By Simon Dallmeier and Manja Gress
At the 67th Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool we are once again at the bottom. And that despite the rather eye-catching performance of “Lord of the Lost”.
But as so often when it comes to the points, Europe seems to forget us. A meager 18 points are on the account at the end. Only 3 from the juries, just 15 from the audience. This is really NOTHING.
Presenter Barbara Schöneberger (49) then tried gallows humor: “After all, three times as many points as in 2022!” At that time, Germany had only received six points and was also at the bottom of the table.
“Lord of the Lost” singer Chris Harms (43) commented: “We gave everything!” Germany should see the performance “as a foundation” and look forward with love and confidence, he recommended.
Loreen from Sweden celebrates her second win at the ESC
Photo: Reuters
Beaming winner: Loreen (39) from Sweden with her song “Tattoo”! She brings the seventh ESC triumph for her country. Sweden is the record winner alongside Ireland. She is also the first woman to win the competition twice.
It was Urban’s last ESC
Long faces, on the other hand, with our act. The guys from “Lord of the Lost” were so confident before their performance. Guitarist Pi Stoffers in an interview with the Tagesschau: “Of course we have ambitions to break the German tradition. We’re anything but a traditional band.” But the jury’s voting already gave an idea of where the journey is headed. Here we only got a meager three points (two from Iceland, one from the Czech Republic).
Commentator Peter Urban (75), who sat in front of the microphone for the last time, teased: “Germany doesn’t expect that many jury points either. Metal just isn’t their music.” He too hoped that things would change after the public vote.
In the end, only 15 points were added here. Urban sighed: “I would have liked more points for my last ESC.” But it wasn’t to be this time either. Because it soon became clear: Germany is at the bottom again.
“Lord of the Lost” had delivered properly. With the start number 21 they let it rip. After all, the guys around frontman Chris Harms (43) are real professionals and have already toured with “Iron Maiden”. Preferences that some acts at the ESC can only dream of. Nevertheless, they all passed the Hamburgers.
Dancers on a leash
In second place behind Sweden’s song contest icon Loreen (39) was Finland’s Käärijä (29), who caused the hall to freak out in the belly-bare paint and leather. His wild electro number “Cha Cha Cha” was already at the top of the betting odds. The performance went one step further. The Finn kept his pink dancers on a leash. Really shrill and really crazy.
She was also an eye-catcher. Israel’s ESC hope Noa Kirel (22) had invested a lot of time in the choreography. The highlight of her performance was a breathtaking dance performance, which was not only well received by the younger target group.
Noa Kirel (22) from Israel
Photo: dpa
The young singer took third place after Sweden and Finland. She has long been a star in her home country, has 1.5 million followers on Instagram and has already won four “MTV European Music Awards”.
Sea of lights at “Imagine”
The supporting program at the ESC was also impressive. As in the previous year, when the Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won with lead singer Oleh Psiuk (28), political tones were struck. In the audience were people from Ukraine who found refuge in Liverpool before the war. Outside the competition, Ukrainian artists performed.
And that also caused goosebumps: singer-songwriter Sam Ryder (33), who came second in 2022, was on stage with injured dancers. Meanwhile, none other than Roger Taylor (73) from Queen sat on the drums.
Ex-ESC stars like the Israeli singer Netta (33) sang songs from Liverpool. When John Lennon’s peace anthem “Imagine” played, thousands of lights shone in the hall. Later, the whole hall sang the Liverpool FC song “You never walk alone”. There were even tears.
It got bizarre when Iceland awarded its jury points. A member of the band Hatari, who wore several masks, took over the job. The musician took off one after the other, kept the last one open and only opened a zipper in front of his mouth. Ireland’s TV star Graham Norton (60), who was part of the moderator quartet, joked: “It was the slowest stripper in the world.”
Finland’s Käärijä (29) took second place without a belly
Photo: picture alliance
It was a big, colorful party in the Beatles’ birthplace. The last vote was cast at 00:04. For Loreen, who led the jury voting, things got tight again shortly before the end when Finland’s Käärijä came dangerously close to her with the audience votes. But in the end she won the race with a lead of 57 points.