Analysis: "Moonlight is exactly what Europe needs right now"

A hobby psychologist

might have had something to say about the fact that a shirtless band with shiny trousers and arena-adapted rock won over the toned-down, stationary ballads that had done about as well in zoom format (Switzerland and France) after a looooong corona year.

Moonlight would have been a worthy winner any year.

But a rock number about smoking cigs and that people should shut up is the cockiness and disrespect we want and need when the whole of Europe has sat at home and shut up and tightened up to the best of its ability for over a year.

Despite the fact that Eurovision as usual delivered sleepy break entertainment and its fair share of deeply uncharismatic presenters, there is something incredibly uplifting about this year's edition: Rock is back after 15 years in ESC exile, the jury groups' twelve flew in all sorts of different directions.

It felt unpredictable and more fun than it has done in several years.

With the risk of sounding a bit quirky

: The big winner in this year's Eurovision song contest is, after all, the audience - and not just because they got their winner through before the jury favorite Switzerland.

At the end of April, the organizer, to the surprise of many, the EBU decided to let in an audience equivalent to one-fifth of Ahoy Arena's capacity - 3,500 people.

For many visitors, Eurovision 2021 will be a memory of one of the first major European music events, which despite a small crowd of corona-infected artists showed that it is possible to hope for live music again.

The melody festival made a

brave attempt to keep the mood up without an audience for six weeks, but the end product still felt a bit like a strained aw on video link where someone has to repeat "but this is still pretty nice, right?"

though everyone knows it's not.

Eurovision may be a TV event in the first place, but it is the audience's presence that can lift the competition from a somewhat dated, heavily choreographed concept to something that feels fun and alive.

The right song won.

Cheers to the audience.

Cheers Moonlight.