This Friday night Eurovision season really kicks off with a special Eurofest at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. They start the night early with a preview of all this year’s entries and then in the main party they have a live PA from Swedish Eurovision star Nanne Grönvall. Dave Cross spoke to co-promoter John Bennett to find out more.
Hi John, for those who have never been, how would you describe Eurofest at The RVT?
In a word, Euro-tastic. Eurofest is a Eurovision and Europop club night taking place every few months at the legendary RVT. People come along from all over the UK, and abroad, for six hours of Eurovision, Europop and schlager hits and remixes. Many of the songs we play were either in Eurovision, or tried to represent their country at Eurovision. We end up playing quite a few songs from Melodifestivalen, the annual contest in Sweden to choose their song for Eurovision, as its popularity in the UK keeps growing. For those uninitiated, schlager is probably what you might think of as stereotypical European pop – think catchy choruses, key changes, wind machines and billowing hair.
And you have live PAs as well?
We always have a live performance from a Eurovision artist. We fly in performers from every corner of Europe including Bulgaria, Slovenia, Portugal, Iceland and Sweden. We had Conchita Wurst’s first live performance in London, before she had even won Eurovision, fellow Eurovision winner Linda Martin from Ireland plus some of the UK’s participants including the lovely Nicki French.
Can you tell us a bit of the history of Eurofest?
Eurofest has now been running for over six years now – we can’t believe how that time has flown by. We started putting on Eurofest because we felt like there was a gap for a regular Eurovision club night. A club night that wasn’t too cheesy or taking the piss out of the contest, but one that was an opportunity to highlight some of the great songs that take part in Eurovision every year. The chance to do that at the RVT came up, and we haven’t looked back since.
Can you tell us about the DJs?
We have three wonderful DJs who make Eurofest such a great night. Dave Simmons and Don Grant have both been DJing in London’s clubs for more years than they would like to admit. Both had residencies at G-A-Y – Dave for over a decade and Don for an astonishing 18 years! They have both also played at clubs and events across London, and since 2007 Dave was the resident DJ at the London Schlager Party. The DJ trio is completed by John Hagley who keep scouring the European charts for more hits to bring to the Eurofest crowd.
This Friday’s party is a special one because it’s your Eurovision preview, can you tell us what will happen?
Now that all the countries taking part in Eurovision have chosen their songs for this year’s contest, we’re going to see who we think will be victorious in Lisbon on 12 May. We’ll be playing the videos from all this year’s entries, and then in true Eurovision style everyone who attends will be voting for their favourites. So it’s a great chance for people to work out which country (along with the UK of course) that they will be backing to win Eurovision 2018. Although our crowd don’t always get it right – last year Portugal, who went on to win Eurovision, only came 28th out of the 43 songs in our vote.
And you have a special live PA?
Our special guest, flying in from Sweden, is Nanne Grönvall. As part of the group One More Time, Nanne achieved a Top 3 placing for Sweden in Eurovision in 1996 with Den Vilda. She has also taken part in Melodifestivalen a further six times (she came 2nd in 2005, but should have won given the dreadful song Sweden chose instead). Nanne also took part in A Song For Europe in 2001 and tried (unsuccessfully) to represent the UK at Eurovision – which probably would at least have got us 12 points from Sweden that year.
And although this is a Eurovision special, it’s not just Eurovision is it?
As well as all the Eurovision hits, we love to throw in some Europop too. Some of them are from familiar names like Robyn, Infernal, and Cascada. There are so many great songs that are hits on the continent, but never normally make it to the UK, so we try to throw some of those into the mix too. Our DJs are huge fans of Helene Fischer, who is a massive schlager star in Germany. If you haven’t heard of her, check out her song Atemlos durch die Nacht – it was in the German Top 10 for an astonishing 37 weeks, and gets played at every Eurofest!
Tickets are £7 in advance for the preview show, or £8 on the door afterwards. More details at eurofest.org.uk or EurofestUK on Facebook and Twitter.
The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 372 Kennington Lane, Vauxhall, SW4.
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