Bjarki Guðnason and Sigurður Sólmundarson are among many Icelanders who are currently in the city of Liverpool in Britain to attend the Eurovision Song Contest.
Many people go to Eurovision every year, like many members of FÁSES (Association of Enthusiasts of the European Television Song Contest), others attend for the first time.
And this applies to Bjarka, who is now able to fulfill his 20-year dream of going to Eurovision. Last year, the duo traveled to Turin, Italy, but were cheated out of tickets to the competition a day before it was supposed to take place.
“There was no choice but to come back after last year’s fiasco, so we are lucky to have a hawk in the corner of RÚV, Rúnar Frey, who promised us tickets for the main competition. He has now done much better than that, because he invited us to previous qualifiers and it was a crazy experience,” Sigurður said in an interview with DV.
Sigurður and Bjarki on the first night of the semi-finals
Bjarki is 26 years old and suffers from autism and intellectual disability. Sigurður is his relative who has supported him for four years. Last year they went to Italy, but Bjarka has dreamed of seeing the competition since he was five years old. Bjarka’s mother bought two tickets through the Viagogo website and they were supposed to arrive at their hotel the day before the race. Instead, they received an email stating that they would not receive the tickets due to uncontrollable circumstances. Tickets cost around 350,000 ISK. were reimbursed, but the members were hopefully very disappointed not to have entered the contest last year.
Not happy with homelessness in Beatle City
But the situation is different this year and the dream is coming true. The members have already gone to the first semi-final night and the second semi-final night is coming, then the last night on Saturday. According to Sigurður, Bjarki and Sigurður will watch the competition tonight at a bar or go to the Eurovision Village.
When asked how they like Beat City, Sigurður replies:
“I’ve been to Liverpool many times, but Bjarki is coming for the first time and he’s very happy that people are friendly and good here in the city, but he’s not so happy that a lot of people are homeless here, especially not people with dogs.
The city is dominated by Eurovision and a great atmosphere. Bjarki had only two wishes left on what to do here, that was to buy a leather jacket and go to a gothic store, and both are done. Today we will soak up the atmosphere of the Eurovision Village and prepare for tonight’s competition.”
Accept that Iceland is moving forward
They both agree that Iceland will qualify tonight, but not who will win this year’s competition. “Bjarki predicts Finland will win and I predict Sweden.”
You can follow Bjarka’s Eurovision dream on Facebook page and Sigurður’s Instagram page.
The members met Daða Frey in Liverpool Photo: Submitted
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