Tomorrow: The fun starts in Finland!

Tomorrow evening the Euroviisut 2011 circus kicks off in Finland with the first semifinal. It's broadcasted live from Tohloppi TV-studios in Tampere at 20.00 CET on YLE2. I guess there won't be a webcast outside Finland this time either but don't worry: I'll be here blogging live so please tune in. Eurovision 2007 hostess Jaana Pelkonen leaves her dayjob in politics for awhile and leads the show but this time she has a new partner (third in history to be exact) Tom Nylund, a familiar voice from radio.

Unfortunately this seems to be clearly the worst of three semifinals. Automatic Eye, Cardiant and Jonna are expected to qualify while reigning tango king Marko Maunuksela and Johanna Iivanainen haven't convinced the Eurovision fans but everything can change when the big public will get to vote and we see and hear the live performances. The same ones would qualify with the international voters in slighty different order. Check the songs below, and especially Jonna's brandnew video!

In joint viisukuppila.fi and escstats.com poll here's how fans voted (when including all 15 entries):

Automatic Eye (Finns 7th, international 8th) I'm not the one who's sorry

Cardiant (Finns 8th, international 10th) Rapture in time

Jonna (Finns 12th, international 9th) Puppets

Marko Maunuksela (Finns 13th, international 15th) Synkän maan tango

Johanna Iivanainen (Finns 14th, international 13th) Luojani mun

And what do I think? I agree this is the weakest semifinal and no way the Finnish winner would be in this one, unless Finns go crazy over heavy again and vote for Cardiant. But this is Friday night when young folks are out having a party so the so-called granny mafia may push the tango king into the final after all. Automatic Eye should make it but if they don't I'm not surprised - who knows how they will manage the live TV broadcast? Jonna should manage better in that front but is the song poppy enough? The only one I think has no chance whatsoevr is poor Johanna. She's a great artist but maybe this just isn't the right forum for her? So my guess is Cardiant, Jonna and either Automatic Eye or Marko Maunuksela.

Please join me tomorrow for live blogging from 20.00 CET. Right here.

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Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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