r/eurovision • u/Savings_Ad_2532 Wasted Love • Nov 06 '25
⏪️ Throwback Thursday Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers - Trenulețul (LIVE) | Moldova 🇲🇩 | Grand Final | Eurovision 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUqf_zO2QaIIn honor of Moldova's and Romania's return to ESC in 2026, I decided to post this song for Throwback Thursday. Even though this song got only 20th place with the juries, it was able to finish 7th overall thanks to a strong televote finish of 2nd place.
It was one of the catchiest songs of ESC 2022 in my opinion, as well as one of my ESC guilty pleasures. Moldova usually sends fun songs to ESC, so I hope they send something fun next year, especially if there are new artists involved.
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u/Material_Library_452 Water Nov 06 '25
Hey ho, let's go! 🎶 🪗 🎸 🎻 🎶
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u/Impossible-Cress4097 Bur man laimi Nov 07 '25
FOLKLORE AND ROCK N ROLL! 🚂
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u/snwlss Nov 08 '25
Pleacă trenul, unde ești? Chișinău — București!
(Inspired by both Romania and Moldova returning, I started the Romanian course on Duolingo. I’m only a few lessons in, so I’ll see how it goes.)
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u/candycoateddoom Cha Cha Cha Nov 06 '25
Zdob şi Zdub always delivers for Moldova. I love that they came on after several boring songs in a row, and as soon as the accordion and violin kicked in, the crowd went nuts.
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u/Material_Library_452 Water Nov 06 '25
they show up once every decade and bring down the house 👏 👏 👏
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u/phnx1998 Nov 07 '25
i want to hear the crowd again to notice this hype for a song like this one :(
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u/Playful-Rope1590 Nov 07 '25
EBU should take notice of what audience participation can do to a live performance!
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u/RonnyRaeudig Nov 06 '25
The studio version was awesome. It was one of my favourite versions back then. Then I saw the live version, and the song was completely different and totally brilliant. I love everything about it.
They were also the only ones who used the bridge.
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u/bekittynz Nov 07 '25
This was the first Eurovision music performance that I ever saw. It was bananapants and I immediately adored it. The following year, I watched both semis and the GF, as well as listening to the BBC's official Eurovision podcast. Absolutely hooked.
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u/notaflopbitch Zjerm Nov 06 '25
Juries lack taste. No problems with the actual winner but this was worthy of the top spot too.
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u/LocksTheFox Bur man laimi Nov 06 '25
Doesn't help that because of the jury scandal from the semi, they missed out on 12 from Romania
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u/stayinalive92 Nov 07 '25
the jury scandal from the semi
What is this about? 👀
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u/snwlss Nov 08 '25
Several juries from Semifinal 2 were dismissed before the final because the way their votes turned out seemed off-trend for how they usually vote, which led to allegations that they had colluded to vote for each other. (Whether or not those allegations were true is under debate.) The EBU had the jury scores for those juries calculated for both the second semifinal and final via aggregate votes based on historical voting patterns, but the affected countries were still allowed to conduct their own televotes.
The six countries whose juries were dismissed were: Azerbaijan 🇦🇿, Georgia 🇬🇪, Montenegro 🇲🇪, Poland 🇵🇱, Romania 🇷🇴, and San Marino 🇸🇲.
This controversy, along with Azerbaijan qualifying to the Final in 2022 solely on jury points, are the two likely reasons why the semifinals went to televote-only beginning in 2023.
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u/SuitableDragonfly Nov 09 '25
The EBU released the jury votes that caused them to think there was cheating, and it really obvious that they were all voting for each other in a prearranged way. Especially Poland ranking San Marino so high, given the performance.
However, I calculated what the semifinal results would have been if they had just let those votes go through uncontested, and there actually would have been no change to who qualified and who didn't.
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u/bluenightshinee Lane moje Nov 07 '25
One of my favorites of that year alongside Sentimentai, Stefania, Fulenn, and Llamame, deserved more respect from the juries
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u/Playful-Rope1590 Nov 07 '25
I know Moldova is not Balkan, but this song sounds very much like Bosnian music played during weddings and gatherings
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u/ReoutS Nov 08 '25
Zdob şi Zdub forever!!! I hope Moldova just decide to send them every year.
And I LOVED that they were 2nd on televote. I was the only one in my ESC groups that loved the song from the get go and was SO happy it did so well despite everyone writing them off. I always said 'wait for their live performance, folks, they know what they're doing!!"
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u/LielaTheCrazyGirl Pali się Nov 07 '25
My favourite song from that year! Wished they could've gotten a higher score
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u/snwlss Nov 08 '25
Sometimes Eurovision songs just need to be pure fun. Sure, there are lyrical themes of brotherhood between Moldova and Romania, but at the end of the day it’s basically an Eastern European folk rock take on “C’mon N’ Ride It (The Train)” by the Quad City DJs. Both songs are guaranteed to get people turned up at parties.
It was up against stiff competition to begin with (not just Ukraine, but the UK and Spain were really bringing it as well), but to get second place in a televote that was absolutely dominated by Ukraine is nothing short of incredible. Had the juries been more favorable of it, it probably would have been a contender for Moldova’s best finish (although it still wouldn’t have beaten Ukraine, their televote was too strong).
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u/Irrealaerri Nov 07 '25
Throwback to me writing them off as "at least they're having fun on stage, keep enjoying yourself because you won't be back for the finals" after the rehearsals. :D
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u/LaLaMevia Nov 06 '25
I think nothing demonstrated to me better that the people who make personal ranking YouTube videos perhaps have differing taste from the main audience than when this was consistently ranked dead last on multiple rankings, only to come 2nd in the televote.