Friday 22 May 2015

EUROVISION 2015: Last Few Days in Vienna

EUROVISION 2015: Last Few Days in Vienna


Well  am writing this from Dalgety Bay - in the comfort of a bed at my mum and dad's after flying home from Vienna this evening - (via Brussels)!!! Why am I home? many people ask me. Well it is simply this -  I prefer to watch the final as a TV show rather than a live performance because you hear what the voters are hearing. I also HATE travelling home day and it makes it easier to know I have something to look forward to tomorrow and I will slouch in my comfies on my own with a couple of bottles of fizz and enjoy. When I wake up on Sunday with the inevitable hangover - i will be in my own bed without a day of travelling to dread !

But what did I get up to in the last few days I hear you cry. It was mainly attending parties and saying goodbye to friends in between blogging the run throughs of the second semi final.

Wednesday was the OGAE International party at the Fan Cafe and the place was bouncing. It was quite infuriating that it took up to 20mins to get a beer at the bar so we just bought 2 every time we went. It was amazing to catch up with some friends who had only just arrived and dance to Eurovision tunes until the small hours.

Thursday was Semi Final 2 day and a big day for all my Irish friends. Unfortunately Molly did not get Ireland through into the final and their was a bit of disappointment in the air - the Irish fans have a bigger vote to worry about and it took place tonight - The Marriage Equality Referendum vote took place on Friday 22nd May in Ireland. I have many close friends who flew home today from Eurovision to cast their vote and will be returning to Vienna tomorrow. It is an incredibly important vote to all of my gay friends and surely their can be only 1 outcome. I only wish I could be there to celebrate with them all on Saturday when the YES vote will surely be cast.




We had one final fling on Thursday night at the Euroclub - the only night of my whole trip that I made it there and it was brilliant. I think we left about 03:30 and only because I had to make sure Dr Eurovision got back in time to make his 07:00 flight to London - he has previous for missing flights and had many a radio interview to do early Friday morning.





And that's all folks!!!!!!!!! I hope you have enjoyed my blog again this year. As always it becomes a little patchy towards the end due to busy schedules, parties and hangovers but now it is time to sit back with some bubbles on Saturday night and find out where I will be going for my holidays next year!!!!


Tuesday 19 May 2015

EUROVISION 2015 - Vienna: Irish Party

EUROVISION 2015 - Vienna: Irish Party




Well the party of the year was once again the one thrown by the Irish Delegation here in Vienna. Held in a crackin wee Irish Bar called Charlie P's - we were treated to a few stripped back songs from the fabulous Molly Sterling (including her Irish entry for this year - Playing with Numbers)













When we arrived were given vouchers for free drinks from H.O.D. Mike and we were also treated to some lovely battered fish, wedges and ribs. The lovely Niamh Kavanagh joined in the party for a couple of hours before she had to leave to give another performance in the Euro Cafe to her throng of fans. She also gave us a rendition of In Your Eyes before she left and gave Molly some words of wisdom and advice. Mike ended the Irish Party with a performance of Rock and Roll Kids - it was awesome!!!!





Once the party came to an  end, the karaoke started so myself and Garrett decided it was play time and we were gonna go hard or go home. I sang Son of a Preacher before Garrett and I murdered Islands in the Stream. We had to head out to the press centre to pick up our lap tops that we had left but we headed back to Charlie P's for some more singing. Garrett made a terrific Whitney Houston sing I Wanna Dance With Somebody and then we were offered to stay behind with the staff for a lock in.!! All I can say is that we were all still on the Gin and Tonic at 8am, Garrett was pulling pints behind the bar and it was sunny and beautiful when I left to get the U-Bahn home. It was a bit unfortunate that I fell asleep on the tube and ended up at the end of the line and having to come back - a good 1hr detour lol.



I got in at 9.30am and woke at 3pm - just in time to get showered and dressed to head to press centre to blog the first semi-final. It was a great final, the press centre was jumping and the qualifiers were Armenia, Belgium, Greece, Estonia, Serbia, Hungary, Russia, Albania, Romania, and Georgia.


What an amazing couple of days - this party malarky is quite hard work but i am trying my best - early night me thinks tonight!!!!!

Monday 18 May 2015

EUROVISION 2015: Vienna Day 10

EUROVISION 2015: Vienna Day 10

(c) EBU/Eurovision.tv
 Today is the first full run throughs of the 1st semi final. The all important Jury Final is tonight, so it is vital that the artists save themselves for a kickass performance tonight because this os when the juries will award their points before the voting public see the show tomorrow night 8pm GMT.


In between the 2 full run throughs there is a UK embassy party, and Irish party, an Azeri party and these are followed at 10pm but the Israeli party at 10pm.


Last night I was very honoured to attend the VIP only Grand Opening Party at the town hall. It was lavish and we were treated like royalty. I met many of the artists including Sweden, The UK, Ireland and Macedonia. There was an unlimited supply of red wine, white wine, champagne, and food. IT was a real glitzy affair and we swished about the place in all our finery taking great advantage of the Austrian hospitality.

The glitz and glamour party ended about 10pm and we headed to the Eurocafe as guest of Niamh Kavanagh to watch her awesome performance for the fans. She was brilliant as always and a complete hoot. We even got into the VIP area where the bar woman decided to leave for the night and left us the fridge, the bottle opener and instruction to help ourselves - well it would be rude not to.





