Class of 2017 flock to a record-breaking Amsterdam Preview Concert
37 of the 43 participants for the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest showcased their entries at this weekend's Amsterdam preview concert, making it the biggest 'Eurovision In Concert' to date.
Performing in front of a packed crowd of 1,500 fans at the Melkweg Concert Hall allowed the entrants to give the best impression yet of how they might handle the pressure of the live Eurovision show, with seasoned performers like Italy's Francesco Gabbani and Sweden's Robin Bengtsson cementing their status as pre-contest favourites with predictably assured performances.
The absentees from this year's lineup were Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Portugal and Russia. Of these, Australia, Croatia and Russia have yet to give televised live performances of their songs, while Estonia, Iceland and Portugal have yet to be seen outside their national finals.
Iceland didn't go completely unrepresented though. Two-time participant Selma Björnsdóttir co-hosted the event with longtime Dutch commentator Cornald Maas, delivering energetic performances of her 1999 and 2005 entries for the crowd.
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In Other News...
Francesco Gabbani scores most-watched Eurovision video of all time on Youtube
Already the clear pre-contest favourite with the bookies, Italy's Francesco Gabbani continues to build momentum in the lead up to Kyiv with the official video for ' Occidentali’s Karma' surpassing 87 million views on Youtube. This makes it the most watched Eurovision song of all time on the platform, surpassing another Italian entry - Il Volo's ' Grande Amore' - in the process.
Domestic success has doubtless helped to drive Gabbani's viewing figures - the song spent three weeks at #1 in Italy after winning the Sanremo Contest in February. The song has also entered the charts in neighbouring Switzerland, peaking at #25 so far in the partially Italian-speaking nation.
'Daily Mash' writers hired to write Eurovision 2017 script
After strong comedic turns from Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw in Stockholm, Eurovision 2017 looks set to be another joke-heavy affair with the news that two editors of satirical news website The Daily Mash have been hired to write the script for the Ukrainian hosts.
Alex Worrall and Tim Telling will be working closely with the shows producers, promising "Global LOLs" for the audience at home. The success of the Swedish script largely hinged on a fine balance between poking fun at the contest without compromising a genuine affection for its history and what it has come to represent. Will the Mash writers turn in a similarly well-judged set of shows? Time will tell...
Ireland's Maynooth University to host day-long Eurovision Conference
In a more academic edition to this year's slate of pre-contest events, Maynooth University in County Kildare, Ireland will tomorrow host a day-long conference entitled The Eurovision Song Contest in a Changing World: Culture, Geography and Politics.
The event will feature panels from leading academics in the fields of Geography, Global Politics and Cultural Studies, alongside Eurovision fans and former Irish winner Linda Martin.
Event chair John O'Brennan explained:
"There is no other event in popular culture that so unites and divides opinion as the Eurovision Song Contest. In Central and Eastern Europe participation in Eurovision is viewed as an affirmation of European identity (‘we have arrived’, ‘we are accepted’, ‘we are European’) while in other countries closer to home the event is viewed with a jaundiced eye.
Whether viewed as a pop culture phenomenon or a vehicle for resurgent and atavistic nationalism, Eurovision continues to capture the imagination like no other event of its kind.
Additional wave of tickets released for Eurovision live shows
The latest - and potentially last - batch of Eurovision 2017 tickets was scheduled for release today by official ticketing agent Concert.ua. Tickets for all nine shows were due to be released at time of writing, with prices ranging from 8 to 500 Euros. Although it has not been confirmed, with less than a month to go until the 2017 Contest kicks off, it seems likely that this will be the final opportunity for fans to purchase tickets by official means.
The 2017 ticket release has been plagued by uncertainty and communication problems, but the shows are still expected to be sell-out successes, attracting thousands of fans from all over Europe to the Ukrainian capital. In addition to the three televised live shows, tickets are also available for the jury finals and a mid-afternoon 'Family show' for the two semis and the grand final.
Images: Eurovision.tv
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