Kulturtanten 30: Yes, I was at the Eurovision final 2013!

(Scroll down for pics!)

... And it was a pretty darned amazing and magical experience. ;)

It was a better-than-usual show as far as I could tell (being slightly biased) - professional, efficient, spectactular, funny and with a lot of ”real music” - I guess songs like "Fairytale", "Satellite" and of course "Euphoria" have all paved the way. We had the usual ”spot the rip-off” in almost every track but that's all part of the Eurovision magic, isn't it? ;)

The arena was much smaller than it looks on tv. The atmosphere was just amazing both in the arena and outside it before, during and after the show, with so many awesome costumes and impromptu conversations between fans. We were all revved up to the max. ;) But it was also totally unreal seeing it live. I still can't believe we were there. Seeing it from above and a distance as we did, and hearing the arena sounds rather than the tv sound mix, made it hard to equate the tv broadcast with what we had in front of us. They were just two different experiences.

Two obvious advantages of being there, apart from the incredible atmosphere, were getting to see the dances uninterrupted (finally! Although there were fewer than usual this year I thought) and seeing all the behind the scenes (or rather onstage) stuff going on just outside the range of the cameras. People being taken on and off stage, the bridge being lowered, the little easel presenter, Petra Mede's official-looking pulpit was resting on, etc.

An unforgettable experience that I would recommend to anyone! Denmark isn't that far away, you know... ;)

Other highlights were Loreen's new song, Lynda Woodruff's video from Stockholm, the brilliant video about Swedes (did everyone spot our prime minister being forced out of a high-profile meeting to wash his coffee cup?), Zlatan saying hello, the Swedish folk dancers around the Midsummer pole in the Swedish smörgåsbord number, Sarah Dawn Finer singing ”The winner takes it all”, the audience's illuminated bracelets (I'm keeping mine!), Jean-Paul Gaultier and Carl Bildt in the audience, Lene presenting the German vote - and then mixing Sweden up with Norway! ;), Petra Mede's subtle humour and professional demeanour as one of the best Eurovision presenters I can remember, Malmö getting the final over Stockholm - it's been awesome guys!

Some low points: Did everyone twig who Sarah Dawn Finer was? She didn't seem to get much of an introduction and she deserves recognition for being so supremely multi-talented - funny AND musical!

Yohio presenting the Swedish votes and deliberately saying Hello Stockholm, making a cut at Malmö getting the event - you're just jealous!

Having Carola on stage for such a short time during the Swedish smörgåsbord number - I wish she had got a bit more air time!

The idiots presenting their national votes making the event go over time and stopping viewers from seing the whole of the Danish song. Come ON people, you all know time is short. Stop hogging the limelight to sing, show off your Swedish and talk about your own countries, and keep it short. We like the people who get it right much more.

The Eurovision song contest may ban political content in the songs, but that certainly doesn't make the competition non-political. Some people may think it's nice to see the Baltic states giving high marks to Russsian, while others may find the lack of historical sensibility a bit disturbing. Should dictatorships like Belarus and Azerbaijan really be given the legitimacy inherent in being part of the competion? It makes sense for organisations such as Eurovision street party, Malmös feminist network, Isolate Israel and Östgruppen to take the opportunity to give other perspectives on the competition. Other criticisms that could be raised are the homogenous ethnic mix onstage and the sexist plays on ”Swedish sin” in the Swedish smörgåsbord number in the middle of the show.

Having said that, there were a couple of political high points in the event too. It was awesome to have thefirst proper instance of Romani in the competition. I loved that Swedish television gave such a lot of air time to fathers taking parental leave in the Swedish smörgåsbord number. But for me the main focus of the night was on gay and lesbian marriages. The Finnish song ”Marry me” wasan overt support of the movement for gay marriage in Finland. And the fact that Swedish television not only ignored pressure from Turkey and othercountries to cut out the lesbian kiss at the end, but also added their own gay wedding and kiss in the smörgåsbord number, made me proud to be a Swede.

So, about the songs. ;) Romania was a kind of Francic Bacon-inspired take on Eurovision which seemed pretty much untoppable - flesh-coloured body-stocking-clad dancers and Emperor Ming from cult sci-fi classic Flash Gordon singing in a falsetto will be hard to beat. ;)

Azerbaijan certainly had the best dance concept but I was surprised to see quite an average song do so well.

Iceland is usually one of my favourites and this time they had the best scenography and one of the best suits. I <3 Iceland!

Malta - without the glued-on cheesy smile they might have won. Cute song.

Finland's song has been growing on me, from being mostly annoying to quite pleasant. Its raison d'être is certainly the kiss at the end but top marks to Finland for giving us one of this year's most memorable numbers. Sure to become a Eurovision classic. Count the bridal veils in the audience!

Spain, France, Italy, Germany and the UK provided us with better songs than usual. Spain and Italy particularly were pretty good and it was great to see Bonnie Tyler in person. Italy lost out on the singer not looking into the camera I think, the suit alone was worth a few more points than they got. ;)

Greece - what a show! A folk-ska crossover that worked pretty well. Any song with men dancing in kilts while playing the trumpet has got to be a good thing. We were a bit anxious they would win so just as well they didn't. Pretty surreal to have countries like Greece and Spain there at all under their financial circumstances really.

Russia did worse than expected, perhaps not a stand-out track but I quite liked it and the scenography was subtle and beautiful.

Poor old Armenia. I guess rock isn't really a Eurovision genre, but I quite liked the song.

The Netherlands - I didn't really get ”Birds”, there's something really weird about the melody and arrangement, but it was so cool to see Anouk.

Hungary - very cute singer, cute guitar player, cool backdrop, but not much of a song.

Lithuania didn't really come across live but having now heard it on tv it's good, one to keep listening to I think.

Georgia was a classic (Swedish-penned) Eurovision ballad with something that many tracks lacked - development. It's one of the tunes that has stuck in my head and I thought it might go the way of Azerbaijan's winner from 2011 ”Running scared” but I'm glad Denmark won instead. ;)

I think my favourites were:

Belgium - catchy and cool, a good song. Nice to see the singer ovverwhelmed by all of us singing along! ;)

Norway had one of the best songs, and certainly the best-looking and coolest performer, despite the total ”It's no good” rip-off (thanks to Jessica and Julian for spotting that one!).

Sweden's song sadly wasn't quite immediate enough but is a great song and boy, did Robin Stjernberg pull it off - what a star! Shame the introduction film about him wasn't from his home town Hässleholm though, I was gutted to see him in Stockholm instead. :(

The Ukraine didn't make much of an impression live but now that I've heard the song on tv I really like it.

Denmark was definitely a worthy winner. A catchy tune and on tv Emmelie de Forest really performed immaculately with real feeling. I look forward to Eurovision 2014 and maybe I'll try to go again... ;)