Israel is (together with Croatia, Ukraine, Turkey and 90s Cyprus) one of my favourite countries in the Eurovision Song Contest. So, when planning my trip to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in September 2008, I was delighted to find out that there was a regular “Eurovision night” at a gay bar in Tel Aviv. Evita, a swanky pub located in a hidden alley in one of the fashionable night life areas of the city, hosts a Eurovision themed party every Sunday. As we all know, Sundays in Israel are equivalent to Western Europe's Mondays.
I was not sure what to expect. Was it going to be similar to “Douze Points” (the monthly party at the Retro bar in London)? Would they be showing old Eurovision songs on a small screen, while ad-hoc national teams scored them using the traditional 12-point system? Would it be full of non-slim middle aged men, with greying hair and limp wrists, drinking pints of lager?
Would Dana International do an impromptu appearance?
It was a warm late summer night in Tel Aviv and Evita, an airy spacious venue, was starting to get really busy. One of the walls worked as a video screen where they were projecting the whole 2008 contest. I arrived around midnight (already a noticeable difference with the Retro bar in London, which kicks off at 8pm and lasts only until 11.30 or so). But my first impression was not very promising. As I entered the pub, they were playing “Cry Baby” (UK’s null-point entry in 2003)! ... followed by “Die for You” (Greece’s overrated song from 2001), followed by “Hasta La Vista, Baby” (the awful Belarusian entry from 2008, not the Ukranian one from 2004), followed by.... well... Yahve knows...
I came to the conclusion that they were determined to play the worst ever ESC entries in history... So much so that “Invincible” (Sweden 2006), which was played later, sounded like a masterpiece...!
Besides, in contrast with my experiences at the Retro Bar, the punters were not dancing at all. The largely young, well dressed, men in attendance were too busy sipping their cocktails and looking impeccably handsome.
So I thought: ‘I’m sightseeing tomorrow. I’m tired. I'm leaving any second.’
I had almost finished my drink, when all of a sudden the mood changed. As the DJ played “Qele Qele” (Armenia 2008), a cute young man stood opposite the projection wall and started to lip-synch while holding a mobile phone in front of his mouth as though it was a mic. Around him, two even prettier boys did a choreography that Sirosho would have loved for herself in Eurovision...
Ditto about Selma's “All Out of Luck” (Iceland 1999, which should have won), “Shady Lady” (Ukraine 2008), “My Number One” (Greece 2005), “Secret Combination” (Greece 2008), “This is My Life” (Iceland 2008), “One life” (Belgium 2004, which should have done a lot better), “Hero” (Sweden 2008), etc. etc.
Needless to say, the girl lip-synching to Ani Lorak was lowered by the dancers from a... well, a chair... Later on, she even stole my thick-framed glasses to do her impression of Marija Serifovic’s “Molitva” (Serbia 2007).
The boy miming to “My Number One” was lifted in the air in the "take me higher" bit and used the strap of a girl's t-shirt to emulate the “harp effect” in Elena Paparizou’s choreography, plus three of the dancing boys created a number one on the floor...
But that's nothing compared to the elaborate choreography they did for "Mandoline" (Slovenian National final 2006)!!! Lip-synched to perfection IN SLOVENIAN!!!!!!!!
The miming in Spanish for "Dime" (Spain 2003) was also impeccable, even if I was not so convinced by the choreography (not enough hip-shaking)....
Many real Eurovision entries would kill to have such good choreographies... And some of the boys dancing were so impossibly cute that they should have been arrested....
By the end of “Lasha Dunbai” (Ukraine 2007), I was dehydrated...
I never found out how much of it was improvised and how much of it was planned in advance. But it was so unbelievably fun!
(The gorgeous people who animate the Eurovision Sundays as seen on facebook:
