Posh on The Netherlands

De Toppers – Shine 0/5
Brace yourself, here it comes: Cheesy, awful peace-crap by three old queens in glowing suits. The most embarrassing 3 minutes of the year (including Bulgaria). I get physically ill from this. Could possibly have kind of worked 15 years ago but in this day and age songs like this one only give Eurovision a bad reputation. The bloody shining palms weren’t even your own idea – it’s all a theft from Slovenia 07. Eat cheese and die you dancing morons and give me my 3 minutes back dank je wel! Was that blunt enough?

Een beetje Nederland

Dutch Winner. De Toppers - "Shine"

Old-skool eurosong that we've heard a dozen times before. It's not totally bad, it's just very camp and I think it will struggle in the semi. Guess it depends on how they will perform it in May. From this clip way too much is going on at the same time which kind of stresses me out. And gimmicks are so 2007. Drop it. With a less chaotic presentation I could give the Dutch another chance.

Dutch breakdown

The Netherlands are certainly not living their best days of Eurovision, that must be obvious to anyone gifted with eyes and, above all, ears. For a few moments, when it seemed NOS almost had Anouk on the hook, I thought maybe they would get it right this time.

Or, well. They let me down too many times in the last few years that I didn't really expect much. But I was not ready for the complete let-down that was announced today.

De Toppers will go to Moscow for the Netherlands. Gerard Joling, Gordon and René Froeger singing together. Absolutely hooray. The Dutch are wondering why nobody votes for them, and the hottest they can come up with is a collection of half-screaming has-beens? Well, good luck, people.

Maybe they will manage to find the best Dutch entry since the Ice Age and I will have to eat my words. (But I very much doubt it - just watch the gents murder some euroclassics below...) It seems the Dutch love them, but nowhere near as much as they seem to love themselves. They almost make Dima Bilan come across as modest...



De Toppers - Eurosong medley

Mixer

And also, there it is - the best interval act ever through Eurovision history. Eat your heart out, Riverdance!

Nothing beats Mixer. Try doing this at home, kids, and see how far into the number your heart failure kicks in...



Mixer - Interval act, ESC 1970, Amsterdam

Posh on The Netherlands

Hind - Your Heart Belongs To Me 3/5
Better than average from les Pays-Bas but on the other hand that doesn’t say much really. Good song but not strong enough, good singer but not spectacular. I hope they make it to the final but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them fall on the finishing stretch again.

Becks on Netherlands

Hind - Your Heart Belongs To Me 3/5

This was a surprise... I like a Dutch entry for the first time since Linda came out of her Gigantic Dress in Stockholm in 2000. Belive me, I have longed for this moment.

Because, to be frank, the Netherlands have contributed very bleak, boring, uninspired and mainly lacklustre entries ever since, and then complained very loudly about block voting and how everybody in the entire world is against them. Plus the yearly chanting: if we don't reach the final this time, we will drop out. Well, they are still with us...

This is not the ultimate hit either, mind you, but a happy little ditty with a fitting, pseudo-Arabic arrangement that hits home here. Hind seems convincing enough in the video and can hopefully insert some attitude to this picture come the semi final.

In the final?
Yes, I hope so. So we don't have to hear the Dutch complaints anymore.

Preview day

Today is the day when Mr Becks reieves the official preview feed from the EBU, so I can study all the entries before we shoot the Swedish preview shows.

Ah, miss Posh, if you had still been here, we could eat something unhealthy and watch them all and cheer for the good and throw popcorn at the bad.

I am not really saying this make anyone jealous or so, just to assure you that there will be some sort of reaction coming your way soon. Some of the previews, that I already saw on YouTube, look really good. Croatia, Switzerland, Netherlands and Romania all made very good clips, that enhanced their entries further.

Way to go.

Hind moving on up

The Dutch entry was presented last night, and to be really honest and upfront about it - the last Dutch entries have all been a very sad and tedious bunch.

I wonder what happened to one of the best and most innovative Eurovision countries, that used to come up with loads of fun entries through the years without ever giving up due to low placings. How did they turn into this eternal flop that keeps sending unbelievably flat and boring songs, only to weep and sob after their obvious failure, blaming others (the East) for their lack of success.

Seriously, I have not liked one single Dutch entry since Linda leapt out of her giant dress back in 2000. But somehow I never give up on the Dutch and keep my fingers crossed every year.

I must say that I am relatively pleased with this year's entry by Hind. Maybe not a winner, but at least this is a song with a chorus you can hang on to. I also think it will sound better with a polished background and no half-hearted live band involved.

I hope Hind makes it to the final, if that would ensure more quality from the Netherlands in the years to come. Windmills, clogs and tulips are not enough - we need choruses as well.



Hind - Your Heart Belongs To Me - Netherlands 2008