Usually when you hear ‘Eurovision’ and ‘cinema’ in the same sentence, you’d expect it to be about Fire Saga, right? I’m sure many of you have seen the 2020 movie starring Will Ferrell that was supposed to be in cinemas, but the COVID pandemic confined it to Netflix viewing. In my case, it was not about The Story Of Fire Saga, but of this year’s Grand Final that I had the luck to see in a movie theatre. I will tell you about my experience.
Before I will tell of my cinema experience, I’ll let you know how I’ve seen the Grand Final in past years. No television broadcaster in Canada broadcasts the Contest live. If I want to see it live, I will have to stream it live on the Eurovision channel or YouTube. That’s how I first did in 2013 and 2014. I accessed it though the Eurovision website. It was convenient because I could bring up an Excel sheet to rank as I go in creating my Top 10.
Things changed in 2016. That year, a geoblock that prevented North American nations from watching the Contest was enforced and lasted until 2020. That’s why I missed out in 2016 and 2017. Even though the geoblock was lifted in 2020, it’s still enforced on the Grand Final videos of those years over on YouTube. I still don’t understand the reasoning for that. For 2018 and 2019, I solved the problem by watching it at European restaurants. For 2018, I saw it from a Portuguese restaurant with the television on RTP. For 2019, I saw it from a German restaurant with the television turned to NDR. The restaurants were fine with me staying for four hours as long as I ordered food. That’s the other reason why I chose those restaurants. I love their food.
It’s a good thing the geoblock was lifted in 2020 because I don’t know how I would have handled it during the pandemic and my area of Canada having some of the strictest knockdowns. Back to livestreaming on YouTube. That was the way for the next four years. To make it fun, I bought food and drinks to enjoy. Even after the worst of the COVID pandemic ended, watching at home wasn’t a problem.
Now bringing to this year, I wanted to do something different. I was thinking of returning back to seeing Eurovision in a restaurant. There’s no Eurovision group in Greater Vancouver. I would like to start one up. Just for the sake of trying to get anything, I sent a message out on Facebook’s OGAE: Rest Of The World page two weeks before, asking if there would be anything in Greater Vancouver. Someone responded that the Contest would be broadcast in Cineplex movie theatres! Now that would be something new! Seeing it in a movie theatre!
I bought my ticket for the Grand Final days before. They had tickets for both semi-final but that wouldn’t work for me. I live near Vancouver, Canada and the Eurovision contests all begin at noon my time and I had work the Tuesday and Thursday. My only options of seeing those events would be watching live from my smartphone or seeing them many hours later.
Before I went, I didn’t know what type of event it would be. Would it be a calm event? Or would it be crazy with a big celebration? I’ve never been to a concert event in a movie theatre before. I went with my Ukraine shirt, Ukraine scarf and Ukraine flag. The flag was not a smart idea as we would see the Contest in the dark. Like a common movie.
There were more than a hundred people that showed up. A few brought their children, some were from the LGBT scene in Vancouver and some were students. Vancouver has a high population of immigrants from all over, including Europe. Vancouver is also a big city for international students so it would be natural we’d have many with a big interest in Eurovision. Some were wearing T-shirts from past Contests! I guess I’m not the only EuroFan in Greater Vancouver.
When the Contest began and the lights were turned off, the crowd did not hesitate to cheer entries. They did cheer them on as they did the parade of finalists, although Israel got quiet clapping. Before each performance, there would be cheers from the crowd. During the performances, I could hear people in the crowd singing along to some of the songs. As mentioned, I was the only one who waved a flag. On a not-so-pleasant note, when Israel performed, I could hear some people whisper “Free Palestine.” One thing about the cheering from the theatre is you could tell which songs were the biggest favorites of the crowds. As for seeing the Contest from the big screen, there are some times where you can notice a lot of things from big screen viewing that you may not see from a smaller screen. Possibly the biggest example is I noticed the look of fear on Justyna’s face as she was carried in the air. The surround sound helps you hear the songs better.
Moving onto voting, one problem with viewing there is if you don’t have your Wifi switched to the theatre’s Wifi, you will have problems. Also, the Wifi is lousy during showtimes. I learned of the Wifi problems early on when I attempted to send a photo to a social media platform and it wouldn’t load. Those of you who know my voting, I vote based on my Top 10 list which I create through the ‘My Eurovision Scorecard’ app. I rank as I go along, have my Top 10 of the final decided once the last entry performs and then place my twenty votes based on my Top 10. The only time I left the theatre during the cinema viewing was right after Albania had finished their performance. One of the things I did during that time outside was place my twenty votes. I knew I’d have better connection outside the theatre and it was there where I could most trust sending my votes.
After my votes were sent, I could just simply sit back and relax in the theatre. Just wait for the results to come and just watch the interval acts. The interval acts were entertaining. Sometimes I wonder if I would have still been entertained if I saw it through a cellphone screen like I saw the 2024 Grand Final. The viewing party in the Basel stadium did leave me jealous. It’s good to see those who couldn’t get tickets for the live show could still get to be part of a big party. Maybe an idea for next year.
Then came to final part of the show: the points reveal. As each nation had their jury points revealed, you could tell from the crowds which songs they were happiest with getting 12 points. They were happy with almost all the nations getting 12 points, but I think Austria had the biggest cheers. Israel’s 12 points didn’t get any boos, but I don’t remember any cheers either. Then came the televote points. One thing about the crowd is you could tell there were many songs by female singers that they loved. Whenever a female singer received lower televote points than expected, you could hear the disgust of the crowd. I think there were some boos too. I myself had two times (during Denmark and Switzerland) where when I heard her get a low points total, I shouted “WHAT?!?!?” I couldn’t do that in a restaurant or in my suite.
When Israel got their televote points total, there were neither cheers nor boos, but you could tell what they were all thinking. What they were all hoping not to happen. With Austria left to have his televote points revealed, what we were all hoping wouldn’t happen had a strong chance of happening. The Grand Final was a happier occasion than it was last year, but the feeling of dread came all of a sudden. I could feel the dread in the cinema too. When the host announced Austria needed 100 points to win, I remember the person behind me silently saying “100, 100, 100.” just before the host revealed JJ’s total. I’m sure we were all feeling that same way too. I was hoping for it but fearing the worst. Then when JJ’s televote points total was revealed, the theatre broke out in a loud cheer! We could all relax now and celebrate the winner.
Seeing JJ walk to the stage was sweet as he was embraced by some of his competitors. Seeing his mother hug him had to be the most heartwarming moment of the Grand Final. Actually the images of seeing JJ’s mother and sister in the stands was an added bonus for this year. It added a heartwarming touch to the Contest. How often do you have the Eurovision winner make it a family affair?
And that is my experience of seeing the Eurovision Grand Final in a movie theatre. It was a fun experience seeing the Contest on a big screen. I would still choose a good dinner at a restaurant over popcorn any day, but it was a fun experience. If I don’t get tickets for Vienna, I think I will do the movie theatre again. Here’s hoping for next year!
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