2009: An Overview
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
The show in Russia was the most controversial yet. From the country's anti-LGBT laws, to song disqualifications, and ancient land disputes - the contest in Moscow was the most tense yet. With the biggest stage, incredible opening and interval acts, awesome guest stars and new rules, the 54th Eurovision Song Contest was a record breaking night. Russia was set to create a show no other country could replicate. They had created one of the most expensive Eurovisions ever, the stage even included 1/3 of the LED screens in the world!Prior to the contest the country Georgia had submitted a song called "We Don't Wanna Put In." The Russian government objected stating the lyrics sounded too much like "We Don't Wanna Putin" and that the song was a political statement against their Prime Minister. The EBU agreed and the song was disqualified and though the country was allowed to change their entry, Georgia refused. In Ukraine, they first changed their public chosen representative. Then their song chosen for their new entry was disqualified for being released over two years before. Then they finally were able to change their entry to something that followed the rules of Eurovision. The micro-nation San Marino was the only country to withdraw, other than Georgia, so there were 42 songs participating in Moscow. The opening to the first semi final was the continuation of the tradition of presenting an over stimulating showcase of the host country's culture.
For the first time, there were different hosts for the semi-finals than the Grand Final. The semi-final hosts played the typical flirtation trope during both nights. They also had a penchant for shouting. They seemed genuinely affected by the atmosphere in the stadium, and the energy there seemed electric even from the internet feed. Once the songs had begun on the first night, I had a pretty good idea who would qualify. It was only the second year of there being two semi-finals, but I was spot on in my predictions for the first time. Even though I had to leave some personal favorites out of the list of qualifiers. The Tuesday semi-final had a double layer of excitement for me. My favorite band from High School, t.A.T.u., performed one of their biggest hits with the Red Army Choir as part of a giant medley of famous Russian music. It was awesome.
Another change, that seemed to only exist a few years, was the addition of a wild card in the semi-finals. This meant that only the top 9 of each country would automatically qualify to the final. The tenth spot would go to the song with the highest juried vote that hadn't already made it through.
The beginning of the final was Russia at it's best. The opening was the introduction of Cirque du Soleil, a largely Russian performed circus, in Russia. After the intense performance from the acrobats, an over the top appearance by last year's winner, Dima Bilan, took over. Dima gets caught in some rigging before he can finish his song, which is just something funny that needs to be mentioned. Anyway, the hosts of the Moscow show were familiar to me. Alsou is a big Russian pop star and Ivan Urgant is a well known Russian talk-show host. I only know this because I'm weirdly really into modern Russian culture, to everyone else they are basically no one. Alsou had, notably, represented Russia in 2000 at Eurovision and came in 2nd.The Postcards this year were very impressive and implemented a clever use of graphic design. Depicting pop-up books interwoven into top Russian model's hair. Each would show models and performers moving about a pop-up tour of landmarks from each country. This clever idea would stir up controversy between Armenia and Azerbaijan. During the Armenian postcard, a monument in a disputed land with Azerbaijan was shown. This would cause Azerbaijan to retailiate when casting their votes later.
The competition saw the most diverse grouping of songs yet and many songs were of higher quality than ever. This made it seem like it could be anyone's game until Norway performed. The crowd's reaction to the entry was overwhelmingly stronger than any other performance had got. However, the biggest change in 2009 voting would mean that from now on the influence of the crowd and voters would be diluted. National juries made up of musical professionals from each country would vote during the dress rehearsals. Their votes would then be combined with the televote. The EBU hoped this would keep block voting down to a minimum. With the songs over, Russia had it's final chance to show off to Europe. The semi-final intervals and openings were already impressive but the final's interval was something completely new and different. Giant transparent pools of shallow water hovering high above the crowd were slowly lowered while divers glided across the pool's floor. Look, it's hard to describe and completely worth a look.
Countries that usually did poorly were doing pretty ok in the 2009 voting. Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber had represented the UK and the Big Four country was finally in the top 10. By the time the voting was over a quarter through, Norway had taken a steady lead. Azerbaijan raised eyebrows and angered Armenia by showing an image of the disputed landmark on the back of their spokesperson's clipboard. Past that, there was almost no question that Norway had taken the gold. No other country was even close. By the end they had won by 169 points. After an insane show, the voting was rather anti-climatic with such an obvious winner. The winning song became a big hit all over Europe and is one of the most well known winners from the modern era of Eurovision. The show in Moscow would remain very memorable as the opulent Eurovision that Russia showed the world wouldn't been seen again for years, as Europe entered into a period of economic decline.
The Picks of 2009
2009: The Best (Estonia)
2009: The Worst (Bulgaria)
2009: The Guilty (Switzerland)
2009: The Weird (Czechia)
2009: The Hilarious (Albania)
2009: The Honorable (France)
2009: The Winner (Norway)
Semi-Final One Song Recap May 12, 2009:
Semi-Final Two Song Recap May 14, 2009:
Grand Final Song Recap May 16, 2009: