Anyone who knows me is well aware that Eurovision is pretty much the best night of the year. A night of car crash costumes, oblique and often meaningless lyrics, and inane music. Except it USED to be like that. These days it's actually pretty good, which is slightly disappointing. Mind you, even if the music is a lot better there days, there's still enough wacky costumes, bizarre lyrics and extreme political incorrectness to go around.
This year's contest in Sweden had 26 songs, hardly any from the former Yugoslav nations, but with plenty of former Russian nations on display. And of course Ireland and the UK were in there too.Eurovision is always best with company, preferably company that appreciates it. This year, the second year I have been back in the UK to see it, I was with around 20 people, including some Americans who were not really familiar with the idea of Eurovision. These are the best people to watch it with.
2013 really did not disappoint, even though there were no singers dressed as penguins, no Celine Dion, no Finnish rock gods, no Cliff, no Lulu, no Sandie, no Abba, no Daz Sampson, no Englebert and not even any Scooch.
What we did get last night was Bonnie Tyler (smart move by the UK, an artists who is very popular in Europe with a song that never had a hope of winning - it was probably too good for Eurovision, a little like Andy Abraham in 2008 whose song was my favourite UK entry ever), we got a Ukrainian giant (who was actually American), we got a Romanian dude who sang like an operatic soprano, we got Greek guys in kilts singing about free alcohol, and we got a Finnish bride who was desperate for her boyfriend of 8 years to marry her, so entered a song saying that in front of hundreds of millions of people. The guy probably ran a mile.
That's Eurovision. bringing the world together.
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