Terminal 3.... The Eurovision Blog

Well as we already know Albania have chosen their song for Moscow 2009, but over the next 3 and a bit months it really kicks in before the final song is chosen on Saturday 14th March. The next song to be made public is Turkey on New Years Eve when Hadise will perform her song live on a specially produced programme on TRT. With Greece and The Netherlands having also announced their singers and both Malta and Bulgaria with heats currently ongoing and the Belarus Eurofest Semi Final on December 15th,The United Kingdom officially become the 8th country to start their televised productions with Finland starting the week after and then Iceland, with Bosnia announcing their singer and song on 12 January. Towards the end of January we have the first of the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix heats, then comes the Romanian Heats and Andorran Final before Romania, Cyprus,Denmark and Finland hold their National Finals.So that would appear to be January sorted with at least another 5 performers and songs...

The first song for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest has been chosen and the pleasure of announcing first goes to Albania. The song is called "Me Merr ne Enderr" and is sung by Kejsi Tola and will be the sixth Albanian Eurovision Song Contest Entry. Personally I think form seeing the live performance that the performance needs some work and her voice is not the strongest I have heard, but she comes across as enthusiastic and with the extra work could give a good performance in Moscow. The song is very ethno-dance and following the success of some of the dance acts in Belgrade could go down well with the fans. But we will see.

Well after a night out with some friends recapping on old Eurovisions, well 1985 to be honest we decided to watch the videos for the Finnish entrants in the Finnish National Finals for Eurovision 2009 and we decided unanimously that Waldo's People have got our vote. The song I think is perfect for a more modern Eurovision and following the songs from Macedonia, Iceland and Bulgaria in 2008 then I think Finland could stand a good chance with this as their entry.

Spain opens it's internet voting for it's 2009 entry at midday tomorrow (19th December) CET via myspace. 978 entries were received, but of that figure, amazingly only 455 entries were eligable! So I suppose the task to find your favourite is less daunting now. You can vote 20 times each day, but you can only vote for one artist 5 times a day. So let's get voting! Would be nice to get a warm country for 2010!

Well, it looks like the Eurovision does operate in the real world! Even though San Marino , Lithuania and Latvia had stated their intentions to participate in the 2009 contest, it looks like the credit crunch has finally started biting at the door of Eurovision . Earlier rumours surrounding the Russia-Georgia situation had given rise to doubts over Latvia and Lithuania's participation anyway, but this week's news stories make great pains to state that it is all about the lack of funds. It seems that San Marino have confirmed their withdrawal and it seems to have been accepted. There's no further news from Lithuania, but Latvia confirmed that they had made a request for a withdrawal. However, some news sites seem to think that the EBU may look towards helping out the Latvian broadcaster with a payment plan or similar. Even though I always look forward to hearing the Latvian and Lithuanian entries each year, I hope that the EBU keep it nice and simple. Not enough mone...

T he big rumours coming out of Ireland at the moment is that there has been a high level RTE approach to their most successful Eurovision artist - Johnny Logan. Having won as an artist in 1980 with "What's another year?" and in 1987 with "Hold me know", Logan then penned the 1992 winner "Why me?" sung by Linda Martin. Despite dominating the contests in the 90's, Ireland have fallen on stony ground lately and sunk to their lowest last year by being represented by a Turkey puppet! Their last good result being in 2006, when the well-known Brian Kennedy gained a top 10 finish with "Every song is a cry for love." I hope Johnny does accept the invitation as I think it would be good to see how far Eurovision has changed since his wins. We have had a number of past female winners trying to get another win, but no past male winner. So far, those females have attracted some votes, but haven't been able to replicate the win. It would be good ...

Good news arrives from Spain! Even though they weren't that succesful in the voting in Belgrade, the bosses in Spain are yet again looking towards the internet community to help choose their entry for Moscow. Yet again, people will be able to vote for their favourite song at www.myspace.com/eurovision2009 . The voting will start on 19th December and run until 19th January. A day later, 50 acts will be announced as having reached the semi-finals, which will take place sometime in February. Congratulations to Spain on yet another good choice!

