WORST AND BEST EUROVISION by Kyle Woods from the United States of America

As a disclaimer, since I’m participating in judging the competition, I will withdraw myself from eligibility for the prize, but it’s still fun to write a short note.

My best and worst Eurovision experiences…hmm…where to start.  I have been to six Eurovisions now, starting in Düsseldorf and continuing through Stockholm.

Let’s start with the worst experience to get it out of the way.  It was probably Copenhagen.  The whole show felt cheap and poorly run.  Having the show on a tiny island out of town accentuated transportation problems and really made me feel unwelcome in the city.  Plus the Danes were homicidal with their bicycles.  But let’s not dwell on the negative!

But I think my favorite experience from a travel perspective was, somewhat surprisingly, Malmo in 2013.  The city was so small that I was constantly running into people I knew.  Other cities like Vienna and Stockholm perhaps had more to offer in terms of things to see and do, but Malmo had its own charm and offered much more in terms of interactions with other fans.

I think my favorite thing I did in Malmo was a little river boat tour.  It was just a cruise through the canals, and nothing particularly special.  However, we happened to be there on the day they were doing a Balkan Music Party.  You may not know that I spent a good portion of my life living in the Balkans (primarily in Croatia) so that music and those languages feel like home to me.  I was also with a couple fans who live in Switzerland but are originally from Croatia, Serbia, and Kosovo.  So it was a Balkan group on this little Balkan music cruise, and we just had a blast.  We sang and danced and made utter fools of ourselves, rocking with Riva and longing for Dzuli.

It was a simple diversion, but it put a sort of stamp of approval on that whole Eurovision week, which was spent in many small memorable moments.