It's been a long time coming, but the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 is finally upon us! My Eesti Laul 2017 post details the significance of one particular Eurovision preselection show in my life at the time (which occurred on the eve of a particularly eventful day!) but the entire pre-season has played an integral role in my life!
Albania kicked things off on 23 December, selecting my favourite from 2015, Lindita Halimi, on the same day as had a lovely reunion with my former volunteering co-worker! Fast forward four weeks, and fresh from getting the drunkest I'd ever been (which was superseded on Eesti Laul night) and singing U2's With Or Without You on karaoke, I went out for the second day in a row as Georgia and Belarus chose their entries. After several bars, a club, a kebab shop and a friend's house, I eventually found out the results at Waitrose at 4am, and was utterly delighted that Belarus had chosen their first ever Belarusian language entry by Naviband, which is still my favourite today! The UK's national final was next, and I witnessed Lucie Jones's majestic winning performance in person! The following day, as Finland decided, I was living it up at a U2 tribute concert, and even got to meet "Bono"! I watched the Swiss national final concurrently with the GB vs Canada Davis Cup reverse singles matches for no reason other than Sebalter performing during the interval, then forwent the German selection in favour of a Battle of the Bands competition. I prioritised Eesti Laul semifinals and chatting about eventful nights out over the other selections in mid-February, but got back into things with Latvia at the end of February, and was pleased when Line won, although the lyrics have since become a source of irritation. The Eesti Laul final made for the perfect pre-party to what became a twelve-hour bender, the last hour and a half of which I spent lost on the streets of Exeter. Finding out Verona won at about 10:00pm led me to ramp up the alcohol intake, and impair my memory from about 2:00am onwards, but one thing happened that was impossible to forget. Sunday 5th March was the calm after the storm, as well as the day that two of my favourite songs were chosen. Despite spending the whole day (well, from 08:30 onwards) at home. I tuned in to Romania's final extremely late, and at the exact moment Ilinca feat. Alex Florea emerge victorious, I was notified that I had a visitor, who thankfully was happy to sit through the victory performance of their yodel/pop/rap song. I was alone again by the time Portugal chose Salvador Sobral's sweet Amar Pelos Dois, and the two songs are now inexplicably linked to the memories of that visit.
That was as far as I got before Portugal won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.
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