In a few days I'll be off to Vienna and so to kick off my blogging here area few thoughts about what lies ahead.
Firstly I'm feeling rather out of practice, having had a couple of years away from the madness of ESC fortnight. My last memory is the very VERY slow check-in at Baku airport at an ungodly hour on the Sunday morning after going there straight after the final (which after all finished at 3.30am local time). But you know, I'd go back to that city of jazz, of culture, of chaos and of slightly suspect taxi drivers. Although maybe not next year.
The first impressions of the Vienna contest organisation are, it must be said, very promising. Hopefully this won't lead to disappointment on arrival, and I'm fairly confident it won't.
Bringing you all the news and gossip from the rehearsals in Vienna
Monday, 4 May 2015
Sunday, 3 May 2015
ESC Nation reviews Eurovision 2015
Forty songs, thirteen episodes, seven panel members in one location: Those are the main ingredients to this year's ESC Nation preview shows.
You can find all episodes here:
Episode 1: Switzerland, Portugal and Macedonia
Episode 2: Azerbaijan, Moldova and Spain
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
Eurovision's Greatest Hits - review
The below is my thoughts of my experiences last night at the Hammersmith Apollo for Eurovision's Greatest Hits, the EBU/BBC production for the 60th anniversary of the contest. It was a delightful evening, and I'm so pleased to have seen so many winners and stars sing their songs in the flesh.
First up, I'll say that it was a remarkably high-quality production. Visually it looked amazing in the theatre, and I hope that comes across the TV. Certainly doesn't suggest that the BBC 'don't care' about Eurovision, and I'm sure if they hosted any time soon they'd make a great job of it.
The make-up of the audience was very interesting. I was expecting it to be mainly 'people like us', i.e. very dedicated fans, mainly gays. But it really wasn't. There was a real mixture of people, at least up where we were; probably about a 60/40 gender split, plenty of husband/wife couples and groups of girls. I did get the impression there were a decent amount of 'new' fans, the Australian girls in front of us being a key example of this - jumping up and screaming for clips of the more fun entries, particularly Verka and Jedward, loving Conchita and dancing to the older, more 'stereotypical' winners, but having no idea and not caring abouts acts like Anne-Marie David and Natasha St-Pier.
You could very much tell how many die-hard fans were there when Petra offered us 'a warm hello'. About 50 people got the joke.
Okay, on to the acts (from here there are a few spoilers, so avoid if you don't want to know what happens).
Firstly Electro Velvet, who performed as part of the warm-up act, in what I think was a very good decision, to give them as much opportunity as possible to perform in front of large, loud audiences. In all honesty, it wasn't easy to hear their performance as the sound wasn't great at this point, but I thought note-wise it was fine, but Bianca in particular was struggling with the song's long phrases by the end, sounding weak and trying to catch breath. If they can't sort this out, I'm seeing a very low position for this in Vienna.
Emmelie de Forest
A good choice to go on first - sang well, got a decent reaction without anyone really loving it, I felt.
Anne Marie David
One that I wasn't necessarily expecting much from, having heard clips of some of her performances at fan events in recent years, but she was excellent. A 50/50 version of the song, which was quite delightful to hear, and the big finish we're all used to.
Herrey's
This is one of those songs that really isn't very good, but is very fun. And it was tonight. Full marks to them for still being able to do the dance routine. Completely in English except for the last chorus, if I remember correctly.
Dana International
Ouch. Flat *and* out of time with the band (everything tonight was played live by a band on-stage). This was more the 2011 Dana than the 1998 Dana.
Nicole
It seems the only language versions Nicole can remember now are English, German and Italian. She milked her applause for rather too long and had to be gently encouraged to leave the stage by a stage-hand.
Brotherhood of Man
I thought I hated Save Your Kisses for Me. I really quite enjoyed it this evening, and so did the crowd.
Rosa
A medley of La La La, Vivo Cantando, Eres tu and Europe's Living a Celebration. She clearly hates the latter.
Olsen Brothers
Amazing to consider this was 100/1 in Eurovision week back in 2000. They got everyone singing along, and visually it was very good too, the first to have a real visual show (which meant aaaages beforehand waiting for it to be set up). I'm just a little disappointed we weren't told that we were the greatest public they'd ever had.
