[LMBTO] "Eurovision : You Decide" - Attending My First National Final...

I think you can all guess which option I went for...

A quick rearrangement of Annual Leave, the 'Early Bird OGAE Club' purchase of two tickets (my other half Ellen came too), a night's stay at the closest Holiday Inn (Camden Lock - highly recommend it, by the way) and advance rail travel booked meant that I would be crossing off yet another 'must do' in my Eurovision fan list:

Before the big day, Monday 22nd February saw the 'Big Reveal' - all the six acts to perform were played on the Ken Bruce show.  I decided to listen to all of the six only ONCE by this route, the studio versions of their songs, as time and experience has taught me that it's only the live performance that really matters in the end.  I will do a 'compare and contrast' with the live versions later on - there were some losers during the actual live gig and my favourite definitely changed...

The big day arrived - no hitches getting to London, arriving at our hotel or going to the venue.  Due to my partner having issues with mobility, the venue assigned us a spot in the Accessible area of the ground floor of the Forum, meaning we had to wear these:

But that was a minor inconvenience to get this view:

All seated and next to the sound engineer's desk!  Room to put your drink down, although that was a mixed blessing when someone just behind managed to kick their beer forward over the back of my chair!  Just before the crowds rolled in, I took some quick pictures of the interior:
The Panel's chairs looked a bit basic AND seemed to commit the cardinal television sin of being swivel ones!  I'm sure there'd be fun with those - I also wanted to take a picture of the poster of an upcoming act as it too had a big Eurovision connection this season, Avantasia being third placed in 'Unser Lied für Stockholm'.  Having looked on Wiki, I now know that they are a German heavy rock supergroup - I had no idea beforehand but that would explain the 'Jim Steinman' influence to their entry.

The venue filled up pretty quickly and as it was going to be a live show on BBC4, there were cameras all around and we were schooled in how to deal with cheering at the right times, not booing (that wouldn't happen, there were no Russians singing) and how to look good if the camera focussed on you.  Having been to last year's Greatest Hits Concert, I was now an old hand at this sort of thing but where we were sitting, I didn't expect to be visible on the nation's tv screens.  Before the main show got started on BBC4 at 7.30pm, we were patched into The One Show twice, first time with Carrie Grant, long time presenter of music segments there and one of tonight's three panelists, and Mel our host (she is improving with each Eurovision show, although her saying 'Eurovish' is still annoying and won't catch on), second time with a piece featuring all the performers and them having to 'act their first lines', as only The One Show can demand, together with a quick interview with Måns.  I watched it all back online - it was all rather cringeworthy but it filled the time up.  Most notably, Matthew James looked like 'The Master' from Jon Pertwee's days on Doctor Who...
My first attendance at a National Final of any sort, how would it go?  The hairs stood up on the back of my neck as I heard the Eurovision theme tune and watched the spirals around the trophy, knowing that I was actually here, at a National Final, watching artists from my country competing to represent the UK in Stockholm.  Yep, I was excited!  I was also treating this like a gig, savouring the atmosphere, all the nuances of what might happen at a live show, accepting that the sound quality in the Forum will not necessarily be the best but that I can see the 'good stuff' when I got back to Bristol and watched the NF back.  I hoped I was in for a treat and I was indeed.  After Mel built up the tension with the "the UK hasn't won for 19 years" and informing the viewers that OGAE, BASCA (British Academy Of Songwriters Composers & Authors) and the music industry all had a hand in selecting the six entries, we moved into the show proper.  In amongst all the entries themselves, we had 'Heroes' and 'Love Shine A Light' performed for us, plus a tribute to Sir Terry Wogan (a selection of his best verbal barbs at the Contest).  The panelists were revealed as Carrie Grant and Katrina, along with Jay Revell, a staging director.  All of their comments were very 'X Factor' and not really worth remembering or quoting.  The postcards that I saw via a big screen at the venue and then online later gave a nice personal touch to each song and artist - if the ESC proper ever returns to our shores, it looks as though we can produce a piece about an artist with the best of them!

My reviews of each of the entries includes what I thought of their studio versions before the NF, a picture taken by me at the gig (with varying degrees of success) plus the National Final review, a combined view of how they came across live in the O2 Forum and how they looked on screen.  Just a reminder of what they all looked like:
Okay, you'll get a better view when you look at their NF videos!


Dulcima - "When You Go"


On first listen of the studio version, I felt that this was going to be THE toe tapper track of the NF!  A lively upbeat number, the lead singer Dulcima's voice was unusual with a certain amount of huskiness in it.  The lyrics were strong and there were no frills, just honest folky rhythms and fun.  I wasn't so sure about the drumming section but I thought it would have 'AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION' stamped all over it, given the beat and the potential for clapping along to the second half of the song.  And how right I was proved to be:
Whoever decided on "When You Go" opening the show, take a very, very big bow!  They got it absolutely spot on - the crowd were well up for it and were clapping, singing and jumping as much as they did all evening, more so than for any of the other five entries.  The down side for this live was that the lead vocals weren't that strong for at least half this performance - the music was top notch but watching this back online, Dulcima didn't give her best vocals, which was a damn shame.  She sounded okay in the venue and got stronger as the song went on.  The whole troop connected really well with the crowd and viewers and I could have imagined this being on a par with Firelight and Sebalter's performances at Eurovision - unfortunately I could see that Dulcima's vocals were going to prevent that becoming a reality.  I still really enjoyed this entry and of everyone at the NF, I would go and see them play live again.  7.0




