Our base for Eurovision! We went to see the second semi-final judges scoring/dress rehearsal, which was on in the middle of the week before Saturday’s final. We went with a friend of Rachs who studied together with her more than 10 years ago and lives in Malmo. We saw the televised version the following night: same performers again this time with the public getting to vote. Here’s a link to a gallery of images from the arena: https://gregja.ckson.id.au//eurovision/
As you can see the whole thing is spectacular! Being in the stadium was way better than watching it on TV – the theatrics were better to watch and our seats gave us a view behind the scenes. The sound and atmosphere also were better: we could actually feel the heat off the flames when they burst from the stage. My favourites: Romania (for family patriotism and sheer pure-eurovision weirdness), Albania (heavy metal with the eurovision drinking game quadruple crown of guitar solo, dry ice, fireworks and bursting flames) and Greece (actual tight technical performance which you couldn’t quite appreciate the same on TV).
There was a buzz in Malmo sort of like Sydney during the Olympics with live sites and a whole bunch of tourists roaming the streets of what is normally a pretty sleepy place we gather. The weather just switched to spring after a couple of weeks of rain which also seems to have helped everyone’s mood.
Malmo itself is a great place – no pretension, excellent coffee (who would have guessed?) and a compact walkable centre with Amsterdam-like levels of cycling. There’s also a whole heap of new waterfront development which is for the most part quite sensitively done with generous public access and situated right next to a string of beaches, and buildings of an appropriate scale. The new 8km long Oresund Bridge connecting Malmo and the rest of Sweden to Copenhagen and Denmark is a boon for the city too. Malmo is highly recommended!
