Austria thrilled over last minute qualifier! 'Symphony' is in the Grand Finale!
Austria's Hod made a personal review over the ESCT 36's results of the semi-finals: 'Personally, I'm happy, however, if I'd have to look for the non-qualifying entries... it's just sad that there is a big number of great songs that didn't make it. In the first semi-final I think that most of the favourites did it, with no big surprises. Maybe Greece is the only country that seemed a certain favourite that will not be in the final, but apart of that, everything looked normal. I'm happy for Bosnia & Herzegovina, the change of what they are ususally doing payed of, but I'm totally dissapointed of Portugal and especially for Lithuania. They are no surprises for not making it, but it's sad that a great peformer like Jazzu, with a beautiful and emotional ballad will not perform in the final, again the contest shows no mercy for variety and deepness.
The 2nd semi-final was much stronger and way more balanced in my opinion, which is also shown in the results. Big losses here, entries like Finland, Netherlands, or Switzerland, even Georgia... again, the results went for generic, not for variety. On the opposite way though, Latvia did it, with a totally recusant entry, which adds a little more of strange on how the results went. I really want to congratulate them, great job! The biggest unpleasant surprise thoug: Hungary! The odds were right, but the song seemed to get so well for what ESCT normally does... well, maybe songs like Estonia and Hungary just seemed too generic this time, it's true that they were used pretty much every edition and it's a continuing changing contest.
As about us, Austria did it as I've expected, well, I can't say I had any hope for that last spot, after 9 qualifiers were presented, but let's face it, it's the 4th time I see my country getting the last spot in a semi-final, I'm already used to that feeling. I think that the odds really underrated us and we're still hoping for much more than just this qualifier for Thorsteinn, who deserves a spot on top. We hope for a great result and we can't wait for the final and for a great show with 26 winners trying their best.'
It is the 3rd time on a row that Austria is qualifying for the final, this making it a 5th time in the last 6 editions with Austria in the final stage of the contest, which might just include Austria from a rarely finalist to a common presence on the big show.