Interval
Here was a surprise. We got a proper interval act, with Riverdance. I still don't care about Irish dancing, but the Riverdance song is excellent.
In the actual interval (a 15 minute break) they played other interval songs over the PA, including Rainmaker and Free, which I thought was a cute touch.
Lordi
A sensible choice after the break, both for giving them time to set everything up, and for getting the audience back into the show again. Obviously went down brilliantly with the audience, and everything smelt slightly of burning.
Natasha St-Pier
A very good performance (switching to English from the second verse), but somehow very underwhelming. A decent amount of people clearly didn't care, and you could hear people talking during this.
Dima Bilan
Firstly, the boos. They started as soon as Petra introduced Russia, and were clearly about Russia, rather than Bilan. They tried filming the intro again (cleverly going into it quickly after some applause to not give the audience chance to boo), but I suspect it might need some over-dubbing. Bilan himself was fine, a medley of his winner and second placed entry. I thought it was a little underwhelming - again, clearly one of the least known and liked songs among the audience.
Bobbysocks
Fully in Norwegian except the last chorus. A lot of fun as always, and probably a good choice to get things back on to a positive note after Russia.
Loreen
Fabulous performance with lots of people tangled in sheets. Probably the biggest reaction of the night.
Johnny Logan
A medley of all three of his winners, all of which I love, and another good reaction.
After Johnny Logan we went up to Graham Norton in the crowd, who was interviewing Lys Assia. They had two or three goes at this, partly because Lys wasn't sticking to the script, and partly because the tiara they'd got for her was too small. It'll be interesting to see how much of this ends up in the final cut.
Incidentally, while they were filming Lys, they were setting for Conchita, and something on the stage caught fire. This meant we got to watch a video of the New Seekers while they replaced the pyro element on stage.
Conchita Wurst
Predictably fabulous. Great vocals and fire around her (which seemed a bit lame from above, but will probably look great on TV). Had an interview with Petra and Graham afterwards, the only one to do so, where she plugged her new album and introduced a video message from the Vienna hosts. I don't know what they said, because the Australian girl in front of me 'fucking hates the one on the right'. I never fully established why.
After this we got a 'special surprise', and Anne Marie David came on singing Hallelujah. After a verse and chorus we segued into Herrey's singing Volare. I assumed at this point that each of the acts were going to contribute to this medley, but no. After Volare we got something I can't remember, and then Dana International and Conchita came on together singing Waterloo, joined by all of the other acts singing together for the finale.
All in all, I really enjoyed the evening. I was worried it was going to be a little half-arsed and crap, but it really wasn't. I felt like there was a great atmosphere and everyone was genuinely having fun.
And they played Contrazt at the after-party!
First up, I'll say that it was a remarkably high-quality production. Visually it looked amazing in the theatre, and I hope that comes across the TV. Certainly doesn't suggest that the BBC 'don't care' about Eurovision, and I'm sure if they hosted any time soon they'd make a great job of it.
The make-up of the audience was very interesting. I was expecting it to be mainly 'people like us', i.e. very dedicated fans, mainly gays. But it really wasn't. There was a real mixture of people, at least up where we were; probably about a 60/40 gender split, plenty of husband/wife couples and groups of girls. I did get the impression there were a decent amount of 'new' fans, the Australian girls in front of us being a key example of this - jumping up and screaming for clips of the more fun entries, particularly Verka and Jedward, loving Conchita and dancing to the older, more 'stereotypical' winners, but having no idea and not caring abouts acts like Anne-Marie David and Natasha St-Pier.
You could very much tell how many die-hard fans were there when Petra offered us 'a warm hello'. About 50 people got the joke.
Okay, on to the acts (from here there are a few spoilers, so avoid if you don't want to know what happens).
Firstly Electro Velvet, who performed as part of the warm-up act, in what I think was a very good decision, to give them as much opportunity as possible to perform in front of large, loud audiences. In all honesty, it wasn't easy to hear their performance as the sound wasn't great at this point, but I thought note-wise it was fine, but Bianca in particular was struggling with the song's long phrases by the end, sounding weak and trying to catch breath. If they can't sort this out, I'm seeing a very low position for this in Vienna.
