“So much more than a talent show”: The Great Leslie, from Moth Club to Eurovision
December 1st, 2023. It’s a cold afternoon in Hackney. I’m waiting for a reply from a friend about what flavour of vape he wants, and I’ve taken a wrong turn on my way to the Moth Club. East London was always too far from Tooting to make it a regular spot, but it was home to a lot of the best gigs I ever went to when I lived in London. One of them was about to happen tonight as I traipsed through the cold in a bid to see a band that millions of others may also have the pleasure of doing soon.
The change in temperature and atmosphere that night, when you stepped from the Hackney cold into the sweat and heat of a Great Leslie gig, was enough to make the healthiest of humans sick. We’re talking about a change that planes, holiday-goers and foreign climates could only ever dream of. Leaving behind the rain and entering the dancing crowd, filled with sweat, tears and rock ‘n’ roll, was akin to diving into a sauna after laying in an ice bath.
The only people in the room hotter than the two-stepping punters were the four-piece on stage. I’d never heard of The Great Leslie before, but a friend recommended them as a “must-see”, and Friday nights in London were built for dancing, so I headed down. What I saw was more than just a rock band; the quintessential elements were there, sure; there was distortion, drums and killer vocals, but there was an energy which I’ve found isn’t something that can be taught, and that bands can adopt. The gig had a real element of theatre and showmanship, and passion was present for every note being played throughout their set. It certainly left an impression.
Fast forward to just a few days ago, and a quick look at the band’s social media shows they’re in the front running to be Germany’s entry for the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest. It was a strange mix of emotions when I saw the posts; at first, I was happy for them, then I was sure they’d get through because I’ve seen them live and know the thunderous nature of their gigs, but then I stopped and wondered whether they were Eurovision enough. It begs the question, as the famous song contest seems to grow bigger and bigger in popularity every year, what does a Eurovision act actually look like?
“Eurovision is unique because it’s not about fitting a mould but about being truly authentic, which is so important in today’s music industry, where it’s easy to feel pressure and chase trends,” said The Great Leslie themselves in a recent chat about their experience auditioning. They raise a good point: when you look at recent winners of Eurovision, alongside other contestants who haven’t won but have found success that lives on after the competition, there are very few overlaps in the multitude of circles that make up this performative Venn diagram.
”They’re watching because they want to be shocked and entertained. They’re watching because they love music.”
The Great Leslie
“The reach is in the hundreds of millions, and with the platform it gives you, it’s so significant to music globally,” they said. “It’s so much more than a talent show. There’s such an eclectic mix of sounds and performances, and that’s what the audience wants to see. They’re watching because they want to be shocked and entertained. They’re watching because they love music.”
After watching the band’s performances on German TV, I noticed that they haven’t changed from the four-piece I was dancing to in December 2023. If you ever need proof that Eurovision is for any kind of music, ask yourself what other televised music program would champion a mesh of sweaty rockers from Hackney like it does. Because of the over-the-top nature of the show, there is a tendency for people to pigeonhole it as a fun night of entertainment, but it’s much more than that. Arguably, it’s one of the last stops in the mainstream that champions artistic integrity and creativity over anything else.
“It’s definitely an adjustment. The atmosphere is still electrifying, but in a different way,” they noted. “Instead of it being in a hot, sweaty, densely populated music venue, you’re on a massive stage with everyone in the room watching with anticipation, hoping that what you do translates well to the viewers at home. You have a lot more space to move but a lot less room for error, and the vast majority of what we do on that stage is planned out, whereas when we’re playing gigs or festivals, we can be a little more free with what we do, letting the mood dictate where we go.”
I’m taken even further back than December 2023, just down the road and a few months earlier, watching Bambie Thug play The Great Escape First 50 and dominating every inch of the tiny stage they walked on. I had to do a double take in May 2024 when I saw them at Eurovision, proudly brandishing a trans flag, climbing up the leaderboard with their heavy-rock-hyper-pop track ‘Doomsday Blue’ and proclaiming “Love will always triumph hate,” at the end of their set.
Compare the look and sound of Bambie Thug with The Great Leslie, and you’ll see very little overlap, and yet both belong on the Eurovision stage, along with the plethora of other exciting talent that seems to come through every year. Comedic, satanic, sad, happy, stripped back, maximalist, all of it is covered, and all of it is represented on this shared stage. It’s the only place in the world where a solo acoustic act has just as much chance of winning over the hearts of millions as a twelve-piece Von Trapp-style supergroup with extreme production and pyro.
It’s time that Eurovision stops being looked at as a fun night of entertainment (not completely; it should always be viewed as a fun night of entertainment, obviously), but it should also get credit for being one of the only major platforms that continues to champion no specific sound or style and instead is just looking for something original and exceptional. In an age of trends, fads and virality, in its own peculiar way, it remains an objective assessment of every angle of culture in one collective melee.
This year, it may be time that this four-piece, who were only recently playing The Moth Club, are recognised as that original and extraordinary anomaly.
“The application was fairly straightforward, Freddie [Brändlin – Lead guitar] sent in a video and a link to our music and socials. We received the invitation to the casting quite quickly and were flown to Cologne to audition last December,” recalled the band. “Once we were in, it was a whirlwind of rehearsals, media interviews, and getting everything performance-ready. Every step of the way, it became more real, and now we’re in the final, so it’s been an intense but amazing experience!”
