Tim: So, tonight’s the night – the biggest night of the year as far as we’re concerned, in fact, and so it’s only right that now we should take a look back at what is, in my view, the greatest Eurovision performance of recent times, five years ago.
Tim: Even if we were ignoring the song, this is good. The dress, oh, the dress. The wind – the ENDLESS WIND. The constant look of joy on her face.
Tom: Let’s not forget just how hard it is to keep your eyes open in the face of a wind machine, let alone to keep singing and to keep a look of joy on your face.
Tim: But of course we can’t ignore the song, because it’s just so fantastic. The energy throughout, the key change and the effort therein, it’s just brilliant.
Tom: This is, frankly, the perfect example of a schlager track. It’s absolutely textbook. And so’s the singer – she’s been competing in Melodifestivalens for, ooh, how long now?
Tim: Well, trivia: she’s performed solo three times – 1983, 1991 and 2006 – and has won every time (although she duetted with Andreas Johnson in 2008 less successfully), and during Melodifestivalen this year, this song was actually performed as the original Swedish version; I do not know why they changed it.
Tom: I can’t really believe it was five years ago, but it was: 2006 was a bonanza year for Eurovision. Not only did we have Carola, but Lordi won it for Finland with monster masks and their own pyrotechnicians (thanks to one of the first major Facebook campaigns). And let’s not forget Lithuania getting booed for their frankly genius entry that simply declared themselves the winners.
Let’s hope we get some more of that tonight.
Tim: Not forgetting, of course, the performance by the UK’s number four MC.
Tom: Who could ever forget him?