Eurovision

Bid process Eurovision 2022 announced

Eurovision Song Contest 2022 host broadcaster RAI has announced a bid process for the host city. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) fixed a number of criteria for a host city. For example, there must be an international airport no more than 90 minutes from the host city. There must be more than 2.000 hotel rooms in the city itself or it’s near area. And of course the venue itself is an important thing. The venue must have a capacity of around 8.000 to 10.000 people. It must have a main hall with the capacity to house the set and all other requirements needed to produce a high level broadcast production. It must contain space for a press centre, delegation spaces, dressing rooms and so on. The venue must be available 6 weeks before the rehearsals start, the 2 rehearsal and broadcasting weeks and one week after the contest. Probably the first of the interested cities will withdraw soon, because they can not live up to the standard. Let’s see were we go after Naples (1965) and Rome (1991)…..

UEFA 2020: 2nd semifinal

As we said yesterday, it starts to look like a Eurovision Song contest. We already have the 2nd semifinal tonight. England plays against Denmark. And that is the moment when we go back to 2007. Both the United Kingdom (with an English group) and Denmark had contestants who were dressed quite remarkable. The British group Scooch were dressed as flight attendants, while a transvestite represented Denmark. Watch and enjoy!

UEFA 2020: 1st Semifinal

UEFA 2020, the European Soccer Championship, begins to look a little bit like Eurovision. Today is the first semifinal. However, there will be no 10 finalists, only one country gets through. This match is between two Southern European countries: Italy and Spain. And again we chose for duets; both are love songs. In 1989, Ana Oxa and Fausto Leali sang “Avrei voluto” (I would have wanted….) for Italy. In 2018 Amaya and Alfred sang “Tu canción” (Your song). One song about someone who doesn’t get the one he wants, the other one about someone who got wat he/she wants.

UEFA 2020 Quarter finals: DAY 2

Today is the day for the other twho quarter finals in the European soccer Championship. The first match will be between Czech Republic and Denmark. Both countries have sent boybands in the past. Czech Republic sent Lake Malawi in 2019. Denmark sent boybands more than once. We chose for the Anti Social Media, representing their country in 2015 with “The way you are”. The second match is between Ukraine and England. We chose winners from both countries. Ruslana won for Ukraine with her song “Wild dances”. The United Kingdom won with Katrina and The Waves and “Love shine a light”. And although Katrina is American, the Waves are English.

UEFA 2020: Quarter finals DAY 1

We are getting closer and closer to the final of UEFA 2020, the European Soccer Championship. Today we will have two quarter finals. The first match will be between Spain and Switzerland. In the sixties, both countries had a song with a double title. In 1965, Conchita Bautista brought the song “Que bueno, que bueno” for Spain. In 1969, Paola Del Medico sang “Bonjour, bonjour” for Switzerland. For the second match, Belgium vs Italy, we look at duos. Belgium sent quite a few, but the most outstanding one was the duo Nicole & Hugo in 1973. Their song was “Baby, baby”, but they are particularly famous for… well have a look yourself. In 1985, Al Bano & Romina Power represented Italy. They had Europe wide fame already when they sang “Magic, oh magic”.

UEFA Eighth finals: DAY 4

The 4th and last day of the UEFA Eighth Finals has arrived. With, again, two matches. First we start with England vs Germany. They won in the early 1980s in a row. The United Kingdom won with Bucks Fizz in 1981. One year later, in the small city of Harrogate in England, Nicole got the prize with “Ein bißchen Frieden”. Sweden will meet Ukraine today. Both countries once sent a song about an angel. In 1998, Jill Johnson sang “Kärleken är” (En ängel flög forbi mot himmelen så fri, men hon lämnade sitt leende). In 2011 it was Ukrainian Mika Newton who sang the song “Angel”.

UEFA Eighth finals: DAY 3

It is already the 3rd day of the UEFA eighth finals. The first match of today is between Croatia and Spain. Both countries decided to celebrate with a song. Croatian Daria sang her song “Celebrate” in 2011, while Spanish Rosa sang “Europe’s living a celebration” in 2002. France meets Switzerland. These countries are united in one man: Jean Philippe. The French singer participated for both countries: in 1959 he defended the French colours with the song “Oui, oui, oui, oui”. In 1962 he came out for Switzerland with the song “Le retour”.

