It was the most gorgeous day in Michigan, blue skies and nary a cloud to be seen!
We started our Eurovision Party pretty promptly at about 3pm. After solving a few technical difficulties, thanks to an urgent call to Marie, we were quickly entranced into watching our competition. A few of us had seen snippets of the competition, but certainly not all of them. As we watched, we thought “this” is their competition? “They’ve got it in the bag!”
More technical difficulties and we had to shut it down for a bit. It was touch and go for a while and we often went to our phones to keep up.
In between, we swapped stories, shared in laughter, good fun and lots of wine! Finally, it was almost time for our guys to shine and boy, did they ever! As many times as I’ve heard them sing Grande Amore, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it done as exquisitely as it was performed on the final on May 23! I will forever remember the “dimme che” WOW! & POW! of the smoke erupting like Mt. Vesuvius in the background, each time I hear the song from now on! I’ve never heard them sing it better!
They really did pull out all the stops; Ignazio went for the high note at the end and we all clapped and cheered! The crowd was cheering for them long before they finished singing and they were on their feet at the end. Our guys looked so happy and proud, knowing they gave it their all! They’ve really got this, we thought. They were the best, the classiest, and of course, the best looking!
TheIlVoloversMX Facebook; Mary
Our dinner was ready by then, so we munched down our food amongst a lot of tension and nervousness for the guys in the room. Still having some technical difficulties, so a few of us kept their phone on, not wanting to miss a thing.
Then the jury votes started to come in. It took us a bit to figure out what/how they were doing it. Then, we caught on. Italy – 12 points! We cheered and clapped. Russia – 12 points – we booed. Sweden – 12 points, we booed again! What were the juries thinking?? As the votes continued on, we began to realize that our guys, our most precious boys, were likely not going to win.
As the jury voting continued, it was clear that our guys had indeed, lost. When they announced that Sweden had won, we were just so shocked, although glad it wasn’t Russia (even though they did give Italy 12 points!)
At that point, we hadn’t heard who won the televote, so we were pretty bummed! We drowned our sorrows in more wine, some delicious & delectable desserts of cannoli, French silk pie, and various cookies and other treats. We took some more pictures, shared in more laughter, and of course, had more wine!
Even though we had the box of tissues handy, no one cried. I think we were just too much in shock, angry, and blamed it on all the politics.
The party broke up about 10pm or so, and everyone left. I stayed the night at my friend’s house. (No, I was not too drunk – it was planned!)
I kept checking Instagram and saw various photos and the Il Volo account thanking the public for voting and that they were proud to represent Italy, etc.
Before I got ready for bed, I saw that they had also won the Marcel Bezençon Awards – Press Award – Given to the best entry as voted on by the accredited media and press during the event. So, the media and press loved them the most – like there was any doubt? We already knew they were adorably charming!
Thanks to Kelly, shortly before midnight EDT, she sent the note that Italy had won the televoting!
I awoke the next morning to Gianluca’s Instagram of “we won the people’s hearts!” That was so nice, at least they could celebrate that! I responded back on the Instagram and the FaceBook site that “they had won our hearts and stole our souls, long ago, in the United States!”
Although we had planned to make pizza the night before, we didn’t have time, so I made it the next day. Traditional pizza Napoli – with crushed tomatoes as the sauce, some Italian seasonings, and fresh mozzarella balls, sliced, then topped with fresh basil, and drizzled with olive oil, when it came out of the oven. Also added some pepperoni, although not in the traditional recipe….
As I was fighting with the dough, I was so wishing Ignazio were there to help me! Where was he when I needed him the most?! Lol! I was sure I heard him in my ear anyway, with his cute little Sicilian accent saying, “No, no, no….that is not right, I do it this way!” It actually turned out quite tasty. All in all, it was a great time and we had lots of fun!
I said bittersweet in my title and you are probably wondering where I am going with that? Bittersweet, in this reference, is usually defined as something being good, but not feeling the joy you should as something negative is usually associated with it as well. A bit of irony, perhaps? In the case of our ragazzi, it’s almost a literal, rather than figurative translation. Since for them, it was probably a real bitter pill to swallow with their loss of the actual victory at Eurovision. However, how SWEET it is, that they won the televoting! And, isn’t that the most important victory anyway? As Gianluca said, they won the hearts of the people and that is priceless.
Our boys are the epitome of the theme of Eurovision 2015; building bridges not only across Europe, but across nations, oceans, and continents!
God Bless you boys! You may not have won the trophy, but this was God’s plan for you!
♥We know you are winners and always will be, in our hearts!♥
Hope to see you soon!
Jana
p.s. ok, a little more “bittersweetness” here…. we are very sorry you lost, but us fans of Ignazio are SO glad you didn’t have to follow through on your bet with Piero, to shave!