It's not Malmooo, it's Malmer...

This years Eurovision in Malmö was so mega and filled with controversy, I had to break it up into 2 parts. Here is the 2nd and I'm warning you, it's a long one!

So we were in Malmö... Have you noticed how I always make sure to have the two little dots over the 'o' in Malmö? I have to copy and paste the word in every time because it's bloody annoying trying to find the 'ö' amongst all the symbols in my Blogger editing thingo.

It's a funny thing that 'ö'.  For a Swedish language ignoramous like me, I thought the two little dots were like two little o's. So it was either pronounced like 'low' : 'Malmooooow'.

Or like a cow saying 'Malmooooo' with the long oooooo!

Nup. The 'ö' is pronounced like 'er' or 'ur' as in 'cur' or 'burr'. Once I realised the locals were saying 'Malmer', we started calling it 'MalmER' like a local 😉

Our 3rd day in Malmö started late as we were to attend the Semi final 2 show later that evening. Around lunchtime we made our way into town to walk around, check out the Eurovision Village.

The Eurovision Village is the official 'fan zone' for Eurovision and is usually an open air venue with multiple stages for small concerts featuring local artists and past Eurovision contestants, merchandise vendors, food & drinks trucks and bars.

I'm not sure if they had 'vaganzas' or an 'extravaganza of vag's'... 

In Liverpool the Eurovision Village was a fenced area on the Waterfront Pier quite close to the M&S Bank Arena where Eurovision was being held. But this year in Malmö, the Eurovision Village was held in Folkets Park. 

Folkets Park is a lovely park. On one hand I can see why it was selected but it was so far away! Argh. You had to catch a train and then walk 10 minutes. Yeah, ok maybe it wasn't that far. But it just was out of the way and inconvenient if you wanted to pop by, grab some merch, listen to some music and have a drink with other fans before or after one of the shows. 

However it was very pretty. It was Spring! And the flowers were blooming, the weather was lovely and fresh!

And the coppers were out in their prettiest hi-vis enjoying the sun.

For the first few days in Sweden, we saw a lot of media articles online about the pro-Palestinian protests around Malmö.  There was apparently a huge one that day with around 10-20,000 people which started in Stortorget Square, then marched through the city, however we only saw a smaller one in central Malmö which was very peaceful, but surrounded by loads of cops...

These protests weren't too different in size and passion to others that have been held in many other cities around the world including here in Melbourne.  We had also encountered a large pro-Palestinian protest in Helsinki on May Day, however it seemed more concentrated here in the Eurovision spotlight.

I love Eurovision. I just bloody love it. It's loud, camp, fun, funny, outrageous, magnificent. 

I don't love every single song. In fact there's been many that I would declare a 'pee break' song. And there are many which are on regular rotation in some of my Spotify playlists. 

Eurovision is equally my favourite time of year alongside Christmas. 

But this Eurovision felt very different.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the very next day the EBU announced it would not permit Russia to participate in that year's Eurovision Song Contest. 

It also banned Yugoslavia after the siege of Sarajevo in 1992.

However despite the protests against their inclusion, and the countries' act attempt to include a political protest song, the EBU did not do the same with Israel this year, despite the Israeli governments war on Palestine following the October 7 Hamas attack.

While Semi-final 1 was fun and jubilant as Eurovision fans welcomed the 1st instalment of their favourite music event, Semi-final 2 felt very tense as the act from Israel was to perform.

For this show we decided not to try and race for a spot near the front of stage. We thought it would be easier and more comfortable to hang to the back of the floor so we could see more of the stage.

We had a nice little patch of floor that had a 'speed bump' cable protector. Perfect for me to stand on for a bit of extra height! A gorgeous group of older gentlemen from Spain who were also 'vertically challenged' shared the speed bump with me. They were all wearing funky black leather pants, tight tees and fox ears and tails to support Spains' act Nebullosa with the song Zorra (vixen).

For each of the songs, we all danced together and had a great time! One of them had his one and a half seconds of fame shortly after Albania performed when a cameraman stuck his mug on the telly, with my granny square- tattooed arm sticking out behind him.

