόμος” (Literally “alcohol tests and traffic police officers are not for us a problem”).

Proper Greek dancing too, and Greek bozouki. If anyone deserved to win last night, it was Greece.

There were some other good ones too. Malta’s was good, something you might hear on the radio in Britain, not typically Eurovision. I put Iceland in third place. They had a singer who could actually sing! I don’t speak a word of Icelandic though, he could be saying anything! I’ve put Estonia in 5th, because they had a decent song too.

But other than that? It was a load of rubbish as far as I’m concerned. I hope things improve before Eurovision 2014!

What did you think of Eurovision this year? Do you agree with my comments, or you think someone else deserved to win? E-mail me on editor@blog.fred-hart.co.uk and let me know, or leave a comment in the box below.

FH.