Graham Norton had his work cut out keeping this one light. There were breakdowns, blood rites, curses, drug busts, infidelities aplenty and great howls of existential anguish, and that's just the songs. Draw the camera back from its tight crop on the gritted-teeth performances and Eurovision 2024 arrives under the darkest shadow of the contest's entire history.
When organisers disqualified Russia over opaque rule-breaking and “the violation of public service values” in 2022, allowing for widespread displays of solidarity with Ukraine from both public and voting panels, they painted Eurovision and its anti-political ethos into a corner. Now this year’s ceremony arrives at a precise moment in history when it becomes the last chance for high-profile global protest. As the tanks threaten to roll into Rafah, where 1.4 million starving Palestinian civilians have been kettled, Eden Golan strides onto the Eurovision stage to represent Israel with a stirring and angelic battle ballad “Hurricane” that’s plenty good enough to win. But the fallout has effectively torn the Eurovision spirit to shreds.
This story is from the May 12, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the May 12, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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