The royal house and Prime Minister Rutte congratulate. Above all, fans and supporters are happy about the ESC victory of Dutchman Duncan Laurence. He brings the song competition in 2020 in their country.
When the last points were forgiven, broke all dams in the Rock Academy in Tilburg. Hundreds of students and lecturers had been chatting with their former fellow student Duncan Laurence for nearly four hours, keeping their fingers crossed. „I am so incredibly happy, I heartily begrudge him, he has so much talent, and he is a wonderful person,“ says one. „With so much devotion he could not lose at all,“ another.
With spontaneous street parties and motorcade, the Dutch celebrated the first ESC success in 44 years. But it was not the many predicted start-finish victory. After the jury’s verdict, the 25-year-old Dutchman initially only came in third. So Duncan’s friends in Tilburg had to shiver until late at night.
Victory scarcer than initially expected
„In between, I thought, well, maybe it just will not work, I was surprised about the jury notes and thought, what’s going on there, but it went well,“ one of them says. Duncan also sweated during the scoring. The pressure was enormous, said the singer-songwriter from Hellevoetsluis. He felt that very well during the voting.
„When I scored, I thought: Oh no, where does that lead? What’s up?“ Says Duncan. „But actually, the thought has always prevailed: you know what – it’s all about the music, and I thought so, too, with the trophy in my hands: Music first!“
Congratulate royal house and prime minister
Even at night, the winner reached countless congratulations. Premier Mark Rutte congratulated by phone and the Dutch royal couple via Twitter. Next year, the Eurovision Song Contest will be held in the Netherlands.
In addition to the big cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Maastricht also sees great opportunities to organize the spectacle. 30,000 spectators fit in the convention center of the border town. This would be the event for ESC fans from North Rhine-Westphalia right on the doorstep.
