We had tickets for the jury final, a full dress rehearsal where the jury decides who they will vote for (half the votes are determined by the jury and half by countries voting). Then we went to watch the actual final on big screens in one of the parks.
This meant we got to see it twice! All the acts, Petra’s jokes (all those poor boys who haven’t found the right woman yet!, the John Paul Gaultier pointy bra), the animated caterpillar crawling all the way from Baku to Malmö before becoming a butterfly and explaining this year’s logo, and the wonderfully self-deprecating Ode to Sweden. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Eurovision host country do such a piss-take before. I think this is also one of the best scripted Eurovision hostings I’ve seen. The jokes were actually funny. They didn’t even try to say everything again in French.
Although the SVT live broadcast shown in the park did, of course, have a Swedish voice-over.
The whole town was in party mode and the audience dressed in their national colours, but the vibe at the park was different to that of the die hard, paying fans. Some people didn’t seem interested in watching at all (like the girl who was texting someone during the whole thing). It’s also reassuring to find that drunken idiocy is an international phenomenon.
The acts from the Big Five countries may have the advantage of not having to compete for a place in the finals, but they are disadvantaged in that the audience hasn’t already seen their act live and formed an opinion of it.
I found it hard to really get a clear grasp on the Spanish act, probably because it started out slowly then picked up the pace. It was kind of like two acts.
Cascada from Germany was one of the audience favourites with her dance hit. But is it too similar to last year’s winner to be successful this year?
The French song also fell a little flat for me. There was a weird close up shot of her fringed dress in the broadcast.
Italy also contributed a lone male singer in a suit singing a song in his native tongue. While it was a good song, it really lacked the power of Iceland, although it still scored higher.
Bonnie Tyler was a sentimental favourite, particularly of the Brits and the gay guys who adored her, even if it seemed she was talked into doing Eurovision just to promote her new album. She sounded better at the Jury final, but I think all the rehearsing had taken its toll on her voice by the finals.
Fortunately, we only had to watch the voting once. I always think I can take this time to do something else, but the voting is strangely compelling. There are always the hosts who milk the time before finally announcing their points; impossibly glamorous women in tight, low cut dresses who can barely speak English who may well be the mistress of the station owner; former Eurovision winners who get the points wrong; and this year the host country was represented by an announcer who dresses like a Japanese manga cartoon character. There’s always something you don’t want to miss.
Although one of the favourites with the Eurovision audience, Finland finished 24th, third last.
Ireland was most surprising, finishing last despite contributing such a good song. Maybe the world still hasn’t forgiven them for Jedward (twice)? Maybe people did confuse this act with Lithuania (although he only came 22nd)?
That catchy Greek tune came 6th. Imagine if they’d won. Then Melbourne may have been in the running to be host city for 2014!
As the top three, Denmark, Azerbaijan and Ukraine emerged, there were a few tense moments until the favourite pulled away from the pack, and Denmark was announced as the clear winner before the final four countries submitted their votes!
And so Eurovision concludes for another 12 months, and Malmö returns to a life without butterflies, disco lights, mirror balls or europop outside its central station.
