Tonight was the Eurovision Grand Final after two Semi Final nights. The top 10 acts from each Semi Final, plus the Big Five (UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy) will perform along with the host country automatically in the final Ukraine. 

There were going to be five ethnic language songs (Italy, France, Portugal, Belarus, Hungary) which fortunately all made it thru to the final. 

As we had been waiting in the venue the DJ was playing several tracks of past winners to warm up the crowd (youtube video https://youtu.be/WzQanXvvcZ8)

They they had an Opening Ceremonies were all the artists were announced and did a walk thru the venue. I tried to film but was in a bad position and there was poor lighting as they walked by. (youtube video https://youtu.be/bP7OUhsUv30)

 
 





 
























 
I was up against the camera tracks in the rear fan zone. Annoyingly two tall ball Germans were leaning up against the railings ahead of me getting in the way of all my pictures and videos. 

First was ISRAEL and POLAND two songs that dont really excite me. Next was my favourite BELARUS singing in their ethnic language. It didnt seem as exciting the first time round in the Semi Final but was still a crowd hit. 

 
 

AUSTRIA was next followed by ARMENIA and THE NETHERLANDS.  Armenia always sings in English but uses ethnic folk music sounds which I like as a window on other cultures rather than just another english pop song which doesnt represent a country. 

 
 

Another of my big faves MOLDOVA was next with their crazy dance moves. After their first appearance in 2010 this act from Moldova has become somewhat of an internet sensation. Unknown to me there is a 10 hour video loop of the sax player which is upto 27 million views currently!  

 
 

Next another of my big faves HUNGARY with their gypsy song in Hungarian. A gypsy act is a risky move. The Czech Republic tried it a few years back and failed to qualify from the semis. This however is a much better performance musically and in terms of its staging with the dancing and fiddle player. 

 
 

The first of the Big Five and internet favourite to win tonight was ITALY. This was in their language and a big internet favourite due to the dancing gorilla and hand dance moves the audience can join in. 

The gorilla is not a gimmick as the lyrics refer to the materialism of the modern world and how we are all apes trained to dance. Unfortunately the staging was very bad. I couldnt see the performer or the gorilla.   

 
 

Next was DENMARK followed by PORTUGAL. Neither song grabs me and Portugal is a very slow ballad in their language sounding like a cat meowing slowly. 

 
 

AZERBAIJAN and CROATIA. were next.  Azerbaijan I just dont get what a man in a horse head on a ladder is supposed to mean? Croatia is a very good performance with what was a rather bland song in audio beforehand. With no other Yugoslav country Croatia will soak up a lot of Balkan votes. 

 
 

AUSTRALIA was another song whose audio was was not interesting but they had impressive staging with their big screen video and performer walking on a turntable. 

 
 

GREECE was one I didnt even think would qualify. Their song disinterested me and had no ethnic sounds as in prior years. Somehow they got thru with their topless muscle dancers playing in water. 

 
 

SPAIN was another of the Big Five. Their song "Do It For Your Lover" can either do very well or very bad with its cheesy one line lyric in endless loop.  Another big surprise was NORWAY which was going down very well with the crowd. 

 
 

Next of the Big Five was THE UNITED KINGDOM. The UK has done very poorly in recent years but this is a very good ballad and performance. The song was written by the last Danish winner from 2013 but the lyrics can be confused for a Brexit apology! 

"I will never give up on you, I dont care what I've got to lose, together we'll dance thru this storm, this madness, its madness"...  It went down well with the crowds.

 
















 

A surprise qualifier CYPRUS was followed by crowd hit ROMANIA with their yodelling and brightly coloured stage.    

 
 

Next of the Big Five GERMANY. They have done very poorly and recent years and I quite liked this song for once after many of their odd choices. It went down well with the crowds as well who were clapping along. 

 
 

Host UKRAINE was next with a strange giant head followed by crowd hit BELGIUM.   

Another crowd hit was SWEDEN with their slick dance moves of five guys on moving walkways. The melodious BULGARIA was next. The final act was FRANCE which needed to remind us all the Eiffel Tower was in Paris. 

 
 

Verka then made her first stage appearance to the delight of fans to tell Europe to "Start voting now". 

 
 

Ruslana, the 2005 Ukraine winner and Catherine Zeta Jones lookalike performed an interval act. 

 
 

Here is my 23 min video compilation of most songs. You hear live crowd reaction, cheering, clapping, singing along, and the annoying bald heads.  https://youtu.be/yVVkGMkvWUQ

An importance difference to note is what you see on tv is not what we saw in the venue. We are seeing a live stage performance with audience reaction. You are seeing a choreographed tv performance edited to cameras. Not all performances translate properly onto tv. Others like Sweden are made for tv. Norway had video graphics added which we have no knowledge of watching the live performance. 