My arm was on tv!!

Nebulossas' song Zorra was one of my favourites. 'Zorra' in spanish literally means 'vixen', but is often used as slang to mean 'slut' or 'bitch'. The song is a way of pushing back against the sexist connotations and seeking to reclaim female empowerment. And I bloody love it!

And so did the little foxy Spanish guys who went off like a collective bunch of frogs in socks jumping and cheering and literally howling when the male backup dancers stripped down to black corsets and stilettos.

Oh my giddy aunt! I nearly needed the smelling salts! Woo! 

If you would like to see the performance, check out this video from youtube. Best viewed on full screen.... 

I did need to watch this video back... several times. Just to admire their ability to leap into the splits with those heels.... ah-hem. Zorra! Zorra! Zorra!

Despite all the fun, there was underlying tension. This was building up as Israel were due to perform 3rd last. When the act and singer were being announced with their 'postcard' and the singer and her back up performers walking onstage, the booing started.

It was UNBELIEVABLY loud. And the previously happy little Spanish foxes were absolutely vitriolic (I'm not saying all Spanish people in the arena were booing. Just the group next to me). 

The atmosphere in the arena felt... very heavy. 

During the performance, I spent more time studying what was happening around me than what was happening on stage. I would say about 1/2 of the crowd were booing as loudly as they could. 1/3 were cheering her on and the others were like me, looking round, studying, taking in what was happening. Regardless of what the Israeli singer Eden Golan thought of her countries' governments actions, I was considering how it must have felt to be performing against this verbal onslaught. 

I'll admit I was also on alert for any potential threat. It sounds crazy to say that now, but I was in a city with ongoing protests, filled with police patrolling in groups, some of whom were carrying guns bigger than anything you'd ever see on Aussie cops, snipers on the rooftops of all the buildings around the arena, and inside the epicentral venue that had several security checkpoints to be passed through to enter, also filled with security staff constantly scanning the crowd despite the musical spectacle raging around them.

I was relieved when she finished and left the stage. It felt as if anything nasty was going to happen, it would be during her set, because the crowd rage was overwhelming. Also relieved because the song was a boring ballad. My least favourite type of song any day of the week.

The mood lightened after the countries completed performing and voting commenced.

The last interval act was a fun song featuring Petra Mede, Linda Woodruff and Charlotte Perrelli singing about Sweden's love for Eurovision with lyrics like "Please don't be angry with us, we just love Eurovision too much.." culminating in a cute reference to the immense popularity of last years runner up Finland with dancing Moomins, people running around in bath towels as if fresh from having a sauna..

..and then Finlands 2023 act Käärijä (don't even ask me what to do with all the dotted 'a's) burst onstage to sing a shortened version of his hit Cha Cha Cha. The crowd roared with delight.

Unbeknownst to the crowd that night, something else had occurred behind the scenes which was to add to the tension and crowd anger at the EBU and executive supervisor Martin Österdahl.

After the Netherlands performer Joost Klein completed his performance as the final act, an altercation occurred when an EBU photographer attempted to record Joost Klein after his performance as he made his way to the green room. Apparently after requesting that she stop several times, the singer pushed the camera out of the way. The photographer lodged a complaint which lead to a police investigation. The EBU decided on the morning of the grand final to officially disqualify the Netherlands from Eurovision.

The following day we went back to the Eurovision village as Käärijä was performing on one of the stages. I'm a big fan so made sure we went early to try and grab a decent spot.

He was fun, entertaining, chatted with the crowd and even made jokes about the fact he knew Australians had travelled all the way to Sweden just for Eurovision 😂

After the concert we went over to the bar to have a beer before heading back to our cabin for an early night and met a group of people from England, Scotland, Ireland and Ukraine who meet up every single year at Eurovision. They had 2 spare tickets to that nights Jury preview grand final show and asked if we wanted to join them!

The seats were quite high to the back left of the stage but we had an amazing view from this different angle of set changes between acts.

