Monday, 22 May 2006
Europe's Magical Night!
The Eurovision Song Contest was on Saturday. I could tell it was coming up, because people were finding my site with the search terms "how old is Terry Wogan" and the like. I have no idea why people are so interested in his age, but I'm glad to be of use!
Anyway, Jon and I were babysitting so we were able to watch! It really was a fabulous show - and seems to be moving in a very different direction!
The hosts this year looked like they were having a competition of their own - who can say a certain word the most during the evening. As Wogan said, "I'll be amazed if someone doesn't say this was amazing."
The first entry was from Switzerland. I made the following comments: "Bland - what are the men thinking?" Terry Wogan seemed to agree: "That's not a winner... is it?"
Moldova were certainly more interesting. They had a shark fin onstage, behind which one girl kept changing her costume (I liked the bikini top and matching skirt and shorts) and the others pulled out props, for instance, a scooter(?). Music wasn't that bad (for Eurovision).
Next up was Israel. I know of one person who objects to their inclusion in this contest, on the grounds that it's EUROvision, but the more the merrier, I say. It's all good for a laugh. These performers were all in matching bright white. And that's all I can tell you. Sorry, I wasn't very impressed.
Latvia's entry was done a capella. They had a cool sound guy, and an interesting dancing robot, but they failed to spark any interest - I think they ended the night with nil points.
Norway were very good. They had violins, very pretty white layered dresses and sung beautifully. Watching this, you could have been forgiven for forgetting it was Eurovision.
That is, until Spain came on. They had two weird dancers and their song sounded a bit like Banarama's "Cruel Summer" - Terry Wogan said, "I don't think Spain cares anymore."
Malta's entry can be summed up thus: The piano sounded like "Walking In Memphis" while the vocals sounded like a Jason Donovan song and the backing could have been S Club 7.
Germany did country! Apparently one of them was Australian. I presume that was the pink fluffy girl, as all the men looked German to us. Wogan asked, "Did you ever expect Germany to go Country?" and we would have had to answer "No!" but it really worked. Very funny!
Denmark's entry was a song that sounded like "Let's Twist Again" and was actually called "The Twist" - highly original, eh? Twelve bar blues and everything. Very disappointing. Their singer looked a bit like Kerry Katona, too. I have in my notes that they had a very good breakdancer, though, but I don't remember now.
Russia - what can I say? A football fan backed by two funeral mourners with ballet dancers behind them. The woman in the piano topped it all off. You couldn't make this up!
FYR Macedonia was rubbish. "Nananinananajna?" What were they thinking?
The Romanian entry involved a lot of lights and sounded like "Bellissima" - shame about the rest of it.
Bosnia and Herzegovina received the following comment from me on the night: "A violin and other instruments on stage but not a lot of redeeming features." Shame, really.
What can I say about Lithuania's entry? Men in suits shouting what sounded like a football chant. "We are the winners of Eurovision" - no you weren't, thank goodness!
Jon and I hadn't heard the UK's entry, but Sophie had, and absolutely loved it, and she's eleven, so she ought to know. Still, I don't think the grown women in school uniform were enough to win it for us, sadly. Not that I wanted us to win. Then we'd have to host it next year!
The Greeks certainly dressed to impress, I'm just not sure who. Theirs was a big ballad with windswept arms - why such massive sleeves???
Finland really did rock. Monster metal! They must have put in so much effort - I heard it took three hours to get into their costumes! And then they must have been sweating like mad all evening! And those wings were so cool! Terry Wogan said, "What do you call this? You've got to give them marks for effort." And people certainly did - they won! More on this later.
Ukraine's team could have been called Charlotte Church and the Communists. No, really. Although I'm not too sure why they had a skipping rope on stage.
France's entry started with a nice cello solo. Pity about the rest of the song. Wogan said, "I'm not sure France care anymore, either."
Croatia's lead singer's outfit was indecent in my opinion - what was the point in that dress? There was no skirt at the front? And then it was gone! She simply continued singing in lingerie. Children watch Eurovision!! And what was their song about? Teletext gives the lyrics interpreted into English, and Croatia's song sounded like a nursery rhyme: "Half past two" and "Put your little socks on" in the chorus, plus "Paprika" and "red beets" every now and then!
Ireland was a rubbishy ballad thing - why were they all standing so oddly?
Sorry, I can't tell you a lot about Sweden's song, but I wasn't very keen. I was mostly too busy wondering why the singer was wearing silver trousers with an incredibly long blue dress, and thinking perhaps they got the measurements very wrong, when the blue dress was whipped off. Why do so many acts still try to copy Bucks Fizz? It only worked once, and that was in the 80s!
The Turkish entry looked like Gwen Stefani and apparently had British dancers. The song sounded like the Spice Girls' "Who Do You Think You Are?" - that question was certainly in our heads as we watched. Terry Wogan laughed, "I'm sorry, I'm lost for words."
The last entry was from Armenia. They looked like they were part of a cult, possibly the Ku Klux Klan, judging by the hood one of them wore. The act also involved bondage.
The voting was surprisingly lacking in a lot of the usual political voting. Of course, old habits die hard and some countries voted predictably, but there were many surprises. And Jon didn't repeat last year's Wogan impression, which was good!
The Teletext crew didn't disappoint this year either, although they weren't as amusing as "lyric cyst" or "comb poser" and the year they blatantly couldn't be bothered to try to spell one entrant's name properly. But they still managed some entertaining phrases. Their best bluff this year, in my humble opinion, was when "UK reallyly" popped up on our screen, followed by a pause and then the word "ukulele". :)
And the Monster Metal won! Hooray!! Read an interview with Mr Lordi on the Eurovision website. He seems a really nice guy, and their song was the unanimous favourite of all of my companions on the night (all three of us).
Can you believe it? Jon and I were pretty certain Finland hadn't a chance of winning - every previous year we've known if we like a song it would not get many votes. Eurovision has certainly changed!
Can't wait until next year!! :)
