The suggestion of dividing Eurovisionary Europe into two parts would easily be the decline of Northern Europe.
One part of Bobbysocks, Elisabeth Andreassen, also known as Bettan, is dealing with her Didrik grief by suggesting dividing up Eurovision into two separate finals: One for Northern Europe and one for Southern Europe. "This would divide Europe into one A-team and one B-team", our previous commentator Jostein Pedersen says. "Yes", we would like to add, "and Norway would be on team B".
It is not to be denied that the best quality of music the last couple of years originates from the Southern and Eastern Europe. Simply because they put a lot more effort into it. And that's mainly why people vote for them, not their geographical placement. How could anyone vote for Norway, Sweden and Denmark when they send such crap sung by such amateurs? If the division is to be fulfilled, we have no doubt we would be watching the Southern version.
Come on, Swede. You are outdated in this game. Get over yourself.
Ok, so we've had an amazing time these couple of weeks.We've just met so many great people and attended so many fabulous parties. But we do also get a little tired from partying all night and working all day, so maybe it's best we stop for a while now. These are our highlights from the final day of Eurovision:
Astrid in her dress and fabulous pink purse
And Guri in her dress, all ready for the final party
VIPs as we were, we of course went by a champagne boat to Telenor Arena
Together with Slovenia, cheering for Palestine
And together with Switzerland cheering for Israel
The composer of our favorite entry this year: Armenian Armen Martirosyan
Lena Meyer-Landrut left the party a bit early for being the winner. But mind you, so did we. Thank you for the show.
So, you're not the biggest of Eurovision fans, but you'd like to check in on the glamour and vibe anyway? Now you can watch Modulated Eurovision, both live and online.
Modulated Eurovision is a concept that is arranged for the fifth time in Norway in the ballroom of Gamle Logen. The pictures and the costumes are live from Telenor Arena, but the music is being remixed and recreated live by 12 different bands.
The people behind the event tell us they are offering a pop elegant, electro shocked, stunt energetic, glitterrocked experience from 12 of Norway's best live bands, like Montée, PowPow, Lucy Swann, The New Wine alongside jazz saxophonist Håkon Kornstad, Miss Harmonica, Tut & Knore, Harrys Gym, Ivar Winther vs Center of the Universe, Torgny (Amdam, eks- Amulet) vs Zweizz and the beatboxer Droolian. Else Kåss Furuseth and Kjetil Bjørke are tonight's hosts, and two VJ-crew from Palegolas and For Your Eyes Truly will make sure the two shows are becoming one.
Now, that's something worth checking out if you're not that into the regular stuff. Either drop by Gamle Logen, or visit DeichmanskeTV live bet to watch online. Make sure you use Firefox as a browser and download VLC, that needs to be installed on your computer. The streaming starts at 8 pm.
My hard is yours. That's the grand message from Norway this year. But how hard is it really? Follow us as we check up on some of the hottest men of Eurovision and give you our hard verdict.
Mirror, mirror on our Facebook wall, who's the hardest of them all? We are proud to present Marcin from Poland!
So, he didn't make it to the ESC final. But he made his way into our hearts the moment we met him. Marcin Mrozinski from Poland is just the most charming, funniest, hottest bloke around. While being one of the contestants with the largest career outside of Eurovision, he is not behaving like a star at all as he walks around talking to everybody, feeding us chocolate cake, complimenting our dresses and hugging every person in Euroclub like they were his best friends. Mind you, they might all be and we don't blame them.
We are some demanding women in Good Evening Europe, and therefore it's so nice to meet someone who meets all our requirements. After checking out some of the hardest men of Eurovision, we have encountered some good stuff. Our favorite Norwegian bloke, Alexander Stenerud, of course kicked Didrik's ass, and could have won if he was actually in the final instead of the boring and bored car mender from Porsgrunn. We will be devastated if Alexander doesn't participate next year. Then we would keep Per Sundnes off any stupid ideas. Harel Skaat from Israel is some pretty boy, but also quite boring and we wouldn't like his take on the Israel-Palestine conflict. We are excited about his announced bungee jump, though. Giorgios from Greece looked the best with his hat on and was a tough, cool dude. But a bit broke for our taste. Then Robin Juhkental from Estonia turned out to be some funny bunny who could have won if he didn't miss his girlfriend too much.
