There’s something distinctively folie de gran about Ukraine this year, and somehow they manage to get away with it.
When an artist describes himself as a project, assumes a nonsensical stage name, writes it in CAPS LOCKS and create a whole concept for his career, we naturally expect great things. And MELOVIN from Ukraine does not disappoint. From the first cord strike of Under the Ladder the tone is set and we are being swept away on a three-minute long rollercoaster ride full of loops, twists and turns. It’s fun, engaging and intriguing.
The performance gravitates around MELOVIN and he shamelessly demands everyone’s attention. As being part of his audience we feel obliged to comply, but right about when he sets his scaffolding throne on fire we kinda feel like a spin-drier has given us a good bashing. In other words, it’s a tad too busy and too much. Clearly MELOVIN has a vision he wants to bring to life, but we are left totally clueless of exactly what story he wants to tell. It is drowning in cascades of sound, busy graphics and pyrotechnics.
We expect some of these issues will be ironed out by the competent Ukrainian delegation before MELOVIN takes to the stage for his first rehearsal, and it will probably all come together quite nicely in the end. With a pimp slot in the running order, it will qualify for the Grand Final, and quite obviously because after all, this is Ukraine.
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