Australia to compete in Eurovision 2015 – a nation reacts
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Version 0 of 1. 1.58pm AEST02:58 So long for now – see you all in Vienna We’re off to start planning our Eurovision party now. But thanks for sharing this good news morning with us and expect more updates on the Guardian Australia culture site as and when we hear them. And because it bears repeating ... This is actually happening:Australia is entering the Eurovision http://t.co/61FsRS5bwX pic.twitter.com/MHlEpQCfkQ” @blastclouds” Updated at 3.48pm AEST 1.53pm AEST02:53 Meanwhile, having already waded in on Twitter, Mark Humphries of the Roast gives Guardian Australia his more considered thoughts on an announcement designed to make Tony Abbott feel a little less ridiculous for awarding a knighthood to Prince Philip. What does Australia have to offer Eurovision? Mark suggests the following: Turkey has whirling dervishes. Spain has flamenco. Australia has bogans. (In a footnote, Mark also adds that this is all great news for Israel who can now proudly proclaim they’re no longer the least European country in Eurovision). Updated at 6.46pm AEST 1.53pm AEST02:53 As loyalists celebrate Australia’s inclusion in 2015, over on our music blog, Alex Spring looks back at 10 Aussie anthems that could have won Eurovision in previous years, from the Easybeats and the Bee Gees to Christine Anu and Delta Goodrem. Oh, and anyone for Bardot? Updated at 6.46pm AEST 12.52pm AEST01:52 The sporting odds Australia is nothing if not a betting nation – the Melbourne Cup gives Eurovision a good gallop in the camp stakes – so it comes as no surprise that Sportingbet has released a book on who will represent the nation in Vienna, with “pocket rocket singer/songwriter Samantha Jade” its AUS $8 favourite. Here’s what else your buck could bag you (correct as of AEST 1pm): Guy Sebastian / Sia / Jessica Mauboy $9Iggy Azalea / Ricki Lee Coulter $10Chet Faker / Peking Duk / Danni Minogue $15Hugh Jackman / Peter Garrett – Midnight Oil $51Russell Crowe / Brett Lee $501 Who would YOU put your hard-earned Aussie dollars on? Updated at 3.11pm AEST 12.41pm AEST01:41 Could 2015 be the year of Euro-TISM? One wisecracker has submitted a petition to persuade the band to reform. It’s inarguable that since 2004, Australia has been going downhill. In 2015, the downhill slide peaked with the our prime minister Tony Abbott inexplicably knighting Prince Philip, Tay Swizzle even having a chance at cracking the Hottest 100, and Australia being picked as an official competitor for the Eurovision Song Contest ... We, the undersigned, humbly request that landmark Australian rock band TISM reform and take charge of the Eurovision stage. Since you left us in 2004, we’ve had a never ending parade of gormless depressing electro-indie, depressing indie-folk, and depressing Aussie hip-hop. We the undersigned, ask that you get on stage in front of the world and remind them of just how great Australian music is. With only 57 votes of a necessary 1000 votes cast so far, we’ll see if this travels. For now, here is a reminder of TISM’s finest hours – Greg! The Stop Sign!! – from our weekly Aussie Anthems blog (which is well worth checking out for further Eurovision inspiration, if you’ll excuse the plug). Updated at 12.46pm AEST 12.22pm AEST01:22 The Euroview from Twitter Our own Katharine Murphy, Canberra-cum-Eurovision liveblogger (she watched the whole thing for Guardian Australia last year) is suitably joyful. Yeeeeeeeesssssss. Victory is ours #eurovision http://t.co/oT0H9KqRFy Mark Humphries from ABC’s The Roast got in quickly with the obvious joke. Australia will compete in this year's Eurovision. Sounds like being mistaken for Austria has finally paid off. Naughty Mark Di Stefano from Buzzfeed Australia is up to his teasing again #Tay4Eurovision I’m not saying “vote” for her. Just saying it’s an option here: http://t.co/weVC2Kp8QZ pic.twitter.com/xL8jZ3HYrh And Brendan Maclean seems to have taken your bait. Back up everyone. It's a power-ballad duet with @EmRusciano, myself, written by @thepaulmac or it's nothing. #Eurovision Updated at 3.51pm AEST 12.17pm AEST01:17 That said, seems like we’re asking the wrong Eurovision experts .... Melbourne University runs a course on this stuff. Melbourne University has a subject on Eurovision. No joking. I went to the wrong uni. https://t.co/12ZdpHnYSN (via @sallywhyte) Thanks to Myriam and our features ed Brigid for that spot. 11.54am AEST00:54 And if we’re hearing from the critics, time