So in the end Marcin's hardest challenge was Jurgis from Lithuania. He also represents very much of what we want from a Eurovision man. Although we were a bit disappointed we didn't see him and his friends in so many parties and that his fellow band members pretended not to recognize us the times we did. He's one good runner up, though.
It's just that no one can really beat our wonderboy from Poland. We like the fact that Marcin is so good at communication, both in person and in social media. His sincerity, sense of humor and openness are also things we approve of. And if you look at that smile, we think you get the picture. Marcin can put on a simple white t-shirt and still look like the prettiest man in the room. Mind you, we have now given him a cooler t-shirt as a reward for winning our "How hard is it really?" contest.
So how can you make his hard yours? We don't know, but we recommend everyone to feed him an apple. Oslo will be a sadder place when this man is not here to hug and entertain us anymore. But so long, honey, so long.
One lucky GEE girl got to give Marcin his hard. Watta cute couple they make.
One of Good Evening Europe's favorites to win this year is Armenia. In fact, we have loved the Armenian entries from the very moment they first entered the competition in 2006. That's why it was pretty cool to meet up with a bunch of crazy Armenians on their way to Telenor Arena yesterday, to cheer for our favorite Eva Rivas. They have traveled to Oslo from Sweden, Ireland and other cities in Norway to share this moment, and they sure came well prepared dressed up in T-shirts and caps in the Armenian colors while of course waving their flags and praising the apricot stone.
"I have always been a huge ESC fan", Sevak Khachatryan tells us. He has traveled from Dublin to join the party in Eurovision Town and to cheer for his home country. "Before Armenia entered the competition, I used to cheer for Russia. They always send big stars with high quality songs, like Dima Bilan both in 2006 and 2008 and t.A.T.u in 2003", he continues. And according to the Armenians we met yesterday, ESC is also taken very seriously in their homeland. For example the lyrics for this years entry is written by Karen Kavaleryan, a famous and accomplished lyricist which has participated numerous times with different countries in ESC earlier with great success.
"Almost everybody watch the show on TV back in Armenia, it's very popular", Sevak's friend Ema Khachatryan adds, and we're thinking this is similar to Norway and probably all other countries in Europe. Friends and families gathering in front of the telly, having a party and rooting for their favorites. This is what we love about Eurovision, we really are sharing the moment in all this silliness.
The crowd is nervous on behalf of tall and terrific Eva, they are crossing their fingers for her and will of course use the same fingers to vote like maniacs later. That's the beauty of watching the finals outside your home country, you can vote for your own participant! It turned out that qualifying was a walk in the park for Armenia, so now our friends can fully focus on the big event tomorrow and stock up on newly charged phone cards.
Yes, they really are crazy about their apricot stone. And by crazy, we mean big time. One of them, Sato Movsesian, could proudly announce that he just got Eva Rivas' autograph tattooed on his arm. Talk about diehard fans! And this might very well prove to be a smart move, perhaps Eva will be the first winner in history for Armenia? GEE wish her the best of luck for tomorrow and think she is really lucky to have fans like we met yesterday!
Good Evening Europe were live on air at NRK Østlandssendingen this morning. We talked about how much we love Eurovision and how much we hate Denmark. Also a little bit about Didrik not being a party prince, us loving Poland, Belarus being drunk and Eurovisionnorway.com being our favorite people for inviting us to the final.
After seeing the first semi-final in Telenor Arena we decided to watch the second with a bunch of friends at Ballroom yesterday evening. It was great to watch the action on the big screen while enjoying a glass of wine and taking in the fabulous atmosphere created by all the shiny happy, all dressed up party guests.
And not to mention the entertainment Ballroom treated us to before the show started. Norwegian ESC Stars were queuing up to play for us and we got amazing performances from Jostein Hasselgård, Maria Haukaas Storeng and Alexander Stenerud. Oh, joy! Afterwards we jetted off for some more ESC Schlager Extravaganza at Club Latter before we ended up at Euroclub.
Alexander Stenerud, mesmerizing the crowd as always.
