Eurovision 2024

[RunningAndSinging]

Anyone interested in the build up this year? I have been more aware this year as the songs are announced. I like Croatia, Ireland and Finland. Dizzy is hopefully going to do well which makes it exciting - Olli Alexander should be good performing live and he is well known in Europe.

Just reading about the controversy with Israel’s entry and I see that Iceland might send a Palastinian singer.

Ukraine have been the favourites for a while but Croatia is just ahead of them now.

'Hiding' (seeking sanctuary in) in a hood of a jacket/hoodie or other textiles is a well-known trait of neurodiversity. It's about seeking comfort in the face of impending sensory overload.

I would be concerned if there is evidence that Joost has been treated differentially because of cultural differences and neurodiversity, and this isn't properly understood and investigated.

I really liked Sam Ryder!
Maybe it could be a mix of jury and public vote in the national selection? Some countries do it that way. Although, if the shortlist is already bad that’s not going to help.

I completely agree about the misguided idea that Eurovision is for the gays. Or for that matter that “ for the gays” means sexual. For many Europeans it’s a family event that you would watch with your kids, parents or in-laws. Many acts on Saturday made it for an awkward viewing. I can guarantee you that my husband’s elderly gay uncle would have appreciated Ollie’s act a lot more if he was fully clothed and clearly singing a love song to a man than grinding in a dirty toilet.

I also think that’s a reason for Latvia qualifying even with that boring song. It was simply inoffensive and a nice break from an awkward silence in your living room with your 10 yo and MIL sitting either side of you while you all watch barely covered butts on TV.

Sam Ryder was excellent.
Very good point about Latvia @GooseClues

@AutumnCrow . I do think there may be something there too.

I’m not sure it is only the EBU. The Dutch themselves may not have been as attentive as they should either.

That's it. It's well known there's major issues.

Who was thinking about this, cos they should have been?

I think there's a fair number of people in the UK who don't admit to liking Eurovision because of the gay connection.

Last year I went with DH and my friend (female) and his friend (male) and we were mistaken as gay couples which we thought was funny, and didn't remotely bother us but it illustrates a point.

This year a couple of people have found out I've gone and then confessed that they secretly watch it and find it fun.

Indeed we are now on our three year of a Eurovision party and even our 'we don't like Eurovision but I'll suppose we'll come friends' seem to be mild converts!

It's supposed to just be fun and entertaining.

Considering how much all the contestants spoke out and appealed for 'love and peace' at the end of their sets, if was surprising how much hate was directed towards the Israeli singer, esp. from Ireland and Portugal and even some of the journalists.
More so Bambie Thug, who at the end of their set said 'Love will always triumph Hate' and all we have seen from them is Hate, Hate, Hate.....

Frankie Goes To Cottaging 😂cottaging was my immediate thought when I saw the toilets!😂

Agree with this as have been quite horrified by the people now even refusing to even say the name Israel and cry about how hard it has been for them.

A tweet from Sylvester Belt whined about how hard it was to have to perform after "that country" and blaming that for not doing better. A hard of thinking chap, and seemingly unwittingly quite frighteningly aggressive, there.

The same with Bambi Thug and all the "fuck EBU" outbursts, after the show. A principled lot, for sure.

I'm still struggling with the knowledge that not enough Irish viewers threw Olly a vote to give him even one point on their viewer vote. That's really tough for him. I'd have expected the staging to be divisive, but divisive can normally leave you with a handful of points from the few people who do really like it: it doesn't matter one jot if 50% of the audience think it's the worst thing they've ever seen.

But Eurovision has a history of being completely unforgiving when it comes to imperfect vocals. I honestly think that's what screwed him.

Yes the UK needs a stronger, better voice to sing its songs, no matter how great the song is. And a decent production overall, not pissing about with huge staircases and pissy toilets.

The UK has won 5 times. There were a lot of strong, capable and confident voices in there. Sandy Shaw, Lulu, Brotherhood of Man (2f+2m), Buck's Fizz (2f+2m) and Katrina and the Waves. They used stage presence.

I don't think most people are interested in Eurovision, speaking as an Irish person. None of my friends are anyway!

You are right - most people I talk to in ‘real life’ aren’t interested. But this thread is for those of us that are very interested

And that's why I like hanging around here 😁@RunningAndSinging

Was that before or after Luna's online bullying of posting all the flags of the contestants except for Israel's?

