At the timer of writing this review, the UK has just picked it's entrant for the 2017 contest, so it seemed an appropriate moment to dig out my DVDs of past contests. This review is based on the official DVD. 2013 was the year when it struck me that the standard of songs was really going up. Sadly that didn't apply to the UK entry. The BBC having apparently learned nothing from the disastrous result for the UK of Engelbert Hupmperdink's performance at Baku in 2012 selected another aging pop star in Bonnie Tyler - not as old as Engelbert but still well past her prime. Viewers weren't going to vote for a mediocre song just because Bonnie Tyler was singing it. Looking back at the contest, although there was a good quality and range of songs, I don,t think any really stood out, although the winner deserved it's success. Of course there was the usual collection of oddities, the amazing falsetto voice of the Romanian entry, and what was Azerbaijan all about? the staging of it was really odd, but the bonkers elements are part of the fun of Eurovision. Credit must also go to the Swedes for their presentation of the show, particularly to the host Petra Mede who did an excellent job of presenting. Also enjoyable was the song Swedish Smorgasbord she performed while the votes were being counted. Overall this was definitely one of the better contests.
