After a week of live rehearsals, semi-finals, and jury performances the Grand Final of EuroVision Song Contest took place in Liverpool, UK. It was a spectacular and tense grand final with a record number of bands taking the stage, including our very own Australian representative: Perth prog-metal act Voyager.
The Queen took her crown again, as Sweden's Loreen won the jury vote and received enough public votes to finish on 583 total points and overcome Finland's people's champion - Käärijä. Loreen was the odds-on favourite coming in and becomes just the second artist to win the contest twice. Quite simply 'Tattoo' is a banger and her captivating performance was perfect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE2Fj0W4jP4
Second place Käärijä's public vote was huge as his ode to drinking and dancing, 'CHA CHA CHA', with it's memorable chorus scored 376 points from the voting public. It's a combination of metal attitude with electro and rap was a winner. Combined with only 150 points from the public, he couldn't quite get past Loreen and finished on 526. The top 5 was rounded out by late flyer Israel, with Noa Kirel's 'Unicorn' having the best dance break, Italy's delightful Marco Mengoni's 'Due Vite' and Norway's triumphant 'Queen of the Kings' by Alessandra.
Voyager's grand final performance was every bit as awesome as their semi-final with the crowd going absolutely bonkers and even BBC UK commentator Graham Norton being kind by calling it "the sleeper hit of the competition." Danny's car looked tremendous, the vocal combo of Dan and Alex sounded enormous and Simone Dow's guitar solo was thrilling. The breakdown had the live crowd going bananas.
Australia's jury votes started well, with many other countries including us among their points. We actually got the maximum 12 points from Portugal, our first since 2019, and followed with another 12 points from Iceland. We finished on 130 points from the jury and looked good for a climb from the public.
https://twitter.com/aussievisionnet/status/1657514116972437508?s=20
Unfortunately, the great buzz in the room didn't translate into televotes and the public award us just 21 points. 151 points was good enough for 9th, our fifth top 10 finish, and the highest of the bands in the grand final this year. Still a triumphant performance and a fabulous finish considering the strength of this year's competition. We could not be prouder of the band and their team. Absolutely can't wait for the new album, Fearless in Love, and upcoming Australian Tour in June (tickets here).
It wasn't good news for Wall of Sound favourites Lord of the Lost from Germany. Despite a commanding stage performance of 'Blood and Glitter', the jury and public failed to acknowledge this greatness and awarded them a total of 18 points (yes, combined) - putting them in last place overall.
Fairing better with the public was Let 3 from Croatia, whose bonkers performance of 'Mama ŠČ!' saw them get 112 public points, compared to just 11 from the jury. Of the other acts mentioned in our preview, UK's home country advantage was no advantage to Mae Muller who finished second last with 24 total points, despite a massive ovation from the Liverpool crowd that saw the hosts shouting over them to be heard. The brilliant 'Who the Hell is Edgar' by Austrian duo Teya & Salena opened the Grand Final show, which might have hurt their chances to make an impression, as they finished in 15th with 120 points.
So that's it for another year. There was pyro and sequins and smoke and lots of flashing lights. We discovered new bands (check out indie rockers Joker Out from Slovenia) and revisited old favourites (Duncan Lawrence made everyone cry). The world now knows about Voyager and I can't wait to see what's next for them - I think it's gonna be alright.
