Pop music television shows come and go. In my time The Tube, The Roxy (remember that one ?), The Word and even the weekly Top of the Pops show have become distant memories. However one show still remains with us, and that show is the Eurovision Song Contest. Terry Wogan’s years of amusing commentary about the show have turned the contest into a bit of a joke for many Brits. Britain hasn’t done too well in the Contest in recent years so there was a lot of interest in British entry Blue’s performance this year. I thought I’d take a look at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest Final and cast my critical eye on the acts.
The first finalist on the show was Finland’s Paradise Oscar. The chap sang a song called 'Da Da Dam' which deals with the well-intentioned need to save our planet. Unfortunately, he looks like a young Aled Jones who has spent years harbouring revenge against those people who made him sing The Snow Man theme tune over and over. Bosnia’s Dino Merlin looked like a comedy music number about travelling folk from Russ Abbott’s Madhouse in the 1980s. I kept looking for Bella Emberg (the fat lady who was in Russ’ show) to make an appearance as a toothless gypsy hag. Their lead singer was wearing a checkered jacket that would not be accepted in a charity shop.
To be fair, there were some polished, professional performances in the show. France added a touch of class to the affair with the operatic vocals of Amaury Vassili. Mind you, he came after Jedward and they would make Chas and Dave sound like Gilbert and Sullivan. Jedward would cast doubt into the mind of anyone who says that two heads are better than one. However, Jedward’s zaniness was overshadowed by the mad antics of Moldova’s Zdob and Zdub. They consisted of one attractive female, a bunch of blokes and a lot of funny headwear too: basically they were the Smurfs on acid. Things seem to have gone tits up since Papa Smurf kicked the bucket.
UK entry Blue (pictured) looked like they spent most of their budget on their stage set. Blue’s Simon Webbe must have drawn the shortest straw because the other band members wore a complete outfit whilst he had no shirt and a jacket without sleeves. Hotel FM represented Romania and had one of those annoying feel good songs about changing the world. Well if they really want to change the world for the better, they can start by changing their career. The most insipid entry came from Denmark’s A Friend in London. By the time their song finished they probably made a few enemies in London. When they sang about a new tomorrow, I wanted the next day to arrive so the song would end. Sweden’s Eric Sadde danced and sang about the need to be popular. I hate to disappoint Eric but a Eurovision Song Contest appearance won’t help his credibility one bit.
Azerbaijan won the contest with a song called ‘Running Scared’, a competent tune which isn’t my cup of tea but I can see its appeal. It’s just come out that 9 million viewers watched the show in Britain. It’s understandable because we’re all in on the shared joke that the votes may be rigged by block voting (a process in which certain countries will vote for other countries with similar cultural or/and ethnic backgrounds to themselves). 1970s Eurovision winners ABBA once sang 'Thank you for the music'. Well I’d like to thank Eurovision for the laughter.
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The first finalist on the show was Finland’s Paradise Oscar. The chap sang a song called 'Da Da Dam' which deals with the well-intentioned need to save our planet. Unfortunately, he looks like a young Aled Jones who has spent years harbouring revenge against those people who made him sing The Snow Man theme tune over and over. Bosnia’s Dino Merlin looked like a comedy music number about travelling folk from Russ Abbott’s Madhouse in the 1980s. I kept looking for Bella Emberg (the fat lady who was in Russ’ show) to make an appearance as a toothless gypsy hag. Their lead singer was wearing a checkered jacket that would not be accepted in a charity shop.
