Morten Thomassen is off to Liverpool today for his 29th Eurovision song contest. Roy van der Merwe of ESC Covers had enjoyed many Eurovisions with him, from 1995 to 2019 and from 2001 in Denmark we even shared a hotel each year and had many good and some bad adventures. I have decided to stop traveling to Eurovision due to the cost, especially since I need a visa for every country and the UK visa would have cost me 120 pounds, more than many people’s flight or train rides to Liverpool and that just for a piece of paper. ESC COVERS wish Morten a fantastic Eurovision and we will continue to google translate some of his writings for our website.
This is what Morten wrote on the morning of his departure. It’s actually time to turn my nose towards Liverpool and what will be my 29th presence at the Eurovision Song Contest, the suitcase is packed and even though my ESC elk from Sweden would have liked to join, he was allowed to stay at home.
There are not many people in the world who have more international finals under their belts than me, so it’s nice to be at the top of the world in one thing.
In the world top of popular TV programs is undoubtedly our beloved show and new this year is in fact that the rest of the world gets to vote and have as many votes to give in the final as the individual participating countries have from their TV watching audience.
In a given situation where there are very few points separating first and second place their votes can actually be decisive, but since the current points system was introduced in 1975 there have only been 9 times where the victory has been by less than a 12 point margin, so then I wonder if it will take place this year.
What am I doing in Liverpool so early, all the while nothing opens for the press until May 8, you might ask, well OGAE organizes a Meet & Greet with the artists who want it and it already starts on May 3, so I have to be there then.
I also hope to be a bit of a tourist in Liverpool before I move into the press center from 8 May, fortunately I have been lucky enough to get press accreditation this year.
At the moment it is difficult to have a clear idea of who will walk away with the victory, the bookmakers still have quite a lot of faith in Loreen and it would not surprise me at all if our neighbors to the east step up to who-has-the-most -victory podium and gets to stand there together with Ireland for a few years.
They have the right attitude and composers and artists who want to do well internationally, and then it usually goes that way in the end.
Another one with the right attitude is our own Alessandra, she will do well, I’m sure of that and it’s still not inconceivable that she can actually take home a victory.
Fortunately, there are more than these two ladies with the right attitude and seen from a Nordic perspective, it is good that Finland has a great chance of taking home the trophy as well.
For someone who likes warm weather, it’s nice that France and Spain can also fight for something big, the weather forecast in Liverpool going forward does not exactly ooze a nice summer, here there are a lot of clouds and a lot of rain I can expect in that area.
For someone who has had his last three ESC experiences from warmer regions, it is not quite what you look forward to the most, but as we say in this country, there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.
So the suitcase is packed with warm and waterproof clothes, so that we are ready for anything, including the weather.
It will be a great experience anyway, I’m looking forward to it.