WORTH A LOOK?: ****
OUT: now
Saturday was a kalla natt for Jessica Andersson who was eliminated from Heat 1 of Melodifestivalen with the anthemic Horizon but the good news is the performance is available to watch (read article below) and the single for download.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
OUT: now
Sweden may have beaten Norway at the last Eurovision – John Lundvik 5th to KEiiNO’s 6th in 2019 – but the quality of Norwegian’s selection show Melodi Grand Prix means it’s hot on the heels of greatest show on earth Melodifestivalen.
WHEN?: Saturday 6 February 2021
WHERE?: Annexet, Stockholm
Last year’s winners The Mamas were the 1st of 28 Melodifestivalen entries in what was a topsy-turvy year that was the 1st since 1956 without a Eurovision Song Contest.
Spraggan won our gig of the year monsta in 2020 and we said then: ‘Her warmth and empathy really shine bright in the guitar-based, folk-influenced material that she writes and performs.’ Her 6th album Choices is released 26/2/21 and includes Sober, a song of the month for us in November. Tickets were on sale for an April tour which has now been cancelled because of Covid-19 but you can watch that gig of the year. Details
WHEN?: Available from 28/1/21
WHERE? BBC iPlayer
For those wondering why RuPaul’s Drag Race has been garlanded with quite so many awards – 19 (count ’em!) Emmys at the time of writing – need look no further than the groundbreaking sensitivity shown here while tackling a new subject.
WHEN?: Saturday 27 February 2020
WHERE?: Annexet, Stockholm
Tess Merkel (3rd from left above) is the 4th member of supergroup Alcazar to compete in Melodifestivalen individually with Magnus Carlsson (2nd from left above performing Alcastar) making the final in 2006 and 2015 and Lina Hedlund doing so in 2019.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
OUT: now
Lithuania have never finished better than 6th at Eurovision but are 1 of the joint favourites this year after this fine song dropped recently.
Condragulations dear viewer – the combination of a musical theatre challenge and a ‘Ru-sical’ inspired by Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Cats left us feline purr-fect.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE?: Online via Leave A Light On
WHEN?: 22/1/21
SETLIST: What Baking Can Do; Rainbow; How Far I’ll Go; Someone Like You (duet with Ella Stammers); Landslide; I Can Do Better Than That; When She Loved Me; Marvin; Only Us (duet with Sam Tutty); She Used To Be Mine
Jones was performing in Waitress in her 1st West End leading lady role when Covid-19 closed theatres and so she turned to teaching.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
OUT: now
The selection competitions for 2021’s Eurovision Song Contest are starting all over Europe and this synth gem from Finland’s Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) is our pick of this week.
