So, dear reader, I am a man of *ahem*advancing years, and when presented with this on my monitor screen, I messaged some of the folks who are in Turin and asked Have I had a fun bypass?” … because they all seem to think it’s fun and stuff.
I don’t see that. I see a band that has tried, and failed, to win the contest on two previous occasions rehashing their old songs, putting them into a blender, adding a dash of diaspora with the whole one country, two tribes thing, and getting moral support in the form of some fiddling brothers (not a euphemism). Perhaps the akinetic sun was going to be part of this as well, because there seems to be “something” missing.
I felt I owed it to you to walk away from the screen and give it another viewing. The lead singer looks like one of those people who you see around town dressing younger than his years – the kind of gent I tend to cross roads to avoid. The group do some (admittedly limited) bouncing across the stage but this was nowhere near Latvian levels of fun, and the only bit that piqued my interest was when Roman jumped from the main stage to the satellite one … and only then cos I wondered if the waterfall that separates them would leak in just the wrong place.
I’ve seen this done before. Hell, I’ve even seen Moldova do this before. Hell I’ve even seen Roman and his cohorts do this before. Europe, though, are not me. Viewers are going to think that this is what Eurovision is still all about and, mark my words, by the time we get to the end and Roman goes “toot toot” after cavorting around the stage for three minutes in his shorts – he’ll have some of the audience eating out of the palm of his hand.
For me, and again it is only my opinion, it doesn’t have enough “Zdob si Zdub” for me to get overexcited. I suspect, though, a solid qualifier.
Moldova have lots of use of the on floor LEDs, sweeping shots to picture the madness unfolding & use of the drawbridge features to cover every inch of the stage. Fans will be happy with this! 🇲🇩 #Eurovision
— ESCBubble (@escbubble) May 4, 2022
#moldova is enjoyable with good use of runway for the last 30 seconds, but not as fun or energetic as I expected. It should come alive more with an audience, but for the second year, underwhelmed by Moldova staging. #EUROVISION
— EntertainmentOdds (@EntertainOdds) May 4, 2022
#Moldova : This is colourful but also really understaged. It feels weird and awkward on a big stage. #Eurovision
— TVTips.UK (@TvtipsUk) May 4, 2022
There’s almost too much to love about #Moldova for one tweet! Terrific simple fun that’ll bring the crowd congas for sure. Bloody love it! #Eurovision
— EurovisionApocalypse (@ESCApocalypse) May 4, 2022