Eurovision fandom has its say on the Spanish pre-party

The last big Eurovision pre-party of the season – there’s a smaller bash in Moscow still to come – found many of this year’s acts in Madrid.

A common theme for those who watched the 2019 live stream (courtesy of RTVE) was that Saturday evening was beset by technical issues.

Many performers appeared to have problems with in-ear monitors, often struggling to hear their backing tracks. One (Srbuk) found it hard to mask her irritation.

It’s worth remembering that these parties almost always deliver poor technical support. Eurovision itself is a huge production affair with weeks of preparation and rehearsals. Getting the sound right for so many acts is impossible in a venue such as this. Most acts (wisely) fall back on prerecorded vocals.

Another common thread among online comments was the level of ‘party padding’ meaning the show ran to over four hours.

First world problems to one side, let’s see what people thought.

Promising

Roko picked up praise for rock solid vocals. Sadly the Croatian song didn’t. But he might be able to compensate for being handed a total clunker if his Tel Aviv performance echoes what the fans saw in Madrid.

Another act who seem more at home on stage than in the studio is Tulia. The Polish song has been picking up plaudits through the pre party season.

Jonida Maliqi has boosted Albanian chances it seems, with a charismatic performance that shows huge stage presence. Again, the song might be the weakest link.

Remember Katerine Duska in Amsterdam? ‘Better Love’ is now looking like a better all round proposition after this show. Or rather, nobody claimed she had a cold this time around.

Prevail or fail?

Fandom remains torn on the chances of Hatari. They made heavier use than some of prerecorded vocals and whilst many saw this as the best performance of the night, a significant number of posters maintain that this will be the surprise non-qualifier.

Things feel touch and go for D’Mol, half of the group shuffled their way through an uninspired version of ‘Heaven’. There were early nominations for the Barbra Dex award for the Norwegians and Romania’s Ester Peony.

The plodders on the night came from Belgium, Germany, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland.

It feels only right to end on a home crowd high …