This is my third Eurovision, and they just keep getting better every time. I knew the Swedes would throw on a massive show, but like everyone I wondered whether staging a show this big in such a small arena and in a city not many people have heard of would be a good thing for Eurovision.
It was. Sometimes, big isn’t best. This was by far the best show I’ve been to. The favourite, Denmark, won. But what made me happier was Norway, which in my view was the most current entry, hit the top 4. And that’s a lovely thing.
I’ll be in Malmö Arena tonight to watch this camp ball of fun that is Eurovision 2013. Truth be told, this year’s entries have all been a bit lukewarm bar Norway and Denmark (above), but you know- anything can happen tonight.
The show kicks off 21:00 Sweden time, and if it’s not showing in your country then you can watch it online over on Eurovision’s official website!
I’m in Malmö, because Eurovision is happening here and it’s my dirty obsession. I hope that doesn’t make you think of less me. But anyway, I’ll be tweeting through the second semi final. I’ll be rooting for Norway in this one. Follow me if you want, it’s get lonely over on Twitter sometimes!
Anouk is a household in her native Netherlands. She controversially entered this year with this entry; it’s about as indie and dark as you could get. And it’s representing Netherlands in this year’s camp-fest that is Eurovision. She succeeded in the semi finals on Tuesday and so will be in the grand final on Saturday. Some have said this is too good; too edgy to win. I’m not sure if it will take the crown. But it’s great.
Epic! I don’t think there’s been a cooler Eurovision winner in living memory. New one from Loreen, will get it’s debut on Saturday’s Eurovision final. Good pop.
Yes, my ‘discreet obsession’ is back again. This year, Eurovision is in Malmö. And if there’s one thing Swedes do very well, it’s Eurovision. I aim to be in the final this Saturday, but in the meantime tonight the first semi-final is on.
I won’t talk too much about it because I know not many people who read Alfitude like the show. But if you’re interested, I will be tweeting every so often over on my Twitter tonight.
This got me a bit excited. Loreen, of Eurovision fame, has teamed up with Kleerup, of Robyn ‘With Every Heartbeat’ fame. This is a preview of what’s to come, and it sounds like it will be a stunning piece of music.
This is the song going through to represent Norway at this year’s Eurovision. I’m a little shocked at how good it is; not all the songs from the other countries have been chosen yet but this is already getting my vote. Something out of this world would have to happen for me to change my mind. Go Margaret Berger.
I am ridiculously happy for Sweden and Loreen winning this year’s Eurovision over the weekend. It was about time and the song deserved to win. In all it’s Swedish amazingness, watch the Swedish Royal Guard perform the winning song. It’s great!
As we’re Scandi-obsessed, we’ll be launching a microsite soon following the run up to Sweden 2013!
Tim Schou, aka the lead singer from one of Denmark’s hottest new bands, A Friend In London, stopped by in London to play a short set of tracks for his biggest UK fans at UCLU. We were lucky enough to catch him for ten minutes and ask him a few questions! You can read what Tim said, or watch the video at the end of the post. There’s also pics from the gig on Flickr, and a of video on our Youtube channel right now.
We’ve got Tim from A Friend In London who were this years Danish entry for Eurovision, you guys came in 5th – was that the result you wanted?
Tim – We definitely went for the number one but it didn’t turn out that way but we’re satisfied and it opened up a really big market for us inEurope so it’s all we can ask.
What did you think of Azerbaijan winning?
Tim – I think it’s a good pop melody and the first time I heard it I thought ‘Ok that’s kinda a little like Timbaland production thing- you can almost hear Timbaland singing in the studio’ so I think it was pretty good and that’s the last thing I could hope when I see that ‘ok we stand no chance of winning this’ then it has to be Azerbaijan.
You’re in London today, doing a gig – what’s the reason for coming here?
Tim – The number one reason is for my fans. After Eurovision I experienced a lot of traffic on my Twitter and I just built my Twitter fourteen days before Eurovision and there’s really heavy traffic there and all these fans from all around Europe, and because I was touring in London two years before and I always loved touring in London.