So Terry Wogan has finally retired having damaged the reputation of the Eurovision Song Contest in the UK for far too many years. So, considering that the UK seem to be trying to take the pre -selection a bit more seriously by having Lord Andrew Lloyd- Webber help, who do they decide to take over? GRAHAM NORTON!! WHY?! For one, Graham Norton has no experience at commentating. Two, I doubt Graham Norton has any experience of being serious! So we'll be subjected to more poor jokes, tasteless innuendos as the BBC moves the commentating more away from the music. How can Terry Wogan complain about the contest moving away from being a Music contest, when the BBC has failed to treat it as such for so long! So here's to many more years of Eurovision being a total joke in the UK!

Monaco are back!!! After all the talk that that the National TV station of Monaco had said no to attending the 54th Contest in Moscow, it would seem that they have backtracked slightly and have now announced that they will in fact be there. However, this would appear not to be the biggest news of Countries attempting to win the Eurovision Crown in Moscow. According to rumours on other websites another country is either coming back or we have a newcomer. I wonder who it will be? There are several countries who would be classed as newcomers to the contest even though they have been members of EBU for donkeys years - Algeria, Libya, Tunisia (remember the 70's when they said they would be going but changed their minds?), Egypt, Vatican State (can't really see this, but you never know), Kazakhstan, Lebanon (now their banishment has been lifted) or could it be Liechtenstein (with their own TV company now) or even Kosovo (but what would Serbia do?) Now lets look at previous competit...

It would look like 39 countries have said yes to sending entries to the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. At the moment we know for definate that Georgia will not be appearing in Moscow as well as Luxembourg, Italy, Monaco and Austria. At the moment Hungary, Armenia, Montenegro and San Marino have not made a formal announcement. What we do know is that RAi have endorsed San Marino's entering again. Hungarian TV will be making a formal announcement this week. I can't see Armenia not being there seeing as they were apparently one of the biggest opponents of pure televoting and I have been told that they thought they were robbed of winning in Belgrade because of this. Montenegro are alway quite late in making a final decision on their attendance, but personally can't see them wanting to let the likes of Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Serbia stealing the limelight so think they will be there. We already know that Greece, Turkey and Netherlands have decided on thei...

And back with a vengeance for her third attempt at Eurovision glory and will it be 3rd time lucky for her. Who am I talking about you are asking? Well Chiara of course!!! Malta have finally convinced the Maltese songstress to try again for a bite at the cherry which is called Eurovision, but first she has to participate in Eurosong 09. Eurosong 2009 is the Maltese National selection and unfortunately for Chiara she has some stiff competition, not only has she got the likes of Claudia Faniello, Eleanor Cassar, Klinsmann, Miriam Christine, Natasha & Charlene and Ludwig Galea but she has also got to face the songwriting talents of Gerard James Borg, Paul Abela, Philip Vella, Ray Agius and Ralph Siegel who has now set his sights on representing Malta. Personally I have not heard the song and am not sure when they will be released by the Maltese but I dont think she should have any problem as long as it is a traditional ballad to go with her fantastic voice. With a 3rd place in Birm...

Well the BBC think that Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber can!! And I have to say so do I!!! Well all I need now is to get my voice back after this stinking cold and chesty cough and get someone to record me on video so that I can send application in. This I believe is the first time in the United Kingdoms history of Eurovision that it has been opened up on such a scale to everyone. Now the big question is "What type of song will it be?" I think he may go for a big big ballad and may even get Tim Rice to co-compose it!! Will it be enough to put the UK on the Eurovision map again??? I think it will, but will it be enough to win??? I think we will come close, but then again the Swedes, Maltese, Dutch and Greeks are I think going to pull all the stops out for Moscow. Now I am going to have a big problem choosing a song for this part........... Phantom, Cats, Aspects or Evita????