Maria Haukaas Storeng looking fab, giving us her 2008 entry "Hold on, be strong".
Guri's wannabe date for the evening.
And here's Astrid's wannabe date, Jostein Hasselgård (4th place ESC 2003). Getting sort of afraid to move on when having such a hot guy on our hands.
Crap, we almost forgot, we have some non famous friends as well. Here's Hildegunn and Dang.
Astrid had a star moment with Aleksander Øverland Berg from NRK's "Ingen Grenser". Aleksander supports France in ESC. No wonder when seeing him own the dance floor at Club Latter!
The Danes celebrating that first part of welding job has been successful.
Do you wanna see more of Norway's hottest priest? Hear him talk about love together with Bobbysocks in the Oslo Cathedral this evening.
Now why didn't anyone take Eurovision to church before? We think it is a super cool idea! Especially since we are totally crazy about the amazing reverend Gard Sandaker-Nielsen who has been well known in Norway for his important contribution to legalizing gay marriage.
Even though we think Gard is the main attraction, you might also love the fact that Hanne Krogh and Elisabeth Andreassen from Bobbysocks, Gunnhild Tvinnereim from Secret Garden, Christine Gulbrandsen and Jostein Hasselgård will be performing. The latter is a favorite of Good Evening Europe! and the others are super as well. Besides this is your chance to see the newly renovated Cathedral of Oslo, placed right in the city centre at Stortorvet.
Yup, sitting down and looking into these eyes talking about love is exactly what we are planning on doing today. See you there at 7 PM.
So, remember our competition a while back where you could win autographed CDs by the Lithuanian glitterati? We got some real good answers there, and here are our five winners with their reasons InCulto should win ESC.
They just really kick ass! Good vibrations with a cheeky text and a great stage presence. That's what I like to see in Eurovision. That's why I love them. Piotr, Poland/Norway
The sparkling hotpants, of course! Stephen, Belgium
Because they're Lithuanians!!!! And also they're going to be Eurovision winners this year! See you next year in Vilnius! ;* Lina, Lithuania
They are great musicians, funny and talented guys, they do what they want and they bring energy to the contest this year and also I feel very proud to see a Latin American in the stage of ESC with a song that I really hope to see in the final. Cuz they work very hard and they deserve the best this year in Eurovision. Oswald, Venezuela
They mix a great party vibe with a good and clear political message. I love the energy and the act which is sexy perfection in simplicity. 2011?: Welcome to Lithuania! Jan, Netherlands
Guess these boys have fans all over the world! We are almost as moved as they should be. Congratulations on getting your autographed CDs you lucky winners, and hope all you others are inspired to get your votes going.
Best of luck for the finals, InCulto. You will always be our winners!
Mr Halvorsen is our guest blogger. He’s a bitter old faggot who spends all his welfare money on drinks and boys in a dark corner of London Pub, which is a legendary gay bar i Oslo. Now he gets a chance to do what he does best: Pass judgment on others from a safe distance. Lucky for us!
Lady Gaga just had a shit, and out of her avant garde ass, came Giorgos Alkaios and his four hunky dancers! This is my favorite entry this year, and here's why: This performance is like a big hug from baby Jesus for all the fags and fag hags of Europe.
Let's face it: The Greek entry is like a scene from a hot gay porn movie! The young handsome dancers just know they've been very, very naughty. The pugdy big daddy, Mr Giorgos himself, punishes them by smacking their firm asses verbally for about three testoterone filled and guttoral popalicious minutes. Excuse me, I just had a Eurovision orgasm and came in my pants!
It's easy to be distracted by this homo erotic performance from the very country that invented gays, but let's not forget about the song itself! I'm telling you, girlfriend, Opa! has all the qualities of a Eurovision hit. It's so tacky it goes from good to bad and then back to good again! Plus it's instantly catchy, has sufficient etno flavour in it, and you're either asleep on Valium, or in a wheel chair if you don't want to shake your ass to the beat of this Hellenic orgy of rhythm and pure male sweat.
OK, so Greece treats it’s asylum seekers like shit. They're retarded economically, but girl, I’m telling you, they definitely know how to terrorize the world through Eurovison. And I mean that in a good way.