Emmelie de Forest
A good choice to go on first - sang well, got a decent reaction without anyone really loving it, I felt.
Anne Marie David
One that I wasn't necessarily expecting much from, having heard clips of some of her performances at fan events in recent years, but she was excellent. A 50/50 version of the song, which was quite delightful to hear, and the big finish we're all used to.
Herrey's
This is one of those songs that really isn't very good, but is very fun. And it was tonight. Full marks to them for still being able to do the dance routine. Completely in English except for the last chorus, if I remember correctly.
Dana International
Ouch. Flat *and* out of time with the band (everything tonight was played live by a band on-stage). This was more the 2011 Dana than the 1998 Dana.
Nicole
It seems the only language versions Nicole can remember now are English, German and Italian. She milked her applause for rather too long and had to be gently encouraged to leave the stage by a stage-hand.
Brotherhood of Man
I thought I hated Save Your Kisses for Me. I really quite enjoyed it this evening, and so did the crowd.
Rosa
A medley of La La La, Vivo Cantando, Eres tu and Europe's Living a Celebration. She clearly hates the latter.
Olsen Brothers
Amazing to consider this was 100/1 in Eurovision week back in 2000. They got everyone singing along, and visually it was very good too, the first to have a real visual show (which meant aaaages beforehand waiting for it to be set up). I'm just a little disappointed we weren't told that we were the greatest public they'd ever had.
Interval
Here was a surprise. We got a proper interval act, with Riverdance. I still don't care about Irish dancing, but the Riverdance song is excellent.
In the actual interval (a 15 minute break) they played other interval songs over the PA, including Rainmaker and Free, which I thought was a cute touch.
Lordi
A sensible choice after the break, both for giving them time to set everything up, and for getting the audience back into the show again. Obviously went down brilliantly with the audience, and everything smelt slightly of burning.
Natasha St-Pier
A very good performance (switching to English from the second verse), but somehow very underwhelming. A decent amount of people clearly didn't care, and you could hear people talking during this.
Dima Bilan
Firstly, the boos. They started as soon as Petra introduced Russia, and were clearly about Russia, rather than Bilan. They tried filming the intro again (cleverly going into it quickly after some applause to not give the audience chance to boo), but I suspect it might need some over-dubbing. Bilan himself was fine, a medley of his winner and second placed entry. I thought it was a little underwhelming - again, clearly one of the least known and liked songs among the audience.
Bobbysocks
Fully in Norwegian except the last chorus. A lot of fun as always, and probably a good choice to get things back on to a positive note after Russia.
Loreen
Fabulous performance with lots of people tangled in sheets. Probably the biggest reaction of the night.
Johnny Logan
A medley of all three of his winners, all of which I love, and another good reaction.
After Johnny Logan we went up to Graham Norton in the crowd, who was interviewing Lys Assia. They had two or three goes at this, partly because Lys wasn't sticking to the script, and partly because the tiara they'd got for her was too small. It'll be interesting to see how much of this ends up in the final cut.
Incidentally, while they were filming Lys, they were setting for Conchita, and something on the stage caught fire. This meant we got to watch a video of the New Seekers while they replaced the pyro element on stage.
Conchita Wurst
Predictably fabulous. Great vocals and fire around her (which seemed a bit lame from above, but will probably look great on TV). Had an interview with Petra and Graham afterwards, the only one to do so, where she plugged her new album and introduced a video message from the Vienna hosts. I don't know what they said, because the Australian girl in front of me 'fucking hates the one on the right'. I never fully established why.
After this we got a 'special surprise', and Anne Marie David came on singing Hallelujah. After a verse and chorus we segued into Herrey's singing Volare. I assumed at this point that each of the acts were going to contribute to this medley, but no. After Volare we got something I can't remember, and then Dana International and Conchita came on together singing Waterloo, joined by all of the other acts singing together for the finale.
All in all, I really enjoyed the evening. I was worried it was going to be a little half-arsed and crap, but it really wasn't. I felt like there was a great atmosphere and everyone was genuinely having fun.
