| Eurovision Song Contest News - 2010 Oslo, Norway 

Nikolas Vertigo

hallo to everyone!!
it is good to be among peole who share also a passion for the eurovision song contest..this contst means a lot to me...it started back in the late 70s and early 80s as a very cosy gathering with my older brother and my parents...it was a big thing, watching the ESC on the TV, all together drinking Cola and eating some snacks...and then everybody would say his/her favourites or argue a bit about the possible winners..well i never got the winner right, i lked then always entries who finished last or at the bottom of it...then as i grew up, watching the ESC was totally uncol, a thing of the past, something for our parents or uncles...we used to despise the kind of music that was presented there..well we were students and into kind of alternative things...in the 90s i watched again the contest the first year i spent in berlin for post graduate studies, just because a friend of mine told me that a transexual would sing for israel..and since i am interetsed in such matters(one study of mne is GENDER studies), i watched again the show and i liked it again...i remember then how close the voting was...malta was leading, england was folowing and i was so impressed from the beauty and the femaleness of dana that i was hoping and praying that she would win just to see her once more and just to hear the song...and a proof of what an impact ESC can have on us: since then i got for the first time interested in israelmand i started learning hebrew, a very nice language indeed..
Since then i watched the ESC but without any particular passion until 2001, when Helena and Antique sang for Greece the very good "Die for you"..it was the very first time i felt greece should really win the contest and then i got so mad that it didnt make it and another uninteresting song(i do not even rememeber who) won!! i was so mad, that i said to myself i will never watch this contest again..well i lied!!! i watched the contest again and again, but really impressed like in 98 i got with the contest in istabul...i saw Sakis and his performance and i thought: WOW!! Grece will make it this year...well shattered dreams, ruslana took the trophy, i was mad again after the contest, cursing and moaning what a bad taste the whole europe has, and that noone wanted greece to win ;-).....
Then next year i hear that helena paparizou(the singer of Antique of 2001, which inbetween had made a solo carreer) would sing for greece in kyiv...i was ans still am living in berlin and i watched through sattelite the song "My Number 1 " for the first time: WOW!!!! i thought..what an uplifting music and how GReek!!! well i fell in love with the song and with helena..and i said to myself: "this time greece has to win, it deserves it!!!!" and as the contest was approaching, the idea of watching this contest from my couch in berlin looked terrible..so i overcharged all my credit cards and i drove to kyiv(by bus!!!!! it was less expensive, and i am always short of money)..totally on my own, friends and others had to work and nobody could take 5 days off....i did it!!! i had to be there to support, to scream for an with Helena....There it took me one day to meet people...mainly greeks, some very nice people, simple people who also came on their expenses from greece, UK and even hungury to support helena...and that was a big party there..we would talk to the greek and other european channels, we met helena on her way to the last final rehearsl, we met jurnalist, we would go to the euroclub after each rehearsal....i amde also some very good friends from komotini, a town n northern greece, some very nice guys and girls...we would go out, laugh, comment on the day and the entries of the other countries....ukranian seemed back then to be among the few nations in europe ho did not like helena and that scared us a lot..in the dress rehearsals they wouldnt applaude much, we were only a bunch of greeks going wild....but we thought perhaps we were the only ones who loved "my number one" so much..we thought: ok, who cares, we are having a great time, we support helena, and even if we wont win, we can say we had fan....i remember on the day of the finals i was going back to my hostel to get dressed for the bigt night..and i started crying, because i was too tired and because i thought we would end only top 10 again...but then i smiled, i got fresh and well dressed for the evening i got a huge greek flag and i returned to the venue..and the magic began..there were groups of people with greek and other flags celebrating already outside the venue..people would take photos of us..journalists from whole europe would ask us questions....and then time came, we had to go inside to find our seats(unfortunately, since we had all bought our tickets before we met, we would sit seperately)...then i do not rememebr much of the contest..i was so moved by the whole thing!!! i was inside, a dream of mine came true, i would watch the contest from the inside and not from my couch like always.....i was sitting in the middle but kind of behind, so i cold see all details from the monitor, but i cold feel the tension in the air and the screaming and applauding of the people..thta is for a fan of the contest such a nice feeling....number 19 Helena came on stage, right after Croatia..well do you know how i reacted??? Icould not watch the monitor, i closed my eyes and my ears with my hands....i was afraid that she would make a mistake by dancing or by singing..anyway the live performance.i missed it :-) .....then the results started coming..the first countries did not give much to greece, greece was something like 7-11 position at the time..i was so disappointed at this time..then score was getting better, 12 points from Hungury, UK, then Germany, Bulgaria, Serbia....i started yelling and screaming and dancing in the corridor between the saets....then we were second, then first, second and then firs till the end.....i was so happy, all greeks left their seats and gathered in the front.me and Chryssa, a friend of mine, we jumped on the plattform of the EBU Cameras centre, they allowed us to do it...and from there we would scream to Helena and elena was waving with the greek flag back to us and she was greeting us....on the televised version i can see the moment, where Helena is greeting me and Chryssa..we were on the plattform of the cameras, right opposite to her and i the centre of the venue....these were strong moments....i stayed then i KYiv 3 days longer, i wanted to see also something from the city..until then i had only seen the venue and my hostel ....great moments....
Well you can guess what a passionate fan of the contest i am now...so that is why i take it seriously and that is why i get annoyede when countries send a song just out of fun...i was ungry that lordi won the contest last year..that was no serious entry that was a mockery..or that this stupid entry from lithuania and "we are the winners" ..i like the contest, i do not like it when people are making fun out of it, and then they are also rewarded with many points....
Anyway this year i got mad and addicted to Vertigo from Malta....if i had money i would travel to Halsinki just to support this one, even though i have no personal bond to Malta..it is just the song....And through the song i got interested in Malta....another proof that ESC is much more than just a contest..it is about culture, countries, music, passion...i will be very very sad if vertigo wont pass the semis...this song is gold..it is very dramatic, and everyone who has loved strongly once, can feel the tension of it....i am excited about this contest, because i have a favourite that gets me passionate..and i think ESC will keep me interested for many many years to come....