The only thing missing on stage (that would rub my male g-spot) is a wind machine! But hey, you just can’t have it all.
We had an amazing night at Club Latter yesterday, thanks to our buddies Mads Rogde and Fredrik Havstein. These guys sure knows how to throw a party! When Good Evening Europe invites everyone to come and party with us, there's bound to be some media coverage and our Norwegian readers can hopefully watch footage from the action on Lørdagsrevyen on NRK.
When hosting a party you have to invite all your glamourous friends, so that's what we did and we had a blast with them yesterday. Thanks for coming everyone, we're so sorry we forgot to take photos of you, but you all looked fab!
Cheers to our Armanian friends! They will be in Telenor Arena tonight cheering for Eva Rivas!
Eurovision Diva Birgitte Einarsen singing our theme song, "Good Evening Europe", 3rd place in Norwegian MGP, 2003.
GEE posing while our MGP hero Alexander Stenerud is trying to get our attention on stage in the background. We love you Alexander, you were magnificent last night!
Hera Björk playing at our party, can you imagine that! We think we just died and went to (gay) heaven!
This is how it looks like being in the spotlight from our point of view. Our national broadcaster NRK sure knows where the hottest ESC parties are at.
Some of our Eurovision-heroes: The absolutely fabulous Queentastic (3rd place Norwegian MGP 2006) together with Knut Anders Sørum (winner Norwegian MGP 2004).
At Euroclub later we hung out with the Birdman from Malta! Apparently we are not in the bird migration season since he has not flown back south again yet.
We are proud to announce Hera Björk will be playing at our Good Evening Europe-party at Club Latter tonight! And all you readers are invited!
Now if you are not crazy about this fantastic queen of Eurovision 2010 yet, just wait till you see her live! Get your ass over to Club Latter immediately when doors open at 22.00.
We attended the first semifinal in Telenor Arena together with Ida Wulff last night. She is the blogger queen of Norway, as she has 40 000 REAL readers each week. Have to say it was a joy meeting some slightly younger glamorous people like her and her fun boyfriend. But later that night we started wondering whether WE actually are threatening her throne, as people kept approaching us, recognizing us,taking our photos and even interviewing us for TV. That's some boost for our already way too high self esteem and a confirmation that prostitution really pays off.
We went to glamorous Latter only to find an amazing vibe and so many cool people at the Eurovision festival. You should all check it out. And then ended up at Euroclub, where we found the people we love. Here are the highlights, check Facebook for more.
Those were the most dedicated and lovely fans we met. Too bad they were in the wrong semi final.
Josh sat next to us looking completely bored the whole time. Forget about the buddies you make in the break and show some respect for your colleagues, Josh. After all, they have much better songs than you.
Our dates for the night were glamorous blogger queen Ida Wulff and her fun boyfriend. We love you, Ida, and well done standing up to your competitors in the blogger scene (meaning Voe the cheater, not us).
Great vibe and lovely Jannicke Abrahamsen on stage at Club Latter
Highlight of the night was of course hanging out with our buddy Marcin from Poland at Euroclub. He's just as shiny and bright even though the grumpy voters kicked him out of the finals. You will always be our winner, Marcin.
And yay, here are our fav bloggers from Iceland, Eyrun and Hildur. Check out their blog Jurovision
Birgitte Einarsen will be performing her glorious Good Evening Europe-entry at Club Latter tonight. Come party with us!
If you don't know Club Latter, it's the fantastic, glamorous club on Aker Brygge that has decided to do give us a Eurovision week full of party, glamor and joy. Tonight is the grand party of our blog Good Evening Europe, and our Norwegian MGP-heroes Birgitte Einarsen, Alexander Stenerud and Jenny Jensen. And it's hosted by the lovely Solveig Kloppen.
It's less than 5 minutes walk from EuroClub, the doors open at 22.00, and there's no reason why you shouldn't be outside at that very moment. We can't wait to see you!
My hard is yours. That's the grand message from Norway this year. But how hard is it really? Follow us as we check up on some of the hottest men of Eurovision and give you our hard verdict.