I could see there was a crowd for me in London, and people were writing me on Twitter saying they would love to fly over to hear me in London so I thought ‘Ok lets do it’, so we’re putting on this free show, giving out free tickets for fans, just a way for me to say thank you for supporting and hope you’re in it for the long haul- because I am!
Where’s the rest of the band now?
Tim – Ash, he’s in New York to scout out a few places, and Sebastian and Esben are writing songs for the new album.
Did you ever think you would end up where you are now after Eurovsion, playing gigs all around Europe?
Tim – I have to say yes, because that’s been the whole idea from the start when we said yes to do the Danish Eurovision, and it’s been the goal for us to tour around the world. It’s so nice to see the gigs in Europe.
What made you want to apply for Eurovision in the first place?
Tim - It came out of the blue- like really out of the blue. We were called by a publisher who had this song; ‘New Tomorrow’ and we’ve always been writing all the songs in the band, in the past six years, from the day we started.
And then we got this opportunity to stand up in front of two million people inDenmarkand play this song. But we were like ‘Hey we can’t play a song that’s not our own,’ but we heard the song and we thought it was good and we could see ourselves playing it most importantly. So we told them that if we were doing this then we would need to arrange the song and we would need to do give it a more ‘A Friend In London feeling’ and they said ‘Ok guys – do it!’
Were you well known in Denmark before you applied for Eurovision?
Tim - We were getting a pretty cool buzz, and we’ve been touring inCanada three or four times now and feeling a good buzz over there too. So things were really looking good for us before Eurovision, but then after we did it we just got even more of a buzz.
Would you ever do Eurovision again?
Tim - This is something you can hold me up to in five years, but I think no. Because the thing about A Friend In London is that we’re a live band, and we started out by being the four of us playing. The first concert we did I was I think after one rehearsal, playing all new material playing live on the stage. And that’s where we belong and being out there with the fans. In Eurovision you can’t get contact with the fans because it’s a TV box – a TV bubble. So I guess it’ll be a no.
Denmark normally does quite well – I guess it’s a big deal in Denmark?
Tim - Yes it’s a proud tradition, it’s a great tradition. At the same time which was also why we had all these thoughts about doing it, there’s a lot of clichés that I guess are there too in England?
Lately we have been trying to take it more seriously, but generally in the UK we don’t really see it as a serious thing.
Tim - Exactly and that’s one of the reasons we chose to do it, because we were like ‘Hey no one can tell us where we can play our music, and what is allowed and what’s not allowed.’ And what happened was we really turned the coin. We slapped their asses man, and people were like ‘Whoa what’s up with this British rock sounding indie band who just turn up to this really commercial thing.’
And I think it puts some thoughts into other bands in our genre who think ‘Ok well there’s two million people watching the Danish Eurovision show,’ and its all about doing it for real and being honest with the music and not caring about what people think.
You’re big in Canada and Denmark. Alfitude.com is all about new music, so is there anything happening in Canada or Denmark that’s worth listening to right now?
Tim - I’m really bad with names but I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Danish singer/ songwriter Mads Langer? He just came out with a new album called ‘Behold’. It’s pretty good. And it’s got four tracks that were on the last album- because it’s his first international released album. He’s an amazing singer. If you don’t know him you should check him out!
What’s next for you guys?
Tim - We’re going to finish our Danish tour – but we have a ‘break’ and I say a ‘break’ because were going to record our debut album in Canada actually. So we’re leaving June 26th and coming back July 15th and then hopefully we’ve got some songs.
Is it a world wide release?
Tim - Yes.
And what sound are you going for?
Tim - I like to say it’s all the way from the universe of Justin Bieber to the universe of Radiohead. I’ve always been really fond with these pop melodies and pop to the bone, and really like the mysterious ways of how you can play the different chords in a very British way. So it’s gonna be a good mixture!
Are you looking forward to tonight?
Tim - I really am! I can’t wait to see if people really are flying out from Holland and Sweden like they said they would!
