DThe good news first: Ikke Hipgold will not represent Germany in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Liverpool. The fictional character from Ballermann, who wanted to save the ESC, as a career changer, or as he put it, as an “undesirable visitor to the NDR”, who had entered the German preliminary round via TikTok, with 52 percent approval, only fell through with the juries and then with the audience. In the end, that still put him in second place. Which – unfortunately – was to be expected.
Self-irony or not: With his “Lied mitgutes Text”, an answer to the controversial song “Layla” by DJ Robin & Schürze, produced by Ikkehihigold’s label Summerfield Records, Matthias Distel, as the singer is actually called, had the party hit-loving schunkel nation Germany on his side. At least almost: It doesn’t matter whether it’s at carnival (“Blotwoosch, Kölsch un elecker Mädche”) or at the folk festival (“The beautiful Layla, the horny Layla / Das Luder Layla, our Layla”), it has to be woke and politically correct when partying really not be.
How good, rather how badly such a song with almost no lyrics (“La La La La – La La La La”) would have done in an international competition could already be guessed on Friday evening in the MMC Studios in Cologne. Because the eight juries from eight ESC nations (Switzerland, the Netherlands, Finland, Spain, Lithuania, Ukraine, Austria and the United Kingdom) saw the fun entry in last place.
Impressive stage show
But the gothic metal rock band Lord of the Lost from St. Pauli won hands down. With 43 points, the musicians around singer Chris Harms were still in fifth place among the jurors. The 146 points from the German audience then catapulted them uncatchable to the first.
They also benefited from their many years of stage experience on this evening. Even those who don’t like their song “Blood & Glitter” because it’s too rocky, too metal or too dark. The staging was almost perfect, from the red paint and leather to the make-up, camera cuts and pyrotechnics.
That pays off, that’s exactly what it’s all about, also on May 13th at the ESC final in Liverpool: You have to be able to deliver a flawless performance that fits down to the smallest detail. After all, you want to win a competition here.
The NDR also seems to have understood this. The evening was very successful overall, apart from the moderator Barbara Schöneberger, who has been enjoying the same lewdness for too many years. The performances of all eight candidates – the band Frida Gold had to cancel at short notice due to illness – were all completely staged for the first time. The idea of putting the German contributions to international scrutiny is also good. The jury’s verdict accounted for 50 percent of the rating.
They can all sing
The ending was just great, when everyone involved sang a four-minute medley of the most beautiful ESC songs: from “Merci Chérie” to “Arcade”, “Satellite” and “Heroes” to “Save Your Kisses For Me”, “Euphoria”, “Dancing Lasha Tumbai” and “Rise Like A Phoenix”. It turned out that they can all sing. But that alone is not enough.