Strøget was buzzing today with the Eurovision vibe. The shopping strip was packed with Europeans who had flown in for the weekend’s Grand Final Event, carrying flags and already wearing their Eurovision outfits; people from the UK wearing Union Flag suits, Germans more discreetly wearing their national Eurovision scarves and black, red and gold sweatshirts and the Dutch wearing orange wigs.
We headed out to the island early, as the crowd was mobilising. The Eurovision website also actively encouraged people to get there early to avoid a last minute dash on the public transport, promising that there would be food and drink available in the entertainment precinct dubbed ‘Eurovision Island’ for the event. It seemed as though you could go over, have a leisurely, evening meal, then enter the arena for the show. The reality was a long wait in a concrete wasteland as the security clearance didn’t open until 6pm. Last night we were also treated to a drenching shower, with no undercover area at all (see, what did I say? Rainmaker and all those other rain themed songs were a bad idea!!!). This revealed that the area floods so we had to walk through huge puddles to enter and leave the venue. The Gold Ticket holders in their high heels were not impressed.
While Denmark prides itself on design, and the show itself looked spectacular, it missed just one part of the organisation of such an event and that was – how are 10,000 people going to enter and exit a venue that is not purpose-built for managing large groups of people? Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, Grand Final night was a complete shambles. This time they had erected another barricade between the food stalls and the entrance which conveniently blocked access to the toilets. Finally we were let through to queue in front of the tent. At this stage, no one could advise when we could progress any further. Eventually, we were let into the tent to queue in front of 2 wooden doors. By 7pm the doors still hadn’t opened and the 9,900 or so people behind us started to push forward. At this stage I started thinking about all the concerts and festivals held in Europe where people had died in stampedes and wondered whether I should be text messaging all my loved ones.
So clearly we did all make it unscathed, but I would certainly think twice about coming to another Eurovision that was held in a location other than a purpose-built arena. I know that Eurovision is primarily a television show and that the audience is merely a backdrop, but we really felt that Denmark was treating the audience like a prop, with no consideration for our comfort or amenity.
Ok, so now my rant is over …. let’s get on with the show!!!!