ESC2014: First Semi-Final

As a reminder, there will be no live notes for the semi-finals this year because I am in Copenhagen.  Here are my thoughts on the first semi-final now that my excitement has died down a bit.

Performances
All 16 artists really were stunning live. I cannot remember a show where I do remember at least one singer being off.  Though, I couldn’t really hear Sanna through all the cheers, but I know that she is amazingly talented and have no doubt that she was awesome.

History Made
For the first time Montenegro and San Marino qualified for the Grand Final.  Both have really strong ballads, but I did not expect both to qualify; I honestly thought that they would offset one another.  Again, I think that this is an outcome of the new ranking system and it really does seem to be helping the artistic entries that may not otherwise have enough support.  It will be interesting to see the jury/televoting breakdown Sunday morning.

Surprises
Who thought that Iceland was going to qualify?  Not this guy. Most definitely the biggest surprise of the night! Most have did not predict this to happen and the bookies had their chances as pretty low; only Latvia had lower odds.  I really think the audience had to be behind this. It’s possible that we’ll have another Cezar on our hands – and act that is wildly popular among fans but hated among the juries.

Also a shock, Estonia did not make it.  The performance was stunning, at least the dancing was. Her singing was good as well, at least, the backing singers were good. I imagine she must have had a terrible jury performance. Again, it will be interesting to see the breakdown between jury and televoting.

Special Note
Portugal gave an outstanding performance last night that got the whole audience singing.  I think, by far, Suzy gave the most popular performance last night. Despite not qualifying, I think she did Portugal proud and brought the country back with a bang.  I am positive that the juries are the reason she did not move through. But she should not be discouraged – the fans LOVED her!