Brace yourselves folks. The time has come. Can you sense my uncontrollable giddiness from your screen? Is it palpable? Let's all take a few deep breaths and gather ourselves. Ready? Let's do this.
We are now in the run up to my favourite night of the year. Can you guess what it is yet? (I'm not sure that phrase is even acceptable anymore.) Christmas Eve comes a close second. My birthday holds a respectable third place. But the moveable feast that will be on 13th May this year, is nearly upon us. Obviously, I am talking about Eurovision. 🎶🎉
We are now in the run up to my favourite night of the year. Can you guess what it is yet? (I'm not sure that phrase is even acceptable anymore.) Christmas Eve comes a close second. My birthday holds a respectable third place. But the moveable feast that will be on 13th May this year, is nearly upon us. Obviously, I am talking about Eurovision. 🎶🎉
It's an actual hamster wheel. What more do you want? |
The winner of 2015 - Måns Zelmerlöw and graphic friends. |
These days I find the optimum thrill of the evening can be
found on Twitter. Twitter is a hotbed of ESC action on the night. I live tweet
through the whole thing and find genuine pleasure in connecting with
like-minded individuals from all over the place. It is hilarious, subversive
and truly a global event.
May 10th 2014. I was there! |
And so to this year. This year is going to be a bit of a challenge. My sister has chosen Eurovision night to have her family birthday gathering. It’s going to be tricky. On the one hand, it’s the nearest Saturday to her birthday and she is entitled to commandeer the weekend. On the other, I am going to be glued to the TV from 8pm onwards and feeling a deep frustration that I will have to partake in conversation with the people around me, rather than set myself up behind the Mission Control of my laptop (for Facebook/iMessages from people I know saying ‘Happy Eurovision’) and my phone (for Twitter with people I don’t know but am sharing the evening with.) It will be a finely balanced line I tread, trying not to be the most anti-social person there, whilst still soaking up all the atmosphere of the best night on the calendar.
Loreen, who won in 2012. I got my second wind at my youngest sister's hen do when I put Euphoria on the silent disco. |
Finally, a word about the UK’s entry. I get annoyed when
people slag off Eurovision because ‘no one votes for us’ or because ‘we’re
never going to win anyway’ or ‘it’s all political so there’s no point’. It’s
always been political, it’s just that the UK used to benefit from that, and now
it doesn’t. So stop being a bad loser and get over it. That being said, there
is no doubt in my mind about the link between the 2003 invasion of
Iraq by UK forces, and our plummeting down the leader board to last place and
nul points that same year. (Yes, I know the song was dodge, but it really was an epic fall from our previous grace.) This year we have Brexit to deal with. I
imagine Europe as a rule won’t care two jots about giving us votes, regardless of our efforts.
Our entry, Never Give Up on You, however, is not half bad. Sure, it has no
key change - I despair of this every year - but having heard it a few times
now, I have really grown to like it. It will get added to the playlist, put it that
way. Lucie Jones (who was an amazing Maureen in Rent this year) will no doubt give it her all. I can’t see it will make a difference
to the voting, but we can hold our heads
high knowing it's not a bad job, regardless of the politics.
I've dusted off my merch in readiness. |
In the meantime, Tuesday 9th and Thursday 11th
of May are the semi-finals nights. I will treat them like the real thing, just
in case people chat too much on Saturday. I don’t want to have to shush anyone
at a birthday party.
Happy Eurovision week, everyone. Let’s have a belter.
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