Song Contest – the Almost Eurovision Experience

Song Contest was very loud and lots of fun. It’s hard to take off something as over the top as Eurovision, but they succeeded and the audience loved it.

Though not having as much space as the original, the set was impressive with scaffolds on either side housing upstairs space for interviews with hosts from other countries, and lots of lights.

As people arrived they were given a badge of the country they were to represent, a flag for that country and a clapper. They were encouraged to download the Song Contest app to their phone and at the end of the first act, after all the countries had performed, encouraged to vote. Of course they couldn’t vote for their own country.

The audience joined in heartily, with lots of flag waving and clappers constantly joining in. Bev Killick, the host, was suitably smarmy as a Belarusian, and kept the show moving.

Each country was represented by four singers, and they were well rehearsed and choreographed. The songs were original, but of the style one would expect from Eurovision. The singers were all excellent and better than many Eurovision competitors I have seen. They were also very good dancers. Of course they all represented multiple countries in different combinations. It was funny having one lad with a beard dressing in drag and joining three of the girls.

The second half incorporated the voting from the hosts of the various countries. I loved it when the host from Russia had his scorecard replaced by a KGB agent standing behind. As the scores were determined by the audience, there is a different result each night, but obviously the cast were aware of the result, as the winning combination were ready to repeat their song at the end.

It was a thoroughly entertaining evening. Unfortunately the band was so loud that many words were lost. I suspect some could have been very funny, so it might be an idea to include subtitles to assist with this.

If you don’t have sensitive hearing this is a great night out.

Graham Ford