UEFA 2020 eighth finals: DAY 2

We already go to the second day of the eighth finals in the European Soccer Championship. The first match is between Czech Republic and The Netherlands. For this match, we go back to 1968. The Czech Republic did not participate, but one of the most popular Czech singers, Karel Gott, represented Austria. He sang “Tausend Fenster”. The Netherlands were represented by one of their most popular singers: Ronnie Tober. He sang “Morgen”. During and after Eurovision, the two became friends. They remained so until Karel Gott passed away in 2019. The other match of today will be between Belgium and Portugal. We have only one song here that combines both countries. In 2005, Belgium was represented by Nuno Resende. The singer was born in Porto but moved to Belgium with his family when he was 12.

UEFA 2020: DAY 13

It’s gonna be the last day of the first round today. Four matches will be played again. We can put the first two countries, Poland and Sweden, in only one song. In 2018, Poland was represented by Polish DJ Gromee and Swedish singer Lukas Meijer. They sang “Light me up” in a Polish/Swedish co-production. The second match will be between Slovakia and Spain. For both countries, we chose a ballad, sung by a duo. For Slovakia we chose for the 2009 contestants Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková and their duet “Leť tmou”. The Spanish song is a love duet from 2018: Amaia and Alfred sang “Tu canción”. Portugal will meet France tonight. Both countries most often sing in their native languages. So we decided to pick the exceptions. In 2008, Sebastien Tellier sang “Divine”. Only a few lines were in French, the biggest part in English. This year, the Portuguese band The Black Mamba sang it’s song “Love is on my side” in English. And we have the match between Hungary and Germany today. The city of Munich is not allowed to make a statement and colour the stadium in rainbow colours. That’s what UEFA decided. However, we don’t need UEFA’s permission. So we add Kati Wolf’s “What about my dream”; the 2011 Hungarian entry. It was the fan favorite, and we all know that a big part of the Eurovision fan base is at least very gay friendly! Even more clear was the German singer Lou in 2003 in her song “Let’s get happy”. Why? Well, just listen!

A Month After Rotterdam

It’s been exactly one month after the Grand Final of The Eurovision Song Contest 2021! A lot of rumors, new information has been going around since then, but what are the 2021 artists doing? Måneskin The rock band from Italy, which won this years contest, are touring all over Europe at this moment! They have quite a few things on their schedule. Three days ago they were in Amsterdam, yesterday in Gothenburg and right now they are in Copenhagen! And this is only for interviews or to perform a few songs, not even for their music tour. Barbara Pravi Barbara is having a blast with her career right now! She’s slaying on Time Square, performing at Roland Garros and selling out her European tour. In two days she will release her new song “Le Jour Se Lève”. Gjon’s Tears The third placer Gjon is enjoying his success of Tout l’Univers. At the begin of June he performed his song on Albanian television. Besides this, he won the ESC Radio Awards 2021 for best male artist and best song yesterday! TIX While placing 18th at the song contest, TIX is doing well in Norway. Two weeks ago he performed at his first gig since covid and he is planning even more gigs now! Go_A Shum was everything they needed for their career to spark this bright! The Ukrainian song is still 4th in the USA Viral charts and they are having some gigs in Ukraine (of course). They have also announced that they will be playing in Amsterdam at Het Grote Songfestivalfeest in December. Tusse Since the Eurovision Song Contest Tusse from Sweden has been doing a lot of things. He had his 2021 prom party, he graduated from high school and he has also got his tonsils taken out. Right now he has to rest because of that, maybe reading this article will help him to get rid of his boredom. Daði Freyr He just missed out on top 3 but that’s not holding him back from releasing music! Daði has released his LP “Welcome” the night before the Grand Final but he is still profiting from it! He even made a music video for his new song “Somebody Else Now”. What have you been doing since The Eurovision Song Contest 2021? We have for sure been listening to the songs of the artists. photo credits: EBU