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.

La Noia lyrics translated to English:

The Boredom
The Boredom
The Boredom
The Boredom

I die without dying
During these wasted days
I live without suffering
There is no greater cross
All we can do is have a laugh during these scorched nights
A crown of thorns will be the dress code for my party

It's the cumbia of boredom
It's the cumbia of boredom
Total
Ah, it's the cumbia of boredom
The cumbia of boredom
Total

You mean it isn’t a hymn to Annoia, the Terry Pratchett goddess of things stuck in kitchen drawers?

I heard Dizzy while I was in the local co-op earlier and heard someone humming along to it, I feel this is a good sign?! I think if Olly gets a decent spot in the final show (avoiding any of the big hitters too close in the running order) that he will be on the left side of the board come the end.

My personal favourites are Norway, Spain, Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. I think Dizzy is a grower, which is fine if it has been getting a decent amount of airplay in Europe. I also like Ireland and really hope it makes it out the semis. My toddler loves Dizzy (swing song as she calls it), Croatia, Sweden and Netherlands.

Very jealous of anyone who is headed to Malmö, but very much looking forward to next week and all things Eurovision.

Just cos the BBC are hyping it, doesn't mean it's getting the same pressure and plays elsewhere in Europe.

There's some debate over the Fan village and screens on social media. Last year Liverpool had a free 30000 capacity arena for fans to watch the semis and finals and some of the performers. It doesn't look terribly favourable compared to Turin either.

Photos of what is apparently the main stage this year have been circling and there's been more than a few comments along the lines of 'Willy Wonka Experience'. At first I thought it was a Philomena Cunk style wind up. Now I'm wondering if it's actually real.

Kinda wondering how it's going to pan out and if it's genuine at this point!

We'll be in the Eurovision Village on the night. I'll post a picture to - hopefully - disprove the small town carnival vibe!

Ireland's rehearsal clip from yesterday looks incredible, as does Ukraine. So excited!

There were a lot of concerns and criticism about Turin before the contest too and it all seems to come together so have faith! My only in-person experience though has been Liverpool and the fan village area was so good, I’m surprised that’s not just a standard blueprint for all contests. My only gripe with Liverpool is that the Ukrainian village part of the fanzone was tucked away and I felt that should have been up-front and centre.

I’m beside myself with excitement now and don’t really have anyone irl to talk to about the build-up. I have friends who watch and enjoy it but would never consider getting familiar with the songs and artists, watching rehearsal clips etc beforehand.

I really hope Ireland do well. I have to admit that despite being a fan of alt/rock music, I didn’t like the song at all on a first listen but it has grown on me and I love it. My worry is that a lot of people seeing it for the first time next week won’t really get it and it could suffer. I wonder what the voting patterns are – are Eurovision fans who have followed the build up and have established favourites more likely to actually vote than those watching for the first time?

I keep switching back and forth between Switzerland and Italy as my personal favourite though. I’m becoming obsessed with both songs. I have to say that I also really like Czechia/Pedestal although it’s not getting any love at all as far as I can see.

Does anyone else get a moment of excitement if and when you hear a Eurovision song in the wild? I was on holiday recently, admittedly in an European country which takes it a bit more seriously than us and got a blast of Fuego coming from a nightclub as we walked past one night. Later in the week, Snap was playing in the background when we were having dinner in a restaurant. Closer to home, I follow a particular sport/team where they often play Heroes after a win – with 10k people singing along to the chorus, I often wonder how many of them know that it’s a Eurovision song.

Turin was generally a bit of a mess organisationally (the common language for production crews was English, and you couldn't move for exasperated foreign staffers!).

We went to the fan park one semi, the arena for a live semi and the final for the jury show, and watched the final in an official fan venue. The staff at the official venue seemed genuinely surprised to see so many fans, and we're dragging out chairs still as the anthem was playing!

There also wasn't much locally arranged stuff for Eurovision. Liverpool went all out, they were brilliant - the stage foreman was an absolutely great warm up guy.

However, it was Italy and it was Eurovision, and it was a classic year for acts, so everyone was pretty happy.

And I got a personal fist pump from Sam Ryder during a rehearsal.

Croatia has overtaken Switzerland in the odds - has anything happened in the rehearsals to make that happen? Switzerland were so far ahead.

You really wouldn't have known Eurovision was happening in Turin!

We watched the final in the park which was absolutely brilliant but OMG the queues! Two hours to get in and over an hour for one of the few bars.

I fear Malmo will be similar given the no bag rule and having to empty our pockets like naughty schoolboys.

That's interesting, I heard from a couple of folk at the time who were apprehensive about going given the publicity in the week or so before but they felt it all came together really well and had a ball - perhaps, as TheCats has said, the whole Eurovision in Italy thing just put a smile on everyone's face so the cracks were disregarded for many.

I do know someone who is in Lisbon over Eurovision weekend in 2018. They have no interest in the contest but even so they said there was absolutely no indication of anything out of the ordinary happening in the city and they wouldn't have known it was there if I hadn't told them. In contrast, Liverpool went all out to cover the city in eurovision decor. I would ahve expected it to be similar in Malmo but it's really interesting to hear about the different approaches.

I agree about the stage management in Liverpool, Mike (iirc) was brilliant at warming up and instructing the crowd. I remember the moment in semi1 when, after being absolutely silent through the intro, as instructed, the majority of the crowd gave an involuntary "awww" as Paul O'Grady appeared on screen. The look on his face was simultaneously "I told you to be quiet" and "Yep, I totally get it".

