I was there last night at the London Eurovision Party - A+ would go again, probably not bothering with the VIP package as it all felt a bit stuffy and geriatric (NONE of them popped for Hatari, the philistines).
I have - of course - prepared a ranking of the 18 acts that performed - since it's a club setting it's a lot different from what real Eurovision will be like so I'm not taking TOO much from it but there have been some improvements here and there.
18.
Much like Leonora in Amsterdam, Sarah pretty much didn't even bother singing half the song herself and was lacklustre when she did. Probably the dampest squib of the evening (other than Magdalena Tul murdering To nie ja).
17.
Her steadfast refusal to sing the song herself continues apace, but it had a better fan reaction so it JUST edges out Sarah (though the OGAE crowd hardly ever get their way, so I'm not worried about her somehow making the final).
16.
The more performances I see of this, the more I think Darude is here on a bet. The faces he was pulling during Look Away were priceless - high trainwreck potential for this in TA. Also they absolutely should not have done Superman because it highlighted once again that it was robbed in UMK.
15.
The crowd were absolutely DEAD for Paenda. Putting her in the third act of the show probably didn't help matters but everyone just seemed exhausted, including the lady herself. I was sure of her chances when Limits came out but they're slowly fading away.
14.
They turned up, did their thing, then hung around the bar for the rest of the acts. The crowd got the lyrics wrong when asked to sing solo by Paddy O'Connell, which doesn't speak of its impact very highly. Marcis' hair is DIVINE.
13.
Oh my god they look like CHILDREN irl. SO fresh faced. As to their performance, their second song (Paris) overshone Friend of a Friend by miles. It's the whole dropped octave thing - kills the energy like it did for YATOO and Occidentali's Karma before it (and this could be the difference between making the final and not, especially in such a tight contest as semi 1). I got to meet them though and they're lovely.
12.
Poor Jurijus was buried even harder in the running order here than in Tel Aviv, having to go straight after the Mahmood/Duncan one-two punch and directly before man of the hour Michael. Gorgeous falsetto as per usual, but again the crowd weren't super into it (at least not compared to what had just come).
11.
This was only disappointing in the current context of Arcade being the favourite to win. It's absolutely the case that the bigger arena in Amsterdam is more suitable for the song than Cafe de Paris' intimate party zone, but Duncan was lost in the shuffle last night. A good performance, but nothing spine-tingling.
10.
It speaks well for Eliot that he was essentially the opener of the night, immediately followed by MIKI of all people, yet still managed to carve himself a memorable call-and-response moment from... well... THAT chorus.
9.
Bilal's very impressively confident for someone his age - the wig, the makeup, the outfit, the sass, the dancing, he has IT. The vocals were also much improved from Destination Eurovision. Such a shame that he then decided to shoot himself in the foot by overshadowing the whole thing with a (fierce as hell, to be fair) lipsync to Jaloux.
8.
Jonida is gorgeous and is literally incapable of giving a bad performance, but we're in nitpicking territory as the crowd barely popped for it (though I suspect that's often the case with non-English songs)
7.
They were the act I was most looking forward to and they delivered in spades but see my notes for Jonida only a) the crowd did manage to join in for the English final chorus and 2) did Jonida wear a rainbow skirt no she didn't
6.
Bigger Than Us is a mediocre song but swathes of the UK fanbase really believe in it. This was Michael's night and he delivered beyond my expectations - the lofty heights of midtable beckon for us! (though I thought the same about Surie last year and she had even more personality than he does so who knows)
5.
The most improved award goes to Victor Crone. He was charming and fun and really sold Storm as something bigger than a borderline qualification contender. The HIGH high notes aren't quite there but this is far removed from the disappointing Eesti Laul iterations. I wish they'd rope in Surie as the new girl for the middle eight bit actually!
4.
I've said it for a while but: write John Lundvik off at your peril. He didn't even have his gospel girls with him and he still sold this like he was a legit chart-topping pop star. Life was got by all. He DID sing My Turn which is still shit but who cares? Too Late For Love is their strongest not-Loreen not-Mans song of the 2010s and I will FIGHT you if you disagree.
3.
Miki (who I met and is a sweetheart with lovely eyes) was on second - SECOND!- and still made it this high. He's convinced me that Spain can make the top 10 this year. This went humongous in the club and I can only see the party atmosphere escalating in Tel Aviv. LA VENDA YA CAYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO echoed long throughout the day.
2.
Mahmood showed his winner credentials on the night. Everyone ate it up. I can't quite fathom that he almost gave up his Eurovision spot, because we really have something special on our hands with him. If it really is a two horse race between him and Duncan, then he's way more than a nose out in front in my opinion. Flawless, but I have to give the number one spot to...
1.
To me, KEiiNO embodied everything the party was about. They worked hard, they partied hard (Fred was on the red bull all night), their performance was just... I barely have the words for how great it was: Alexandra's voice and wardrobe are both perfect, and Tom using the "I'm sick plz sing my parts for me" excuse really worked here, plus they benefitted from having the best light show (which also happened to be the GAYEST light show
). To top it all off, they did the best cover of Shallow I've ever heard, because it had JOIKING in it. The crowd (me included) were living for every second. I was a fan before last night but now I will literally go to the grave to see them in the final. Kudos, Norway.