Live: Hungary moves into the semies of A Dal

It is time for the first semi final of A Dal. After three weeks of heats with surprising results, 18 songs remain. Tonight, 9 of them will battle for 4 spots in the Grand Final. Among them are Boggie and Ádám Szabó, who reached the top scores in the first round.

ESC Daily is present at the MTVA studios in Budapest, to provide you with interviews and live commentary during the show.

After each performance, the jury will give their votes. At the end of the night, the top 3 from the jury ranking will automatically qualify for the final. Televoters can pick the fourth qualifier. For pre-contest favorite New Level Empire, tonight’s semi final could turn out to be a difficult task. The band will presumably have to rely on support of the televoters.

The livestream for the semi final can be found HERE. The line-up looks like this:

  • Timi Antal – Woke up this way
  • Karmapolis – The time is now
  • Vera Tóth – Gyémánt
  • Mujahid Zoltán – Beside you (3rd place)
  • Spoon – Keep marching on (Televote)
  • Ádám Szabó – Give me your love (1st place)
  • Pankastic! – Kicsi a világ, de nagy világ
  • Boggie – Wars for Nothing (1st place)
  • New Level Empire – Homelights

Read our live commentary below!

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Köszönöm for following along with us tonight! Next week we will again bring you all the latest around A Dal during the second semi-final – don’t be late.

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22:23 – SPOON QUALIFIES!

That means that A Dal ends here for New Level Empire and Vera Tóth, both pre-contest favorites. The boyband Spoon qualifies for the grand final.

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22:20 – The jury would choose for Spoon

Three of the jury members express their preference for Spoon. But who actually won this prestigious televote?

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22:14 – Interval Act

While the band is playing, we are anxiously waiting for the results of the televoting. Who will qualify for the final? Spoon, Timi Antal, New Level Empire and Vera Tóth all got 8 points from the App Vote and might still have a chance.

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22:05 – Two winners, and an exciting televote

Boggie and Ádám Szabó share the victory in this first semi final. Right beside them, Zoltán Mujahid qualifies for the final in third place. The other six songs will battle for one more ticket. Except for Pankastic! and Karmapolis, this could be anyone’s ticket.

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21:59 – SONG 9 – New Level Empire – Homelights

Before the contest, this great mix of dance and rock music was one of the favorites. During the quarter finals, however, they needed televoting to barely qualify for this semi final. The song has not changed – it still sounds like a highly modern, slightly alternative pop song that could easily become a hit. The switch between mysterious verses and energetic choruses works out well. Vocals are not at their best today, but this song deserves to be in the national final. I am curious if the juries have changed their minds.

Jury Score: 33 points, even less than in the quarter final. Pierrot again feels the need to offend New Level Empire by calling their song “arrogant, like popcorn in a restaurant”. Mujahid Zoltán qualifies for the final, New Level Empire will go into a very difficult televoting battle.

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21:55 – Mujahid Zoltán in the waiting seat

Just as last week, he has to wait until the last moment to see if he will qualify. It will be him, or closing act New Level Empire, who have not been popular with the jury so far. If Zoltán qualifies, the televote will be a tough prestige battle between Spoon, New Level Empire, Timi Antal & Vera Tóth!

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21:49 – SONG 8 – Boggie – Wars for nothing

Hardly any changes for Boggie – and why would she? This young sweet girl has scored hits in many different languages already, and she seems ready to make the next step: towards the biggest European music stage. Her song is a very small, quiet guitar ballad about world peace. The lyrics could have been better, but the complete picture fits. Statistics in the background, a nice and simple choreography with the backing vocals. Vocally this performance is good, Boggie even managed to strike the last note (which she missed in the quarter finals).

Jury Score: 47 points. Again, she equals Ádám Szabó’s score. Jenö was not too convinced – he gave only 8 points. The other jury members gave 10 and the App Vote gave a record of 9 points. Boggie qualifies for the final.

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21:45 – Boggie is up next

If Boggie repeats her quarter final score, she will qualify and put Zoltán Mujahid in third place. His qualification will then depend on New Level Empire, who are on as the last act of tonight.

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21:38 – SONG 7 – Pankastic! – Kicsi a világ, de nagy világ

For the variety of the show, it is nice that the jury qualified this summer night gypsy entry to the semi finals. This is definitely the kind of music I would listen to while sitting on a terrace, having dinner with my friends during summer holidays. Whether we should forward this towards the national final, is a different question – I would say “better not.”

Jury Score: 34 points. This is definitely not enough to qualify, and given the fierce competition for the televote, I am almost certain that Pankastic! will not make it to the final. Ádám Szabó is now certain of qualifying.

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21:33 – Timi Antal will need televoting again

The improvements in her song were highly appreciated by the jury, and she scored 6 points more than in the quarter final. Still, three songs are currently ranked above Timi and so she will need televoting again to qualify. It could turn out to be an interesting televote, with multiple fan favorites competing for just one spot.