Yes! Especially when on holiday. It's like feeling at home away from home. Weirdly. Eurovision songs get much more airtime outside the UK generally. Mainly cos we don't do 'foreign' I suspect.

Btw watch EastEnders tonight.

In terms of the bookies odds changing, I think it's the rehearsals that's changed it.

The Dutch entry was really closing in on the Croatian one and was second fav with some bookies right up until just before their first rehearsal. The hype was huge. Eurovision world had it pinned as having a 16% chance of winning at one point on Tuesday.

Then there was a certain amount of almost disappointment and many comments about Joost trolling and it not being the finished version. And yes the Big Bird reveal which I think has gone down particularly badly. I think there's hints of its being feared a bit of a turkey...

It's since absolutely tanked. And still dropping. It's down to 5th fav with only an 8% chance of winning. My thoughts on that were that there was a lot of thought that the Dutch entry would win the televote taking votes off Croatia.

There's also the fact the Official Eurovision Fan club voted Croatia as their winner and that's slowly filtering through.

Croatia had their second rehearsal yesterday so I suspect that's come across much better - their first was really flat (I've not caught up and watched yet). Switzerland had theirs today. Pictures indicate a jump - brave move. Jumping + vocals = Hmm. (Again yet to see(.

We shall have to see. Still to be convinced that Croatia will have it. Italy has their first rehearsal still to come later this evening too. So will be interesting to see what the betting does.

Remember Croatia are less likely to do well with the jury - their strength is with the televote. Switzerland and Italy look likely to be fairly solid across both votes and that makes a huge difference.

Meanwhile Ollie Alexander had his first rehearsal earlier this afternoon. First pics are out. (Not seen a vocal yet).

It is NOT what I was expecting. Pics suggest we've gone full out on it which I'm not surprised at. If he pulls it off, it will help (It certainly always helped Sergey Lazarev).

With it in mind, I've been trying to find somewhere (anywhere) that might be showing the semi on Tuesday night in Copenhagen. I thought there'd be a bar or something, but found nothing advertised online yet. Our hotel for the night is very basic and I don't think has a TV in the room. (Schoolgirl error in hindsight. We stayed in its sister hotel just over a year ago - that had one in reception so I'm hoping that's our worst case). Otherwise I need to come up with a plan B.

Thursday we at least have a TV at the hotel. Though we had planned to do the Eurovillage (having reservations about that - we are at the afternoon show so getting in may be an issue in itself - we are hoping to go Wednesday so we'll see how the land lies).

Either way we'll have a blast. I don't see my friend often as we live in different countries so one of us has to fly to see the other regardless. I last saw her for Liverpool. We have a couple of restaurants booked at least and no kids which will be fab. It could be a lot worse even if it does go all a bit Willy Wonka!

Yes, I heard the Italian entry when I was in a shop buying yet another handbag in Rome a few weeks ago. I was ridiculously excited.

The city of Liverpool put on such an incredible show for the whole week (even the weather was fab!) and I honestly don't think it'll ever be topped.

Lisbon had the Eurovision Village in the main Rossio Square. You could definitely tell it was going on and there were massive flags outside the airport.

On the night, Riga had hot air balloons over the river in the city representing all the countries which was spine-tinglingly beautiful.

I hope you have an amazing time RedToothBrush and any restaurant recommendations would be appreciated 😊

The comments on the Tic Tok for Ollie’s rehearsal are mostly very positive. It looks like it will have a big visual impact.

Ooh blimey 😳

https://x.com/Sir_Luis07/status/1786087418052972718

Looks fun.

I was about to say "he's learned from Mae Muller's terrible staging last year." and then went onto YouTube to check my memory that she was let down by terrible staging, only to be reminded that no, she was let down by terrible singing. I had to give up after 30 seconds: it was absolutely shocking. I genuinely thought that it was a good song, albeit heavily ripped off from Flowers, but the performance was so bad.

IIRC the UK hasn't had good staging since Bucks Fizz (by the standards of the time).

Yaas, Olly!!!

Currently dancing around my kitchen to Maneskin and getting so excited for next week.

Recommend this place in Copenhagen. Been there before.

https://www.rizraz.dk/mad/

The thing to have is the Mediterranean Buffet. It's all you can eat. Affordable - by Copenhagen standards at least! 145DKK for lunch (until 3pm) and 185DKK for dinner (about £21). Bottomless jug of water 30DKK (just over £3) The catch is it's vegetarian but please don't let that put you off. It's genuinely brilliant. We wanted to try everything. They do other dishes too (mainly burgers and fish) if that does work for you.

Would advise booking.

We were in Copenhagen just over a year ago and found it really expensive to eat out anywhere (even McDonald's is expensive compared to the UK).

I believe that it's generally slightly cheaper in Sweden, but only this is relative.

We will be hitting the supermarket too...

Sam Ryder may beg to differ 😁

Oh that's right, Sam did have decent staging didn't he. I only remembered his performance, which was flawless.

Last year’s staging was better than we have had before. Yes the live performance was the problem - I quite liked the song too. They have taken it up to another level this year. The odds have gone up to put us in the top 10.

Does anyone else get a moment of excitement if and when you hear a Eurovision song in the wild?

Two weeks after we came back from Eurovision, we went to our local pride (just a little Birmingham suburb). The surprise guest was Dadi Freyr!

Croatia's rehearsals have been solid, but Switzerland looks very odd.

Imagine a flamingo dropped on a satellite dish.

The outfit is absolutely hideous and it just makes the entry look like a joke. It's a real shame because with better styling and more cohesive staging this had a really good chance of winning.

Oh my. Olly and his boxers in their boxers look awesome.
That's got to get us some votes, surely?!