The Vision of Europe

Well well well.

Here we are so many moons after the event, but we are finally able to tell you about the amazing experience that was Eurovision! Ah the Eurovision times...

Let us now cast our minds back and recount all that was!

So.

Where to begin? At the very beginning because after all, that is a very good place to start we suppose.

Arrival in Helsinki was an exciting event indeed - the festive atmosphere was palpable with banners across the city heralding the arrival of the greatest show on earth and carloads of sane Finns escaping town as it was steadily invaded by Europhiles, dags and gays.




As soon as we hit the ground in Helsinki, we tizzied ourselves up and made a dash across to Hartwall Arena in order to attend the semi final of Eurovision. Some folk we know have asked us many times why we decided to get tickets for the semi final rather than the final. We gleefully remind them that the best thing about Eurovision is that it is CRAP. Yes, it is crap; but that is why we love it so. And, the semi final is the cesspit of Eurovision where non-qualified countries must out-shine and out-wind-machine eachother for the glory of taking part in the grand final.

What were we subjected to whilst witnessing this spectacle? Too many things for us to be bothered writing about highlights to recount here (besides, we do trust that you, dear faithful reader, did indeed watch the broadcast on television), but for your delight, here is the cream of the crop that had our thighs positively wobbling wildly with excitement!:

Israel:

Our thighs were wobbling not so much from the craptasticness of this act; rather we wobbled out of fear that some nemesis of the Israeli state would actually 'push the button' and seek retribution by blowing up the arena during a live broadcast!

Belarus:
True; the staging was quite inventive and creative with the back up folk appearing to stick to a solid white wall. However, the most impressive thing was something completely unrelated to the song. Flying from Copenhagen to Helsinki, we were passed a complimentary newspaper by the stern looking Scandinavian air hotess. It was in Finnish, and so was totally unreadable to us. Looking at the pictures though, we were highly amused to see the newspaper point out THIS comparison between the Belarussian competitor and another, slightly more, famous personality:



Reincarnation as a Eurovision popette. Surely the penultimate step before Nirvana.


Denmark: Sequins! Feathers! Dancing men! We thought it was a Kylie show. But no, it was a Danish male hairdresser in stockings and high heels. This is what Eurovision is all about.

Poland: Seiously, this was hot hot hot! Cages, funky music, it was very Fergielicious. This song should have certainly made it through to the final, but then again, that's Eurovision!



Norway: A Scandinavian foxy old minx singing a Spanish-inspired song with the gayest back up dancers ever in this history of the world. And to top that all off, she changes costume THREE TIMES in the space of three minutes flat. Witness the glory!



Now, after all of that excitement in the arena, we were highly surprised to find ourselves amongst controversy - all 10 semi finalists to go through to the final were *shock horror!* Eastern European!!! The crowd erupted in boos and hisses!! Sure, some of the songs to get through were legitimately well performed - but hey, aren't the Western European countries meant to be culturally, economically and socially superior?? (Maybe it was their cultural snobbery that made them not watch the semi final and vote for their favourite!!)

Anyway, with the semi final done with, it was a long-awaited count down to the big finale - Saturday night, 14 May 2007. What a glorious day that was!

EuroTrash was indeed well prepared and arrived at Senate Square around 3pm - with only 7 hours to spare until the start of the show!!

(Side note: we are indeed glad though that we arrived that early, for we witnessed two stupendous Finnish acts that we are now committed fans of: REGINA and TUOMO - two fantastic acts that you should definitely have a listen to!!)

As the sun made its ever-slow slink towards the horizon (well, it did set at 11pm!) the crowds poured into Senate Square and the anticipation grew to true FEVER PITCH! Flags were waving; faces were painted; people were getting hideously drunk! Hurrah! Everything we'd hoped for Eurovision and more!





The show started and we were not disappointed! As each country was announed, the posse who'd come to Finland to proudly wave the flag jumped up and gave their loudest shout. EuroTrash did not miss the opportunity though, and proudly waved the Australian flag in the vain hope that one day, maybe just one day, Australia too could compete in Eurovision. Well, if the rules technically say that Lebanon and Morocco could compete if they want to, then why not Australia? We did receive many messages of encouragement from fellow Eurovision enthusiasts...

As the night progressed, at some time around midnight Helsinki time, the absolute pinnacle of our existence came to pass.

As act number 18 pranced out on stage, we thought we would pass out with pure delight, and from lack of oxygen given that we were screaming non-stop at full throttle.

Behold: Verka Serduchka!





Now THIS is Eurovision!!

To be quite frank, this is the most brilliant song. Ever. If you think otherwise, you are wrong. Look at it! There is a man-lady! There are shiny costumes! There is a key change! There are non-language-specific lyrics so you can sing along no matter where you are from! And to top it off, there are accordions! Although it is a travesty that this did not win, it came a very respectable second place behind the Serbian version of a short stumpy k.d. Lang. If you have not seen Verka doing his (her) thing, you are denying yourself the ultimate in Euro TRASH. We do love it indeed.



And so, as the sun rose again at 3am and the crowds began to thin, the almost-post-coital glow from having seen Eurovision in situ began to fade with the sad realisation that the party had already moved on from Finland, all the way down to next year's host country...

GOODBYE FINLAND! HELLO SERBIA!


And it is here, at this point, that EuroTrash left the 'Euro' behind and just simply remained 'Trash'. Flying across the globe on the way home to Australia, that niggling feeling started immediately - desperately wanting to return to Europe again straight away!! And then, we were sent this clip by the gracious PGC which we did feel was a perfect summary of our holiday... Enjoy!




[Postscript: EuroTrash lives! Broadcasting from Our Nation's Capital, EuroTrash doth continue... and we are pleased to also report that EuroTrash will be back on European soil in September 2007... stay tuned!]

Auf Weidersehen,
Au revoir,
Arrivederci,

-EuroTrash.