Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Douwe Bob has released a follow up for his fortunate Eurovision entry off the Fool Bar album, How lucky we are . And indeed, we are lucky there's Douwe doing these laid back pop country tracks that give such good vibes....  Sadly I can't say the same about the video (or maybe I just miss the humour in it?) but I can slow down, keep listening the song and not watch the video..... 

The Common Linnets are enjoying Eurovision song contest 2016 in Stockholm. They also performed in Douwe Bob's bar. Let's see if Douwe matches their placement come Saturday night.... Have fun!

The Dutch runner ups in Copenhagen 2014 joined Douwe Bob in his bar last night and needess to say it's was yet another fantastic and crowded night at Douwe's place, the place to be to slow down..... the right place for some calm after the storm.... Calm after the storm sing-a-long :-)

Douwe Bob wants you to slow down in his bar. Go and join him!

Big opening party tonight in Stockholm when Douwe Bob hosting the opening of his home away from home, a bar in Stockholm! Many other artists have been spotted, among them Spain's Barei and Finland's Sandhja along with Krista Siegfrids. They also had a live connection to YLE's live review show with Jaana Pelkonen and Cristal Snow among others. When Krista asked him to sell himself to the Finnish viewers in 1o seconds he said: "I'd rather use that for slowing down...." Zoe, Sergey Lazarev, Amir..... and Rykka, Serhat, Juri Pootsmaa, Francesca Michielin... the place to be tonight!   Say yay yay yay? Belle histoire? Hey Zoe, we dueted together, how about you? Looks like Douwe and Sandhja are having fun..... singing it away? Or slowing it down?

Douwe is dressed up for the occasion and not walking to the stage as we have seen him in the recent days enjoying the sun by the lake/sea. Instead he wears his smart suit, first sitting on a stool with his guitar after the initial tic toc intro fades away with a warm golden color behind him. Then he moves to center stage and it becomes a full band performance. In the instrumental part he runs to the catwalk and a moment od silence, or should I say slow down happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with life audience, silence or thunderous applause or what. Certainly he craps everyone's attention. He plays the camera well and this is so going to the final despite my initial thoughts, and will even do well there.  Excellent vocals throughout. Today he also releases his new album and open his bar in Stockholm over the weekend. Life's good for Douwe.

While others are busy rehearsing the Netherlands' own Douwe Bob is taking it easy just as his song suggests. And taking the Swedish sun for all it's worth when not taking new tattoos. Luckily we have the same weather in Finland: last week with the winter coat and snowing, this week in t-shirt and +25. Life's good!

A clock. A huge clock for Slow down . Purprle and gold as the backdrop colors, Douwe in smart suit with his band, playing his guitar. Vintage chick as someone wrote. The Netherlands have done great with their staging in the recent years, or a total disaster like last year. This year seems to be back on the right track.  Slow down and focus on the things that really matter is the motto and it's working. It's relaxing and he seems comfortable, taking use of the catwalk during the song,too.  In Meet & Greet Douwe tells beautiful things about Sweden and he seems to like all of it; beautiful people and great public transport. Even a windmill near Globen, what could he ask for more? He also reveals he had the song ready when he was asked to represent the Netherlands, but later he wrote this one and they decided to go with it. He's not a big Eurovision fan either, he saw it for the first time in 2009. His family didn't have a TV so he didn't have the family trad...

It's May! Everyone is heading for Stockholm from fans to bloggers to delegations and artists. This morning the Netherland's very own Douwe Bob also said goodbye to his fans and some KLM crew members at the Schiphol airport.... and he sung accapella for them. And he's got a trick to warm up his voice: blowing bubbles into a bottle. Or maybe he just likes to blow?  Check out more photos by Robert after the jump.....

The Dutch entry is called Slow down . It was presented today online in a live Periscope affair as well as live stream on NOS. I have no idea how it is as both crashed minutes after the start.  But here it is now: So the Netherlands continues with the countrypop. Nice.