Framlingham-raised Ollie Trevers reflects on competing in Germany's Eurovision selection final
A Suffolk musician who missed out on representing Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) said he was thankful for the opportunity.
Ollie Trevers and his band, The Great Leslie, spent a month preparing to win the top spot at the Chefsache ESC 2025 competition and made it to the final five last weekend.
The winner would have been chosen to perform as Germany’s entry at this year’s Eurovision, which will be held in Basel, Switzerland, in May.
The 30-year-old from Framlingham said that despite the band not winning the public vote, the overall experience was incredible and he was proud of their effort.
“It was amazing,” said Ollie. “Apart from the opportunity to perform, everyone there was really lovely and it was nice to be in an environment where people care about you and want you to do well.
“For the whole month of February, it was a lot of rehearsing, interviews, photoshoots and then the lives shows.
“It was great fun and probably the best time of our lives.”
Ollie said competing at one of the world’s biggest music festivals was something he had always wanted to do, and after submitting an application late last year, he never imagined his band would be picked.
The Great Leslie were initially among 24 acts selected to audition for Germany's Eurovision selection competition, chosen from a pool of about 3,000 entrants.
Their rendition of Coldplay’s Fix You secured them a place in the semi-finals, where they performed their original song These Days to earn a spot in the final, which was broadcast on German TV channel RTL.
However, at the final last Saturday, they ultimately lost to Abor & Tynna, whose song Baller secured 34.9 per cent of the votes at the event in Hürth.
The band, which is made up of British, Norwegian and German musicians, was able to enter the competition because their guitarist, Freddie, is German.
Ollie said: “We were nervous when we came to do the first show as we’d never done anything like that before.
“However, in the end, we thought that out of 3,000 entrants, we made it this far, so we’ve already won. We decided to just go out and have fun."
“It was never about the competition for us, but doing the best we possibly could and giving the best performance we could, which I think we did.”
The band was originally formed just before the first lockdown as part of Ollie’s solo project for his master’s degree in London.
The band’s drummer, Ryan, helped Ollie with the project, and later, they made the band official.
When asked if they would consider entering the Eurovision competition again, Ollie said: “Maybe in the future.”
For now, he said the band is focused on creating more music and touring Germany.
