ESC preliminary round started: Stefan Raab sets first place as the goal

RND - Editorial Network Germany ESC preliminary round started: Stefan Raab sets first place as the goal 14 hours • 3 minutes reading time A young woman with a "mellow" voice, the son of a comedian legend and a band from the medieval market: Stefan Raab has begun his mission to save German honor at the Eurovision Song Contest. The first 12 of a total of 24 candidates in the German preliminary round competed in the live show "Chefsache ESC 2025" on Friday evening. The "Raabinator" and his jury let seven of them advance to the next round. The most exotic performance was by the Nuremberg medieval rockers from the band Feuerschwanz. Visually they looked like iron, sweat, battle and soot - musically they offered a cover version of the lightweight summer hit "Dragostea din tei". It was a spectacle that was bizarre in parts. Party atmosphere like at a medieval market The audience cheered and Raab searched for words to classify the performance into the usual categories. "I was hit by a variety of emotions here," he explained. He said the band had great courage "to choose such a crap song." Feuerschwanz, whose band name would probably be a challenge for international commentators, made it through to the next round. The band had once started their career at medieval markets. A second ticket for the semi-final went to singer-songwriter and pianist Jonathan Henrich, who already has family connections to the ESC. According to eurovision.de, he is the son of comedy star Olli Dittrich, who competed for Germany with the band Texas Lightning in 2006 (14th place). "The way you tinkle around there is something to it," said Raab after Henrich had performed the song "Golden Hour" by Jvke on a grand piano. Chinese star pianist Lang Lang could "brace himself," said Raab. Another analysis by the 58-year-old: "I can very well imagine that young women in particular find what you do really cool." One singer gets particularly good ratings The Düsseldorf singer JULIKA, who stood barefoot on stage in the great ESC tradition and who Raab said had a delicate "mellow" voice, was also rated very well and waved through. The matter was also clear for the Cologne musician Cage: During her performance, singer Max Mutzke, who was a guest on the jury, stood up and danced. "By far the best thing I've heard so far," he said. She definitely made it through. The Munich band COSBY, the sibling duo Abor & Tynna from Vienna and the singer Benjamin Braatz from the "music metropolis of Hagen" (Braatz about his hometown) also received tickets for the next round in just over a week. The German preliminary round is divided into four shows this year. In the preliminary rounds (RTL), only the jury decides who advances. The core of the panel consists of Raab, presenter Elton and singer Yvonne Catterfeld. In the final (ARD) on March 1, the audience will have the choice. Raab is supposed to bring salvation The main goal of the procedure is to find someone who can sing for victory at the ESC in Basel on May 17. In recent years, the competition has been quite disastrous for Germany. Since 2015, there has been a lot of last or second-to-last places. The only outlier: in 2018, Michael Schulte came in fourth place. In 2024, singer Isaak at least achieved twelfth place. Under the impression of the poor results, Raab was integrated back into the selection process. He is considered an ESC specialist. ARD is cooperating with RTL, the presenter's new home broadcaster, who was on a long break from the screen from 2015 to September 2024. The "master" does not want to come second Raab must now prove that he is rightly surrounded by the aura of the ESC savior. The preliminary decision is tailored entirely to him and is another monument to him. At the beginning, television viewers saw scenes from the brilliant ESC history of "King Lustig" - from his composition "Guildo hat euch lieb" for Guildo Horn (1998) to his own ESC participation with "Wadde hadde dudde da?" (2000) to Lena Meyer-Landrut's victory under his aegis in 2010. The graininess of the TV recordings also made it clear: This was all a while ago. Raab is clearly taking the matter seriously. He sat on the jury chair wearing a suit and tie - a visual sign that the Champions League was at stake. Presenter Barbara Schöneberger called him "the master" and "boss". Raab himself made no great effort to dampen expectations. "The goal can only ever be first place, otherwise we don't need to take part," he said.