Dana International and Conchita Wurst duet at Eurovision concert
By Ben Kelly
Eurovision’s Greatest Hits, a concert to celebrate 60 years of the song competition, was screened on BBC last night, and the camp icing on a very camp cake came when Dana International and Conchita Wurst joined forces in a duet. The pair sang ABBA’s Waterloo – the 1974 winner – to close out the show.
Dana International became one of the world’s most high profile transgender people when she won the competition for Israel in 1998 singing Diva. Conchita’s refusal to conform to gender raised eyebrows, and positive discussion, when she won for Austria just last year, singing Rise Like A Phoenix.
Other performers included Finland’s Lordi, Sweden’s Loreen and three time winner for Ireland, Johnny Logan. Riverdance, which was created for the 1994 competition, was also performed.
The show was hosted by Graham Norton and Sweden’s Petra Mede, who joked that if you can name every year the ceremony was hosted in London, “you are a true homesex…sorry, Eurovision fan”. For anyone who needs to brush up, the UK hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960, 1963, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1977, 1982 and 1998. Perhaps there’s a rhyme in there somewhere…
Eurovision’s Greatest Hits is available to view now on iPlayer.