Georgia Ready To Rock ESC Semi Final 1 Betting
A selection of bookies have now priced up the 2 ESC semi-finals and we certainly see some value in the current quoted prices, ahead of the rehearsals.
Looking here at semi-final 1, Azerbaijan is a best-priced 3-1 with Boylesports and it looks to possess many winning ingredients. Firstly, an analysis of historical voting data found here: www.kolumbus.fi/jarpen has Azerbaijan top in this semi-final in terms of voting allies. It has a great, late draw (18 of 19), which is invariably a boost to an entry’s televote, and the song itself is a very likable, tender ballad. Potentially also in its favour is the male/female combo singing ‘Running Scared’ – we saw last year with Romania and Denmark’s placing in the top 5 that such songs, if well-executed with their staging, are very ESC-friendly.
Hungary looks Azerbaijan’s biggest threat at a best-priced 7-2 with Boylesports but we suggest holding off from backing Hungary until after seeing how Kati Wolf gets on in rehearsals. ‘What About My Dreams’ is a big, booming dance tune and Kati is going to have to produce a good live vocal to pull it off. Excellent staging will also be required for this song’s impact to really hit home.
Of the bigger-priced contenders in semi-final 1, we cannot resist backing Georgia at a best-priced 50-1 e/w with Boylesports. While at first glance a draw of 9 looks pretty ordinary, massively in this song’s favour is that it is the one and only genuine, uptempo rock track, not only in this semi, but also the entire contest. We saw last year with Turkey winning its semi-final (admittedly from the ideal draw of last up on the night) and finishing 2nd in the final, that a decent rock tune has a chance to really stand out. And Georgia has a nice position wedged between the sleepily slow ballads of Switzerland and Finland. Also, the new female lead singer of Eldrine has a power-packed vocal and along with the band looks well capable of really rocking the stage in Dusseldorf. For those unable to get on with Boylesports, Bet365 go an extremely appealing 33-1 e/w Georgia.
Of the remainder, Greece has the best draw, last up on the night, and it also rates 2nd best in this semi in terms of voting allies. The song itself is not the country’s best but it still has the potential to nick a place, and at 50-1 e/w is definitely over-priced with Boylesports.
We remain big fans of Poland‘s entry and while the 1 draw looks a negative, it is worth remembering televoting gets underway from the start of the show, and we reckon Magdalena Tul is going to put in a show-stopping performance first out of the traps singing ‘Jestem’. At a widely-available 20-1 this also rates decent e/w value.
We’ll leave you with the official video of Eldrine’s ‘One More Day’. What we can see with such videos is deceptively polished studio versions but there are few such concerns with Georgia, as lead singer Sophio Toroshelidze is a vocalist par-excellence.
Rob Furber