Uuden Musiikiin Kilpailu this year was probably the best National Final that I have ever attended. And no, I don’t mean this because of the quality of songs, the quality of production, or the fact that the right song won (I believe one can always say this when a song with more than 50% of the vote took the ticket to Eurovision). No, I’m saying this because the actual event inside of Turku’s Logomo complex was one of the greatest celebrations of music and song competition that I have ever been to.
Here is a list of eight great ideas that I think every National Final organiser should take a look at and see if they can incorporate into their event for next year.
An All-In-One Eurovision Campus
Turku was the venue for UMK 2023 this year, using the Logomo building complex that was just a few hundred metres from the city train station. The building has a main hall in its centre which held an audience of around 1,500 people inside the venue for the live show. However the entire building was a Eurovision hub for the day the show was in town. Here there were events both before and after the show all in the same venue without needing to brave the sub-zero temperatures, all included in the same ticket.
The floor plan for activities inside of Logomo in Turku (Photo: Mika Hokkanen/YLE)
If you came for the start of the pre-party and left at the end of the after party, you would have been on campus for 9 hours. Almost as long as a night of Sanremo…
At least we were only 700 metres from the train station.
Classy Pre-Party Entertainment
For those arriving early to Logomo there was a whole plethora of spaces open to the public to mingle and explore and warm up for the evening. One of these had some live musical entertainment perfect for getting in the mood. Younghearted, the band who took part in UMK the previous year with the track ‘Sun numero’, came and performed an acoustic set to a few hundred fans who had packed out one of the pre-show spaces and there wasn’t a spare seat where you could see them.
Younghearted are the perfect pre-show choice – their music ideal for chatting over a cocktail and being able to catch up with friends while their gentle melodies play in the background. A reminder that Eurovision can actually mean classy new music and doesn’t just have to be wind machines and nostalgia sequins.
A Different Merchandise Stall
I’ve seen plenty of merchandise stalls at many different national finals in my time. However the uniform property that they all have is that you can buy merchandise for the show itself. What I haven’t seen before, but now seems so obvious, is the option to buy merchandise for each of the acts taking part in the live show.
Merchandise available at UMK (Photo: Ben Robertson, ESC Insight)
Strut your stuff by buying a Keira branded t-shirt or Käärijä’s “It’s Crazy, It’s Party” option instead. I would love to see the equivalent at Eurovision where there was a one-stop shop for international fans to pick up records and branded materials from each of the acts, rather than purely items with the Eurovision logo brazen across it.
A Street of Surprises
YleX, the radio station from the public broadcaster for young adults, had the creative licence for a wide corridor to the side of the main hall in Logomo. This space was branded as the YleX and gave the chance for the station to get noticed by visitors, and they had a stall for bodypainting for those fans wanting to get extra colourful for the evening’s show.
However the highlight of this area was the photo opportunities that were scattered around, with most of the items props used in the music videos that are produced for each of the seven competing acts. Again, another chance for a unique way to share your love for your favourite by balancing on Robin Packalen’s sofa. These are creative and inventive ways of providing a photo opportunity that are as much, if not more so, about the acts on stage rather than the show itself.
Looking all super model, yeah (Photo: Ben Robertson, ESC Insight)
Drinks for the occasion
It’s no surprise to see there were numerous bars available at the venue scattered around all the different venues. What was a surprise was that the drinks had a UMK flavour to them.
It was a simple touch, but when you are spending Finnish prices at the bar the very least that can be done is to offer some novelty reason to indulge. Glasses of the Eurovision Prosecco from Turin were available as well as cocktails themed around each of this year’s UMK acts. Yes you could get a piña colada for each hand and, yes, by the time I hit the bar after the press conference, they had sold out of them.
The drinks list at UMK 23 (Photo: Ben Robertson, ESC Insight)
A Press Room Bonus
Pardon me for giving a geeky press note here, but Logomo had a great solution for the circa 30 journalists that were on location in Turku this year. Our press room was a small cinema, meaning all of us had a great view of the press conferences and also the show itself, blasting out across the big screen.
The After Party
All of those with tickets to the show were invited to stay in Logomo for the official after party for UMK, which finished at 0400 in the morning. There were two main spaces at the afterparty, each with DJs playing (mainly) UMK/Eurovision/Melfest tunes and one of the spaces was set up so the UMK acts could go up on stage and perform their songs one more time for the well-inebriated crowd.
It was a friendly atmosphere and the joy of the people attending far more resembled the latter half of ‘Cha Cha Cha’ more than the first. May I also give a shout out here though that there was plenty of space for a quiet drink in a corner for me to geek over results with fellow fans and even grab food, with the kitchen open until 0200.
Next Year?
YLE have already confirmed plans to search for a bigger venue for UMK next year. So much makes sense, the show is now such a hot ticket that it can comfortably take more than the 1,500 who got to see the show live now.
But with that comes the risk that we lose out on the rest of what made attending UMK up there with the greatest Eurovision experiences that I have ever witnessed. Yes I’ve seen fringe events before around the Song Contest and its National Finals, but what hits harder here is how fresh and modern they were, rather than being a pastiche of old memories of what the show used to be.
Should we go to a more conventional arena show next year what are the chances that we can have such a space that is so perfect for its purpose before and after the show? Highly unlikely I fear.
But let’s remember the good times and accept that another year of record UMK viewing figures means that growth is inevitable and a good thing. I hope with this article to highlight some of the ingenious ideas I witnessed not just so YLE keep as much as they can squeeze in for next year but also so other broadcasters can take inspiration. Because here in Finland they have succeeded in creating an event that combines being a celebration of music, entertainment, and music entertainment in one space.