• Jorn comper

  Local editor in Malmö

High heels on happy hardcore, along with a dancing bird and flashing images on the screen. This is not necessarily what Dutch TV viewers have become accustomed to during the Eurovision Song Contest in recent years. The polished pop song is Klein’s hit song Urubaba Certainly not, while the Netherlands has subscribed to this in recent submissions. By choosing Joost Klein, broadcaster AVROTROS is taking a completely new path tonight.

This year, the energy explodes from the stage, with a performance that can best be described as three minutes of pure joy. But also with an emotional layer, as at the end where Jost Klein addresses his dead father through the camera. There are also references to Klein’s deceased parents at other times, for example on the screens behind the stage.

Klein and his friends, two of whom are also on stage, have tried to keep as much of the performance as secret as possible in recent weeks. Sometimes they leave something out, as when one of the project’s founders, Gover Meit, talked about “a new form of landing on the moon. People won’t believe this is physically possible.”

The speculation ended yesterday when the press and public were invited to see the act in full for the first time.

What is remarkable about this work is that Klein and his team use everything that the huge television studio at Malmö Arena has to offer. The show begins with a camera mounted directly at the top of the room, so the viewer can see that the cross-shaped stage has transformed into Joost Klein’s face. Then he himself is in the photo, waving to the camera with the text “I love you all.”

He makes this communication with viewers and the audience often. He invites the audience several times to join him. At the same time, the viewer sees a mixture of images passing on the large screen behind Klein: from the globe and the sea of ​​fire to the German curry.

In the end, it’s impossible to miss that this performance reaches its climax, when Klein and his friends start chopping. Meanwhile, 90s sound blares through the arena and the crowd starts screaming.

And this is what those high heels looked like yesterday during the dress rehearsal:

Anyone going to watch Ghost Klein in particular will have to be patient, because his turn will only be his sixteenth and final tonight. Then the phone lines open and viewers decide which ten countries they want to see in the final. The results will appear more than half an hour after Klein’s performance.

While it was very interesting last year whether the Netherlands would reach the final, the signs are now much more positive. Since submission UrubabaAt the end of February, the number skyrocketed with bettors predicting which songs were likely to win. Urubaba He started 22nd out of 37, but quickly climbed into the top 10, with third place being the highest ranking. In recent days, the number dropped slightly to sixth place.

Joost Klein’s place in the final seems assured, but that doesn’t mean there’s no competition.

Nemo from Switzerland was also seeded into the semi-finals. the number code It tells about the pictorial journey the artist took to be himself. At the same time, everything happens on stage, with a turntable on which the artist spins in circles.

Then tonight there is the charged performance by singer Eden Golan from Israel. There has been discussion for months about the country’s participation. Today, major protests have been announced in Malmo, likely to attract tens of thousands of people.

As for the music, many Eurovision experts believe the song is Israeli tornado He can count on many sympathetic votes and will likely reach the final easily.