Saturday 4th October 2009 was a good day in my book as it was the OGAE UK Eurobash held in Birmingham. What a fab day it was, with well over 100 people attending and with 2 guests speakers who were interviewed during the afternoon, those being Bill Martin who is probably most famously known for being the co-writer of the 1967 winner sung by Sandie Shaw "Puppet on a String" and Gemma Abbey who was one half of the duo Jemini who got the first and only notorious "nul points" for the United Kingdom in Riga 2003. Both guest were very vocal about Eurovision, Bill Martin stating that Terry Wogan should step aside as his comments bring the Contest to ridicule, Gemma stating that the BBC were their best friends until the night of the final and the nul points was confirmed and then both her and Chris (her singing partner) were dropped "like a tonne of bricks" The afternoon also consisted of a quiz and "A best Song from Number 2" contest which was a pick o...

It would appear that now that the Estonian public vetoed the Head of Estonian Television (ERR) and said that they wanted an Estonian participation in Moscow, that ERR are finally taking the whole thing seriously again. Today the announcement has been made that the Eesti Laul 2009 will take part on March 7th 2009. The old Eurolaul as it was called previously has been scrapped for the new format so that should a decision be made in the future for Estonia not to participate at Eurovision then a contest will be in place that will bring Estonian Pop Music to the fore. 10 songs will be performed in the final, but it is not known at this time what type of voting procedure will be used. I do hope they use a jury vote and that they send something which is not as bad as what they sent this year, with thet in mind I would normally put a video on here of the latest Eurovision entry, however I am going to choose my own personal Estonian favourite............. Ines from 2000.

And about time too!!!! So that just leaves Italy (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE COME BACK!), Austria (who wont be in Moscow), Monaco (Still no decision), Luxembourg (PLEASE PLEASE COME BACK!!) and Georgia (who have decided not to go to Moscow) I have to say I was suprised the Slovaks didn't come back this year after the Czech Republics first attempt. I wonder what the Slovaks will send to Moscow? How will they choose it? Will they do as badly as before? I hope not...... Motlidba was fantastic and should have been a lot higher in the rankings than where it finished in 1998........ 8 points was abysmal for such a fantastic song. Mind you it's not the first time a fantastic song did so poorly - remember Rita Guerra in 2003 for Portugal. Anyway here is Slovakian 1998 entry to remind you.

and that officially makes them the second country to choose their singers for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest............is it me or is it starting earlier each year???? De Toppers are a popular group in the Netherlands who are renowned for their sell out tours in the Netherlands and have performed to no less than 360,00 people since 2005. De Toppers are Gerard Joling, Rene and Gordon Froger.... As everyone is aware Gerard Joling performed for the Netherlands in 1998 with the song "Shangri-La" which still happens to be one of my all time favourites even now. It is believed that the popularity in the group with the Netherlands will be enough to send their viewing figures sky high and also with the experience of Gerard Joling at Eurovision are hoping for the Netherlands to be in the final for the first time since 2004. Mind you didn't the Dutch expect that with Edsilia Rombley in 2007 when she was robbed of a Final place? Good Luck to the Netherlands, hopefully we shall se...

Much to the disgust of some people within Estonian National Broadcaster ETV the Estonian public have voted with a large majority to send an entry to Moscow in 2009. It would appear that the threat of a boycott is over even though Poland and Lithuania have still not confirmed their attendance yet. Lets hope that Estonia send something half decent in 2009 after this years abysmal entry which once again since the Semi Finals were introduced saw the Estonians fail to qualify for the final. Lets remember their glory years with a song that in my mind is one of their best entries ever!

Finally the National Broadcasters have decided to bring back the International Juries to play a part in the decision of who wins the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. I for one am well chuffed with this and can't wait to see what impact it will have. It is believed that the decision has been made following a comparison of the jury votes (which were not officially made public) and the televoting..............It has never been confirmed as the EBu are keeping very quiet about it, but reading between the lines the jury vote chose a completely different Eurovision winner in Belgrade......I would love to know who it would have been. The Jury vote will only be used in the Final, whereas the Semi Finals will be the same as this year in Belgrade and as we all know the back up juries did us the honour of saving Sweden who finished 12th after the televote but were the highest scoring country of the Juries thus knocking Macedonia in to 11th place. A final decision has not been made as t...

