In the ESC preliminary round, Lord Of The Lost becomes the master of triumph. With good reason and announcement. In order to actually help them to succeed, however, it needs a veritable rebellion from the audience. You could almost have smoked the show just with reed grass.
When singer Chris Harms founded his gothic metal formation Lord Of The Lost almost 15 years ago, he had no idea how dazzling the band name would later appear. After all, he certainly had no idea at the time that he would actually apply with the group for the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) and - because of "lost" - would then also win the associated preliminary decision. Meanwhile, the "Lord" in the name is separated from "Lordi", the hard-rocking ESC winner of 2006, by just one letter. What if that's not an omen?!
As is well known, the ESC has its own laws. Nevertheless, one could safely venture a prophecy at this year's preliminary round: that Lord Of The Lost would be among the very narrowest group of audience favourites. And not just because Germany is a country with a strong affinity for heavy musical fare and many would have preferred to have Rammstein compulsorily signed up for the ESC.
No, that's also due to the perfectly produced song "Blood
In terms of professionalism, Lord Of The Lost can only hold a candle to one person in the preliminary round, especially after Frida Gold canceled her participation at short notice due to illness: Ikke Hipgold, of course. Equipped with a "song with good lyrics" and an enormous fan base, many would have believed him (and some also feared) that he definitely had what it takes to march through to the ESC final on May 13 in Liverpool. Especially since he's really trying hard not to spill his "La La La" performance, but to splurge: golden suit, backing band in Daft-Punk style, flute solo.
But it's not enough for him. The Ballermann faction is then just in the minority. With the members of the "International Jury", half of whom are allowed to have a say in the result of the preliminary decision and who apparently prefer to vacation on the Aida than at Balneario No 6, certainly. They hang their red lantern on Ikke alias Matthias Distel with a total of just 10 points. They still have 43 points and fifth place left for Lord Of The Lost. The lone darling of the jury, on the other hand, is the former "The Voice of Germany" candidate Will Church with his smug song "Hold On", to which she awarded 90 points.
It's true that the preliminary decision is here, but the jury thing is more reminiscent of "Tutti Frutti", where the rule with the country points didn't make sense to anyone either. How and why the juries from Switzerland, the Netherlands, Finland, Spain, Lithuania, Ukraine, Austria and Great Britain are composed at all is not made clear in the show. At the latest, however, some viewers in the Cologne studio, from which the program is broadcast live, have suspicions of evil when Marijke "Mini Playback Show" Amado announces the jury's expertise from the country of "Sha-La-Lie Sha-La- La" starts. What is probably not transported to the living room at home via the television sets can be clearly felt and heard in the hall: the live audience, which had previously applauded hip gold and Lord Of The Lost most violently, makes itself felt during the announcement of the jury -Results displeasure wide. Some even seem about to throw the flag towards the stage, which they enthusiastically waved at the beginning of the show.
Actually, after all the average pop, the shapeless acts and of course the permanent ESC bankruptcies in recent years, the makers of "Our Song for Liverpool" had done everything right this time with the extremely diverse preliminary decision. But now, at the latest, they are threatening to tear down everything they have built up before with their butts. This becomes all too clear at the latest when the points awarded by the viewers on the phone and via online voting are finally announced, which also account for 50 percent of the overall result.
The audience voting turns the vote upside down. The four favorites of the jury - next to Will Church, this is Anica Russo with "Once Upon A Dream", René Miller with "Concrete Heart" and Trong with "Dare To Be Different" - come here almost mirror-inverted to the last four places. Analogous to the mood in the hall, Lord Of The Lost with 146 points and Ikkehiilgold with 101 points were voted 1st and 2nd. Overall, Lord Of The Lost wins with a total of 189 points ahead of Ikke Hipgold and Will Church, who share second place with 111 points each.
All's well that ends well, one would like to say. Fortunately! Because otherwise the outcome of the preliminary round could only have been smoked with Schöneberger, who was presenting in top form, and the reed grass that she stole from Anica Russo's set. Or one would have had to ask Hip Gold to finally strike up a song with drinking.
In the long run, you are definitely not doing yourself any favors by navigating the taste and place of the people who are supposed to watch the ESC at the end and burden them with the honor of the event in the last few meters to rescue. Nothing against Will Church, who undoubtedly has an outstanding voice and whose song is certainly good for the radio loop again. Nevertheless, "Hold On" would have joined the series of similar German contributions in recent years almost seamlessly. The result is known.
But as it is, Germany is finally setting a counterpoint to the eternal monotony. What's more: With the victory of Lord Of The Lost, there is finally another chance to gather the viewers behind a contribution and thus perhaps rekindle the ESC enthusiasm that has long since died down. The Eurovision Song Contest has its own laws. But one thing can already be predicted with almost the same certainty as Lord Of The Lost's role as favorites in the preliminary round: things will go better for Germany in Liverpool than in previous years.
