Andrew Lloyd Webber has won backing from an unlikely source in his attempt to turn around the UK's fortunes in the Eurovision song contest. On a fact-finding mission to eastern Europe, the region which has dominated the contest in recent years, the composer met Vladimir Putin - and the Russian Prime Minister promised to pick up the phone to vote for the UK entry in next year's contest. Lord Lloyd Webber said: "At least we have got one vote, from Mr Putin." Despite his power at the Kremlin, Putin's vote will be counted just like that of any other Russian television viewer. In recent years Eurovision has been dogged by accusations of "bloc-voting", which this year led presenter Terry Wogan to threaten walking out on the competition he first hosted 35 years ago. This year's winning Russian entry, Believe by Dima Bilan, received the maximum 12 points from former Soviet states Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine. The country's success means that next year's contest will be staged in Moscow. The UK entry, Andy Abraham's song Even If, only received votes from Ireland and San Marino, placing him joint last with Poland and Germany.
On a fact-finding mission to eastern Europe, the region which has dominated the contest in recent years, the composer met Vladimir Putin - and the Russian Prime Minister promised to pick up the phone to vote for the UK entry in next year's contest.
Lord Lloyd Webber said: "At least we have got one vote, from Mr Putin."
Despite his power at the Kremlin, Putin's vote will be counted just like that of any other Russian television viewer.
In recent years Eurovision has been dogged by accusations of "bloc-voting", which this year led presenter Terry Wogan to threaten walking out on the competition he first hosted 35 years ago.
This year's winning Russian entry, Believe by Dima Bilan, received the maximum 12 points from former Soviet states Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine. The country's success means that next year's contest will be staged in Moscow. The UK entry, Andy Abraham's song Even If, only received votes from Ireland and San Marino, placing him joint last with Poland and Germany.
fully deserved, imo.
if the beatles came out tomorrow, they'd never make onto eurovision (sounds better than euroaudio).
there's a hint there, actually, it's not about music, it's about visual razzmatazz set to noise.
still, while (commercial) brit music sucks something terrible, neuro-vision plumbs new lows all around.
puts the 'low' in low-brow, in fact. or 'lowest common denominator' in schlock.
the awful truth..it's an irony-free zone, enter at your own auditory peril, abandon hope all who enter here, qvatch macht frei.
it makes san remo look good!
pippo baudo for euro cultcha ministar! ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