SORRY for not being as regular with updates on the blog over the past couple of months, unfortunately personal issues have overtaken both myself and Colin which has meant less time to deal with the blog and reply to any comments or information given. As of today both of us will now be making regular updates on the blog and would appreciate any comments or information that you have. Once Again Sorry Paul & Colin

Could Eurovision be heading for a triple Baltic state Boycott.........well Estonia and Lithuania seem to be heading that way using the Russian/Georgian political crisis. Whilst Latvia seem to be condemning the issue of a boycott. Are Estonia and Lithuania using the political crisis between Russia and Georgia instead of the fact that over the past few years they have sent absolute dross to the Contest, whilst Latvia are a regular contender in the final. I personally think that it would be silly for Estonia and Lithuania to boycott, but hey its their choice!!! So if Estonia and Lithuania say no, they will be joining Austria and Monaco in staying away... Could this be the start of a major boycott similar to what the world experienced in 1980 at the Moscow Olympics following the Russian/Afghan conflict. Watch this space cos I dont want a boycott and think it will do more damage than good....but then again it didnt do the Olympics any harm did it!

Its been 42 years now since Austria lifted the Eurovision crown with the song "Merci Cherie" which was sung by Udo Jurgens and now it would seem that ORF the Austrian Broadcaster will be making it 43 years as they have announced that they will not be sending a song to Moscow in 2009. Austria have not been a regular attendant over the past couple of years and even when they have been there they have not worried the judges too much even if they have sent a couple of corkers. In my opinion "Y'Asi" which was in the 2005 Contest sung by Global Kryner was one of the most original songs in the contest and also one of the best vocals and should have qualified and it was this lack of qualification with this song that made the Austrians decide not to compete in Athens. A bad result in Helsinki then made the Austrians again withdraw from Belgrade with a statement "that the voting needed to be looked at and changed dramatically". Even with this change to the Eu...

It is with great sadness that we announce that Monaco have announced their intention not to have a performer in Moscow at the Eurovision Song Contest and I for one am very sad about it. Over the years Monaco have sent some absolute classics to Eurovision, but in their last 3 attempts could never manage to pass the Semi Finals and decided not to take part again since 2007. Lets remember Monaco at their very best when they won in 1971:-

Over the past few weeks Dutch Eurovision fans have been voting for who they would like to see representing their country in Moscow at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. Anouk is a 33 year old singer who has been a star in The Netherlands since 1997 having had 5 number 1 albums she is a popular singer who has become the fans favourite to represent them in Moscow. The full list included previous Dutch Eurovision contestants Glennis Grace and Gerard Joling. It is believed that the list of the votes will be given to NOS the Dutch Broadcasting Company to help them with their decision. Here is one of Anouks videos and she can prove that she can sing live too!

53 days after the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest Greece National Broadcaster ERT have announced and confirmed that Sakis Rouvas who represented them in 2004 with "Shake It" in Istanbul and was the co-host in 2006 in Athens will be representing them again at the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow in 2009. ERT are believed to be preparing for a Press Conference possibly being held in September to officially confirm Sakis Rouvas as their representative. So thats it the first Singer for 2009..............welcome to Eurovision once again Sakis Rouvas.......... It's now official I will be in Moscow next year!!!!! hehehehe!!!!! Maybe Athens 2010 then..........................

OGAE UK have organised the annual get together for all members and friends of OGAE (UK). The event will be held on Saturday 4th October 2008 at The Jurys Inn Hotel, Broad Street, Birmingham. In the evening there is a "Euro Disco" starting at 9pm and finishing very late which will cost everyone that wants to attend £5. Now I have been given the job of organising the tickets and promotion for the "Euro Disco" so if anyone is interested in attending for one of the best Eurovision nights out please get in touch and let me know. The cost will be £5 and is payable prior to attendance and tickets will be sent out by myself via email, so I will require email addresses. You can email me direct at paul__35@msn.com (please note that it is a double _) Look forward to seeing you all there.

