How Conchita Wurst ruled the world at the Eurovision 2015 grand final
I enjoyed Eurovision 2015 immensely, and thought Austria did an incredible job. Particularly with last night’s grand final. The production was beautifully done, the staging gorgeous, the hosts excellent (and quite sexy), and the acts and songs some of the best I’ve seen at any Eurovision. And I’ve seen a lot.
But, let’s face it, last year’s Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst was the real star of the evening. In fact, Conchita ruled the world at the Eurovision 2015 grand final, starting from the minute she stepped out of her apartment right through until after the last credits rolled.
Follow me and I’ll show you how.
Conchita Wurst hits Vienna’s Wiener Linien and heads to the Wiener Stadthalle
First thing on Saturday morning, Conchita Wurst left her apartment and, accompanied by her manager, a couple of team members, and a few big, burly men able to fend off fans who may be a bit too eager, headed to the Wiener Linien (Vienna’s Metro) to travel to the Eurovision venue for grand final day.
Of course, traveling to Eurovision on public transportation was a publicity stunt, and a promo for the Wiener Linien, where Conchita’s voice has been heard giving announcements throughout the Eurovision period, but it was still fun.
Fans came from all over the place, as soon as they realized it was Conchita standing on the station platform and in the train, with so many selfies being taken in a short period of time, it was probably a record. You could also tell, from the looks on the faces of the people in the crowd, just how much Vienna loves her.
Conchita, as always, was gracious, friendly, and lovely, and obviously having a fabulous time with all that attention. But can I just say, “Jesus, girl. You spend even more time on your phone than I do”.
Social media lights up singing Conchita’s praises
As the time neared to the start of Eurovision 2015, social media started to light up with Conchita’s name, and the singing of her praises. By the time she arrived on stage, tweets, Facebook posts and Instagram photos were coming fast and furious.
As the show continued, I watched Conchita’s Twitter account rise from a smidge over 139,000 followers to, by the end of the evening, almost 148,000 followers with more still being added every hour today. The same went for her Facebook page, which had tens of thousands of new likes by the end of the night and, yes, it’s still climbing.
And what was fabulous about all of these tweets was most were raving about her performance at Eurovision 2015, and talking about her being “the best host of the Green Room ever” and, oh by the way, can she do it again next year?
RISE, RISE, RISE LIKE A PHOENIX! #Eurovision CONCHITA FLY! #CONCHITA #THEUNSTOPPABLES pic.twitter.com/kejfvSwuym
— BBC Eurovision (@bbceurovision) May 23, 2015
Conchita Wurst’s singing at Eurovision 2015
Conchita had already won hearts and minds with her singing when, on Tuesday night, she gave a wonderful performance of her Eurovision winning song ‘Rise Like a Phoenix’ at semi final 1. Conchita singing at the Eurovision 2015 final, however, was a far bigger deal as, not only did she first appear rising out of a gigantic circular platform, surrounded by light and singing ‘Building Bridges‘, the event’s anthem (which I thought was fabulous, by the way), she was soon hooked onto two suspended wires and whisked through the air to the main stage. Yes, Flying Conchita was a thing. But not a tacky, cheesy thing. Instead a cool, elegant, amazing one. Watch her below.
This wasn’t Conchita’s only singing performance of the evening, however, she was back after all the countries’ acts had finished singing with a cool mix of ‘You Are Unstoppable‘ and her new single ‘Firestorm‘.
This included two decidely awesome backdrops (the first time she’s ever had these) and backup dancers. And, yes, she even danced. Sort of.
Conchita in the Green Room and Kindness
As for Conchita hosting the Green Room, she was nothing short of sensational. Sweet and kind to every artist and with perfect comedic timing, I loved everything she did in there.
But, she won my heart again (well, she does it every day) when, during one break in the final voting, she was talking to Russia’s Polina Gagarina — a singer who was getting booed by the crowd every time she was given points, and for no other reason than she was Russian and that some in the crowd were rude and ignorant.
Conchita, of course, can’t stand that kind of cruelty and, as soon as she got the chance to sit next to Polina herself, she made it known exactly what she thought.
“I’m sitting here with the outstanding, talented Polina from Russia. You deserve to be in the lead. Give her a round of applause everybody”. And you could tell she was pissed, and her kindness made me cry.
Conchita and her stunning fashion sense
Finally, Conchita ruling the world at the Eurovision 2015 grand final last night would not be complete without a mention of the incredible outfits she wore.
From flying through the air in a beautiful JCHOERL created sparkly violet jumpsuit studded with a myriad of Swarovski crystals, to another spectacular JCHOERL pants outfit in black during her ‘You Are Unstoppable/Firestorm‘ performance (this one had 3,000 hand-sewn crystals that took over one hundred hours to apply), and the most divine teal long-sleeved floor-length gown I’ve ever seen for the Green Room — Conchita rocked every one of them.
So, let’s just finish this by saying Conchita Wurst has been known as the Queen of Europe since she won Eurovision 2014.
With her done-like-a-pro Green Room interviews, her spectacular live performances, her charm, her wit, her intelligence, her elegance, and just her absolute fabulousness at the Eurovision 2015 grand final, Conchita not only proved she is world-class in every way, she also had half of the world falling in love with her. Again.
Amazing job, love. I’m so incredibly proud.
More on the Eurovision 2015 grand final:
Why did Austria’s The Makemakes get zero points at ESC grand final?
Why did Sweden’s Måns Zelmerlöw win Eurovision 2015 with his song ‘Heroes’?