Ivi Adamou got seriously screwed at Eurovision—and not just by the jury and televoters. The Cypriot beauty—who should have made the Top 10 with “La La Love”—finished a respectable, albeit disappointing, 16th in the grand final. But even more annoying to Wiwi was watching the following footage of her semi-final performance. Her act had the hottest choreography at Eurovision 2012, but much of it was blocked by the obnoxious fan waving his over-sized Russian flag. The constant intrusion of the red, white, and blue makes it hard to fully appreciate the bam, pop, wow of Ivi and her sizzling dancers.
I can’t remember examples from past contests where flag-waving has been so in-your-face and in-the-camera. Perhaps officials should have elevated the stage somewhat higher to prevent the blockage. And maybe it would have been a good idea to confiscate flags over a certain size from fans seated so close to the front.
I feel bad for Cyprus. I feel bad for Ivi. But most of all I feel bad for myself: when I watch the YouTube video years later I want to remember the act in all its glory.
There was no big flag in the final so everything went well. Blame the fans that have seats in front of the stage… another annoying flag was the one of Kosovo where one guy was holding high every time the camera was showing the stage. I remember there were similar problems in 2005 with another Russian flag in front of the stage + the Israeli flag in Athens final (but it wasn’t that annoying).
Fortunately Ivi still made it to the Grand final despite the flag waving Russian.
Maybe I’m getting old. I remember a time when flag waving was just at the end of the performance and everyone sat on their asses during the performance. Eurovision has followed a natural progression and moved into the concert look, but I feel unless the audience was moved further back to allow camera work to happen freely then flag waving in the view of the camera will be inevitable.
Small ones on the very edge of the screen – adds to the performance. But ones blocking the show – they should not be allowed. And the way to do that is place the cameras so people cannot get in the shot.
You’re a FB machine!!! Posting personal updates/thoughts 🙂
Are you enjoying your extra time at DIA 🙂
Are you enjoying your extra time at DIA 🙂
OMG thanks for bringing this up! I was so irked with that oversized flag waving man I couldn’t concentrate on Ivi’s performance. I do hope they review the 2012 contest in preparation for 2013 and mandate some rules about flag waving (at least the ones in front of the stage.)