This was the year that the gulf between what happens in the studio, and what happens under the bright lights, wind machines and pyrotechnic curtains of the main Eurovision stage, grew to abyss-like proportions (an abyss albeit decked out in shiny LED screens and surrounding by thousands of glowing Continue Reading
Music
It’s official! Australia loves Eurovision
It’s hard to say if it is due to Australia’s welcome embrace of all the nationalities that make up the countries competing in The Eurovision Song Contest or simply our love of the quirky or the unusual, but something about this event has captured Australia’s attention, and quite possibly Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision: semi final 2 predictions
Once more to the semi-final crystal ball gazing my friends, once more! (I am sure, totally sure, that Shakespeare will not mind me paraphrasing one of his more famous quotes in the service of Eurovision.) Semi-final 2 looms and with it the prospect of 17 more countries doing everything in Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision: week 6 – Norway, Albania, Georgia, Switzerland, Romania
WHAT IS THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST? Started way back in 1956 as a way to draw a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open Continue Reading
What happens to the winners when the Eurovision glory fades?
It doesn’t matter what kind of competition it is. When you are standing high atop the winner’s dais, with those you have vanquished standing nearby or possibly seated right in front of you, it is hard not to come over all Leonard di Caprio in Titanic and feel like Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision: semi finals 1 predictions
It’s only hours, mere hours my friends, till the first semi-final takes places in Malmö, Sweden, and 16 countries battle it out in song – of course this being The Eurovision Song Contest, all the battling will be done in the most loving, life-affirming way possible with an angst-ridden Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision: Big 6 reviewed – UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Sweden
WHAT IS THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST? Started way back in 1956 as a way to draw a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is Continue Reading
Eurovision news roundup: what’s happening in Malmo
We’re so close to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest – the first semi-final takes place on Tuesday 14 May – that you can almost taste the herrings, smell the brännvin, and your chances of being blinded by glittery costumes in close proximity, especially Latvia’s luminously sparkly outfits, grows ever Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision: week 5 – Bulgaria, Iceland, Greece, Israel, Armenia, Hungary
WHAT IS THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST? Started way back in 1956 as a way to draw a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open to Continue Reading
Now this is music #6: my 5 favourite songs of the week – Blondfire, Sia, Taped Rai, Mr.Little Jeans, London Grammar
Once more to the iPhone, dear friends, once more! Or close up our ears with the sonic dead. OK there’s an extremely good chance Shakespeare didn’t write this exactly and certainly didn’t own an iPhone, but the sentiment remains. It’s time to plug in your playing device of choice, Continue Reading