So, the big buzz around Eurovision town is that the most charming, fun and likable contestant this year comes from Poland. And when he insisted on meeting us for an interview on his busiest and most important day of his Eurovision career so far, which is the D-day for Semi-Final 1, we knew that checking him out was worthwhile.
The atmosphere in the lobby of Oslo Plaza, where we met up with him this Tuesday morning, was charged with energy and anticipation as the different delegations waited to be picked up heading for Telenor Arena and their final dress rehearsal. Marcin didn't have a lot of time on his hands, but still he greeted us with a warm hug and gave us his undivided attention.
We kinda sensed that Marcin Mroziński had this special something already before we met him, cause he was all over the place on the internet, making witty video blogs on Youtube, talking to people on Facebook and sending greetings through the blogger site of Eurovision.tv. According to Marcin this is a great way to get attention when you don't have a lot of money to spend doing promotion in a more conventional way. "We don't have the same budget as other delegations, like Azerbaijan or Israel for example, so we just have to make the best of it and find alternative ways of making our entry known", Marcin tells us. "Besides this is something that really suits me, I love being on Facebook and getting to know people. When I came to Oslo I recognized a lot of people I've only met online, how great is that?" he smiles. We can't agree more. When we first met Marcin outside the Opera House at the Georgian party a couple of days ago he almost shouted at us when he saw us "Hey, I know you, you're the two blogger girls!" We almost fainted, what a star moment for two simple, small town girls from Norway.
"I also wanted to share with people what goes on behind the scenes. As a Eurovision fan myself, I know that this is stuff that people are interested in, so I just wish to show folks how it all works, how it looks like and try and communicate how it feels being in the middle of things" Marcin explains.
It is truly charming to see him act almost like a kid left alone in a candy store. You can just tell that he enjoys every second of this experience, being present at all the parties, talking to fans and journalists, cracking jokes and having fun. And he is not just a nobody hitting the jackpot coming out of nowhere for Eurovision. Marcin is a big star back home in Poland with 15 years in the limelight behind him, as an artist, actor and TV show host.
"Being an experienced artist helps me on stage in ESC. When presenting a song in ESC it helps a lot to have a background of acting, and having been on stage over 500 times doing musicals. I feel calm and confident and I hope to get some real energy from the audience in Telenor Arena tonight", our Polish friend tells us. He is ready to do his very best tonight, and does of course hope that Europe will love his song and his performance so much that they pick up the phone and vote for him.
Our hard verdict
How can we not love a man who gives himself so wholeheartedly to everyone crossing his path? Big plus for seeming so sincere and for his ability to live in the moment and getting the most out of every situation in life. We also applaud his smartness when it comes to taking advantage of using social media. If his artistic career goes badly, he can surely make a lot of money giving lectures on how to make use of this technology. Not that we ever think that will happen. His appearance is just rock solid in every thinkable aspect, so we suppose it can't get any harder than this.
Minuses? Can't really think of much. It must be if he doesn't pull trough to the final tonight, cause then we won't be able to enjoy the pleasure of his company here in Oslo any longer.
Now it's up to you Europe. Give this fabulous man your support!
Half way trough the Eurovision weeks, it's time to take a recap on everything that's happened so far. Do you think there were only one hot guy in Lithuania? Nope there's five more of them. We had a chat with our favorite Lithuanian blokes in InCulto and got a taste of what the famous and fabulous Eurovision stars make out of this experience.
"We haven't done nearly enough partying so far!" Jurgis Didžiulis exclaims almost before we have managed to sit down in the hotel lobby this beautiful and warm morning in Oslo. Jurgis and his fellow band members look a bit tired so we just assumed there had been some massive partying going on lately. "Actually we have stayed here in our hotel keeping the other guests awake while rehearsing", Jurgis continues. And come to think of it we do receive quite a few gloomy, tired stares from other guests passing us in the lobby, which we really can't understand, we would gladly give up sleeping to be entertained by these guys.
