57 Years since Win One, 31 Years since Win Two...
Måneskin make it THREE for Italy with "Zitti E Buoni"!
There was always a strong chance that we would either have a new nation winning Eurovision in 2021 or an established one that hadn't won for a while - we got the latter when Måneskin stormed the televote and finished up the winners in Rotterdam. The first group to win the trophy since Lordi, this entry was a real gig performance with energy, charisma, musicianship, pyros and the requisite amount to vocals. Every band member - Victoria, Thomas, Ethan and Damiano - got their camera time and this was a deserved overall win. No compromise victory here - Gjon's Tears won the Jury vote but the public spoke and put Italy out front - read it yourself from Wiki:
The bookies favourite came out on top - my #2 coming into the Final, my #2 in the Jury Final, not as hot in the televised show but still a standout. I am delighted that my all time season #1Barbara Pravi came second overall but to be honest, this was a cracking Final with the following stand out moments...
- Graham Norton gave a really great commentary in the UK - minimal sarcasm and a lot of emotion
- The one thing I wanted to happen during the Final did - San Marino got a 12! Admittedly I wasn't expecting it to come from Poland but still - something that I never thought I would see in my lifetime
- An incredible result for Iceland, seeing that they missed every live event due to COVID - whether being in the Ahoy would have pushed them up to top, we will never know
- I learnt that Spain had the biggest ever prop at Eurovision with their moon - I will never understand the Spanish and their need to spend money on staging for no reason
- Natalia Gordienko finished 13th with two douze point from the juries and two from the televote - simply no idea how
- Jendrik didn't get hate but did get ignored by the public, much in the same way that Spain, The Netherlands and the UK did. Unfortunately James Newman also got nothing from the juries either - the UK's second ever zero points (understandably so in my opinion - I had him 25th in the Jury Final and 24th in the televised show)
- Other notable public favs were Ukraine and Finland - 5th and 6th overall were their reward
- The show itself was slick, professional and ran to time well - thank you Rotterdam and all the Dutch broadcasters for your efforts over the past two years.
But the story of the night was all about Italy's third win, reward for their diverse submissions since 2011, and of course Måneskin. Their cachet is about to go through the roof nationally and internationally - the fact that they made it out of Sanremo as well proves that anything can happen in Italy!
I will be writing up my moments of Eurovision 2021, along with what stood out for me throughout the season, in the coming weeks. I hope you have enjoyed the 16 day journey (the winner's press conference crept into Sunday 23rd May) I have taken being UK press this year through the blog - I will flag up my radio shows commissioned for Bradley Stoke Radio when I put them onto Mixcloud as well. I was a 'busy boy' from the comfort of my study at home - the Online Press Centre was a superb experience and I would thoroughly recommend it for next year, assuming it is in place again. Back to the regular radio gig on Tuesday...
I wonder what song will be kicking off the show?