Disc-riding 24-year-old Nemo having made history last year as the first non-binary winner of Eurovision for “The Code,” yesterday the 69th edition of world’s largest, longest, and perhaps most anticipated/beloved music competition came back to the country where it was born and first won the contest (with the lovely old chestnut "Refrain"), in 1956.
Switzerland´s third largest city (pop. around 177,000). It must´ve been the most exciting thing to happen here since, well, possibly ever, what with thousands of hopped-up fans pouring into this laid-back “city of museums” from 90 countries. Pulling a TV audience estimated at around 164 million, as well as attracting a half million visitors not just to the event itself (St. Jakobshalle accommodates just over 12,000 and the overflow crowd at Arena plus football stadium numbering 30,000) but to the weeklong hoopla and roster of events surrounding it, the three-hour extravaganza was full of glitz, glamour, hoopla, and of course a hefty the usual Eurovision silliness.
Read more in my post Swiss Bliss (and a Near Miss!) at Eurovision 2025 in Basel.
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