And they played Contrazt at the after-party!
Tuesday, 13 May 2014
Austria won!! The internet says so.
You -may- have heard it somewhere else already, but we can confirm it: All over Russia people are shaving their beards.
Apart from watching endless repeats of your favourite event, you can also relisten to the special online radio channel BBC Radio 2 Eurovision, with many interviews and of course lots of Eurovision music. But be quick, it'll all be over in one week.
It can also be interesting to read what the rest of world thinks of Eurovision.
Some do give the facts a cringing spin, such as HBO's Last Week Tonight.
Oh well. At least he introduces Eurovision to a wider audience, which is always a plus. Also doing their bit to make Eurovision better known across the pond, is Buzzfeed. You may remember them from their hilarious post about the 2013 contest. The 11 Most Absurd Moments Of Eurovision 2013 And their general post about Eurovision in general. Everything Non-Europeans Need To Know About Eurovision This year, they also had a go and it's nice to see that they genuinely love it! 30 Amazing Things I Learnt At Eurovision 2014 The website OverthinkingIt.com also reviewed a few of this year's entries, though not as much as last year.
Another guide about Eurovision comes from TheWire, where they give the average, unsuspecting American a crash course to our beloved contest. They also had someone writing a liveblog during this year's final, which you can re-read here. And then there's those who just want to have a laugh. Dutch Luckytv.nl had a field week and his Conchita-montage was the one of the funniest on the web. Flemish comedy collective Neveneffecten had some current affairs fun too, as Vladimir Putin was secretly filmed at home. We're still waiting for Scandinavia and The World to make their annual Eurovision comic. This one's from last year. (EDIT: They have finally released it!!) For more snigger-reading there's several tens of thousands of #Eurovision tweets to go through. If you find any gold nuggets there, please post them under this article or on the Messageboard! Finally we'd like to thank you, dear reader, for visiting our little live blog from Copenhagen. We hope you enjoyed our reporting as much as we enjoyed writing it. If you're new to our website, please discover our message board. It is a very active little community, teeming with life even during the looming off-season, and it is THE BEST remedy against any bout of P.E.D. and helps to bridge the coming quiet months. Before you know it, the 2015 on-season will be here again, and our team will be ready to report from Austria! Until then, good bye!
But we also want congratulate Austria with their second win, after 48 years! In what was one of the closest votings in years, Conchita Wurst emerged victorious and brought the trophy to the alpine country.
What remains after this fabulous 59th edition is to minimise the onset of Post-Eurovision Depression (P.E.D.). That black hole with a nagging lack of glitter, key change and television shows with snazzy led-backgrounds.
What remains after this fabulous 59th edition is to minimise the onset of Post-Eurovision Depression (P.E.D.). That black hole with a nagging lack of glitter, key change and television shows with snazzy led-backgrounds.
A good way to counter the ill effects of P.E.D. is of course to rewatch some of the shows.
You can always rewatch it through Eurovision.tv, a stream without commentary, but you may also enjoy the Irish commentary. You can rewatch that for the next fortnight via their rteplayer.ie service.
If anyone has access to it, we are VERY interested in the Australian commentary, with comedienne Julia Zemiro. So let us know!
If anyone has access to it, we are VERY interested in the Australian commentary, with comedienne Julia Zemiro. So let us know!
Apart from watching endless repeats of your favourite event, you can also relisten to the special online radio channel BBC Radio 2 Eurovision, with many interviews and of course lots of Eurovision music. But be quick, it'll all be over in one week.
It can also be interesting to read what the rest of world thinks of Eurovision.
Some do give the facts a cringing spin, such as HBO's Last Week Tonight.
Oh well. At least he introduces Eurovision to a wider audience, which is always a plus. Also doing their bit to make Eurovision better known across the pond, is Buzzfeed. You may remember them from their hilarious post about the 2013 contest. The 11 Most Absurd Moments Of Eurovision 2013 And their general post about Eurovision in general. Everything Non-Europeans Need To Know About Eurovision This year, they also had a go and it's nice to see that they genuinely love it! 30 Amazing Things I Learnt At Eurovision 2014 The website OverthinkingIt.com also reviewed a few of this year's entries, though not as much as last year.
