See you in...Copenhagen (most likely) next year...

Since this year's winner in Malmo was Emelie de Forrest's Only Teardrops, Denmark will be hosting the 2014 Contest (a mere half hour train ride from this year's host city).  Now the country's public broadcaster DR will pick a venue to play host for Eurovision in mid-May next year (First Semi Final on May 13, Second Semi Final on May 15 and the Final on May 17).  The most likely venue is Parken Stadium in Copenhagen (which hosted the 2001 Contest), though the small city of Herning (on the Danish mainland) is also being considered because of being home to the MCH Arena.

Here is the final scoreboard from Saturday, where Azerbaijan placed an impressive 2nd, with Ukraine, Norway and Russia rounding out the rest of the Top Five.

Draw[50]	Country[64]	Language[65]	Artist[66]	Song[66]	English translation	Place	Points
01	France	French	Amandine Bourgeois	"L'enfer et moi"	Hell and me	23	14
02	Lithuania	English	Andrius Pojavis	"Something"	—	22	17
03	Moldova	Romanian	Aliona Moon	"O mie"	A thousand	11	71
04	Finland	English	Krista Siegfrids	"Marry Me"	—	24	13
05	Spain	Spanish	ESDM	"Contigo hasta el final"	With you until the end	25	8
06	Belgium	English	Roberto Bellarosa	"Love Kills"	—	12	71
07	Estonia	Estonian	Birgit	"Et uus saaks alguse"	So there can be a new beginning	20	19
08	Belarus	English	Alyona Lanskaya	"Solayoh"	—	16	48
09	Malta	English	Gianluca	"Tomorrow"	—	8	120
10	Russia	English	Dina Garipova	"What If"	—	5	174
11	Germany	English	Cascada	"Glorious"	—	21	18
12	Armenia	English	Dorians	"Lonely Planet"	—	18	41
13	Netherlands	English	Anouk	"Birds"	—	9	114
14	Romania	English	Cezar	"It's My Life"	—	13	65
15	United Kingdom	English	Bonnie Tyler	"Believe in Me"	—	19	23
16	Sweden	English	Robin Stjernberg	"You"	—	14	62
17	Hungary	Hungarian	ByeAlex	"Kedvesem" (Zoohacker Remix)	My darling	10	84
18	Denmark	English	Emmelie de Forest	"Only Teardrops"	—	1	281
19	Iceland	Icelandic	Eythor Ingi	"Ég á líf"	I am alive	17	47
20	Azerbaijan	English	Farid Mammadov	"Hold Me"	—	2	234
21	Greece	Greek1	Koza Mostra feat. Agathon Iakovidis	"Alcohol Is Free"	—	6	152
22	Ukraine	English	Zlata Ognevich	"Gravity"	—	3	214
23	Italy	Italian	Marco Mengoni	"L'essenziale"	The essential	7	126
24	Norway	English	Margaret Berger	"I Feed You My Love"	—	4	191
25	Georgia	English	Nodi Tatishvili and Sophie Gelovani	"Waterfall"	—	15	50
26	Ireland	English	Ryan Dolan	"Only Love Survives"	—	26	5

Ireland's last place finish with only five points was definitely the biggest shock of the night, though I would suggest Romania's "respectable" thirteenth place finish (w the falsetto vampire with nude-looking backup dancers) be added to the surprises of the evening.  I mean, I was already surprised it made it to the Final (the kitsch factor definitely helped it be represented Saturday night).

This is another Contest where no Big Five members placed in the Top Five (Italy came close with 126 points and eventually 7th place...the rest of the Big Five were at the bottom of the scoreboard and got very few points overall.  The winner received less douze points than the runner-up and Scandinavia and the East generally ruled the Contest (including Moldova, who missed out the Top Ten by 13 points).  [My favorite song (from Spain) ended the evening in second-to-last place, largely due to the shaky live performance...one of the disadvantages of being part of the Big Five is that you do not get as much prep time on stage].  Even though I liked your Nordic neighbor Norway more, I'm happy that my Scandinavian winner wish came true. We're coming your way Scandinavia...watch yourself :)