Honestly, they all behaved like children. It's ridiculous.

My DD is ND and has this behaviour too. We have set up a little play tent in the living room where she can shelter, on recommendation of her therapist.

this is a video of Joost performing a song about his parents. The last bit of his Eurovision performance was an ode to his parents as well, I suspect after the performance he would have wanted to cry and felt vulnerable.

My sister said about this: everyone pretends to care about neurodiversity but when it comes to actually making some allowances no one wants to hear.

Full disclaimer: I am Dutch so a bit more invested in this story than the average MNer. The feeling over here is that Joost has been robbed of his livelong dream to perform at Eurovision.

Translated from Swedish

The police on the Joost investigation: "Is largely complete"
Joost Klein, who is being investigated for illegal threats against a person in ESC production, left the country yesterday.
The police's investigation is largely complete - according to Aftonbladet's information, Joost has confessed to the crime during questioning.
- It doesn't really matter if the person is still in the country, we can pursue that case anyway, says Emil Andersson, head of the investigation emergency section in Malmö.

The police are largely finished with the investigation into illegal threats against the Netherlands' ESC artist Joost Klein , 26.
- What we have is that a man is suspected of illegal threats, at the Malmö arena on Thursday evening. The suspect was interviewed, but was never detained. Plaintiffs who received this illegal threat are employees at Eurovision, says Emil Andersson.

After the incident, Joost Klein was washed out of the competition, just hours before the final was due to take place.
- The investigation is largely complete with us in the police. In expedited prosecution, a time is set when the suspect must take part in the documents, and when that date has passed, the case goes on to the prosecutor. I think it will be sometime at the beginning of June, says Emil Andersson, head of the investigation emergency section in Malmö, to Aftonbladet.

The case will be handled in the form of "faster prosecution", and the evidence is good.
- When we have faster prosecution cases, the prognosis is generally good. Otherwise, it will not be a faster prosecution case. It is based on the fact that there is clear evidence, and then it moves on in this fast track.

Details: The camera brokeAftonbladet reported yesterday on new information about the case. The versions differ, with the Dutch delegation saying that Joost made "a threatening gesture towards the camera".
However, several witnesses perceived Joost Klein as very offensive, Aftonbladet's source states. According to Aftonbladet's experience, Klein also caused the photographer's camera to break.
- There is no question that he was very aggressive according to several who were there, says the person.
The exposed woman must have been cut, and offered support after the incident.

https://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/a/OopWK3/polisen-om-joost-utredningen-ar-i-stort-sett-klar

My sister said about this: everyone pretends to care about neurodiversity but when it comes to actually making some allowances no one wants to hear.

You can't make allowances for aggression though, especially when directed towards people in less powerful positions. I'm interested to hear more about what actually happened - if we ever do.

ESC Discord AT ESCdiscord
Here's how #Eurovision 2024 entries ranked in the top-200 Spotify Global chart the day after the show:
#17 The Code [3,576,700 streams]
#25 Europapa [2,995,687]
#45 Rim Tim Tagi Dim [2,189,698]
#69 Mon amour [1,836,239]
#116 Teresa & Maria [1,441,926]
#124 la noia [1,402,832]

Public voters obviously don't use Spotify.
👀

BTW thet televote results for Semi Final Two are interesting.
https://eurovisionworld.com/eurovision/2024/semi-final-2#switzerland

The Netherlands actually scored higher that Croatia did in their semi final.
https://eurovisionworld.com/eurovision/2024/semi-final-1

The allowance should have been that he was not filmed straight after his performance, apparently this was ignored multiple times.

No, I don’t think they do. Obviously, this is anecdotal but I have relatives aged 60+ who watch and vote in Eurovision but some of them wouldn’t even own a smartphone, let alone have Spotify.
Even my own mom, who does have the free Spotify account, prefers putting video clips on YouTube.

Ukraine were v.close to Croatia in SF1.

Is it possible to compare points between semis in years when they don’t contain an equivalent number of countries? Surely there was a whole extra country’s worth of points available in SF2? (Which means there were 58 more points available in SF2 than in SF1 if my maths is correct)

Slovenia not competing in next years Eurovision due to budget issues.

Meanwhile in the non-political Song Contest, Kosovo's Broadcaster has expressed an interest in entering Eurovision next year (Serbia doesn't recognise Kosovo) and Bosnia are set to return.