Live: Maltese Final 2014

NOTE: Reload page every 5 minutes to view changes.
All timestamps given in CET.
ESC: Web TV
TVM Webcast

WINNER: Firelight – Coming Home

[23:50]

The combined voting of all 5 judges and the compiled televote turned out this:

coming home 51 points total

one last ride 41 points total

pin in the midle 36 points total

Time for results! Finally.

[23:40] Still in yet another ad break.

[23:20] Emmelie de Forrest takes the stage! With her song “Rainmaker”. A few technical difficulties on stage, but applause fills the stadium. Barefoot as we know her, in a black dress and a pair of shirtless dancers.

Sebalter [Switzerland 2013] is now performing his entry “Hunter of Stars”.

Winter Moods performing “Everlasting” is up next in the interval. A lovely ballad drenched in blue. And following is another song from these guys, this time a bit more upbeat.

No one actually seems to sure what’s up at this point on stage. Some form of dance party decked with an army of people in masks, guys in suits, and a bit of a light show.

[23:12] Another performance. I’ve missed the name due to the stream cutting out, but it looks like Ira Losco again. A great song, Me Luv U Long Time

[22:58] We’re back with Gianluca Bezzina singing a Pharell Williams song, it seems to be. “Laugh along if you know what happiness is to you”. Followed by another uplifting melody, despite the irony in the lyric “if we only die once, then I wanna die with you“. And now the big one: TOMORROW! Last year’s superb entry.

[22:52] We’re still in a commercial break here, but I should think results come up shortly after!

[22:40] A nice interval performance by Gianluca Bezzina (Malta 2013) and Ira Losco (Malta 2002) as a duet. A “grand couple” on stage they are, it has been said. And one more recap this evening.  

Due to transmission issues I’ll be handing over the Live report to my colleague; Jill Guthrie who will report for the guest performances & announcement of Malta 2014 Winner… tune in to her Live blog through the ESCDaily Homepage.

[22:35] All songs have performed and now the Televoting has begun! Recap of all songs performing now.

14. De Bee – Pin the middle
Ditsy, folksy pop song with nice elements to traditional irish music with a maltese twist. Not sure if it will do very well tonight, but the Maltese jury & public could vote for it well.

13. Amber – Because I have you
Simplistic ballad for Amber with a solid performance.  Develops strongly & overall has a good chance to do well tonight, to win however I don’t believe so.

[22:15] Yet, another ad bread. The final 2 acts will perform afterwards.

12. Firelight – Coming home
Simple, country-folk song similar to “Mumford & Sons – I Will Wait”. Firelight provide reliable vocals however if the song & band have enough strong performances to represent their country in Eurovision is a different question.

11. Pamela – Take me
Moving pop-ballad with very strong vocals from Pamela while she dresses in a while, floral dress. Has potential to win tonight but I’d regard it as a ‘black horse’.

10. Jessika – Hypnotica
Jessika’s anthemic ballad with influences from Loreen’s “Euphoria”. Another strong contender for tonight. Quite good vocal performance and performance. Should do well tonight, strong crowd reaction.

[22:00] We return to Hosts introducing the next act.

[21:50]
Another ad-break, 5 acts to go!

9. Deborah C – Until we meet again
Deborah C brings a lovely star quality to the stage with vocals to match however the song is lacking overall connect-ability for a Eurovision song. Seems to have influences from ESC 1999 winner; “Take me to your Heaven”.

8. Chris Grech – Oblivion
Chris brings back his classic rock vocals to the aggressive feel of the melody & instrumentation. Not sure it stands out enough for a very good place in the rankings.

7. Sophie Debattista – Let the sunshine in
Pop song with heavy influences from her guitar that she plays. Very good voice that matches song in quality. However, not sure if the song is interesting/unique enough to be crowned winner tonight.

[21:38] We are back with the hosts serenading us with some vocals with Ira on the ukelele.

[21:30] Another ad break, coming up Song No. 7, 8 & 9.

6. Daniel Testa – One last ride
What seems to be tonight’s favourite to win. Decent-ish vocal performance however performance seems to lacking the memorable qualities needed compared to other competing entries. Song is very well produced however.

5. Franklin – Love will take me home
Strong ballad song with Franlin giving a strong vocal performance to match . Harmonises well to backing singers which helps provide  the overall emotional aspect. Could do very well tonight.

4. Ryan Paul Abela – City lady
Classic retro pop song with rock ‘n’ roll highlights. Singing prominent  to bar-singing style. Not seeing it as much potential to win this evening.

[21:10] First proper commercial break for this evening. Following will be the next 3/4 acts.

3. Davinia – Brand new day
Retr0-sounding pop-dance song classically suited for Eurovision. Davinia pulls off her unique, yet strong sounding vocals that sound similar to Eliza Doolittle. Reacted very strongly with the audience.

2. Wayne William – Some kind of wonderful
Acoustic-originating song with elements of country. Wayne delivers a solid vocal performance that compliments the simplistic audio theme. Very good live performance.

 1. Christabelle – Lovetricity
Pop-dance song with piano & electro-drum instrumentals elements from Christabelle while 4 backing dancers wearing black overalls dance beside light-up wheel-able fences.

[20:55]  Quick ad break now, coming up the 1st three of tongiht’s potential entries.

[20:50] Our hosts for this evening; Gianluca Bezzina (Malta 2013), Ira Losco (Malta 2002) with local TV presenter; Moira Delia presenting tonights Jury members.

[20:45] The Final has begun to a child choir draped in Red overalls with Gaia Gauchi singing her JESC 2013 winning song for Malta; “The Start”.

[20:20] The Maltese Final will begin in approx. 20 minutes. Return soon!

███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

Tonight PBS will be hosting the Maltese National Final for 2014. The 14 artists who qualified from the semi-final last night will be performing to become the representative for Malta in ESC 2014. Tonight’s voting will be decided by an equal vote of 5 judges alongside 1 vote for televoting.

Running Order for Tonight:

  1. Christabelle – Lovetricity
  2. Wayne William – Some kind of wonderful
  3. Davinia – Brand new day
  4. Ryan Paul Abela – City lady
  5. Franklin – Love will take me home
  6. Daniel Testa – One last ride
  7. Sophie Debattista – Let the sunshine in
  8. Chris Grech – Oblivion
  9. Deborah C – Until we meet again
  10. Jessika – Hypnotica
  11. Pamela – Take me
  12. Firelight – Coming home
  13. Amber – Because I have you
  14. De Bee – Pin the middle

Hosts for tonight include; Gianluca Bezzina (Malta 2013), Ira Losco (Malta 2002) & local TV presenter; Moira Delia Guest performers include:

  • Emmelie de Forest [ESC 2013 Winner] performing “Rainmaker”.
  • Gaia Cauchi [JESC winner 2013] performing “The Start”.
  • Sebalter [Switzerland 2013] performing his entry; “Hunter of Stars”.
  • Gorg u Pawlu performing “Hot and Famous and Unique”.
  • Winter Moods performing “Everlasting”.