Topic: Finnish Rockers Take Eurovision

[Simon]

A Finnish "horror rock" group who dress in monster costumes have pulled off a surprise win at the 51st Eurovision Song Contest in Athens.



European viewers voted for Lordi's song Hard Rock Hallelujah in a show that is normally associated with catchy pop and big ballads.

Russia was second with Dima Bilan's Never Let You Go.

But UK rapper Daz Sampson could only manage to come 19th out of 24 countries with his song Teenage Life.

Lordi's masks, armour and jets of flame attracted widespread attention before the contest - but many thought they were too outlandish to win.
   
EUROVISION RESULTS
1. Finland - 292 points
2. Russia - 248
3. Bosnia and Herzegovina - 229
4. Romania - 172
5. Sweden - 170
6. Lithuania - 162

The band were accused by some conservative Greek organisations of promoting Satanism but said they had no connection with the occult.

Lordi amassed 292 points after a public vote - 44 ahead of Russia, whose performance by featured a ballerina emerging from a grand piano.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's entrant Hari Mata Hari was in third place, followed by Romania's Mihai Traistariu.

Carola, from Sweden, who was the bookmakers' favourite before the contest and won in 1991, came fifth.

Sixth place went to Lithuania's LT United, six men in suits singing: "We are the winners of Eurovision."

Hosts Greece came ninth with Anna Vissi, who had also been hotly tipped.

She was followed by Ireland's Brian Kennedy, who rounded off the top 10 with Every Song Is A Cry For Love.

Daz Sampson - one half of dance duo Uniting Nations - only gathered 25 points from the 35 countries that took part in the vote.

No country failed to get off the mark - Malta's Fabrizio Faniello came last with one point.

The other contenders included a German country and western singer, Israeli gospel and a Latvian a capella group.

Some 18,500 fans packed the arena in the Olympic stadium complex, with 2,000 journalists and 3,000 police officers on duty.

The result means Finland will host the competition next year.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4998186.stm

[Clive]

From what I saw, it was one of the worst Eurovision Song Contests ever!  Bring back the Boom bang a bang.  

[sam]

or low rating cancel it??? that would be too good to be true though!

[Simon]

I couldn't bear to watch the actual songs, so I just tuned in for the scoring, which was a complete let down.  There were too many countries allowed to vote, and it was a tedious and uninteresting system.  I'm glad the Fins won, as it said 'up yours' to the namby pamby MOR pop that usually wins it, but I can't say I'm a converted Lordi fan.  By the look of them, they should have been MUCH heavier, and compared to some of today's Metal acts, were relatively lightweight, apart from the lead vocals, which didn't fit the type of song they were playing.  Out of curiosity, I downloaded some of their other tracks, and they all sound the same.  This is a band who would go unnoticed, without the costumes and make up.

[sam]

yep and aren't even heavy enough to justify their clothing

[chorleydave]

I love the European Song Contest.  It always allows me to justify myself going out to the pub so much earlier than I would normally.   :twisted:

[sam]

lol