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Eurovision.

Chris Hobson

Chris Hobson

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Eurovision, yes it's that time of year again. There is a Marmite element to this, lovers and haters. I took an interest when I was a kid and when there were only three TV channels and then ignored it for years. Then I married Abbaphile and Eurovision fan Liz and was dragged kicking and screaming into the cult.

The story of the event is pretty amazing. It started out in 1956 as a scientific experiment involving the then cutting edge technology of television. Could it be possible to do a simultaneous broadcast throughout Europe by linking each country's broadcasters together? A sporting event was the most obvious subject for the project, but for some incomprehensible reason, a song competition ended up being chosen. Early contests were, by modern standards, quite low key affairs. The performers on a tiny stage in what looks like a school assembly hall. I'm not sure if that first one was intended to be just a one off, but the contest became an annual tradition, growing bigger, cheesier, more and more camp and at times completely bizarre. The event is really popular in Australia, so one year they were allowed to enter as a one off. Australia did of course become regular entrants, it would be great if they won and had to have the show in the middle of the night.

Anyway, this year the UK has by far the best song. This doesn't mean that they will win of course, there are lots of other factors to be taken into account than how good the song is.

Now that we have music streaming we can listen to the songs before the event. There are quite a few that I like but the UK entry is definitely the best.
 
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And you don't even have to watch it at home, as some cinema chains are showing it. Must be nice to watch it in an Everyman cinema with the kind of seating that they have.
 
Its too political now

The actual music is secondary

We will get minimum points cos no one likes us and ukraine will get the sympathy vote
 
paultrose said:
Its too political now
Click to expand...
Not only that but it seems to me that the light shows and dance routines overshadow the actual songs. Oh for the days of Dana, Johnny Logan, The Allisons et al.

Does anyone understand how the voting works any more?
 
No link? :D

eurovisionworld.com

Eurovision 2025: Songs & Videos

All the songs and videos for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel. The participating countries and national selections of songs and artists.
eurovisionworld.com eurovisionworld.com

I like Czechia - very catchy; Croatia is witchy fun; Australia is very jolly; Finland is a stomper; Poland is high energy; and I also liked Italy, which has a sweet 70s hand-waving vibe.
 
"Some cinema chains are showing it."

I didn't know that. It sounds like a lot of fun. Getting together and getting slightly pissed while watching it is already a thing, I don't expect that they would allow booze in the cinema though. My daughter's telly is nearly the size of a cinema screen anyway.

On the songs, I quite like most of them, I don't like the one with the piercing soprano or Poison Cake but most of the others are quite decent this time.

It's also my twelfth diaversary.
 
I'm surprised how many are sung in their own language. When I was a child it was common place. I always listened to the Spanish and French Entry as I was learning the languages at school, but of course I remember ABBA singing in English.There are a variety of songs many of which I've enjoyed. I like the Dutch one but strange it's in French and English. The French singer is good, Maman and it is very French well sung and emotional. I like Sweden and Lithuania is full of emotion. Not listened to all of them yet. The UK song is very British it is fun and should come over well as a performance provided they cope with the difficult harmonies. Obviously Ukraine will do well.
 
The Irish entry is about a dog called Laika that was the first Earth creature of any kind to orbit the Earth in space. The song is very upbeat and tries to put a happy spin on what is a rather grim story. With late fifties technology there wasn't any way for Laika to return to Earth, so she went on a one way trip into space. The plan was for her to be euthanized once all the experiments had been completed but she died of hyperthermia when her capsule malfunctioned. The Russians used to use stray dogs to be their canine cosmonaughts. I suppose it could be argued that they had a better life up to the point when they were sacrificed on the altar of science.

We are going to visit our daughter for Eurovision night so we will get to watch it on an enormous telly.
 
So the first half of the eliminator round has taken place. Croatia had the only song that I didn't like at all and they have gone out. Cypress, Belgium and Azerbaijan are out, their songs I thought were OK but didn't really stand out. How much time, the Slovenian entry is the only one that I liked that has gone out. I really thought that this one deserved to be in the final.
 
If it floats your boat then fine, you watch it....
But I don't watch it anymore, used to many years ago, when it seemed to be mostly based on talent and song quality.
Nowadays it seems to me to be just a political freak show, so nah, I'll be giving it a miss.....
 
From my opening post.
"There is a Marmite element to this, lovers and haters."
What I don't understand is why the haters feel the need to add to this thread. I don't like football. If someone started a thread to discuss the Football World Cup while it was happening, it would never occur to me to comment how I think that the FWC is a massive yawn fest.
 
I enjoy Eurovision, I work with a lot of European people and it is always funny talking about it to them.
 
The second semi had most of the better songs. Denmark and Finland both have a pleasingly plump girl in kinky boots. Latvia has great harmonies sung by girls in gold coloured cat suits.

The ones that I didn't like were Montenegro, Austria, Greece, Lithuania & France. France can't be eliminated but the others are the ones that I would eject.
 
The six entrants that didn't make it were Australia, Montenegro, Ireland, Georgia, Chechia and Serbia. So, I got one right.
 
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