to hear from you too ... Here are some of your finest suggestions from the comments for Australia’s Eurovision entry: Also variously: Brendan Maclean, Machine Gun Fellatio, Norman Gunston, Peta Credlin, Pyne Nuts and Christopher Pyne performing Yellow Submarine. We’re not sure they’re all eligible but keep ’em coming, folks. Updated at 12.02pm AEST 11.37am AEST00:37 Guardian Australia critics react ... And the verdicts of our regular music writers – Clem Bastow, Everett True and Marcus Teague – are in. But who wrote what? The mere presence of the Prince of Darkness should cow the opposition into a shivering mess of tangled shiny leggings and collapsed bird cages. In the gruesome shadow of Australia’s ongoing issues with welcoming refugees, it’s heartbreaking that a representative from our adrift culture would be invited to participate in the world’s most visible pantomime. I did go to a Eurovision party dressed as a member of Lordi; I made no friends that night. Read this to find out. Plus bonus thoughts from our telly voice, Jazz Twemlow. Updated at 11.40am AEST 11.10am AEST00:10 My colleague Alexandra Spring notes that whoever is picked to represent Australia might not be the only resident Aussie in Vienna come 23 May. As the ABC reported in January, JTL, a boy-band from Logan, south of Brisbane, hopes to represent Sweden at this year’s contest. Brothers John, Tom and Robin Lundback, who have lived in Queensland since 2005, have been chosen from 5,000 entries to take part in the Melody festival, a precursor to Eurovision itself. Too bad Australia doesn’t get to pick its own rep in such a fun way. Here’s their entry. Updated at 11.32am AEST 11.02am AEST00:02 At 2014 Eurovision, Australia pulled out all the stops to woo for an invite to the main party with Jessica Mauboy’s half-time show ‘Down Under’. As Stuart Kemp recalls: Australia’s affection for the show was illustrated during last year’s Eurovision semi-final in Denmark, when it staged an interval song and dance number featuring surfboards, giant koala and kangaroo costumes and outsized pints of beer. Australian singer Jessica Mauboy, runner-up of Australian Idol, also sang at the event. Come to think of it, could Mauboy’s routine have been the inspiration for Katy Perry’s recent Superbowl number and its Eurovision lashings of camp? Katy Perry's epic lung-busting #SuperBowl kitsch | @alexneedham74 http://t.co/LwIARokPuE pics http://t.co/be9ahpSHjT pic.twitter.com/8qeFmy3AFg Whatever. It worked for us. Thanks Jess. Updated at 11.02am AEST 10.49am AEST23:49 Aussies past and present at Eurovision Eurovision excitement across Australia is suitably fevered. For a country that gave world cinema the karaoke sparkles and dance moves of Muriel’s Wedding, Priscilla Queen of the Desert AND Strictly Ballroom, this does appear to be our musical moment to shine. Of course, Australia is no stranger to Eurovision camp. It’s just a shame its homegrown talent has too often represented the colonial overlords. I barely need to remind you that a be-nightied Olivia Newton John placed fourth for the UK in 1974 with Long Live Love. And Gina G’s emerald green sequins took eighth spot for the Brits in 1996 with Ooh Aah Just a Little Bit. A decade later Jane Comerford represented Germany in pink taffeta with Texas Lightning’s No, No, Never, lyrics that seemed cruelly to articulate Australia’s thwarted Euro-ambition. (And if mentioning their outfits seems superfluous, get with the program. Eurovision is as much about the spangles as it is the songs). Updated at 10.52am AEST 10.26am AEST23:26 No public vote on Australian song entry A spokesperson from SBS has confirmed to my colleague Monica Tan that closed-door negotiations are currently under way with Australian artists to represent the country in the competition. SBS and co-producer Blink TV will ultimately decide who will perform, and in discussion with that artist, what song they will sing at Eurovision. It is customary for the country that wins Eurovision to host the following year’s ceremony. However if Australia wins, the 2016 competition will not be held in Australia, the spokesperson suggested. Instead the show will be co-produced by Australia with a partner broadcaster in Europe. So to the winner of today’s comment bingo, no need to start counting cents quite yet. Who is paying for that, hopefully not the taxpayer? Updated at 2.04pm AEST 9.54am AEST22:54 Hate to be the bearer of bad news but one person has already ruled themselves out of Eurovision glory and, “devastatingly”, reports