Translation: Twelve Points to Austria
While I have known about Eurovision for a while, I hadn’t really payed much attention to it until I moved to Chicago. Sure, there were people in Indianapolis who were avid fans, but it is not like you could go to a bar and watch the yearly ritual.
In 2022, in the midst of the COVID pandemic, a semblance of normalcy was returning with the beginning of the widespread availability of the vaccine, and a group of us went to Sidetrack to watch Ukraine’ Kalush Orchestra win. I cannot say I understood the Byzantine way the winner was chosen (probably still don’t), but it was a fun afternoon, even if we had to sit in the room with the unvaccinated because one of our group had just gotten his second vax and was inside the waiting period for full vaccination; what a time to be alive). I would watch at Sidetrack a few more years in a row and then at Atmosphere in Andersonville, and while being in New York during the week leading up to the Grand Finals in 2024, I even watched the Semi Finals at Hardware bar in Hells Kitchen with a devoted crowd of Eurovision fans.
When it came time to start thinking about my 50th birthday on May 17, 2025, which was the date of the actual Grand Finals that year, I really wanted to make it a Eurovision trip, but since Switzerland decided to have it in the relatively small city of Basel, it was not really financially feasible. My birthday was not without Eurovision, though, because a forced my friend’s group that traveled to New Orleans for my birthday to watch it with me at the Bourbon Pub right in the heart of the French Quarter.
With some shifting of my work conference schedule in 2026, traveling to Eurovision became a real possibility, and around February, I had locked in the vacation time and started planning, and after some trial and error, I settled on another grand European adventure that you’ve been reading about in this blog.
We all arrived in Vienna on Tuesday, May 12th, which was the day of the first Semi Finals. We decided to watch at Why Not bar (read about that in the Socializing entry), and it was our first taste of the international nature of Eurovision. Many people, much like ourselves, travel just to soak in the vibes of the competition, either to view it live (there are several options from rehearsals all the way up to the Grand Finals), or they simply just want to hang out with other Eurovision fans.
For us, Thursday was the big day, because we all had standing room tickets for the second Semi Finals at the Wiener Stadthalle, a large arena in Vienna. The first thing that is obvious is that Vienna is very organized. The entire complex was surrounded by fencing, and we were shepherded into the front of the park leading into the arena. The first stop was checking tickets and IDs. We all had a quick panic thinking they might want our passports, but luckily, they allowed other photo identification.
After that, we wait to go through security. While we waited, it started to rain, and the staff started offering branded/sponsored ponchos for anyone who wanted them. Nice touch! They also distributed plastic bins for everyone to empty their pockets to help expedite security.
Other than the rain, it was a pretty painless process, and we were inside the hall. Much like confessions costs on the West End, the cost of food and beverages is not the gouging you typically find in the United States. So, that is another way the Europeans have us beat.
After hitting the restrooms (all gender restrooms, btw), we worked our way into the venue. Since we had arrived closer to start, of course, there were people that have been there since early in the day to get the best general admission spot. This is to say we were not exactly close to the stage, but as will be a common theme inside and outside the venue, it is great to just be there.
One thing that was quickly obvious is that the Eurovision show is not really for the people watching it in the venue. Most of the acts are very much built around the home audience, and I don’t really have an issue with that. It was fascinating to see the behind the scenes preparation and stage load-ins and outs that would normally be masked by televised interstitials.
We were fortunate enough to see several of the top acts at the grand finals, including the eventual winner, Bulgaria’s Dara and her infectious “Bangaranga.”
When it came to Grand Finals, we missed out on some tickets to an event we wanted to go to, and since we couldn’t really decide on a bar to watch, we decided to go to the Eurovision Village to watch the finals unfold. It was very crowded and it rained most of the night, but it was an exciting venue to watch.
My friend, Adrian, had pegged Dara as a favorite week ago, which gave me an inclination that this is the way it was going, but until those scores start flowing in, you really have no idea how the juries and popular vote will go. Everyone really through Australia or Finland had it in the bag, but it came down to Bulgaria and Israel, with Dara winning in a landslide of popular sentiment.
Between the village, the logistics of getting in and out of the venue, and the staging itself, Vienna really put on the best version of I have seen of the event. It will be hard for Bulgaria to compete in that department, but we have tentatively decided to go in May 2027!
