You no doubt will all be aware by now that this year is the 70 year anniversary of our beloved contest .It’s come a long way from that day back in 1956 when Lys Assia sang her way to victory for Switzerland in the first ever song contest . We at Eurovision Ireland have decided in the days leading up to the Grand Final ,to mark the seventy years by looking back on our memories over the years that we have been involved in the contest be it be as a TV viewer during our younger years or during the media work that we do . Today I will share James’s memories .

What’s your favourite ever Eurovision song and why?

I know Eurovision fans are supposed to love this question, but I find it so hard to answer! Out of over 1750 songs now, how can I pick just one? I mean, do you mean by country? By year? By genre? Language? Winners? Non-qualifiers? It’s almost impossible to narrow down such a big part of my life into a single 3 minutes. But, for the sake of this question, if you asked me right now it’s Rapsodia, Italy’s heartbreaking ballad from 1992. Bear in mind if you ask me in 5 minutes, I’ll have remembered another one (or 12!!!) I love!

Eurovision has seen many changes in 70 years . If you could turn the clock back, which decade would you go back to and why?

Ooooh I’ve not considered this before! From a time travel perspective, I’d like to go back to the 2000s and go and see them in person – new winning country after new winning country, the songs I grew up loving and that became my core memories of Eurovision – how amazing would that be?! The buzz of cities like Moscow, Belgrade, Athens and Tallinn getting their first-ever hosting… that would be so cool.

Are there any songs you feel should have won but didn’t ?

Oh goodness, how long have I got!? So many songs the deserved to win the contest didn’t – that’s the thing with a contest, 1 winner, 24 losers! Some honourable mentions so I don’t write a novel:-
Vuelve Conmigo (Spain 1995), Cha Cha Cha (Finland 2023), 7th Wonder (Malta 2002), Blackbird (Finland 2017), Hear Them Calling (Iceland 2016), Crisalide (San Marino 2013), Horehronie (Slovakia 2010) and even though it’s contemporaneously an unpopular choice, A Million Voices (Russia 2015).

What is your most memorable moment from all the years you have watched the contest?

What is your most memorable moment from all the years you have watched the contest?
Two moments spring to mind, neither of which I witnessed live! One, the audible shock in the audience when Celine Dion edged a single point ahead of the UK in 1988 making for one of the closest finishes ever – you can’t script TV like that! And secondly, that heart-rending moment the phoneline crackled in Millstreet in 1993 and we heard “Good evening Europe, this is Sarajevo calling” – a city and country torn apart by war whose representatives had fought and risked their lives to sing at Eurovision. Call it a silly music competition if you must, but this just proves how fundamentally important music is to the human experience.

Who are your favourite Eurovision hosts and why?

Hannah Waddingham could (and should have!) hosted that contest solo while stood on her head! She was phenomenal and I’d love to see her do it again!

What is your favourite Irish entry from 70 years of Eurovision?

Ireland have sent some truly brilliant songs to the contest over the years and recent history doesn’t take away from that. I first heard “Somewhere in Europe” from 1990 some 3 decades later, on the day after what should have been the final of the 2020 contest. While I’m glad I didn’t hear it on the day of, because I think it would have broken me among all the COVID panic, it perfectly encapsulated what this contest means to me and that sense of nostalgia at not having a contest that year. Beautiful and poignant.

What is your favourite interval act out of all the 70 years?

Love Love Peace Peace is the obvious choice here because it blew our collective minds, but Made in Switzerland was genius! Vienna, we’ve got high expectations for this week!

What are your favourite memories of Eurovision over the years?

Let us know what you think of Eurovision and the seventy year anniversary by leaving us a comment below and you can find us on our Facebook, X , Instagram and Bluesky feeds .

You can find Part one of this series HERE

Author : Sarah Rudman

Source : Eurovision Ireland

Visual sources : You Tube