[Music] Eurovision Song Contest 2024 ***Official Thread & Sweepstake**

[BluesRockDJ]

I’ve seen worse at Brighton Pride at 10am in front of the kids float…

But that's not broadcast on international television , or more to the point, judged ?

 

[Greg Bobkin]

One thing I can't get my head round is that he clearly watched it all.

I doubt he did. A quick look on Twitter would be enough for him to post a rant like that.

 

[Mellotron]

I thought 2023’s set of songs were miles better than last night’s.

 

[Insel affe]

As an outsider who generally has a dislike for this generic bullshite, and has watched this as a family unit, i thought this yeas show was poor, what struck me the most was that there were roumours that any pro Palestine messages would be not tolerated. However the television coverage showed on numerous times people waving Israel flags,
I struggle with that, money money money

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

My biggest disappointment was Cyprus and Greece not giving each other 12 points. It’s normally a given and ruined the evening for me.

They did in the public vote. Don’t worry.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

In other words the one you liked didn't win and you're sulking.

Yes

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

Israel got 12 points from 12 countries. Quite interesting.

Shows the disconnect between the Dutch performance and the Dutch public.

Also Ireland gave Israel 10 points.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

As an outsider who generally has a dislike for this generic bullshite, and has watched this as a family unit, i thought this yeas show was poor, what struck me the most was that there were roumours that any pro Palestine messages would be not tolerated. However the television coverage showed on numerous times people waving Israel flags,
I struggle with that, money money money

Israel were competing in the contest, and had supporters there, just like every other competing nation had their flag-waving fans in the arena.

 

[Bodian]

Israel got 12 points from 12 countries. Quite interesting.

Shows the disconnect between the Dutch performance and the Dutch public.

Also Ireland gave Israel 10 points.

View attachment 182256

The UK equivalent would look a bit more uniform around the outside!

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Israel were competing in the contest, and had supporters there, just like every other competing nation had their flag-waving fans in the arena.

Quite. And to finish the sentence 'and Palestine did not have a contestant, and so you can guess the rest'.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

The UK equivalent would look a bit more uniform around the outside!

TV voting for Ireland was weird. Either quite high votes, or zeros

And voting for Switzerland was surprisingly consistent. Much more consistent than I would have expected for such an irritating song.

Back in the day I always though the voting was rigged. Somehow.....today.....whether it is or isn't strangely doesn't bother me.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

It’s never been any different, why complain about it now? I personally feel that Britain’s entry for this year lacked the essential humour that goes along with camp, and inadvertently turned into something quite grubby.

We’re an odd bunch us in the UK and Ireland, we seem incapable of just joining in, and instead want to push everything to extremes. The British entry was just a bunch of guys touching each other’s cocks, nothing wrong with it among consenting adults but not in the spirit of playful camp that the rest of Europe seems happy to work within.

The Irish entry was again a BDSM fever dream that would resonate with catholic school graduates and the Catholic Church, but only a select few outside of it. The reason we can’t catch a break at Eurovision is that we always want to play our own game, instead of joining in with everyone else’s. Reminds me of something political that happened a few years ago where we publicly showed our self-hatred to the world. We just don’t understand.

It’s changed significantly over the years, and become 'political' in a quite different way. Yes, Greece and Cyprus would usually vote for each other. UK and Ireland, Scandinavia. The Eastern Europeans when they arrived. Aside — but was that being political or do the same ethnic/cultural types simply prefer the type of music they know and have grown up with?

Since the rise of social media Eurovision has become political in a quite different way. Now it’s a tool for channeling support towards political causes and favoured social and sexual identities. Performers are being threatened unless they pull out or sign up to statements like the 'Queers for Palestine' thing. The UK guy's supposed to be a singer and musician, yet here he was issuing a statement on the state of Middle East politics, sounding like a hostage being forced at gunpoint to read out his support for the noble aims of his captors.

As for your tetchy Brexit point — 'why oh why can’t we be like everyone else?' — this doesn’t ring true either. We’ve doled up tons of cheesey musical shite over the years, and even won it now and then. We effectively won Eurovision a couple of years ago though the Ukraine campaign deprived him of the prize on the night. I don’t know if our entries are that much different in style to the others. I just think they’re usually even worse than the other standard grinny Europop we’re served up every year.

 

[sparkie]

Pretty awesome that we managed to pull our trademark "nul points" out of the bag when all seemed lost.

 

[herecomesaregular]

I caught about half an hour of it, having not seen it for years. It was simply just like having a Eurotrash flashback from the 90s.

edit - and tbh I was a bit bored by that. I preferred Eurotrash late night, on the edges of tv where it seemed a bit subversive now "this type of thing" is everywhere, every tom dick and harry and v mainstream..... and a bit much for me. God, I've got old.

 

[One Love]

Israel got 12 points from 12 countries. Quite interesting.

Shows the disconnect between the Dutch performance and the Dutch public.

Also Ireland gave Israel 10 points.

View attachment 182256

I don't see why it's interesting, Jewish people all over Europe had an opportunity to demonstrate their support for their country in a public way.
This is reflected every year by the public voting in every country. Of course if there's a really good song then this can outweigh it but this year was a particularly poor year.

It's why we get nul points. Brits abroad don't give a toss about Eurovision so don't follow this so we don't get peripheral votes. We have to a have a great song, like Sam Ryder's recent, to show on the leaderboard.


We are all or nothing.

