Eurovision 2019

I stood in the Golden Circle for the two Jury Semi Finals (I was the gimp in the Union Jack suit not that that narrows it down) but was seated for the broadcasts and the Friday Jury Final. Wouldn't go for standing again!

On the subject of English in Sweden I'm toying with going to Melfest's final. Is it much fun for an English speaker?

The Melfest final is pretty accessible for non Swedish speakers. If you’re familiar with the show then it will be no problem. I attended the 2017 final and it was great fun. For the jury votes they will speak to the international jury spokespersons in English.

This year we went to the semi final in Malmö and that was fab too. Obviously the ‘jokes’ are a bit lost on you but the visual g‪ags etc are fun.

You’ll be familiar with “Nu kör Vi” and “‪Vi har ett resultat‬” anyway!

Fan club tickets are only for standing so that’s our only option. Not that I mind. You meet some great people standing that would otherwise be difficult when seated.

True, and I met some real characters in the Golden Circle. What really, really genuinely bowled me over was the amount of Aussies who made the lengthy and costly trip! Anyone who questions why they're there doesn't understand just how big a deal it is.

All that said, on the final night I was sat next to an Estonian couple and then surrounded by a hell of a lot of Spanish and Portuguese fans. Much debate ensued after SuRie's stage invasion as Spain had obviously suffered a similar fate back in Oslo in 2010. The period after was very fraught as we were all receiving texts from people back home, with each of us relaying to the others what that country's commentator had said regarding the incident. With absolutely no reference to the incident made in the arena (and therefore none on the world feed) we were relying on friends and relatives to tell us what people sat just a few metres away from us were saying to them!

Yep - and if you learn the numbers it's even more fun

"Två poäng gå till melodi nummer fyra" = "Two points go to song number four"

Plus some gags are often in English (c.f. Lynda Woodruff - hopefully with SDF presenting we may see a glimpse of her?)

Why on earth is that ? The Oslo hosts were great, the script was funny, the camera coverage of the acts was fantastic (and well scripted), the stage was a welcome contest to the LED-screen- centric 2009 show and the interval act in the final was innovative and a lot of fun. It's still one of my favourite contests.

Oh I love the 2010 show. One of the best!

But a lot of fans don't due to the lack of LED screens.

Some pretty good songs that year too, including the first 'Big 5' winner since 1997.

The crowd did look dead at the front, there was a distinct lack of flags waving compared to a lot of years, but the staging was good, if a bit cheap.

Satellite is one of my all time favourites. The best staging is often the simplest.

It was still all seater right up until Malmo 2013, so you did lose a bit at the front. Once standing crowds came in it energised things a bit.

I just love those song from 2010, much underrated in its final placing I I think.


Doesn’t need LED videowalls, but shows off the performance and lighting effects very nicely.

Mel has confirmed on Magic 105.4 that she will be hosting EYD, although the host had to remind her what our National Final was called.

No word whether she's alone, or who's writing the script.

Mel divides fans a lot and I initially wasn't a fan, but with Edward's script last year I thought she was great. Indeed, I bumped Edward in town afterwards - apart from being genuinely humbled that as Brit I knew who he was, he said that he genuinely loved writing for Mel. I know SVT have bought him back to the fold to help get Melodifestivalen back on track, but it would be great if he could still write for EYD again; it really did lift the Brighton show.