Everything in Liverpool breathed Eurovision, but where were The Beatles? | Eurovision Song Contest

Not surprisingly, the professional juries awarded the Swedish Loreen (39) the most points by far. She is a top-notch professional woman who underwent a Spartan regimen for six months. She played sports, trained, rehearsed, and followed a strict diet in which there was no room for excesses. “I haven’t touched a glass of wine for half a year, that will change now,” she said at the post-final press conference.

Loreen lived up to her favorite role Tattoo with precision and repetition. His performance was more like a video clip than a performance in front of a live audience, but it worked. Especially with the experts from the country juries, but also with the viewers. The Swede placed first and second respectively, while her biggest competitor fell behind the professional juries with fourth place.

Still, the Finn liked Käärijä (Cha Cha Cha) feel like a winner too. She clearly won with the viewers and was also much more popular in the Liverpool room than Loreen, who did not receive the full 12 points in any televote. Käärijä managed to do it in no less than eighteen countries.

After his victory in 2012 (Euphoria) Loreen the Irish matched Johnny Logan with two wins, though Logan also won as a writer alongside Linda Martin in 1992. (Because I). He also led Sweden alongside Ireland with seven wins and ensured that the next year exactly half a century after ABBA’s triumphant march with waterloo The Eurovision Song Contest takes place again in Sweden.

Even the weather cooperated. The forecasts for Liverpool, rain all week, did not come true. The city embraced the Eurovision Song Contest as Rotterdam would have loved to do two years ago. The corona then prevented the festivities along the Meuse as they took place on the banks of the Mersey last week. Liverpool was happy, colourful, sunny and breathed even more music than the city normally breathes. The pubs and karaoke bars, the different fan zones and the surroundings of the Liverpool Arena; everything radiated Eurovision.

Last week, a casual passer-by might stumble upon a spontaneous performance by Sophie Ellis-Bexter or Sam Ryder, last year’s runner-up who unwittingly put British contestant Mae Muller (finishing second from last) emphatically in the final on Saturday with a strong guest. appearance cast shadow

On TV broadcasts, the city was only slightly more visible in the final, probably out of modesty because the honor of hosting the event actually belonged to Ukraine. On Saturday night there was room for famous Liverpool music, although the Beatles were conspicuously absent. John Lennon Imagine was in it, but the most famous band in town didn’t get a part anywhere.

It must be said: the Liverpool organization did everything possible to involve Ukraine in the festival. The presenters who did their job in yellow and blue dresses, the city that had yellow-blue accents in all kinds of places, the festival logo that contained a Ukrainian flag. “Comfortable”, described Oksana Skybinska as leader of the Ukrainian delegation in Liverpool.

Ukraine also returned repeatedly in all sorts of guises at the various shows. From very subtle (Duncan Laurence’s painted fingernail) to evident in movies and interval acts. The war-torn country was not forgotten in the city either. The streets of Liverpool were dyed yellow and blue last week. On Bold Street, known for its pubs, a large piece of art depicting last year’s winner Kalush Orchestra dominated the view.

Despite this, the EBU did not allow President Zelensky to address the world during the final. The European umbrella broadcaster wants to avoid mixing politics and Eurovision at all costs. That happened anyway, because quite a few participants brought anti-war songs. Croatia, Ukraine, Switzerland, the Czech Republic – each of them presented songs that were clearly politically charged.

Where Duncan Laurence in the final with his version of You will never Walk alone caused a goosebumps moment in Europe, the Dutch entry into Liverpool touched very few people. The elimination in the first semifinal was made clear when the organization shared the details after the final. Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper, watching the final at Liverpool Arena from the stands, finished with burning daylight as thirteenth with a measly 7 points.

The Dutch contribution to the game came secondhand on Saturday. For example, there was an orange tint to Finland’s second place because dancer Jesse Wijnans (Breda) had a role in the act around Cha Cha Cha. And producer Wouter Hardy kept his name high at Eurovision by finishing in the top 10 for the third time against bookmakers’ expectations. After the win with Arcade (Duncan Laurence, 2019) and third place with All the universe (Gjon’s Tears of Switzerland, 2021), this time he finished in eighth position with bridges (Alika from Estonia).

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