Category: Eurovision

On Publishing Five Hundred Podcasts

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Ewan Spence

Last Friday saw one of the moments where numbers conspired to mean something. Over on ESC Insight, I posted the five hundredth episode of my Eurovision Song Contest podcast. There was nothing particularly special about the contents, it was a regular episode of ‘ESC Insight News’, covering the last two weeks of news in the world of the Song Contest. The only concessions to the episode number was a sad party twizzler sound effect at the end of the show, and the subtle use of a Fiat 500 as the key image in the post and shared social images. And while

Reprinting the delights of singing for your Superbowl

Posted on February 6, 2016 by Ewan Spence

Popbitch looked at the most dangerous moment in the American music calendar this week… singing the National Anthem at the Superbowl. With Superbowl 50 taking place this weekend in Santa Clara (…I can read a map and it’s miles away from San Francisco) the moment is coming around once more, and Lady Gaga has picked up the poison-filled chalice: Lady Gaga has performed for millions of people all around the planet, but never all at once. This Sunday’s Super Bowl will be one of the biggest audiences she has ever played for – and even a huge star like Gaga will

The Book Of Eurovision Souls

Posted on September 3, 2015September 3, 2015 by Ewan Spence

The new Iron Maiden album, ‘The Book Of Souls‘ has been released, and my copy just arrived. Most of me cannot wait to devour the 92 minute long album, but part of me runs through the checklist; released after September 1st, check; a maximum of six performers on stage, check; any tracks under three minutes… Damn.

The BBC’s delightfully decisive and subversive entry to Eurovision 2015

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Ewan Spence

I have many thoughts on the UK entry, and could talk a lot about it (I have a website for that) but I’m going to boil it down to this. The BBC’s Guy Freeman realised what ‘Contest’ means. Only the result on the night matters. Not chart success, not YouTube views, not fan opinion or if it works down the Euroclub. It’s a Contest, and finding a way to score is the only mark that counts. Freeman (who heads the BBC’s delegation) could have played it safe, found a nice middle of the road song, dug up a manic pixie dream

Eurovision songs reach the Top 40, Radio One holds its nose and has to play them. Win!

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Ewan Spence

I’ve been quiet about my Eurovision activities on this blog over the last two or three weeks (on the assumption that you all know where to find me, or saw the Twitter action), but I want to highlight this little fact. Four Eurovision songs reached the Top 40 yesterday, and 12 tracks made the Top 100. The power of social media and the ability to instantly buy digital music online has once more been able to show that the music does have an impact. The old-school gatekeepers might not hand tracks like ‘Undo’ or ‘Calm After The Storm’ a physical

On reaching 250 Eurovision podcasts

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Ewan Spence

This week I published my 250th podcast on The Eurovision Song Contest. Given the show is a ‘weekly’ (with some notable exceptions during the year, such as the twice daily schedule in the few days before the Contest), 250 is as good a milestone as any to take note and remember where the podcast has taken me. The first audio tracks I recorded for Eurovision were from Moscow and the 2009 Contest – those downloads were three ‘alternative ‘commentary’ track so you could watch the show along with me. It was during the run up to Norway in 2010 that