Talent in abundance
"Besides, surprisingly enough, we were not even invited to Belarus' engagement party in EuroClub, and we heard that there were no shortage of vodka", the band members adds, but they don't look too sorry for missing out on that one. In this pink, happy go lucky Eurovision bubble we live in at the moment you can sense there is some seriousness behind it all, and even if InCulto presents one of the more funny and foolish entries this year, don't be fooled to believe that this band has nothing on their minds. "People might think that this is just a project put together especially for Eurovision, but we have been going at it for many years as a band", Jurgis explains.
We can't help but envy people who seem to have so much fun with what they are doing, and according to the band their motivation when they started was to get away from their day jobs and manage to live off their music. So far so good, however we should mention that Laurynas Aurimas plays the trumpet in the Philharmonic Orchestra and Sarunas Kirdeikis is an esteemed dancer and choreographer back in Lithuania with his own Dance Studio. This tells us something about how talented and versatile these funny bunnies on the ESC stage really are.
And when it comes to their upcoming performance in the Semi-Final on Thursday they are on schedule. "I'm not feeling too well at the moment, and struggle with a sore throat, but I reckon I will feel better soon", Jurgis tells us. "Apart from that we must say that so far the rehearsals in Telenor Arena have gone down well, and we are impressed by how skilled and professional everybody who's working there are" he continues. It is however difficult for the Lithuanian guys to really rehearse the actual show. "It's difficult to get the same energy and adrenaline rush when rehearsing in front of a few journalists", the guys agree. That's why they have decided to hit the streets of Oslo and perform spontaneously.
InCulto coming to a street near you
A piece of advise from GEE to our readers in Oslo is to look out for a bunch of guys dressed up in swanky disco hotpants playing on inflatable instruments. "We charge our batteries by doing this kind of stuff, it's fun and rewarding to create a good energetic feel and we wish to show people that this comes from our hearts", Jurgis states to explain this rather peculiar behavior.
Well guys, we are happy to help you out stocking up on energy before the performance in the Semi-Final, so we watched InCulto perform "Eastern European Funk" exclusively for us. And OK, we'll share the moment with all of you:
And if you can't get enough of these fab and glitzy men, you can catch them perform at Hard Rock Cafe in Oslo on May 25th, Tuesday night, or of course on a street near you!
The Norwegian ESC delegation is being beaten around in national press these days for bad media strategy and for mixing up business with pleasure. We asked the most professional musicians we know how it's like being an artist in our country.
A1 happily accepted their new band member
Many people were surprised when they heard the big stars of A1 were moving to Norway. Well, we do know there is a certain woman inspiring a certain man, but what is the point of moving your careers out of the UK pop heaven and into our small territory of farmers and pop hobbits?
The slow burner nation
The hunky men of A1 ensure us moving to Norway was due to working with many Scandinavian producers, not just the lovely ladies we present them with. The Brits are not that happy with their decision, though. “We get a lot of fan mail from people in the UK every day asking us when we’re coming back. Many are angry and want us to come back home”, Ben Adams says. We do get that. In Norway we feel extremely lucky to have such huge stars walking among us. What perks do they get out of it?
“Norway is much more of a slow burner. While everything has to happen real fast when launching a record in UK, here you can take your time and do stuff before the new music is launched”, Mark Daniel Read tells us. Also Christian Ingebrigtsen thinks it's good for A1 to work from his home country. “Norway is such a strong territory and living here has really boosted our confidence. We have actually received more fan mail after moving here. People are so keen on hearing what's happening”, he says. “Yeah, we've gotten a lot of new fans, like all these children and their parents”, Ben adds, pointing towards the 1500 choir kids that were off to sing with them in the concert house in Oslo Sunday. Those were some pretty lucky kids, we'd say.
Ben Adams sang us his toilet song before starting the interview
Hitting the Norwegian Eurovision stage and loving it One of the things that have been going on, is A1 participating in the Norwegian MGP – the national finals for Eurovision. Wow, we thought when we heard. How did Norway manage that?
“We were invited by the committee to write a couple of songs, so we submitted a few”, Mark tells us. Lucky committee, we think to ourselves, as there are three great song writers sitting in front of us. But A1 feel like they were the lucky ones, as they have gained a lot from participating. “Actually, we didn't plan on participating ourselves”, Mark continues. “But now we are happy we did. It has been a great experience that has presented us with the opportunity to reach new fan bases traveling around the country. Even if we are an established band, we find it beneficial to participate”, he stresses.
