Back once again after an intense evening of partying. First a word about our hosts. This was said in the Serbian press conference last night but in a somewhat more sycophantic way. I have nothing but praise for the organisation of our Serbian hosts. They have treated us incredibly well (and we don’t even know what they have laid on for the opening bash yet). Everything has run like clockwork and I have never had such a stress free Eurovision in all my years of doing this. What has been the longest Eurovision ever hasn’t felt like it because the rehearsal schedule was organised in such a way that countries were mixed up and the normal tedious process didn’t happen. 8 days in and it definitely doesn’t feel like it. The staff here can’t do enough to please us and even want to help us when we’re not there it seems. The number wore off my press badge yesterday in the heat as I walked in (purely my own fault for wearing it all the way), but they apologised three times to me for the inconvenience of having to look my number up. It’s a matter of pride and honour to them that this is a big success and nobody could possibly tell them that it’s not. The press centre is also the best I have seen in all my years of doing this. We have never been under pressure for a computer, there’s hundreds of them on more than one floor. There are 3 floors to the press centre and two restaurants. Free bottled water in fridges is available all day every day. In short I love it here and I would have no complaints if they won again and we came back next May.
Onto the evening. Deciding to go cold turkey and give the Irish party a miss, I instead turned up early for the Ukrainian party which was already in full swing at 10pm. Bountiful supplies of free food and drink were laid out and waiters bringing round more during the evening including the best chocolate treats I’ve had at any party. The free booze didn’t go the distance with the huge mob that was gathered, but that hardly mattered when the music started. Ani Lorak did 2 sets during the evening including performing Shady Lady twice. Among the others eager to get in on the act were Bulgaria, San Marino, Belarus, Sweden, Israel, Latvia, Greece and a bizarre lady from St Petersburg who’s name wasn’t immediately recognisable to the many listening to her. 2006’s Belorussian singer made a surprise appearance and it was announced that she is taking on the mantle again for Eurovision 2009. Some people just can’t take a hint! Dana International no doubt licking her wounds after her disastrous concert appearance the night before took to the stage drink in hand and did an a capella version of Diva. Drunken old tart. And of course Dima Bilan did a 3 song set and was in sniffy mood in more ways than one. Last and by no means least last year’s runner up Verka Seducka came on and the hall went crazy for Dancing Lasha Tumbai and a couple of other numbers. Proceedings drew to a close at 1.30 am. If Ani Lorak did have a cold and a bad voice, it certainly wasn’t in evidence last night.
The Roy-meister and myself did track down the Slovenian party at 2am but by then all that was left was debris and a room full of local clubbers with an ethnic singer and a couple of pole dancers. The crowd for some unknown reason kept throwing serviettes into the air. Must be some sort of local tradition when they’re staring at naked women…
And so to today dear friends. The opening party begins at 9pm tonight and we’re expecting good things on past form. It will have to go a long way to beat the opening party in Istanbul at the palace on the Bosporus or even the one at the Marinsky Palace in Kiev, but who’d bet against it with the way they’ve treated us so far. Certainly more chance than Moldova finishing in the top 5….