The crew align any pieces with the numbered grids. The country flag was also displayed so they knew who was coming next. But the speed and precision of their work showed they would have been practising for weeks.

Large fireproof mats were in place for pyrotechnics.

Setting up for Armenia.

The simple set up for France's beautiful song. Yeah, it was a ballad. But I didn't hate it.

The next day was the grand final. This is when the EBU confirmed the Netherlands act Joost Klein had been disqualified. In addition, members of the media were reporting bullying behaviour by the delegations of certain other countries which was being ignored by the EBU.

We arrived at the Malmö Arena and walked straight into a protest where police were escorting some participants away. 

As we joined the queue to go through the security check points, everyone we spoke to were sharing stories heard about the disqualifications, about alleged bullying from some of the delegations, and their frustration at the inconsistencies of action by the EBU. And we were all frustrated this was getting in the way of our Eurovision being a joyful event for all.

But we found a place on the floor to watch the show and enjoyed the acts, such as Baby Lasagne from Croatia was a massive crowd favourite.

As was ultimate winner Nemo from Switzerland.

With a fun appearance from Swedish band Alcazar.

Then an ABBA singalong with Carola, Charlotte Perrelli and Conchita Wurst. They sort of started this by stopping the Alcazar performance as if "this wasn't the correct super famous Swedish disco band", then showed a holographic version of ABBA, and then brought 3 former Eurovision divas for a Waterloo singalong. It was a bit insulting to Alcazar, and sort of naff tbh. I think it would have been better to let Alcazar finish their song, and let them lead the Waterloo singalong. 

And finally before the end of voting, a confusing rendition of a new song by last years winner Loreen. I was a huge fan of her winning song last year, but during this performance, on the floor, we couldn't hear what she was singing and I thought she was simply trying to raise awareness for cervical cancer screenings...

Also in attendance were some members of the Swedish royal family ( I have no idea who, but nice they showed up.) Princess Sofia maybe? Not sure. But hi!

Before Petra then attempted to keep a pleasant and neutral face during a rather chaotic vote tally. 

The crowd were angry that social media was reporting the EBU had played recordings of cheers and had turned off audience microphones during Israels performance, and during appearances by the executive supervisor Martin Osterdahl, that the Netherlands performer Joost Klein was disqualified without explanation, that they were lead to believe ABBA would at least make an appearance instead of holograms, that Alcazars performance was cut short, and at the points results of the public vote which lead many country representatives to refuse to appear and read out their country tallies as a result. 

And Petra was the Queen of diplomacy...

The end results were very interesting. For a music competition that claims to be apolitical (despite history showing otherwise), this was the most political yet. Israel did receive a lot of points from quite a few countries for the popular vote including Australia, Spain, UK, the Netherlands, Finland and several more. This was interesting because conversation in the crowd on the streets and on social media seemed to be very much to the opposite.

So it was confusing...

This guys jumper sums it up...

Until we were travelling home that night. Sweden's police once again caused traffic chaos by cancelling a huge stack of regional buses leaving the city at the end of the show. So we booked an Uber.

We got into the car and the conversation with the Uber driver went something like this:

Uber dude: "You been to the Eurovision?"

Us: "Yes! It was a good show."

Uber dude: "Oh yeah? I'm not really a fan. I never watch it. Who won?"

Us: "Switzerland."

Uber dude: "Ok that's no good. I voted for Israel."

Us: "Oh, I thought you never watch it? Did you like the song?"

Uber dude: "No, it's not good music. But my friend told me we all had to vote for Israel. And I want that country to win. The girl, her song was crap. I hate it actually. But we all put all our 20 votes on Israel so the country win. So now it seems I wasted my money."

In the days and weeks following, we were to learn that this one Uber driver and his mates weren't the only ones to throw all their votes in one basket despite having little interest in the event or even the song itself (and let's not forget this is supposed to be a song competition).

Thanks Sweden! It was a real eye-opener!!!

Louise

 🎶Red Haired Amazona🎤