 

[chickens]

It’s changed significantly over the years, and become 'political' in a quite different way. Yes, Greece and Cyprus would usually vote for each other. UK and Ireland, Scandinavia. The Eastern Europeans when they arrived. Aside — but was that being political or do the same ethnic/cultural types simply prefer the type of music they know and have grown up with?

Both. The audience vote tells you who liked which song, the politics is in the country by country vote, and always has been. That hasn’t changed at all, the political alliances do from time to time, but that’s always been the way.

Since the rise of social media Eurovision has become political in a quite different way. Now it’s a tool for channeling support towards political causes and favoured social and sexual identities. Performers are being threatened unless they pull out or sign up to statements like the 'Queers for Palestine' thing. The UK guy's supposed to be a singer and musician, yet here he was issuing a statement on the state of Middle East politics, sounding like a hostage being forced at gunpoint to read out his support for the noble aims of his captors.

Here’s an article that you can read if you choose. Eurovision has always been political. I particularly enjoyed the fact the 1974 Portuguese entry was instrumental in a political revolution.

The History of Eurovision: An In-depth Look from 1956 to Present - Eurovision Village

Explore the captivating journey of Eurovision from its inception in 1956 to the present day. Delve into the triumphs, iconic moments, and cultural impact of this beloved international song contest.

www.eurovisionvillage.com

As for social/sexual identities, Dana was back in the 1990s, almost 30 years ago.

As for your tetchy Brexit point — 'why oh why can’t we be like everyone else?' — this doesn’t ring true either. We’ve doled up tons of cheesey musical shite over the years, and even won it now and then. We effectively won Eurovision a couple of years ago though the Ukraine campaign deprived him of the prize on the night. I don’t know if our entries are that much different in style to the others. I just think they’re usually even worse than the other standard grinny Europop we’re served up every year.

Actually I’d argue that we rarely get both the singer and the song right. We tend to have a decent performer with a nothing song, or a good song with a bang-average performer. Sam Ryder being an exception in recent years, but as you say, Ukraine understandably taking home the prize.

P.s. nothing tetchy about my Brexit point, just pointing out that our deeply ingrained sense of British exceptionalism leads us to frequently cut off our nose to spite our face. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. I personally feel our country could improve if we could muck in and play nice, but I frequently cherish one of our most distinctive national characteristics.

 

[Beanstalk]

Really? It started at 8pm, it's a family show, the UK entry appeared to set in a gent's toilet and the singer stroked another man's cock.

It's not a family show - especially in its modern format. It's wonderfully popular, positive and fun, but it's aimed almost completely at adults. Kids have Junior Eurovision. It starts at 8 in the UK because it's a 4 hour show in which the majority of the audience start at 9pm.

And if you're suddenly worried about Eurovision's content, then hard to think that this, from 2014, is any better.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

P.s. nothing tetchy about my Brexit point, just pointing out that our deeply ingrained sense of British exceptionalism leads us to frequently cut off our nose to spite our face. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. I personally feel our country could improve if we could muck in and play nice, but I frequently cherish one of our most distinctive national characteristics.

"Muck in and play nice", "British exceptionalism."

Like a lot of people, I’m afraid you have a naive sense of how nationalities operate in the real world. Most Brits have far more in common with most Germans than the Germans have with the French or Italians, for instance. And based on nearly 25 years living in mainland Europe, I can assure you that French exceptionalism, Swiss exceptionalism, and German exceptionalism (etc) is alive and well. It’s called patriotism and every nation does it to some extent. The difference is that when we do it, it’s described it as nationalism, exceptionalism, even racism. The idea that our European neighbours always rub along in a fluffy cloud of kumbaya harmony is a total myth. On the ground, there's a lot of antipathy and also a lot of fraternity between certain social and political demographics across nations, rather than country vs country.

TBH, it’s an impossible discussion to have without lapsing into generalisations which I’ve already started to do myself. All I’ll say is that it’s not quite as simple and clear cut as many people think.

 

[chickens]

"Muck in and play nice", "British exceptionalism."

Like a lot of people, I’m afraid you have a naive sense of how nationalities operate in the real world. Most Brits have far more in common with most Germans than the Germans have with the French or Italians, for instance. And based on nearly 25 years living in mainland Europe, I can assure you that French exceptionalism, Swiss exceptionalism, and German exceptionalism (etc) is alive and well. It’s called patriotism and every nation does it to some extent. The difference is that when we do it, it’s described it as nationalism, exceptionalism, even racism. The idea that our European neighbours always rub along in a fluffy cloud of kumbaya harmony is a total myth. On the ground, there's a lot of antipathy and also a lot of fraternity between certain social and political demographics across nations, rather than country vs country.

TBH, it’s an impossible discussion to have without lapsing into generalisations which I’ve already started to do myself. All I’ll say is that it’s not quite as simple and clear cut as many people think.

I’m not suggesting that it’s all peace, love and fraternity inside Europe, but we do appear to have an especially developed sense of our own importance.

I agree we should leave it here. Eurovision is fun, and there are plenty of other threads to discuss weightier political matters on. For what it’s worth I quite liked falsetto Bagpuss, and enjoyed many of the acts. Roll on next year.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

I think it shows 2 things:

1. That people have no problem with camp, provided it is delivered with fun and /or style. This was soft core porn.

2. in their desire to shock the song and the vocals got lost. The song is a crucial part. It was overshadowed by all the writhings of the dancers in the sleazy public toilet set.

He was horribly out of tune as well

It was just an awful effort all round.