Well I wonder what the EBU have up their sleeves regarding the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow? Personally I think they are trialing the 50/50 voting at the JESC to see what happens. In my opinion (and this is only my opinion) I think that to bring back a partial jury vote is the best idea..........unfortunately I'm not sure that allowing total televoting is the way forward. After watching the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest I think that a lot of the good quality songs were lost in the semi finals and should have qualified - I mean what happened to Netherlands (again)? The final is another good one to look at too............ There were several very good vocal performances in the final and I believe that they lost out to "neighbourly" or "diaspora" televoting. We will never be able to turn round to a Lithuanian living in Ireland and say "You cant vote for Lithuania" but I feel that by having a 50/50 vote the guarantee of 12 points from Ireland to Lith...

According to the Oikotimes Svante Stockeselius has announced that the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest will be held at the Olimpski Arena in Moscow. The arena was built for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games and was where the Basketball and Boxing events were held. It has a total capacity of 80,000 people but for the purposes of the Eurovision Song Contest will probably be capable of seating up to 20,000.

Already the 2009 season has started to be announced with the Finnish broadcaster YLE today announcing details about their national selection for next year. 12 artists will be invited to take part, just as previous years. Three semifinals will be held january 9, 16 and 23. In each semi four songs participate, two get a ticket to the final, another two will later get a new chance to reach the final. All together Saturday 31st of January 2009 we will see 8 songs compete in the grand final. Wow its not even a month since Belgrade and the National final season for 2009 is being announced.

One question that is being asked by myself at the moment already is who will be in Russia and who won't be:- Ok well we already know that Sweden have started their quest for Melodifestivalen 2009, Germany have stated they will be there but with changes to their selection, United Kingdom will be there (but will Terry Wogan?), Malta have said yes (with a new format for MaltaSong). The following countries have also confirmed their attendance in Russia - Azerbaijan, Belgium, Belarus, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia (obviously!!), Serbia, Spain, and Turkey. Austria, San Marino and now Andorra have said final decisions will be made in the Autumn as to whether they will be attending. Slovakia have also shown an interest in returning for the first time since 1998. Luxembourg have said definately "NO and NEVER AGAIN" Kosovo have approached the EBU with an application to join which could make them eligible to enter in 2009, but, the question is! If ...

And I for one will be extremely disappointed if they are not there!!!! The reason apparently is that the Andorran TV Station RTVA will not make a definate decision following another non qualification from the semi final this year in Belgrade. Andorra are one of the few who have never qualified from the semi final to the final of Eurovision, but came very close in Helsinki when they scored their highest placing of 12th. Andorra have been in Eurovision since 2004 when the semi finals were first introduced and after a not very auspicious start seemed to be making headway and sending better songs. 2004 Marta Roure - Jugarem A Estimar-Nos 18th place with 12pts 2005 Marian van de Wal - La Mirada Interior 23rd place with 27pts 2006 Jenny - Sense Tu 23rd place with 8pts 2007 Anonymous - Salvem el món 12th place with 80pts 2008 Gisela - Casanova 16th place (semi final 2) with 22pts I do so hope that RTVA stay po...

Well Dima Bilan won the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest and I would like to wish the entire Russian Delegation a hearty congratulations. I said right at the start that he would win and give the Russians their first Eurovision victory. I am not personally a big fan of the song and still don't understand the performance for the song...but I suppose we should be greatful that he didn't sit on the ladder and sing. The thing that suprised me about the Russian Victory was that he didnt get more 12 points, however 7 sets of 12 were not too bad even though 6 were from former Soviet states - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia. So after 13 attempts and 2 second places and 2 third places they now have that elusive victory.

I am already looking forward to Moscow or St Petersburg or wherever the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest will be held. So after 5 costume changes during performances, at least 6 pairs of silver stilettos, 5 gimmick acts, 17 solo female performances, 10 solo male performances and 16 groups and duos the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest is over and the countdown has started for many of us for next year. Suprises this year or what???????!!! ......... Where did Croatia and Albania come from in Semi Final 2? How did Netherlands and Belgium not qualify? How come Sweden sent a fab song which ended up being saved by the jury? I am not sure we will ever know the real answers, but one is for sure the TV viewers obviously saw something on the television that I never saw in the arena!!!!!!!!

