Happy Eurovision Grand Final Day!
Yesterday, we thought we had our running order for the grand final. Well, we did – until today. There were news stories circulating yesterday about something going on with The Netherlands, as they did not participate in the dress rehearsal on Friday afternoon. For the Jury Final last night, a recording of their previous performance was shown as part of the show, with Joost again not taking part.
Today it has been announced that the EBU have withdrawn The Netherlands from the Contest. So Joost it toast. This is (I think) an unprecedented move by the EBU. In the past they have withdrawn songs and countries before the Contest, but never during. I might be wrong, but this is certainly fanning the flames in Malmö.
Who knows what will happen tonight, with talk of countries boycotting for various reasons, and hostile crowd reactions during the dress rehearsals.
When Brian and I were in the arena for the grand final of ESC2015, in Vienna, the crowd were extremely hostile to the Russian singer following her performance and during the voting sequence. It was really quite unpleasant.
When I returned home to watch the Contest I expected to hear this disquiet in the crowd. And yet I didn’t. The audio feed had clearly been tweaked for broadcast, effectively disguising the boos. So tonight there will be no sign of the booing in the arena for us watching at home/elsewhere. Manipulation of this kind feels a bit shady, but on the other hand it’s perhaps good that it can be tweaked so as to not give bias for or against any act.
A reminder of (minus The Netherlands) the running order tonight…
Looking at the running order, the producers have once again sequenced the songs in a way so as to not have a run of ballad after ballad, and pop followed by more pop. Also, don’t forget that songs are sequenced around the commercial breaks that will be happening in some countries.
The host nation Sweden will get things going tonight. It is rare for host countries to open the show, but M&M will get a home town roar (even though they are from Norway!) that will get our Eurovision party started.
Ukraine is killed off from second in the running order – no country has ever won from there.
Spain, followed by Estonia, who are followed by Ireland, is a good run of songs. That’s a good position in the draw for Bambie Thug. It has been rising in the betting odds, and is currently in the top five.
Greece followed by the UK is a good setup for Ollie. I hope he does well tonight, as his genuine excitement that he is taking part is highly infectious And if you have watched the documentary about his rehearsals on iPlayer, I think he deserves to.
The much fancied Croatia and Switzerland are in the final six songs in the running order. This is also good for them.
And I think the final song from Austria will be boosted from France’s amazing climax and crowds reaction to it, which precedes it.
Tonight the smorgasbord is really tasty, and as I have said all week, there is something for everyone. Speaking of tasty, there are also quite a few songs when watching from home where I will be topping up our drinks and snacks. You can’t do that in the arena! 😀
So wherever you are enjoying the ESC tonight, I am with you and sending you lots of Eurovision positivity – I think we should all be doing that this year, as we have in the last couple of years.
Being united by our love of Eurovision is a lovely thing, and I have enjoyed reviewing and commenting again this year. I hope the songs you love make you proud tonight.
I will be back for one last review on Sunday, when we will have a new winning song, and a new host country to visit via the telly next year. And we might have enjoyed some surprises (ooooh!)…
Ha en fantastisk show! 😀
(have a fantastic show)
xx