I headed back to the hotel at 2am and left the boys to party on at the Euroclub until the extremely small hours. Today's update is just a short one to let you see the photos from the swanky do last night - let's see what we can blag ourselves into next :-)



















Sunday 17 May 2015

EUROVISION 2015: Vienna Days 7/8/9 (they are all a bit hazy)

EUROVISION 2015: Vienna Days 7/8/9 (they are all a bit hazy)



I cannot really remember everything that has happened in the last few days and on what day each happened so I will just fill you in on a few things.
We had a San Marino party where we were provided with as much free pizza as we could muster. We were handed out flashing badges which continued to flash for a further 48hrs even thought i tried stamping on it. Only San Marino could host a party starting at 20:00 and still had not sang their entry by 22:40 lol I did get to cut some shapes on the dance floor though.


Eurovision Ireland had an interview with the lovely Molly Sterling representing Ireland this year with her song Playing With Numbers. She is just 17 but so professional and down to earth and gave us a very relaxed interview (and an invite to the Irish party tomorrow night - woohoo) 



On Saturday the lovely Paul Jordan arrived in town which means only a few things - beautiful pictures, stinking hangovers and fighting him off me every morning.











We were honoured to be invited to join the Georgian delegation at their presentation of Nina's song Warrior to the Georgian diaspora fan club. We had a great night and as usual their hospitality was second to none. We were asked to do an interview for Georgian TV because we are "celebrities" in Georgia.


Copious amounts of red wine later we headed off to the Macedonian ambassadors party down town for more red wine !!!! It was glamour all the way.







It was then time to head to an Israeli night to dance into the small hours. Great night out with great pals and the 4am bedtime meant for a rough start to today!!! Today being Sunday 17th May (i think) 

It is the rehearsals for the "Big 7" today and we are all currently on tenterhooks awaiting the 1st rehearsal for the UK. Having laughed like a drain at Spain we hope we do not befall the same fate. 


Oh oh oh oh dear!!!!!!!! The UK is ..... ahem...... interesting!! At present all I can think of is "polish...... turd.......... glitter...."
I am ever hopeful that this can be massively improved when the camera men, dancers and production team iron out all the dodgy angles and work out what they are meant to be doing. We took a "first reaction" photo and this was the result :-)  


Thursday 14 May 2015

Eurovision 2015: Vienna Day 6

Eurovision 2015: Vienna Day 6



Well that is the first rehearsals for all of the semi-finalist completed as of today. It has been a long 4 days in the press centre but I have enjoyed every minute of it. I forgot how much I loved the buzz of the Eurovision press centre and I have expanded my repertoire this year by branching out into interviewing.
Highlights from today for me were the Latvian and Swedish rehearsals, the Azeri staging and my interview with Måns Zelmerlöw from Sweden. 

Aminata gave a flawless vocal performance of a really modern song. It is totally different from anything else in the contest and adds some welcome diversity to the show. She looked very striking in a long fishtail red dress and the staging was stunning in black and red - Bravo Latvia.




Azerbaijan did not give me the full WOW factor that I expected with Hour of the Wolf but, unlike many in the press centre, I really loved the staging of it. The contemporary dancers represent the wild animals of the forest and I thought it added another dimension to the performance. 



Måns Zelmerlöw was flawless in his clever performance although he says there are things he can tighten up on and little tweaks that need to be changed. His little stick-man friend now resembles Billy Bunter and it is by far the most TV friendly performance of the year. I was lucky enough to get through the throng of press, to interview Måns and as you can see from the picture we laughed the entire time. He had mentioned at his press conference that he has a ritual of checking his fly several times before going on stage because he once went on with his zip down. I merely inquired whether he was looking for a personal assistant to help him with this task and he said the job was mine - such a flirty little thing I tell you (I obviously hated every minute)
 It was lovely to see more friends arriving that I have not seen for a few years but I was so tired I decided to give the night out a miss and have some chill out time. I have to move home on Saturday as the husband is arriving and myself and Dr Eurovision will be moving into a hotel. I will leave you with a fabby picture of the many varied snack that are available in the press centre for us free of charge - it's a lovely gesture and I must say the banana malteasers are AMAZING!!!!!!




Photos (c) of EBU/Eurovision.tv

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Eurovision 2015: Vienna Day 5

Eurovision 2015: Vienna Day 5


I have just finished day 5 in Vienna and lets be honest here - i'm a bit squiffy and it's about bloomin time huh??? Jings the days are sooooooo long but it is important to enjoy the nights too so I threw caution to the wind and let the hair down!!! (actually I never let it down I tried to curl it but it went frizzy in the humidity)


Some great rehearsals were done this morning including Ireland much to our relief. There were no bodhrans, no irish dancers and no leprechauns thank goodness just a 16 year old singer Molly and her amazing voice. We were very happy at Eurovision Ireland. We had a few issues because our Editor in Chief Garrett was taken ill for most of the day but we are glad to report that he seems to be better now and should be back on form soon.


Most of my comments about the other rehearsals can be seen at www.eurovisionireland.net so I will move on and tell you about the first big night out. Well Andrew and I went for dinner on route and what a lovely couple we made - turning heads everywhere we went (think my shirt was tucked in my pants) We took the U-Bahn and made it to Antonia's Passage (which was positively bulging) for 10:15. Having expected a jam session, it was strange to enter a very posh upmarket restaurant with a cabaret band rather than a house band but het they still let us in - bonus!!!!!



It started off a bit low key but soon Belarus took to the stage and performed their song. Georgia were up next and Nina nailed a couple of numbers, including a stripped back version of her Eurovison song 'Warrior'. Then it was time for Albania and Elahaida Dani performed a sublime version of Quédate Conmigo followed by her own entry I am Alive. The acts were great and then we were treated to a few Eurovison songs and some chart tunes and 80's throw back tunes to see us into the small hours. 


















We love a party that is in walking distance of home so tonight did not disappoint. 20 mins and we were home and it meant we also got to see the amazing window dressing that happens in Vienna. Who would not love this as an outfit???



I think think the morning might hurt a little bit but I intend to face it head on !!!!