Well another year's contest is over and I'm now back at home. So what are my thoughts on the contest? There are two things that stand out this year.... 1. Belgrade's/Serbia's apathy towards the contest, and 2. The results (as always!) So let's look at them in turn.... 1. After the recent elections, it appears that Serbians are keen to join the EU and after many years of troubles, which I will not go into, I would have thought that hosting the Eurovision would have been an excellent way to show what they are capable of. However, in the city itself, you would have been hard pressed to actually know that the contest was taking place! For most of the week, the only thing you could see with regards to the Eurovision was that a few shops were cashing in on the merchandise, a single information stall in one of the squares and I saw one advertisment for the Azerbaijan entry (there may have been more). So why did they not take up the opportunity? Was it that after the rec...

Well I don't think so anyway!!! With the first semi final out of the way I managed to correctly predict that Russia Azerbaijan Poland Norway Romania Greece Armenia Bosnia & Herzegovina all would qualify. What happened to Belgium and The Netherlands??? Well by the looks of it the viewing public didn't think them good enough to qualify!!!!!!!!!!!!! Such a shame as for me 2 of the best songs have once again been knocked out!!! Well the big question is who will join them???

Dobro Dan! Hello from Belgrade and from the Eurocafe, where we are typing this blog from! Wednesday of Eurovision week and what has happened so far?! Well, the travel over from the UK to Belgrade is a story in itself! Paul and I were due to meet up in Frankfurt after taking different Lufthansa flights to Frankfurt. Paul was due to land in Frankfurt from London Heathrow 15 minutes before my Manchester flight landed. However, it seems that Heathrow's problems go further than terminal 5 and his flight was delayed just enough for him to get to the Frankfurt gate, just after they closed it. So there was little old me on the Frankfurt to Belgrade flight by myself wondering where Paul was! After arriving in the hotel, a few hours later I was joined by Paul who looked like he was ready to go home already and was without luggage, which was still somewhere between London and Belgrade. To cheer us all up, we have a UK TV star as one of the receptionists. Yes, Mr. Cheap as Chips, David D...

Ok the first set of rehearsals are over now for semi final 2 and my opinion has not really changed. I still think that the following will go through to the final:- Sweden Iceland Turkey Ukraine Switzerland Denmark Hungary Malta Portugal However I now think that the final place will be between Georgia, Macedonia and Cyprus. Now suprisingly enough I never really liked FYR Macedonia or Cyprus when they were first chosen however, I now think both could qualify but we shall see.

My Opinions have changed somewhat.............. The first 2 days of rehearsals saw the first semi final being rehearsed and I have to say I was pretty suprised by what I saw which now means that I think that the following will qualify:- Norway Azerbaijan Russia Greece Armenia Belgium Greece Romania Poland Bosnia & Herzegovina 1 week to go and we will know

Saturday, 13th May 1995. Dublin, Ireland. The third year running that the contest had taken place in Ireland! To save Ireland's TV company from going out of business, Norway won the contest instead of Ireland. With a song containing only 24 words, Secret Garden won with the song entitled "Nocturne." The top five finishers were..... 1st - Norway - Secret Garden - Nocturne - 148 pts, 2nd - Spain - Anabelle Conde - Vuelve conmigo - 119 pts, 3rd - Sweden - Jan Johnsen - Se på mej - 100 pts, 4th - France - Nathalie Santamaria - Il me donne rendez-vous - 94 pts, 5th - Denmark - Aud Wilken - Fra Mols til Skagen - 92 pts.

Saturday, 13th May 2000 saw the final of the Eurovision Song Contest take place in The Globen Arena, Stockholm. The contest set a record of attendance of 13,000 people, a record which would only last for one year. The contest saw The Olsen Brothers, representing Denmark, win with 195 points, 40 points clear of 2nd place Russia. The top five finishers were.... 1st - Denmark - The Olsen Brothers - Fly On The Wings Of Love - 195 pts, 2nd - Russia - Alsou - Solo - 155 pts, 3rd - Latvia - Brainstorm - My Star - 136 pts, 4th - Estonia - Ines - Once In A Lifetime - 98 pts, 5th - Germany - Stefan Raab - Wadde Hadde dudde da - 96 pts.

