Stumbling Out Of The Blocks

Stumbling out of the gate we are as another Eurovision Song Contest season kicks off. And falters immediately. Gone are the days when countries actually kicked off on September 1st and we will likely need to wait for Switzerland to kick off at the end of the month to hear some genuine entries into the 2016 Song Contest.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t any news though, as possible withdrawing countries Greece (through instability) and the Czech Republic (through lack of local interest) have confirmed returns to Eurovision and Stockholm. Predictions are at the moment we would be passing 40 countries this year. Denmark took the chance to reveal a date and a location for both MGP and Junior MGP in 2016, taking place on the 13th and 20th February respectfully. It will be in Horsens, sadly not in the renovated prison they wanted to host Eurovision 2014 in, but in their smaller 4,000 seater venue last used in 2008. Billund Airport likely the best way in here, but public transport not superb across the small towns of Jutland.

Little Kids, Big Voices

In the Junior Eurovision competition however there are new songs and National Finals to comment on. You could rewatch the Belarussian and Ukrainian contests here (the Ukrainian with the live translation is quite hilarious) and they both produce something worth shouting about. My Ukrainian tip in the last newsletter pulled in 2nd as Anna Trincher won the final with 'Pochny z sebe' (Start with yourself). However it’s little Belarussian winner Ruslan Aslanov picking up the plaudits. His song 'Volshebstvo' (Magic) is thematically perfect for The Contest and assuming the 13-year-old can keep the vocal chords in a suitable key for this huge melody he’ll likely start off favourite. The Belarussian final version offers some great, albeit cheesy, staging too. The avalanche effect needs to be fine tuned I reckon, but it’s a superb concept.

Ireland’s announced a Brian Kennedy / Niamh Kavanagh double team on their JESC selection jury, with weekly competitions starting in October and finishing as late as November. Sounds promising nevertheless. Hosts Bulgaria have got their selection in full swing as well with kids singing covers almost every night this week in semifinals.

Insight Asks The Question

We’ve been taking a little hiatus to try and plan more of our writing out for this year (and maybe polish the website a bit, more on that late) and to ensure the Insight tribe get more opportunities to work as a team. We kick off with the team all addressing the question “What are you most looking forward to for Eurovision 2016?”. Quite simply from me, welcome to my beautiful Swedish home!

Robertson's Reflection

After Electro Velvet revealing they were closing their crowdfunding campaign to produce more music together, it's always nice to show the Eurovision world instead a story of doors opening through our beloved Contest.

This year at least there has been one success story that emerged from this continent opening it's doors to those from other lands.

Of course I'm talking about the bizarre circumstances that led to Australia taking part this year in the Eurovision Song Contest. As the story goes it just happened that one of the biggest stars Down Under was looking for a break in Europe, and this came at the right time.

With thanks to the team from ESC Daily, I got access to Guy's concert on Friday night in Stockholm's Fryshuset. An industrial building in the shadow of Globen, the tickets were maybe not as hot as his 12 points from Mariette appeared to be this year. The club venue for reference reminded me of the EuroClub main stage in Vienna, and I'd say about 300 odd people were there. This was an intimate gig with all the benefits that entails.

Guy opened up on stage and felt relaxed enough to talk through the unobvious mistakes he made and to joke about all the beautiful Swedish ladies in the audience (to be fair, he had a point, the demographic was mixed but certainly had a gender balance you wouldn't have got in Vienna). It almost had the impression of this being Guy's working holiday. He regaled us repeatedly about how he'd just came back over to Europe from a big arena tour in Australia selling out 15,000 locations. Looking deeper, perhaps there's a sense of bitterness in not being somewhere bigger here in Sweden's capital, but also it doesn't matter and he knows it. The aim was to get here and enjoy flexing his seriously big muscles in a new world, and he deservedly made it.

The set itself was fantastic. I never looked deep into Guy's back catalogue, but those eight albums he's recorded show off some amazing songwriting. Some of Guy's lyrics are poignant and crafted in a way I had previously dismissed from him. How he managed to make the title 'Elephant' into a catchy yet serious hook will frustrate any other songwriter who tries. Furthermore the big hit on this new Madness album, 'Like A Drum', has a infectiousness we've come to associate with Sweden recently. It could have pushed the top three in this year's Song Contest hard (if not for the pesky September 1st deadline).

Also live his vocal gymnastics are some of the best I have ever heard and not any point in the 90 minute show did I feel he was over-doing it. This was a pro going through his motions with a freedom that befitted the tale that led to him being in Stockholm over one sunny summer weekend.

Guy spoke at length about the ‘random’ decision of Australia as a Eurovision nation last year, and the process to get ‘Tonight Again’ into reality. It confirmed everything I ever expected about the song: that it wasn’t the original plan; that it was all made over one frantic weekend; that it was written especially for Eurovision. Consider that Guy basically was stuck in his studio for three consecutive days, sleeping over in the studio to get the track complete alongside all the video recording and assorted Eurovision trimmings. The end result of this forced situation was a well-produced and real feeling pop-song that nobody could be embarassed about. You don’t need months of preparation when you have that much natural talent from you as an artist and the team supporting you.

And with that came the open doors to be over in Europe, performing a short tour that starts in Oslo and ends up next week back in Melkweg, Amsterdam, the site of his Eurovision in Concert appearance. It’s a lot of fun for the man. Stockholm culminated in Guy getting to share the stage once again with Måns at the Rix FM Festival, where the numbers watching were very much in the thousands, rather than hundreds. Other Eurovision familiar names turned up as well and somewhere in the middle of a little Melodifestivalen convention appeared a certain Olly Murs from the UK. Perhaps he had a little look and listen to Guy and Måns (and he even duetted with Molly Sanden as well on the Kungsträgården stage) and realised that musically both these gentlemen have sent proper, modern songs to Eurovision and profited from it. 

Perhaps Sweden will give Olly a reason to look at Eurovision with a view that isn’t fixated on the failure, but fuelled by the success. 

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Photo from Ben Robertson (ESC Insight) and BTRC