The 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest was held on May 10, 12 and 14, 2022 in Turin, Italy, after the victory of this country in 2021 in the Netherlands with the song "Zitti e Buoni" performed by the Italian rock band Måneskin. The event took place at the 13,300-seat Pala Alpitour also known as PalaOlimpico. Ukraine was the winner with the song Stefania performed by Kalush Orchestra. Ukraine had already won the contest in 2004 and 2016

A total 40 countries participated in an edition to which Armenia and Montenegro returned and from which Russia was banned by the EBU for having invaded Ukraine. Putin’s still LOL, can you hear him?

The shadow of the war in Ukraine inevitably hovered over the event weeks before the appointment in Turin and bookmakers predicted massive public support for the Ukrainian song for reasons that had nothing to do with music, although we all should well know by now that Eurovision is to music what Las Vegas is to architecture.

One can imagine that Vladimir Putin woke up on the morning of May 15 very worried after having discovered the most destructive weapon in Europe ever: The official Eurovision app!! With this revolutionary tool in our hands, we can give Ukraine 12 points in a television contest while we pay Russia hundreds of thousands of euros every day for gas and oil. Gas and oil we use, mind you, to produce (among many other things) the electricity we need to charge the battery of the smartphone from which we vote for Ukraine, to bake the pizza we eat while we vote for Ukraine, and to keep our gentrified, childish and idiotic way of life intact while we vote (for Ukraine, of course) from the sofa.

The blue and yellow tsunami that gave Ukraine more votes from the audience than any country had ever received before, practically turned into a mere anecdote what would otherwise have been the big surprise of the evening: the return of the United Kingdom and Spain to the top three after decades.

Just one year after becoming the first country to receive no votes from the audience or the jury, Sam Ryder landed his spaceship in Turin bringing a ballad of fresh powerful British pop and gave a brilliant performance. He was on the verge of a triumph that would have made happy all of us who naively hoped geopolitics would not steal the festival from us. It was the UK's best result since 1998 when they also finished second, something the UK is definitely used to: They have already finished in this position no less than sixteen times! Including this year. No other country is even closer to steal this record from them.

Spain had not been on the Eurovision podium for twenty-seven years after Anabel Conde's second place in 1995. The perfect and carefully crafted choreography of the Cuban-Spanish singer and dancer Chanel worked like clockwork. Her "booty-hypnotic" turned on the euro-fans present in Turin and dazzled both the jury and the audience all over Europe. For one night we all forgot that the girl claims in the song she doesn't have money problems because she drives all the suggar daddies crazy. This was not really the time to get picky about the lyrics. After so many years down there in hell, Chanel took Spanish fans to heaven, and for a few hours we allowed ourselves to dream. Well done Chanel and thank you!

Nobody knew where the contest would be held in 2023, we all wanted Ukraine would be safe again to host it but, unfortunately, and because of the war, that was not possible. Finally, the BBC and the EBU agreeded to hold it in Lverpool on behalf of the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine. See you on the banks of the Mersey!