Subtitle: Return of the DAF Ballads: DAF Harder. I mean, we’ve had many years with lots of ballads, but after a relatively good year like 1997 it’s extra obvious (and that much more of a slog) when there are this many ballads to sit through. Anyway, the contest was held in Birmingham in the UK (following their win the previous year), which meant that Terry Wogan got to present the contest while he still enjoyed doing so. His co-presenter was Ulrika Jonsson, who made me a little seasick with her constant swaying. I was also not happy with the jazzy murder of the Te Deum at the start of the contest.
What I did like were the postcards, which showed snippets of historical UK life morphing into modern UK life, which then incorporated the upcoming country’s flag in some way. Some were really inventive, others were possibly borderline insulting (I’m not sure how I’d feel as a Spaniard if my flag was represented by a hotdog with ketchup and mustard).
We’re still stuck with the relegation system (average score over the last five contests), so there’s the usual swap-out of a number of countries. Out were Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Denmark, Iceland and Russia. Back in were Belgium, Finland, Israel, Slovakia and Romania. There’s also a brand new debut in the form of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYR Macedonia for ease of typing. Yes, I know they’re called North Macedonia these days, but they weren’t yet at this point. The total was now 25 countries, and we do have a (very much deserved) nul pointer this year. This is also the first year (after last year’s trial) where virtually all points were decided via televote.
Disclaimer: there are no songs this year that I actually like. In fact, my top four are all very close together, mainly because I just can’t bring up any real enthusiasm for them, and as such my ranking is a little arbitrary this year.
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Theft and Sorcery 