Matthew James - "A Better Man"


Yep, a real killer of any positivity and party atmosphere at the venue too!  I suppose in a list of six acts it was always going to be hard to decide where he would sit without everything falling flat but 'A Better Man' did have a visible impact on how upbeat the crowd were throughout the rest of the night.  There was no question that Matthew put his heart and soul into the live performance and it was emotionally charged throughout, even if his attempts to hit the high notes were occasionally missed.  It was, however, like listening to a slow album track or the 'slowie' to dance to at 1.50pm at the end of a club night - he also did not connect with the camera much when I watched it back again.  We weren't going to see a slow ballad at Eurovision from the UK this year.  5.5




Darline - "Until Tomorrow"



Darline are a prime example of why I normally only review the chances of a song doing well at Eurovision when I hear the live version.  "Until Tomorrow" was my choice based on the studio cut - pretty voices, nice structure to the song, a strong lead vocal (although I found out that this was shared at the NF), very 'Country & Western', all about the lyrics and the music.  Its simplicity and bouncy nature gave me cause to think that this would stand out and possibly win...
Then I heard it live at the O2 Forum.  They looked amazing as they walked on the stage and if that had been combined with the vocals I had heard before, Darline would have been my clear winners.  Unfortunately their live vocals were not as good, to say the least, and were a bit off at times.  There was, as Carrie Grant pointed out, little interaction between them on stage (although that probably had more to do with the brunette banging a drum with her foot and therefore not being able to physically move around) or with the camera and audience either.  It was also now noticeable that this was a very repetitive song.  The idea that this could be the UK's version of The Common Linnets was now 'dead in the water' for me.  6.0




Karl William Lund - "Miracle"



Ah, the OGAE song (as we all later found out).  Or the song that had everything but that WOW moment, as I heard it when I listened to the studio version.  This had Karl's distinctive voice, great musical flow, a lovely build-up into what I thought was going to be a rousing chorus or a major climax but that was the problem with 'Miracle' for me - that never happened.  It had everything else, even a superb emotional delivery and inspiring lyrics but just not that 'killer touch' that would have blown all the other artists away.  Karl had said on Twitter that he would rectify this if he got to Stockholm - I felt he needed to change things for the NF...
Unfortunately that wasn't the case - it was obvious that the song meant a huge amount to him and Karl sung this superbly, taking a lot of the audience along with him but it still was missing something to make this a winner.  He had the best connection with the camera and the crowd overall on the night but to win with a powerful ballad that gives a message, you need THAT moment and it wasn't there.  He did help get the crowd going again though.  7.0




Bianca - "Shine A Little Light"



Now this was an odd one for me when listening to the studio version - Bianca can obviously sing and it came across as an potential anthemic song (even though the title seemed to trade on that of our last UK winner) but for me, there were several things that bothered me about this entry.  The underlying reggae bass and drums that didn't match her singing style, the strong music of the entry that was slightly louder than her vocals, the choir backing that didn't seem to compliment her voice - it all made me not like this too much.  Maybe hearing it live might change my mind...
This was better on the night, the major plus being how Bianca looked which was in the category of 'absolutely stunning'.  There was still the annoying disconnect between her beautiful classically trained singing voice and that 'reggae' music but the chorus was now a real hook with the title line sticking in my head all night.  I didn't notice this on the night but she did struggle occasionally with some of the top notes and the backing was the worst of the night for this entry (not her fault at all).  This was the best entry of the night though up to now and having the penultimate slot meant that Bianca had a very good chance of winning.  7.5




Joe and Jake - "You're Not Alone"

And so onto the last entry of the night, maybe that positioning might have given an indication of what the producers thought of this entry.  Upon hearing it for the first time before the NF, I thought that it was catchy, Joe & Jake's vocals were good, that there was a nice interaction between the pair during the song and it had a very strong, memorable chorus.  I didn't think it was world-beating on that first listen - it was good but not amazing.  I was interested to see what the guys could do on stage...
Despite the extremely bass overload coming out the speakers at the O2 Forum and the fact that they were last on, this entry came across to me, twenty yards away, as the best sung and performed entry by far.  They provided great harmonies, they both could sing live, the on-stage connection and charisma was good, and the song itself had the earworm chorus and killer hook of 'oh-oh-oh-wo, oh, oh' which screamed 'audience participation'.  Joe possibly needed a bit of a vocal boost when singing on his own but that was probably the only criticism I could find about this entry.  It had a nice 'everyman' feel about it and the song itself was the best constructed of the six.  I loved the dual drummer staging as well (maybe a throwback to my liking 'Adam and the Ants') - all in all, this was the toe tapper of the night and I felt that this was the one to win the NF.  I wondered how this came across on tv - watching it later, this was head and shoulders above the others as an overall vocal and staging package.  8.0