Another guide about Eurovision comes from TheWire, where they give the average, unsuspecting American a crash course to our beloved contest. They also had someone writing a liveblog during this year's final, which you can re-read here. And then there's those who just want to have a laugh. Dutch Luckytv.nl had a field week and his Conchita-montage was the one of the funniest on the web. Flemish comedy collective Neveneffecten had some current affairs fun too, as Vladimir Putin was secretly filmed at home. We're still waiting for Scandinavia and The World to make their annual Eurovision comic. This one's from last year. (EDIT: They have finally released it!!) For more snigger-reading there's several tens of thousands of #Eurovision tweets to go through. If you find any gold nuggets there, please post them under this article or on the Messageboard! Finally we'd like to thank you, dear reader, for visiting our little live blog from Copenhagen. We hope you enjoyed our reporting as much as we enjoyed writing it. If you're new to our website, please discover our message board. It is a very active little community, teeming with life even during the looming off-season, and it is THE BEST remedy against any bout of P.E.D. and helps to bridge the coming quiet months. Before you know it, the 2015 on-season will be here again, and our team will be ready to report from Austria! Until then, good bye!
Saturday, 10 May 2014
And the final prediction for 2014!
So, with just over 15 minutes until the scheduled start
of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, coming to your screens direct from the
B&W Hallarne in Copenhagen, Denmark, I thought it may be appropriate to try
and give my (as much as possible) unbiased opinion and thought about the placing
of the countries in tonight's show. As history has proven time and time again,
this is not my strongest point in the least and I normally manage to fair
shockingly badly on this - maybe something to think about for your last minute
bets! Whatever I write, make sure you bet against!
So, after nearly two full weeks of rehearsals, of
technical failures, of late busses, of more rehearsals, utter joy and sad
disappointment for semi-finalists, what have I learnt?
Netherlands
I might be wishful thinking here (not that it would make any difference to me since apparently Maastricht is already being mentioned as a location - which would mean not able to stay at home if it did). I do however think it a strong song and one cannot disregard the monumental shortening of the odds after the semi-final.
I might be wishful thinking here (not that it would make any difference to me since apparently Maastricht is already being mentioned as a location - which would mean not able to stay at home if it did). I do however think it a strong song and one cannot disregard the monumental shortening of the odds after the semi-final.
United Kingdom
Although many British members of the accredited press seem to be annoyed at the fact that Molly has been selected to close the show, I believe this may be a stroke of genius. Maybe if the Netherlands was in the first half it could have made all the difference but I still think a good second place for the Union Jack is quite credible.
Although many British members of the accredited press seem to be annoyed at the fact that Molly has been selected to close the show, I believe this may be a stroke of genius. Maybe if the Netherlands was in the first half it could have made all the difference but I still think a good second place for the Union Jack is quite credible.
Azerbaijan
I feel this entry may have been dismissed by some of the
betting population. It also comes from a country which always has very strong
showings in the contest - and it cannot be just due to some unproven less than
savoury stunts by some of their supporters. This year they have an excellent
song and something for people to really go after.
Sweden
Another strong Eurovision nation and another good song.
Tipped by the bookies to be the winner of tonight, I believe it may not make it
that far - even though the betting odds have been quite accurate for the past
few years. I am sure of a top 5 finish, and a very likely 4th place in my
books.
Austria
And to close my top 5, Conchita Wurst will Rise like a
Phoenix. Unfortunately I don't think that there will be enough votes coming
from some of the more conservative nations tonight to be able to clinch the top
spot however a top five showing is quite deserved.
Unfortunately I cannot show explain each of the 26 so the
rest will just be placed in my predictive order.
Greece
Denmark
Ukraine
Spain
Hungary
Norway
Armenia
Malta
Slovenia
Switzerland
Finland
Poland
Russia
Montenegro
Romania
Italy
Iceland
Belarus
San Marino
France
Germany
Naturally some very scientific conclusions as to the
reasons why I placed some of these countries in the place that I have. We shall
see how much Europe and myself agree in about three and a half hours.
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