LIVERPOOL – LoreneBorn in Sweden in 1983 to Moroccan Berbers, a staunch activist for human and civil rights, proudly bisexual and having sung and embodied a modern Joan of Arc in the past, she presented herself on stage as Lara Croft, between Abba and Lady Gaga: sharp voice, first an ascetic, then an Amazon in a flesh-colored dress, between two narrow levels of life. In his song “Tattoo” he says: “You stuck to me like a tattoo, Tattoo-hoooo!”. And it’s also the inevitable effect on the audience and especially on the judges who choose their queen. “I’m very happy,” commented the Swede, repeating the success of 2012 with Euphoria.
(Portal)
So Loreen won the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, rightly so, with those very long nails, 583 points and a bunch of fateful ‘Douse’ from the Nordic countries. Second Finland with the rapper in the green bolero, Käärijä, the other favorite but less final with 57 points. Irresistible, even enveloping, his muscular cha-cha-cha. The name Käärijä comes from the word “wrap”, perfect for the pun on “wrapper”. At the age of 29, he had part of his intestines removed in his 20s due to ulcerative colitis. But now he has a lot of guts and his wonderfully tribal cha-cha-cha wowed the audience from home, whose votes counted 50%, as did the judges.
Second place for Finnish Kaarija (afp) Third Noah Kirel, 22 years old, prodigy of Israeli music, who depopulated the population with his dance-pop unicorn with the gesture of the mythical creature. She was a soldier for two years, she also founded a gang in the army, relatives were killed in Auschwitz, Kirel lost a kidney a few years ago and as a child she was so weak that a rabbi advised her to change the name from Noya to Noa change (“movement”) as a good luck charm.
Marco Mengoni (photogram) But the performance of Marco Mengoni, lovely neighborhood. Gladiator in a tank top and silver sequins, the only one of the participants in the first parade on stage with a second flag, the LGBTQ+ flag for gay and trans rights, in addition to the Italian one. Mengoni receives the critics’ award “Marcel Bezençon” (category composers), sings the beguiling ballad “Two Lives” with overwhelming intensity. At the end of the performance, his wrist trembles and he bends to the ground.
Mengoni, the appearance at the Eurovision Song Contest: “It will be ‘dirty’, you have to live it, there is no reason to be perfect”
The audience goes into raptures, also because a few seconds before it is the turn of another surprise: the princess Kate Middleton playing the piano during the performance of the reigning Ukrainian master band, Kalush Orchestra. If that’s not a political message. The organization denied the president Volodymyr Zelenskyy have their say, but at least the British Government and the Royal Family have had their say. While Russia nefariously bombed Ternopil, the town of the Ukrainian duo Tvorchi, in the same hours in the race, at least two were injured.
Peace in Liverpool instead. Indeed, as the Beatles sang, the sun has risen since morning in the city that has taken over the edition in place of the stricken Ukraine. From 10am, fans queue outside the gates between the stunning docks and then party into a river of EU and UK flags into the night. Imagine if Brexit had never happened. Instead, it was sung by John Lennon’s Imagine mahmood: a bit tense at the beginning, with slow arrangement, then great.
Mahmood super guest at the Eurovision Song Contest: “Imagine is a perfect piece, what else can I add?”
But nobody will forget the most moving moment of the evening. While Russia bombed Ternopil, all of Liverpool, on and off the stage, sang “You’ll never walk alone: the legendary anthem of.” Gerry and the pacemakers and the local soccer team, in a sea of blue and yellow flags and tears in the crowd. Because you, Ukrainians, will never walk alone again.