The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) who organised Saturday’s Eurovision now have a brand vision for this annual homage to kitsch and camp: ‘Bringing Europeans together by creating the ultimate musical event of the year’.
The queer and the cool descended on host city Malmo which first staged the competition in 1982 when a then record number of 23 countries competed. 39 nations pitched up this year offering their selected smorgasbord of songs, which from two semi-finals gave us Saturday nights’ 26 finalists.
Compared with last year’s extravagance in Azerbaijan, it was noticeable how much the organisers had tightened their purse strings – no massive video wall behind the stage, and instead a canvass backdrop for images to be projected on, and for the first time ever standing room only in front of the stage to pack more paying audience members in. In the much coveted ‘Green Room’ you could pay to sit in the same area as the expectant performers as the votes came in from all over Europe
This year I was astonished there were no desktop computers in the press centre for accredited media – surely a must for such a widely reported event. But the understated Swedes still pulled off a great show with many gay gags written in to a brilliant script delivered by stand up comedienne and all round super-presenter, Petra Mede.
She also hosted both semi-finals last week but it was off stage where the unreported scandal was taking place. After being knocked out on Tuesday, the Cypriot delegation were waiting for their team coach to return to their hotel. On failing to materialise they questioned where their transport was only to be told by the organisers, as they hadn’t qualified for the final, the coach had been withdrawn but they could get back to their hotel by public transport… Well that’s show business sweetie!
Turkey, proud winners from 2003, didn’t even bother taking part this year as a protest at the voting system and due to the fact that the ‘Big 5’ (UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy) automatically qualify despite the quality of our entries year in year out, as we contribute most proportionally to the EBU. Turkish State Broadcaster TRT outrageously boycotted broadcasting Saturday’s final.
Busty German entry, Natalie Horler posed in Playboy before singing in Saturday’s final. That went down well amongst the many straight journalists here with the rest hoping for a similar scoop on the very attractive Azeri singer, 21 year old Farid Mammadov. No such luck! He still had massive appeal even with his clothes on and finished a very impressive second place in the final.
The lucky fans who made it to Malmo have been attending parties, press conferences and rehearsals and as always have embraced the spirit of this competition. From Iceland to Israel the good and the gay from Europe’s every orifice have once again made the ‘Eurovision Bubble’ a beautiful place to be. However there are rumours that next year the EBU will start charging 100 euros for fan accreditation which up until now has been free. That didn’t dampen the spirit as the sun shone down on Sweden’s third largest city all weekend
Politics played its inevitable part this year as 11,000 fans flowing into the Malmo Arena witnessed before the show. Unemployed Greeks unfurled a massive banner demonstrating against their own participation which can cost delegations up to half a million euros as massive austerity measures hit in their homeland.
Ironically, private Greek music channel MAD paid most of their costs this year with state run ERT paying only a small percentage. Greece avoided an on stage tragedy and confounded their critics coming in 6th.
Saturday’s live final produced what we’ve come to expect from such a quintesentially kitsch competition. From a camp as Christmas Rupert Everett dracula lookalike for Romania to Finland’s live lesbian kiss, even the contest’s harshest critics can’t fail to be impressed with the massive variety and entertainment factor Eurovision delivers year after year.
But 2013 belonged Denmark, represented by 19-year-old Emmelie De Forest. She was the hottest favourite to win in years and proved true to form finishing with 281 points, 12 of which came from our own fair shores. Bonnie Tyler did her best for Britain and avoided going from Lost in France to Last in Sweden finishing 19th with 32 points. The Danes were in jubilant mood after their victory, looking forward to 2014. Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen! See you there…
By Spencer Barnett
