Just got back from a lovely lunchtime/afternoon with some of the gang from our sister site ESC Nation. The sun is shining (earlier downpour excepted), the sky is blue and it’s hard to believe that we’re so close to the biggest three hours of the year!

Central Düsseldorf is buzzing today, with regular Saturday shoppers having to make way for people bearing the flags of every nation (in fabric and facepaint form), hen parties dressed in Lena T-shirts, old ladies clutching Eurovision shopping bags, random youngsters wearing Jedhead masks… the ESC vibe is all around, from EuroCafé to the boat-based bars along the river, and it feels good!

If all this positivity is too much to take, I’m going to make one last prediction before heading to the arena, so that at least you’ve got something to laugh at after the event. Rather than try and guess the final order, because that’s always going to be something of a crapshoot, I’ll put them into categories (and maybe take a shot at the winner once we get there). So here we go:

1st-5th:
Russia
France
United Kingdom
Azerbaijan
Iceland

6th-10th
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Sweden
Estonia
Ukraine
Georgia

11th-15th
Finland
Ireland
Greece
Germany
Romania

16th-20th
Denmark
Italy
Austria
Slovenia
Serbia

21th-25th
Lithuania
Hungary
Switzerland
Moldova
Spain

And that elusive winner… well, percentages and logic dictate that it’ll be either France or Azerbaijan. So let’s go completely out on a limb and say Iceland, on the wave of an Olsen Brothers vibe. They’re just as likely to finish 17th really, but where’s the fun in going for the obvious favourite? 🙂

So, now that I can say it safe in the knowledge that I won’t be posting again until after the event: have a great show, everybody!