Chicken Kiev - Part 2
15 May 2005
Sunday lunch time and not a piece of beef in sight!
Well the past few days have gone very well and Kyiv is
still as wonderful as first impressions suggested.
Not that we've seen a huge amount of the city, as the
days are spent flitting between the hall watching
rehearsals, then to press conferences and then on to
the press centre to pick up press packs and all the
freebie CDs!
The official opening of Euroclub (nightclub for all
the delegates) took place the other night. Open air
affair in the central courtyard of a three story bar
and club complex which has been taken over exclusively
for our use. We were met at the entrance by girls in
full Ukranian costumes who linked arms with us and
took us down to the bars and made us down two big
shots of vodka before going off to greet other guests.
Free bar all evening - and a huge firewords display,
while one of Europe's top Club DJs played a set on the
huge stage!
Robin and I staggered back to the hotel sometime after
1am!
Slight issue with the hotel yesterday, as they thought
our booking was only till this Wednesday! Thankfully
a quick phone call to the local branch of the travel
company we booked through sorted that one out -
otherwise we'd be in a tent for the last 4 nights!
Talk about "Carry on Camping"!
And, talking of Camp - WAIT till you get a load of the
Belarussian entry! OH MY GOD!!! THE Campest entry
Eurovision has EVER seen! Imagine a tiara wearing
diva of the highest order, wearing not one, not two -
but THREE layers of OTT gold cloaks, bustles and
trouser suits backed by three backing dancer boys who
have more ruffles and frills in thier Louis XV outfits
than there is Chicken in Kyiv and you get the general
idea. Put them all together in the most outrageously
staged dance routine while she belts out her Gloria
Gaynor-esque 70's gay Disco Anthem and you're there...
And it's just MEGA! In the past two days the odds
for Belarus have dropped from 33/1 to 14/1! Deffo
worth an each way bet I think!
I tipped Hungary and Malta as winners and so far
Hungary are delivering on thier promise (Malta haven't
rehearsed yet as they are directly into the Final).
Of the others in the semi I would say that the
aforementioned Belarus, Iceland, Norway (the ageing
Glam Rockers),Switzerland, Netherlands and Romania are
all safe bets to qualify for the final, whilst I would
venture a guess on Austria (who have the sexiest
contestant this year - check out Sebastian who plays
trombone!), Croatia and Poland taking the remianing
places in the 10 qualifying spaces, based on
rehearsals.
Many people are screaming about how good the Moldovan
rehearsal was yesterday - and that could prove the
surprise of the whole contest. I HATE it with a
complete vengence, but the band, a strange mix of
ethnic folk and punk are accompanied by a 60 year old
Granny in National Costume who sits on her rocking
chair on stage all the way through the performance
before getting up and beating hell out of a drum while
spinning around. The title of the Moldovan entry is
"Granny Beats the Drum". Oh Dear! You have been
warned.
OK, well we've just been approached by some chaps from
Ukranian TV who asked us if we would like a backstage
tour today. That should be interesting!
Tonight the delegation parties begin - with free food
and drink. So we will be hosted by Slovenia, Romania
and (can't wait!) Belarus!!!
Expect more soon!
David in Kyiv x
Sunday lunch time and not a piece of beef in sight!
Well the past few days have gone very well and Kyiv is
still as wonderful as first impressions suggested.
Not that we've seen a huge amount of the city, as the
days are spent flitting between the hall watching
rehearsals, then to press conferences and then on to
the press centre to pick up press packs and all the
freebie CDs!
The official opening of Euroclub (nightclub for all
the delegates) took place the other night. Open air
affair in the central courtyard of a three story bar
and club complex which has been taken over exclusively
for our use. We were met at the entrance by girls in
full Ukranian costumes who linked arms with us and
took us down to the bars and made us down two big
shots of vodka before going off to greet other guests.
Free bar all evening - and a huge firewords display,
while one of Europe's top Club DJs played a set on the
huge stage!
Robin and I staggered back to the hotel sometime after
1am!
Slight issue with the hotel yesterday, as they thought
our booking was only till this Wednesday! Thankfully
a quick phone call to the local branch of the travel
company we booked through sorted that one out -
otherwise we'd be in a tent for the last 4 nights!
Talk about "Carry on Camping"!
And, talking of Camp - WAIT till you get a load of the
Belarussian entry! OH MY GOD!!! THE Campest entry
Eurovision has EVER seen! Imagine a tiara wearing
diva of the highest order, wearing not one, not two -
but THREE layers of OTT gold cloaks, bustles and
trouser suits backed by three backing dancer boys who
have more ruffles and frills in thier Louis XV outfits
than there is Chicken in Kyiv and you get the general
idea. Put them all together in the most outrageously
staged dance routine while she belts out her Gloria
Gaynor-esque 70's gay Disco Anthem and you're there...
And it's just MEGA! In the past two days the odds
for Belarus have dropped from 33/1 to 14/1! Deffo
worth an each way bet I think!
I tipped Hungary and Malta as winners and so far
Hungary are delivering on thier promise (Malta haven't
rehearsed yet as they are directly into the Final).
Of the others in the semi I would say that the
aforementioned Belarus, Iceland, Norway (the ageing
Glam Rockers),Switzerland, Netherlands and Romania are
all safe bets to qualify for the final, whilst I would
venture a guess on Austria (who have the sexiest
contestant this year - check out Sebastian who plays
trombone!), Croatia and Poland taking the remianing
places in the 10 qualifying spaces, based on
rehearsals.
Many people are screaming about how good the Moldovan
rehearsal was yesterday - and that could prove the
surprise of the whole contest. I HATE it with a
complete vengence, but the band, a strange mix of
ethnic folk and punk are accompanied by a 60 year old
Granny in National Costume who sits on her rocking
chair on stage all the way through the performance
before getting up and beating hell out of a drum while
spinning around. The title of the Moldovan entry is
"Granny Beats the Drum". Oh Dear! You have been
warned.
OK, well we've just been approached by some chaps from
Ukranian TV who asked us if we would like a backstage
tour today. That should be interesting!
Tonight the delegation parties begin - with free food
and drink. So we will be hosted by Slovenia, Romania
and (can't wait!) Belarus!!!
Expect more soon!
David in Kyiv x
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