(EMI)

In most of Europe the ’80s never ended

Whether it’s a side-effect of Moneygeddon or the new voting system introduced this year – half jury vote as well as half televote – Eurovision 2010 was a little more sedate than usual. Sedate by Eurovision standards, anyway. There were still balls of flame shooting out of the stage, enough wind machine to start a cyclone and a double-ended burning glass piano (thanks, Romania). But there were also a lot of ballads sung in English that could have come straight out of the Disney Princess Songbook. The pageantry, the exoticness and above all the tackiness is what we watch Eurovision for, and this year there was a little less of that. Still, these three DVDs collecting both semis as well as the grand final show that many participating countries are still dedicated to entering the most mind-blowing Eurotrash imaginable. Turkey’s rock band accompanied by a Daft Punk version of the Stig from Top Gear who stripped with the aid of an angle grinder; Slovenia’s accordion solo versus guitar solo folk-rock battle; Lithuania’s version of OK Go who sang, “Get up and dance to our Eastern European funk!” and then ripped off their trousers to reveal golden hot pants; the German girl who sang like a Mockney Lily Allen – such glorious madness. The one thing missing is the commentary. Without the option to enable the ramblings of Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang (or the sainted Terry Wogan) you have to provide snark and cynicism yourself, which gets pretty tiring around hour five. Still, get some friends who enjoy bad taste together, hit the fast-forward button when the UK and Ireland are on, and you’ll get some fun out of this.

***½

JODY MACGREGOR

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