 
 

While the voting was taking place the Fan Zone cleared out a bit so I was able to walk around and get lots of good shots of the artists waiting in the Green Room. 

Last years winner Jamala then returned to perform on stage. Someone suddenly got on stage. 

 
 






























 
I missed what happened and just saw them bundle him off. Turns out the Australian fan had mooned on live global tv. Jamala never flinched during her performance and continued flawlessly. 

 
 
 


The judges then confirmed the votes and the vote tabulation began. This is the drama of the night as we go to each country to collect the votes and watch the leaderboard change. 

Unfortunately the stage at the front did not have the leaderboard so we had to look to the screens on either side of the venue to watch the scores. 

 
 

They have made the vote process too confusing and rapid fire to follow first time. You see the country scores then flip to the leaderboard to compile them. I would rather they leave the leaderboard up on the main stage so we can follow what is going on as it kept switching to each country leaving you only seconds to see the tally so far. 

 
 

Also I dont like they have split jury votes from televotes. Previously they did them all blended as we got the votes from each country. Now they decided to split the votes to create more drama drawing on the Swedish finals method. So we were only getting the jury votes from each country not the televotes. 

 
 

Portugal had taken a strong lead but surprisingly favourites Italy and Sweden were not doing so well. UK however was doing reasonably well picking up jury points. Norway was also placing very well. Big crowd hit Hungary was doing very badly. Everybody booed when Cyprus gave Greece 12 points as they do every year without fail in an act of "brotherly love". 

 
 

For the Ukraine vote I expected them to goto a live crowd shot at Eurovision Village in Maidan Square. Instead they went to a studio shot of Ukraine on a bright sunny day when it was past 1am and had been raining all day.           

With all the jury votes in now the televotes would be added in separately. I could see Hungary downbeat still waiting as their votes never materialized thus far. 

 
 

Hungary did however place top ten in the televotes moving from the bottom of the board to 8th place showing how out of touch jury votes can be. We were down to the last three televotes, Moldova, Bulgaria, Portugal. 

Moldova also catapulted to 3rd place on the leaderboard when televotes were added, their best night ever. Now it was down the final two. 

Here is my last video showing Green Room reaction and the Final three being announced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zToDqFHxpkY
 
 
 

Bulgaria came 2nd, their best placing ever, making Portugal the grand final winner. I'm very happy for Portugal as they have never won in over 50 years competing and dont usually qualify from the Semi Final. However I really didnt like this song (cat meowing) and dont think it was the best. 

I still would have liked Estonia to have been in the final. Germany and Spain finished at the bottom and I quite liked the German song. Jury votes are not in sync with televotes but helped pull UK, Norway, Netherlands, Australia up. 

My favourite Hungary had finally come thru placing 8th, and Moldova did really well placing 3rd. Belarus finished 17th overall behind the UK in 15th place. Armenia ended 18th. Austria got zero televotes! Ukraine, Germany, Spain were bottom three. 

Top ten televotes were         Top ten jury votes        Overall Result
1 - Portugal                 1 - Portugal             1 - Portugal
2 - Bulgaria                 2 - Bulgaria             2 - Bulgaria
3 - Moldova                 3 - Sweden             3 - Moldova
4 - Belgium                 4 - Australia             4 - Belgium
5 - Romania                 5 - Netherlands           5 - Sweden
6 - Italy                    6 - Norway              6 - Italy 
7 - Hungary                 7 - Italy                7 - Romania
8 - Sweden                 8 - Moldova             8 - Hungary 
9 - Croatia                  9 - Belgium             9 - Australia 
10 - France                 10 - UK                 10 - Norway 
 
 
 

For the reprise Portugal took the unusual step of inviting his sister on stage who had written the song and they sung together. This year the focus was more on the song and less of a gimmicky circus, one reason Portugal did well.  

As the crowds left we mingled around the fan area but security still would not let us in the front stage area. The Metro had been kept open extra late and it was after 2am when we got back to the hotel.

 
 
 
Watching it live is a completely different experience from watching on tv. I've seen the tv version and it looks nowhere as interesting as my own videos with the atmosphere and live reaction. My videos have already got several hundred views. 

I would go again but probably wait a year or two. It takes a lot of planning and patience to get tickets and hotels before factoring airfare.   

I only picked Ukraine as it was my cheapest option in ten years so have to wait for another cheaper Eastern bloc win. It took a years planning starting the day Ukraine won in 2016 to fulfill a lifetimes dream to goto one Eurovision at least once!. 

It was a great social experience with the fans. People are already planning for Portugal next year and have probably grabbed hotels. The venue was an exhibition hall not an arena so you had a good view even from the back. TV just made the place look bigger. 
 
A detailed guide and history to Eurovision can also be found in an earlier entry which has gone thru major rewrites since first posted (See entry - Brief Introduction to Eurovision --http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/londone7/37/1495918728/tpod.html)

 
 
       
 


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