Eurovision: Embarassing or Just Good Fun? (From Worcester News)

Eurovision: Embarassing or Just Good Fun?

1:32pm Sunday 13th May 2007

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Last night saw the annual Eurovision Song Contest take place in Helsinki, hosted there because metal band Lordi won last year’s Eurovision song contest by a mile. I can’t believe that it is a year since Lordi won Eurovision, it seems like two minutes ago.

I had heard of them prior to Eurovision last year and I was blown away, so when they became the favourites to win it I was over the moon that finally rock and metal music was brought to the masses through – of all things – the Eurovision song contest.

Lordi were practically hailed as national heroes when they returned home from the contest and I believe that there was even a statue erected in the centre of Helsinki in their honour. It is a shame they weren’t allowed to be in it this year, as it did the Eurovision song contest good to be shaken up in that way.

Fast forward a year to last night’s Eurovision song contest, and what a dire set of songs! Our entry as usual was absolute rubbish, Scooch’s “Flying The Flag”, and received only 19 points. I suppose it was better than the embarrassment of having no points, but even so. The entry by Ireland came off the worst with only 5 points, a band called Dervish who I saw last year at the Cropredy Festival in Oxfordshire.

But the winner of last nights Eurovision was a Serbian ballad sung by Marija Serifovic, which wasn’t really my cup of tea at all. I actually quite liked the Finnish entry again this year, and there was a Ukraine drag queen who came second. Italy hasn’t taken part in Eurovision for years, citing it as too “embarrassing”. Terry Wogan’s commentary is always good for a laugh on Eurovision, even if it is somewhat annoying at times. I didn’t see it, but I can imagine what it would have been like!

Also, die hard Dr Who fans would have been disappointed to find that the series had been shelved for a week to make way for Eurovision, and yet “Any Dream Will Do” and the National Lottery draw still reigned supreme on BBC1.

Love it or loathe it, Eurovision is one of those events in the calendar that most people will never admit to watching or wanting anything to do with, but secretly inside they can’t wait to find out who won, or who got the dreaded “neu points”.

I must confess, I am one of them!