First, Telenor Arena it is! Yeah, yeah, the EBU is calling it Fornebu Arena, which is its old name. It’s called Telenor, but because Telenor is not a corporate sponsor of Eurovision Song Contest, the venue can’t bear the Telenor name. It should be a fun venue, as it’s supposed to seat 23,000. That’s about as big as a place I’ve ever seen a concert in (biggest is the now-demolished Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, NC, which held 23,780 for a concert). Obviously, it’s way too early to start hearing a word about tickets. Hopefully the Norwegians will handle it a little better than the Russians. I can’t imagine what it was like to try to get a ticket if you didn’t speak Russian. My main concern with Telenor Arena is that it’s not easily accessible from the city center, being in the suburb of Bærum. The Russians figured something out for running the metro after hours, though, so I have complete confidence that the Norwegians will make it work for the thousands of foreigners who will come for the concert.

Second, the most recent UK contestant, Jade Ewen, winner of Eurovision: Your Country Needs You and fifth-place finisher in this year’s final, has released a new single, which has me saying, “What?” She was supposed to be a West End musical star, and she’s released what sounds to me like the stereotypical American pop song. Take a listen from the BBC via YouTube:

It’s certainly not what I expected from Jade. It sounds nothing like “It’s My Time,” possibly because Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote “It’s My Time” and this one was written by Ina Wroldsen. While I probably won’t be listening to much of Jade’s new material, I do wish her all the best.

EDIT: Fixed YouTube link.