Eurovision has a winner!

Another year I was hard pressed to find anything that spoke to me. Its amazing that I have become such a marginalized minority in the world that I cant relate to what 51% of Europe's inhabitants consider good. Well, me and most of the group at the bar that looked mystified with the voting.

If this was the winner, I can’t imagine how bad the losers were.

Well, when a banana duct taped to a wall is a six million dollar piece of 'art', this being the winner shouldn't be a surprise.

I too wonder, as Barbara does, what were the losers like?

I got up in the early hours to watch. Had an interest with our local shiela competing. Bulgaria got my wife and my vote, or maybe for me it was just the double Ds mesmerised me. My wife’s double Ds of course.

For those naysayers maybe this is more your style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqR_KZm_3f0

A throw back to 1980 when hip grinding and thrusting captured the in crowd and set America on fire.

Regards Ron

I’ve always loved Eurovision but this was a shockingly bad year. No song you could really get behind and I think the 5 countries who didn’t participate because of Israel were missed. So many of the songs were just really dark, what happened to fun pop?
The Austrian presenters were also pretty poor. On a positive note the Billy Joel bit in the middle was nice and getting previous contestants to sing other Eurovision songs was fun, Finland’s Lordi singing Save all your kisses for me was ace.
Amongst my friends we liked France, Moldova and Norway, so what do we know!?

How did the UK go this time around?

Who selected the UK entrant?

The russians and the chinese just moved up their invasion plans.

How did the UK go this time around?

Not a good question to ask our UK friends on the forum.

We watched live on YouTube. It’s nice that it’s on in the middle of the afternoon here. It’s a great show if you enjoy stage pyrotechnics. When I saw the act from Bulgaria I commented that it seemed like a Eurovision song. I agree with Mardee. It is very infectious and is stuck in my head. Personally, I preferred Poland, France and Norway but I don’t think that I’m the target demographic.

We enjoyed watching the show and thought Dara's piece was the most dance-able. I thought Poland's singer had the best set of 'pipes', though. The process for awarding points mystifies us, but it did keep us in suspense.

Personally, I preferred Poland, France and Norway but I don’t think that I’m the target demographic.

Ha ha, Kim, I don't think any of us are, but my 12-year-old granddaughter loved it! I don't think she's quite at that target demographic either, although she thinks she is. 😊

The UK came last but at least we got 1 point this time!:-)
The entry is picked by the BBC and industry experts apparently.
Previously there was a TV vote to pick the winner but those choices were no better.

I don’t think UK Eurovision fans have any expectations of winning any more but it would be nice to reach the top ten. We would have won in 2022 with Sam Ryder but the Ukraine got the sympathy vote which was understandable.

What do I know about music. Nothing actually. Close I ever got was a part time DJ in University in the 1970's. After the last two years where I found no personal redeeming value in what I heard, I just decided to skip it this year. But I did go back and listen to the top ten.

This year the top ten were an interesting mix and I think speak well for the nature of the competition …. But maybe not for their taste in music LOL. But each to their own.

1 Bulgaria: totally lost on me.
2 Israel: Beautiful and timely. My favorite of the top ten.
3 Romania: almost totally lost on me.
4 Australia (I always get a kick out of Australia in Eurovision) would have made my first tier had there been a stronger … message or anything …. Very close though.
5 Italy: Pretty fair. Works for me. My First tier.
6 Finland: Pretty fair, nice energy but over produced for what I enjoy.
7 Denmark: Nice. Would have enjoyed it more without the production. My eyes closed and it was much better. My First tier.
8 Moldova: nope, didn’t work for me.
9 Ukraine. More enjoyable to listen to than most. The message is very powerful. Successful from those two points of view. My First Tier
10 Greece: nope, didn’t work for me.

Given the sympathy card above remark above. The 15-year track record for Ukraine is Mostly top 25% and three wins in 23 years. Sort of the better end of a good showing. . It smells like something greater than sympathy is going on, but I don’t know the hearts and minds of the voters

Now, if you have never been to Bulgaria, something like this presents a very special opportunity to visit for next year's competition. Seriously. If I am around and have the time, it would be a world class event to attend.

Yes the Ukraine has a good track record in the Eurovision but that year their entry was unlikely to win and they ended up with highest ever vote score in the competition to date. I liked the song but it didn’t warrant that score, or win, on the music or performance alone. It was a political score which is not unusual in the Eurovision.

‘Not unusual’ being the understatement of the century. The voting is hugely political and it always has been. There is a lot of regional block voting which obviously benefits countries like Ukraine as well as strong ex-pat voting eg Poland scores well from the UK vote.

The song is only one small part of what you need to win Eurovision.

I was being polite Helen. :-)

I quite enjoy the politics of it all, you can learn a lot about the less obvious European relationships and have fun with its ridiculousness. It doesn’t do the UK’s chances much good though.
That said the situation with Israel is getting particularly ridiculous.

We didn't watch because it's no longer the unknown talent that knocks the judges off their chairs with their talent as Celine Dion did. Now it's just like MTV. We much prefer the way it used to be, or Britian's Got Talent type show, one where a Susan Boyle receives a standing ovation. France's contestant last night had won a wonderful show two years ago, Prodiges, where youth compete in three categories: either a musical instrument, or dance, or voice. I

I've been subscribed to Look Mum No Computer's (Sam Battle) YouTube channel for years. He was the UK entry. He's an example of the English eccentric that has a long lineage. I haven't seen his reaction to his pretty disastrous performance in the voting, but it was an odd pairing to have him in the competition. He's a great advert for harnessing the creative power of ADHD, if that's not too discriminatory in its sentiment.

https://www.youtube.com/@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER/videos

I have to admit I didn't watch it this year though. I don't think I have since the days of Terry Wogan providing the British commentary. He mercilessly took the piss out of every performer in the spirit of the camp extravaganza that it is. Graham Norton is a pale imitation.

It's not a serious competition folks! Definitely not the best music that represents each individual country. It's just a bit of fun.

GerryM, once in a while you are a prince of wisdom. For that I applaude you and strive to be your equal.

Sam Battle was interviewed on the BBC and seemed very philosophical/ no particularly bothered about how he was going to do in the show. Definitely the right attitude.

It’s always been one of my favourite nights of the year to get together with friends and have some silly fun. And we all toast Sir Terry at song 9 as is the tradition.

If anyone's ever in Ramsgate, Kent (or looking for an excuse to go there) Sam Battle maintains a small museum of obsolete technology and his own musical instrument creations, including The Furby Orchestra. I think it would be a very entertaining visit, especially if you pay him to lead a private tour.

https://this-museum-is-not-obsolete.com/visit

I wasn’t that impressed with the song but thought the dance and production was very impressive. Just take a look at this video that someone filmed from the audience. I think this view is more impressive than the official video.
https://youtu.be/n58m297bG3k?si=EDPahirtSPiE1u_O