Ok, so it’s around 364 days until the Eurovision Song Contest (that’s ESC to we regulars) 2014. CJP and I had already planned to travel around Denmark after Malmö, and we now find ourselves in the land of the victors. How many times have we heard the song, ‘Only Teardrops’ today? We are also in the ideal location to start planning our trip back!

Already, the hot topics of discussion in ESC circles have moved on to the location (Copenhagen or Aarhus?) and the dates. Apparently this weekend is yet another public holiday in Denmark for some obscure religious event (and they say the Aussies will do anything for a day off!) – fortunately our hotel warned us about this one – so this may be a good time.

ESC is addictive! To be honest, we had already decided to go to the next one before we had even attended the first semi-final. The vibe among the fans and across the town was so friendly and cheerful. Plus the event itself is just so much fun, it’s easy to get swept along by the big party. It’s like a safe and happy little alternative universe that exists for one week per year. Like a Brigadoon devoted to Europop.

Based on our last experience, there are several lessons we have learned:

To get the full experience, stay in the host city. The town is in party mode and dressed accordingly. In Malmö there were signs, banners and statues decorated with butterflies. There were butterflies and mirror balls everywhere. I think every central station should have a mirror ball! The Fan Cafe and outdoor entertainment were all in Malmö. All the stores were playing ESC hits and even the reserved locals would strike up bemused conversations with fans wearing Eurovision paraphernalia as they reluctantly developed an interest in this international event that had overtaken their town. Ok, it was nowhere near the scale of the Sydney Olympics, but if you were in town for this event, then you would have some idea of how an event can transform a place. While initially there was some controversy over the choice of Malmö as an ESC host city, we found it to be clean and easy to get around, with enough old buildings, shops and places to eat to keep us entertained for the week. Copenhagen was a day trip away, and we took advantage of our free travel passes with day trips to other towns in the Skåne region.

Keep in touch with your OGAE fan club to find out about all the special offers for fans. In Malmö, limited numbers of fan accreditation passes were available providing access to exclusive clubs and free public transport around the district. Floor tickets were only available for fan club members. It also formed a useful base for networking and finding out about what’s happening.

Make sure you get tickets to all three televised shows. The jury finals were still a good way to see all the acts, but the public venues lacked the pizazzle of the real thing.

Watch all the acts online before you go. We went into Eurovision wanting the acts to be fresh and surprising, as they would when watching them on television, but that doesn’t really cut it. At this level of fandom, you need to be familiar with all the acts in advance and go into it with a clear favourite. Maybe several favourites to avoid devastation on the scale of San Marino. I might even purchase the CD set in advance as the recorded versions sound different to the performances.

Now we just need a location confirmed, and our planning for ESC 2014 can begin!