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21:26 – SONG 6 – Ádám Szabó – Give me your love

“I have a very low self-esteem,” Ádám told me after winning the second quarter final. He told me this in Hungarian, because his English is not very good. You can hear this in his pronounciation in the song, too. That said, Ádám is a nice guy and a very good vocalist. His song, like Zoltán’s, is a little too standard for my taste. We have heard semi-ballads like this song multiple times before, and in a big field at Eurovision this will not stand out enough. However, the jury loved him in the quarter finals. What will they do now?

Jury Score: 47 points. For the first time in this season of A Dal, the App Vote gives a 9-pointer. This puts Ádám on top of the list so far. This should be enough to qualify for the final.

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21:19 – SONG 5 – Spoon – Keep marching on

The jury compared Spoon with One Direction last week, but musically speaking this seems more like the Hungarian version of Train. Easy listening pop music, a guitar that makes you feel like spring already started. The performance changed: from guys in t-shirts sitting on stools, Spoon went to a strange bandlike set-up with three guys standing behind microphone poles, and one sitting behind the piano. Personally I thought the previous junglish performance suited the song better, but this is still catchy.

Jury Score: 41 points. A big improvement compared to the quarter final, but not enough for the first place. Philip gives 9, all the others give 8 – including the App Vote. This song is second so far, above Timi Antal. If the two top contenders will not make any mistakes, both entries will fight each other in the televoting.

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21:12 – SONG 4 – Mujahid Zoltán – Beside you

Not a lot of changes for Zoltán, who sings his standard mid-tempo pop song without any flaws. A decent performance for a mediocre song. The Star Trek costumes are back, as is the burning city in the backdrop. There is not a lot wrong with this – but the song misses something extra to catch attention. In the bridge, Zoltán comes through with some well-sung ad-lips.

Jury Score: 43 points. This could be enough to qualify from the jury vote – he is leading the board so far. The jury told Zoltán that he needed to improve his performance – and according to Philip, he did. Pierrot says this song could easily hit the British charts. He gives Zoltán 10 points.

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21:05 – Huge changes in voting

The balance so far: Timi Antal +6, Karmapolis -1, Vera Tóth -7. The changes in the juries’ vote are huge. Again, we are in for an interesting night full of surprises.

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20:57 – SONG 3 – Vera Tóth – Gyémánt

Time again for the woman who does not want to give any interviews in English. Vera Tóth is really popular in Hungary. For us non-Hungarians, she could most easily be compared to Chiara from Malta. Her song is a traditional ballad about a diamond, complete with dried ice on stage. Jury comments during the quarter final stated that she was a good singer, but the song was not good enough. How do you improve from that feedback? She did change her dress, which was heavily criticized. I am curious how the jury will react this time.

Jury Score: 32 points. This is a huge blow for Vera, who was 2nd in the first quarter final. She scores 7 points less tonight. Ruzsa Magdi gave Vera 10 in the quarter final – but now only 7. “Gyémánt” sounds too much like “Rise like a phoenix”, Magdi thinks.

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20:50 – SONG 2 – Karmapolis – The time is now

A completely electronic song is up next in this semi final. Karmapolis sneaked through during the first quarter final with a 4th place. They did not change anything in their composition like their predecessor did. The song is nice and radiofriendly, but this performance still has the same weak point: charisma and vocals of the lead singer. From time to time he looks like the lead singer of the Georgian band Shin last year.

Jury Score: 36 points, which is one less than during the quarter final. Karmapolis received 7’s and 8’s from the jury, but only 6 points from the App Vote. This seems end of story for them, as the televoters will probably not go for this as well.

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20:43 – SONG 1 – Timi Antal – Woke up this way

Timi made some clear changes in the composition of her song. The first verse is almost completely acoustic now. It makes the build up of the song a little bit more interesting, compared to the heats. Her punk song, that will remind Eurovision fans of the Irish entry “Et cetera” in 2009, has definitely improved. However, during the heats, Timi hardly received any votes from the jury. In the current A Dal system, this will make it difficult for her to qualify. Maybe Hungarian televoters (who traditionally like rock music) will pick up on her.

Jury Score: 39 points. This is a huge improvement compared to the 33 she scored in the quarter final. Ruzsa Magdi and Jenö compliment Timi on the new composition, which they agree is a big improvement.

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20:40 – Thank you Australia!

The presenters now reveal that last week, people from Australia voted in the televoting! He thanks you guys for your votes 🙂

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20:38 – Juries might change their votes

Participants were allowed this year to change their song during the competition. The jury members now tell that they are excited to hear the new versions, and consider to change their voting patterns. New Level Empire told me before the show that they will only change some visual things in their performance.

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20:35 – Boggie shares emotions through music

“Some people talk – I make music,” she told me before the show. “It is my way of communicating emotions”.

Boggie Steef A Dal 2015

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20:30 – We are on our way!

The show starts with a nice medley of previous Hungarian entries. I am looking forward to tonight’s show, which features some interesting entries.

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19:30 – Show in about 1 hour

We are already present at the MTVA studios, trying to meet up with Boggie. Make sure you stay tuned for when the action really begins!

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