our London arts reporter Hannah Ellis Petersen, that is Jason Donovan. “In a word, no!” said Donovan’s agent Sam Wright when asked if he would be crooning for Australia. “Jason is currently in previews for The King’s Speech at Chichester festival theatre where he is playing Lionel Logue. He will be in the play until the end of its run in June.” Here’s our recent Guardian interview with the man himself. Guessing that means no Neighbours 30th anniversary appearance either. Double blows. We’re still waiting to hear back from Kylie. Updated at 10.01am AEST 9.44am AEST22:44 So who should represent Australia? A survey of Twitter sees a wealth of suggestions for our Aussie contender: Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Jason Donovan, Jessica Mauboy, Guy Sebastian, The Veronicas, AC/DC (after their teleprompter heroics at the Grammys), Tame Impala, Hilltop Hoods, Tkai Maidza, Paul Capsis, Taylor Swift (not if Richard Kingsmill have anything to do with it), Julia Gillard. Or this lot? For Aussie band at #Eurovision I doubt there's many more suited than my old buddies Barbarion https://t.co/u3tfZtCPLR pic.twitter.com/C28WbFXvuI Updated at 2.01pm AEST 9.31am AEST22:31 For all those spoilsports quibbling about European geography, here’s a fun map from our web news editor. Kind of surreal that Australia's in Europe when most of Europe fits in Australia #Eurovision (map via @Amazing_Maps) pic.twitter.com/eyzmexVkUv And here’s another one from our David Munk, international news editor, Asia Pacific. We’ve got our all our top dogs on this for you, Australia. Updated at 10.13am AEST 9.24am AEST22:24 Some early reaction to the news (which Europe found out at tea-time obviously – well, it is their show n’all) from Guardian telly writer and long-time Eurovision correspondent, Stuart Heritage. The Eurovision song contest is a festival of inclusiveness. Conceived in the messy aftermath of the second world war as a means to reunite a fractured continent, it stands to this day as a reflection of Europe’s progressive liberalism; opening its arms to everyone, be they gay or transsexual or singing binmen who couldn’t win The X Factor a decade ago. So long as you want to join the party, you’re in. Everyone’s welcome. .... If you want in, Australia, you’re in. We’ll welcome you with open arms, for that is the Eurovision way. Just, you know, keep your song nice and short because I’ll probably end up having to liveblog it and I don’t want to be up all night. Read Stuart’s full piece here. 9.14am AEST22:14 As our colleagues Stuart Kemp and John Plunkett in London report: The Eurovision Song Contest has a long history of pushing boundaries, but its latest extension is its most ambitious yet ... The annual talent contest, which has given the world Abba’s Waterloo, Making Your Mind Up by Bucks Fizz and Lulu’s Boom Bang-a-Bang, has long had a devoted following in Australia, where it was watched by around 3 million viewers last year. The contest’s organisers, the European Broadcasting Union, described it as a one-off event and the only way the Australian entry could return would be if it won. However, it did not rule out the notion of inviting a different guest nation each year in future contests. Updated at 3.14pm AEST 9.03am AEST22:03 Hello Vienna! Oh strange and glittery day. Australia has woken up to the news that it has joined the European musical union, courtesy of a wild card to compete in the 60th annual Eurovision song contest. “Hello, bonjour and guten tag,” said a barely-able-to-contain-herself Julia Zemiro from SBS. “This year at the Eurovision song contest in Vienna, Australia will be competing in the grand final!” What’s more, she said: “Australia, this year, for the first time, your vote officially counts.” This is a “historic opportunity for Australia to be represented on the world’s biggest stage”, said Michael Ebeid, managing director of SBS, which will broadcast the live-show from Vienna in May. Meanwhile, Jon Ola Sand, executive supervisor of the Eurovision song contest itself, said it would be remiss to “throw the world’s biggest party” to celebrate 60 years without inviting “the show’s Australian friends”. At the very heart of the Eurovision song contest is the importance of bringing countries together to celebrate diversity, music and culture. Here is the full video announcement. “Our song and artist will be revealed very shortly,” said Zemiro. “Can you guess who it will be?” Well, can you? Stick with us for all the news and reaction this morning. Updated at 4.54pm AEST |