In Good Evening Europe we can't help but wondering what happened when young car mechanic/opera student Didrik Solli-Tangen beat glorious A1 in the grand final. But to A1 it was perfect to be the runner up. “Yeah, of course we would have loved to represent Norway in ESC, but we had so many plans already, winning would have messed up our schedule and made it hard to change everything around”, Christian says.
Would never participate for UK But why not participate for UK? They seem to struggle to find someone who can perform a decent song over there. “No way, we would never participate in the UK”, Ben almost shouts. The boys seem to agree that while the UK finals for ESC are very cynical and low key, Norway has a much more healthy focus on the actual song contest with good contestants and high standards.
A1 don't even think their participation in MGP is well known over there on their British home turf, since they didn't do any press on it there, but of course the UK Eurovision fans know. Mark, Ben and Christian are moved by all the comments saying they should have won and esctoday.com awarding them with the “Best mid tempo song” prize.
Still, A1 don't think they will participate in the contest again as performers, but maybe they'll submit a few songs again. “Yeah, Eurovision is great for exposing your music”, Mark says. If you are an artist, get in line for performing A1's material, we'd say.
No need for private parties
In Good Evening Europe we thought A1's manager, Christian Dyresen, was really brave when telling our largest tabloid, VG, he believes there are too tight connections between the winners of MGP and our main emperor of MGP, Per Sundnes. Didrik has been attending Sundnes' private dinner parties, he got a vintage car from Per's husband and to some it seems Didrik was the internal favorite long before the final. What do A1 think about the importance of knowing the right people?
“It’s difficult to get away from the fact that everything in this world is based on human relations”, Christian Ingebrigtsen says. “Most people get jobs through people they know, for instance. But we think it’s important to not focus too much on this. It’s the people at home who does the voting, and we just approached the finals from the outside”.
No need for Didrik to be all dogfaced, though. His buddies in A1 think he is a great artist and believe he could do really well. A1 will in fact host their own private ESC party next Saturday together with one of the other MGP finalists this year, Bjørn Johan Muri. And they will all be cheering for Norway, not UK. “Nope. How could we be proud of UK when they present such crappy songs?” Ben says. His glamorous girlfriend Sara Skjoldnes adds she has done a lot of dancing and singing with Didrik while growing up in the same town. She gives him the best of recommendations stating he’s a very nice fellow. Well done charming the stars, Didrik!
A1 will launch their new record in October. In the meantime we can enjoy listening to their MGP contribution:
Norway's largest tabloid newspaper VG has finally discovered that there are other Norwegian ESC contestants this year besides Didrik. Sylvia Strand grew up in the beautiful middle of nowhere, by the fjords on the west coast of Norway. To end up as a contestant for Cyprus along with her Welsh band, on home turf is quite an achievement! We met them at the opening reception in the City Hall last night, and they were all super nice.
Finally, after living here for several years, Oslo welcomed us to town. We attended a fabulous reception at Oslo City Hall, walking the pink carpet together with all the Eurovision delegations. We were a bit embarrassed by the fact that they ran out of champagne, but apart from that, mayor Fabian and his young little thing were great hosts.
Here's the highlights:
What joy to get these invitations! Our company is requested, of course.
Someone knows how to work the journalists. Marcin from Poland tempted them with an apple. Truth is, Poland is so jealous on Armenia's apricots that they brought their own apples.
Daniel from Spain tried to convince us in Spanish it's not really that tiny.
We agree with Didrik's choir chicks: Our buddy Marius is to be preferred.
Getting into some Opa with Greece.
The bird of Malta in some more casual sequins. Show us some feather, man!
Astrid and Guri have shared their passion for Eurovision for years. They both grew up in the beautiful middle of nowhere, and as kids, the annual Eurovision final was their only share of glamour. Life has later become somewhat more glamorous, but still nothing can beat the extravaganza of the Eurovision grand final.
Eurovision moments are, as this years slogan is telling us, meant to be shared. With this blog we give you our thoughts on the songs, the artists, the show, the costumes, the drama and everything else which makes this contest so absolutely wonderful!
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