By Jessica Taurins
The concept of Eurovision is an interesting one. It started in 1956, with only seven participants. Since then (except for 2020 – the Covid Times) the show has run every year with around forty countries participating for the chance to host the next Song Contest.
Now, for those not familiar with Eurovision, you may think “hmm, why is Australia competing in a European Song Contest?”. And for those people, I have just one answer – don’t think about it too hard.
Australians LOVE Eurovision almost to an ungodly degree, and Eurovision loves us back. From a simple SBS rebroadcast days after the event, to the SBS live broadcasts, to Australia performing at Eurovision itself, it’s been a wild ride for us – the Eurovision contestant the furthest from Europe.
So, it’s no real surprise that Eurovision on Tour Melbourne was packed to the brim with mega fans. The queue outside was glittering in the afternoon sun, with plenty of huge heels, crazy outfits, and even some homages to previous performers. I saw Conchita’s (Austria 2014 winner), a Verka Serduchka (Ukraine 2007), and so many more amazing costumes eagerly waiting to get into the theatre.
Once we entered and the stage lit up to see four dancers in Jedi robes twerking in the spotlights… well, it felt like home.
Eurovision on Tour far surpassed my expectations. I figured it would be a fun little performance and maybe we’d get to see a couple of songs we recognised, nothing too special. But instead, it was a true to life re-enactment of what (I imagine) Eurovision is like to see in person.
The charm of Eurovision is really its campiness. Aside from the heartfelt theme – bringing people together with music – the second most important thing is how goddamn ridiculous everyone can act and look, and Eurovision on Tour brought the wackiness straight to our doorstep. While there were not nearly enough earnestly wacky performances (with only The Roop as the standout funky troupe), every single element of Eurovision was represented on the stage, from the lighting to the sound to the fog machine pumping stage smoke across the room.
There’s a tradition when watching Eurovision where you take a shot every time something stereotypical happens. For instance, when the fog machine goes off, that’s a shot. When someone changes costume mid-song, that’s a shot. When the song changes key for that last exciting chorus, that’s a shot. When the hosts make a joke that doesn’t land because they don’t know English very well, that’s a shot.
If I’d been taking shots during Eurovision on Tour, I’d be dead, and that’s how I KNOW it was fantastic.
The charming hosts – Senhit (San Marino 2011, 2021) and Soraya (Spain 2009) – floated their way across the stage in multiple crazy outfits to delight the crowd, just as the hosts would on the broadcast version. They cracked jokes that only kind of made sense, they had accents that didn’t come through well on the microphones, and they confused the heck out of audience members during a crowd work segment. It was exactly what I see on TV every year, but in real life.
The rest of the performers were just as stunning and just as charming. To run through them all would take me a week, so some of my absolute favourite highlights were:
- Dami Im (Australia 2016) performing her beautiful song Sound of Silence as well as Conchita’s Rise Like a Phoenix. Im was utterly beautiful in her dress and received the longest standing ovation of any performer – unsurprising given she represented us at our second ever Eurovision!
- Ovi & Ilinca Bacila (Romania 2010, 2014, 2017) played their absolute banger Playing with Fire, which was one of the first songs to get the audience up on their feet and energised.
- Destiny (Malta 2015, 2021) performed something like five times across the night – including a duet with host Senhit – and she floored the audience every time. Her rendition of Loreen’s (Sweden 2012, 2023) Euphoria – the winner back in 2012 – was astoundingly powerful and her personality really shone on stage.
- Relative newcomer Silia Kapsis (Cyprus 2024) was another homegrown Australian talent who not only did her own song – Liar – but also a great rendition of another Eurovision favourite Fuego by Eleni Foureira (Cyprus 2018). Melbourne has the largest Greek Cypriot population outside of Cyprus, so she got the room pumping!
- Finally, Sunstroke Project (Moldova 2010, 2017). Ah, Sunstroke Project. My absolute favourite Eurovision performers of all time. There are certainly songs that I love – This Is Our Night, It’s My Life, No Rules! – but when I think Eurovision, I think Sunstroke Project. Interestingly, due to a meme that took off following their performance in 2010 – Epic Sax Guy – Sunstroke Project are possibly the most well known Eurovision performers other than ABBA, and most people have no idea. Their 2010 song Run Away is the greatest thing I’ve ever heard, and seeing it live and in person with Sergey Stepanov on the sax was the greatest moment of my life.
Of course, all the performers had their moments, that was just a taste of how fantastic Eurovision on Tour was. Each new performance had a little something that had me saying “that’s just like what happens on TV!” and hearing similar comments from the people around me felt like I was in such a grand community.
Thank you, Eurovision on Tour, for giving me a little taste of what it’s like to see the show over there. Sure, there are no camera drones zooming across the stage, or massive jets of fire, but there are backup dancers in tiny outfits flipping each other around while someone belts out an 80s workout song, and that’s all right with me.
For those of you lucky people in Sydney, there’s still time to see the show. The next (and final!) performance of Eurovision on Tour is Sunday November 17 at the Enmore Theatre. Get your tickets if you haven’t already!
Feature Image: Caught@Work
Other images: J Taurins
