Video: Lenton Eurovision nut Matt Davies is planning a party with a twist
One of the more unconventional ways of celebrating Europe – the Eurovision Song Contest – is gracing our screens again on Saturday night, and Nottingham is getting involved.
House parties are being planned and venues are getting out the flag bunting in a traditional effort to avoid our inevitable ‘nil points’ and just have fun.
The Nonsuch Theatre, Clarendon Street, is hosting a fun-filled night for the greatest European party around.
A spokesman for the venue said: “Beamed live from The Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, we’ll be ready to share in the glitter, the glamour and the inevitable ‘nil points’ in the beauty of our grade 1 listed studio one.
“This year’s contest even brings the additional gamble of a new voting system to wow us and keep us on the edge of our seat.”
The event starts at 6pm with food and drink available throughout.
Elsewhere the Johnson Arms, Lenton, is also planning a themed night with the show live on a big screen in an event dubbed ‘This One’s For Wogan’.
Others are getting ready to celebrate the event at home.
I’d call it a cultural celebration
Matt Davies, from Lenton, is a huge fan of the contest and is set to throw his fourth annual party this Saturday.
He said: “It’s basically just a cool evening to sit and watch all the strange things they get up to and also celebrate all the different cultures we have in such a wonderful continent.”
The 21-year-old’s parties usually involve the guests each picking a country out of a hat beforehand.
They then turn up dressed up in their nation’s traditional dress and it’s national dish for a buffet.
“We’ll put the sing-a-long version on so you can get the lyrics up so there is a bit of karaoke. Once people have had a few drinks there tends to be a bit of dancing and stuff,” Matt added.
“I’d call it a cultural celebration.”
Matt, who is also the music editor for Nottingham Trent University’s official magazine Platform, is tipping Russia to win this year’s competition but thinks the UK does have an outside chance with ‘Joe and Jake’.
He said:”It’s not really my type of music but because of what they are doing they are probably more likely to get votes.
“I think it’s very unlikely that we’ll ever win again but they’ve got a decent shot of coming in the top half I reckon.”
Liven up your ‘nil points party’ with these Eurovision games;
Eurovision bingo
Eurovision is well-known for certain things – odd dress sense, political voting and funny comments from Graham Norton. Free Eurovision bingo cards are available online – print them out and allocate prizes for winners.
Sweepstake
Print out a list of all the countries taking part in the contest, cut them out and fold them. Put all the countries into a big bowl and each guest pays £1 to pick a country.
Whoever they pick, that’s who they’ll be supporting and whoever’s country wins will win all the money collected in the sweepstake.
Karaoke
Red button and caption services allow for the lyrics of most songs to be displayed on screen. If you have a karaoke set or even just a microphone app for a smartphone get everyone singing and award points as a group. The winner could be our entry next year.