So, let’s get on to what this trip is really all about – Eurovision!
Having arrived late last night, today was our first day of the Stockholm Eurovision experience! Eurovision Village is the central, and public hub for Eurovision in the host city. Stockholm has selected a beautiful park in the centre of the city, Kungsträdgården, for the Village. With all the lovely hot weather we’re having here at the moment – today reached 24 degrees C – the spring flowers were blooming, and the locals were all out enjoying the sun. The park is already lined with restaurants, so with the added food stands, screens and stages and sponsorship stalls, it’s an attractive venue to wander around and spend some time in. And all the Eurovision merchandise is available, although it wasn’t ready to go from midday, when the Village opened. My favourite was the sponsored Osram lighting stall, which had a Eurovision karaoke. With so many great songs to choose from, I eventually selected Euphoria, props – a Swedish flag and feathered necklace – and sang and danced for the few seconds of music, while the stall holders blew bubbles! What a great start to the day, it certainly woke me up! Videos are then delivered via email.
The nearby NK department store dressed their windows with displays representing the Swedish winners of Eurovision, from ABBA to Måns, so we crossed at the musical crossing – it doesn’t just beep, it plays Euphoria – to reminisce about previous winning songs.
Wandering back to our hotel, we dropped in to the Euroclub, opposite the Royal Palace, for a traditional Swedish lunch of meatballs.
We then found that the Swedish entrant, 17 year old Frans, was appearing in 1/2 an hour, and we had seats directly above the stage, with a perfect view! He seemed fairly overwhelmed by the whole experience, but excited to be starting his musical career with so much support.
After getting all dressed up, we returned to the Euroclub, as we managed to get ourselves on to the guest list for the Australian embassy party, hosted by the Australian Ambassador to Sweden, Finland, Latvia and Estonia. And kindly sponsored by Lindeman wines. Dami Im performed two songs live, accompanying herself on the keyboard. She really seemed to be grateful for the opportunity and very humbled by the whole experience of representing Australia in Eurovision. It was great to hear the power in her voice in the live performance, and the really stripped back versions of Bridge Over Troubled Water and her Eurovision song – Sound of Silence. I stood behind the Korean ambassador during the performance, hoping to get in shot for the SBS coverage.
The party was also our first opportunity to catch up with some of the Australian fans I met last year in Vienna, and to meet some of the people behind the Facebook posts in the Australian Eurovision discussion groups, and the hopefully soon to be official Australian Eurovision fan club.