Unless you follow me on twitter you haven’t been bombarded with my little obsession this year yet, but now the semis are over and done with and I have a few minutes spare I wanted to explain myself. If you’ve never heard of Eurovision, you might want to go here first and maybe here to get the basics down, otherwise the rest of this post might be very confusing.

Firstly, what’s not to love? One night out of the year (well three if you choose to watch the semis too) you can watch a show that truly makes you say ‘WTF’ on a regular basis. If you’ve never watched, or never wanted to, let me convince you to stay in tonight with a tasty beverage of your choice and watch this little sparkly ray of escapism and noise music, come on, join me.

The Spectacle – It’s not often that there are worldwide televised events that aren’t sport. I haven’t got anything against sport, I love the Olympics, Wimbledon and the Boat race, but, even when the performers on stage are professionals, Eurovision is something really more akin to a school talent show, bullies and popular kids included.

The Costumes – You just don’t know what you’ll see next. Eurovision loves a good old dress up, from traditional national costumes (if you’re lucky enough to have one) to futuristic fantasy, anyone really can wear anything at Eurovision. Or nothing, this year look out for the hologram of a naked man singing to a wolf.

The Europop – There is a very specific kind of music at Eurovision, something that usually only appears in the UK via Eurovision. It seems that Europop has difficulties crossing the channel, especially in more recent years, with the obvious exception of ABBA that is.

Political Voting – Some results are so predictable its laughable. Basically everyone gets the biggest points from their closest neighbours. This works for the Nordics, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union countries, watch out for Greece and Cyprus too. Fairs fair, Britain generally gets a pretty good score from Ireland, but that can’t even be relied on, sometimes being an Island nation can be a bad thing.

The Commentary – I know I’m completely biased on this one but I had to watch the German commentary one year, and I was the only one who managed to stay awake until the end. The golden age of Terry Wogan was when we all got schooled in a sardonic wit that sticks with you, gentle sarcasm is one of the pillars of British humour and Eurovision continues this tradition, Scott Mills, Mel Gedroijc at the semis and Graham Norton in the final. It’s hardly worth watching without them. If you want to stream free online try filmon.com.

The Surprises – The show is broadcast live, the acts sing live, crazy costumes, props, dance routines and a massive stage full of strobe lights, wind machines and fireworks. That’s before you get to the audience of die hard fans and the free bar in the green room. The health and safety checklist alone for the event must be incredible, anything could happen, and that is a rare sight.

I’ll be watching tonight because of all of the above, will you?