MAY 16
WELCOME TO THE 10TH EDITION OF THE EUROVISION DIARY!
MAY 16
Sincere apologies for no update yesterday but it was my 50th birthday so I decided I deserved at least one day off! And after working so hard for 10 months with a project, you hit an emotional hangover when it all comes to an end. Well……… the drinks at the after show party and the birthday party the day after didn’t help at all to be honest………. And now it’s time to wrap things up, after a little more than 10 000 000 hits on the webpage, a total of 1 000 000 cups of coffee consumed, and three stunning live broadcasts to a couple of hundred million people around the world. Sitting here, on my patio, looking back, I have to say that it has been a great ride, and I want to send a BIG THANK YOU to everyone involved that made this happen!
It was just one of those shows where everything fell perfectly into place. Måns and Petra did a fantastic job hosting the three shows, and many new things including a permanent Australian entry, Live Broadcasts in China and America and streamed live on YouTube, plus a new voting system that did not reveal the winner until the very last vote. And of course an international megastar, my buddy Justin Timberlake!
The energy in The Globe was amazing. People were dancing on the floor, in their seats, and there was even a conga line in Greenroom.
A greenroom that of course went totally bonkers when Justin came in there and gave them all a pep talk!
Minutes later, the same man entered our stage and performed “Rock Your Body” and his brand new track “Can’t Stop the Feeling”, that went straight in at number ONE on many charts around the world. Click on the image if you want to see his performance!
We also pulled off one of the funniest interval acts I’ve seen. “Love Love Peace Peace” is a song with ALL the ingredients you need to win a Eurovision Song Contest, including hamster wheels, fake pianos on fire, Alexander Rybak playing the violin, and Lordi of course. Yes, it IS the real Lordi. Click on the image if you want to check it out. And yes………. the stage crew HATED this part of the show……..
We also got educated by EBU’s own Lynda Woodruff that ended her appearance with a stagedive. It’s quite shocking how many people out there that don’t know that this is one of Sweden’s greatest singers: Sarah Dawn Finer. Click on the image to check it out!
Once the 26 competing countries had performed their song, it was time for the long wait during voting. This is usually quite boring, but thanks to the new voting system, it was great fun to watch. But some of us decided it was more fun running around in the hallways of The Globe, making funny gestures, like Timo and Morgan.
One of the things that makes this show so unique is of course the fans that travel from all over the world and go absolutely nuts in the venue. Check this pretty girl out! That is a pretty awesome dress! At least if you go to a Eurovision Final!
Halfway through the show, Australia was in a big lead, and it looked like they were going to win. Needless to say, they were quite happy in the greenroom, getting 12 points after 12 points after 12 points from the Jury votes.
Meanwhile, Russia, who did an amazing performance, was getting more and more nervous in the Greenroom. Once we were done with the Jury votes, Russia was pretty far from the winning. But they scored big with the Televotes and got the highest score: 361! But would it be enough to beat Ukraine, that had been climbing on the betting charts that past couple of weeks??….
But after the last points were handed out, Ukraine stood as the proud winner with their song “1944” performed by Jamala who won with 534 points followed by Australia with 511 points and Russia coming in at third place with 491. CONGRATULATIONS UKRAINE! Click on the image of her performing the winning song, that she wrote both music and lyrics to all by herself. And pay attention to the fact that we use confetti! For the first time in the entire contest! It was just load out around the corner, so why not!
What goes up must come down! And while the show crew dragged their sore feet to the afterparty at Euroclub, a fresh night shift came in to start taking down the production.
If you are looking for really cool stage arcs, I know where you can find them cheap right now!
Oskar and Magnus bringing down the sound system.
While the riggers pulled down all the points. We beat our scheduled load out time with 20 hours. Job well done team!
With that, we close the books of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest and get ready for some well deserved summer holiday with family and friends. Thank you to all crew, technical partners & suppliers for being just mega awesome superstars. This would not have been possible without any of you!
AND THANK YOU ALL YOU READERS!
This is Ola Melzig checking out after 10 months in the Eurovision Service.
P.S The full credit list will be posted tomorrow!
