When I got back from work today I managed to catch the last bit of the semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest. Usually I don’t watch it, as I think it’s all a load of crap. It’s become more about the whole show than about the actual musicians entertainers performing. Sure, the entertainers are the main part of the show but it’s all blown out of proportion if you ask me. What happened to the concept of Who sings the best song? Today’s Eurovision Song Contest is more about What country puts on the weirdest act and Which countries are going to stick together and vote for each other.

Did I just really say that? Yes I did! Every year the entries for this contest get weirder and stranger and maybe even funnier. At some points one might even think they are watching the Idols try outs. Sure it is good for a few laughs but it’s sad that the actual concept is disappearing. Not only with the outrageous acts but also with the voting system. Some countries are sticking together when it comes to voting. Not very fair but there is no rule that stops it really.
This brings me to the point of my title. What you see is that mostly the East European countries are sticking together and vote for each other. With the exception of a few other countries most participants are from the East. Here‘s the list for the finals coming Saturday.

There’s nothing wrong with having all the East European countries participate, I only welcome it as it is good for diversity. I just think there should be some sort of solution for the whole trading votes thing. Maybe go back to the judges system with people who actually know what they are talking about as they work in the music industry, attorneys who think they know what they are talking about as they work in the music industry (what’s wrong with this picture?!). But than again, maybe judges might make it a bit too idols-like, especially with all those ridiculous acts.

Actually there might even be a better solution. Take it all back to the beginning. Let everyone perform, without telling the audience where they are from (and of course try to prevent ‘leaking’) and THAN decide who is the best. Maybe that kind of takes away the European countries participating in a contest but it’s more fair than the way it is now.

Some of you probably think I’m just angry as The Netherlands didn’t make it to the finals on Saturday. All I can do is laugh about it really as it was all a joke to begin with anyway. Even before the semi-finals I already knew we weren’t going to be ‘in’. Treble represented us this year. And even though their first single was ok, they have totally disappeared from radio since than and even with the ESC – song I have not heard them on national radio once.

This might sound harsh, but I think they could have saved some money on the trip to Greece. Before the show they were estimated to end up on spot 16! that’s 6 spots away from making it to the finals. But I’m glad we didn’t get represented by Maud though. She was an idols contestant, which on the other hand, might have fitted in more with the current participants. Our third representative to choose from was Behave. I don’t really know anything about them but the label ‘pop-rock’ sounds a lot better than ‘ex-idol’ or ‘one-hit-wonders’. And that says a lot as I hate labels!

As you can see I’m not a big Eurovision fan. It used to be better back in the day. But wasn’t everything?

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