Intro Post

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Sorry this post took so long! I got sidetracked by other projects, that’s all. It’s quite exciting to see Romania and Bulgaria return after multi-year breaks to Eurovision 2026—let’s hope they send honest efforts and not flops. But I’m still very much worried about the elephant in the room that is Israel’s participation. I still firmly believe that country should be banned from 2026. It’s pretty clear that the EBU is trying to procrastinate dealing with this issue as long as possible. We’ll see what happens, I suppose. I don’t see any of the countries that said they would boycott the contest if Israel participates backing down from this position, especially not the Netherlands who are a huge financial contributor, because AVROTROS has been more stubborn than any other broadcaster regarding Eurovision ever since the Joost Klein incident, and for very good reason.

Unfortunately I probably won’t go to Vienna for Eurovision 2026, unless maybe I get a high-paying job very soon and get lucky regarding vacation days. Even then, it would be much wiser to save up money for later trips. I need a new job very badly, but even if I do have one I might need to watch next Eurovision from home.

Introduction

After having won Eurovision 1971, the tiny country of Monaco originally wanted to host the next Eurovision contest, but the country had no concert hall or TV studio big enough to host the show. The second and third place countries, Spain and Germany, both declined to host, so the BBC stepped in and offered to stage the event in either Blackpool or Edinburgh. In the end, Edinburgh had the honor of hosting the event, making this the first Eurovision in Scotland, and the only Eurovision hosted in a part of the UK other than England. The show took place in the Usher Hall, which has a modest 2200 seats. You won’t hear much of a Scottish accent from the presenter, Moira Shearer—her accent is total Received Pronunciation (RP), just as much as our good pal Katie Boyle.

This year had the same 18 participating countries as 1971, and the same 1-5 star voting system as well. The winner was Luxembourg with the iconic song “Après toi”, the UK scored yet another second place, and Germany scored a third place two years in a row although they still had yet to win. In last place came Malta for two years in a row, which led them to skip the next two years.

Last time I watched the contest with German commentary, but this time with British commentary done by Tom Fleming. He begins the show narrating the history of Scotland as though he’s a movie narrator. The orchestra plays an arrangement of “Un banc, un arbre, une rue” in homage to Monaco as the camera pans down to the audience, all dressed in fancy suits but with a little splash of color. Then Moira Shearer enters this year’s glamorous stage and gives the usual efficient British-style introduction to the show in English and French. Sadly the show doesn’t have postcards this year, but it does have cute little photos of each competing artist on the big screen before each song begins.