We were celebrating the first Estonian win at the Eurovision Song Contest which was the largest contest to date with 38000 in the audience held at the Parken Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark. Dave Benson and Tanel Pader won with the song Everybody and what a close competition it was. I still think France were robbed!!!! Estonia won by obtaining 9 x 12 points and 4 x 10 points. The top 3 of 2001 were:- 1 - Estonia - Dave Benson and Tanel Pader - Everybody - 198 points 2 - Denmark - Rollo & King - Never Ever Let You Go - 177 points 3 - Greece - Antique - Die For You - 147 points

Was Saturday 12 May 2007 and I was just walking out of the arena to celebrate the Serbian win at the Euroclub in Helsinki. I still cant believe that it is a year and I am 5 days away from flying to Belgrade. A convincing first win for Serbia by Marija Serafovic and her song Motliva wining by taking 9 x 12 points and 2 x 10 points. The top 3 in 2007 were as follows:- 1 - Serbia - Marija Serafovic - Motliva - 268 points 2 - Ukraine - Verka Serduchka - Dancing Lasha Tumbai - 235 points 3 - Russia - Serebro - Song Number 1 - 207 points

The first set of countries from Semi Final 1 have today started their rehearsals for this years Eurovision Song Contest. Montenegro Israel Estonia Moldova San Marino Belgium Azerbaijan Slovenia Norway San Marino was very impressive from watching the videos and for me one of my pre contest favourites Slovenia was poor. The musical arrangement for Slovenia's entry has changed quite dramatically but unfortunately in this rehearsal I felt her vocals were poor. I also liked Azerbaijan, Israel and Norway. Well we shall see what tomorrows rehearsals bring.

To Belgrade and I really am not excited about it............NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All is in order and myself and Colin will be in Belgrade from Monday 19th until Sunday 25th May, hopefully we will still be able to give some interesting views on what we think and I'm sure that our views on certain songs will change....... I myself with 16 days to go till the final am almost totally convinced that FYR Macedonia will qualify but not sure who will forfeit their place for them. Poland for me is now one that I think the Juries will choose rather than the televoters, but hey what do I know. It would be nice to see Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium and Poland in the final along with the Netherlands but how will the voting public react to the songs............we will soon see. The stage is set for the participants and their delegations to arrive and the rehearsals are due to start next week..... I wish I could have gone earlier but again I have not got enough time off from work. Good Luck to all ...

Way May 9th 1998 and Eurovision fans across Europe were celebrating a not entirely suprising 3rd victory for Israel who were represented by the unforgettable Dana International and her song "Diva. 1998 was the first time in 16 years that the UK had played host after their victory in 1997 it as decided that the best location for this years contest was the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, and what a contest it was 4 countries held the lead at one point or another throughout the voting those being UK, Netherlands, Malta and Israel and in one of the closest battles fought Malta who were joint 1st with Israel leading in to the penultimate vote actually ended up finishing 3rd behind Israel and UK. The Top 3 of 1998 looking like this:- 1 - Israel - Dana International - Diva - 174 Points 2 - United Kingdom - Imaani - Where Are You? - 167 points 3 - Malta - Chiara - The One That I Love - 166 points

Was May 9th 1992 and Eurovision fans across Europe were celebrating the 4th victory for Ireland and the 3rd for Johnny Logan. Yes it is really 16 years since Linda Martin won in Malmo, Sweden with the song written by Johnny Logan "Why Me?" 1992 was also the first year that the Top 3 songs were sung in English with the Top 3 lloking like this:- 1 - Ireland - Linda Martin - Why Me? 155 Points 2 - United Kingdom - Michael Ball - One Step Out of Time - 139 points 3 - Malta - Mary Spiteri - Little Child - 123 points The lead changed between Malta, UK and Ireland on a few occasions that was until Malta who voted 10th gave Ireland their 12 points and then the lead never changed at all and Ireland won taking 3 sets of top marks and 7 sets of 10 points.

On the 9th May 1987, Eurovision fans around Europe were celebrating the very third victory for Ireland and Johnny Logans second triumph in 7 years Can you believe it 21 years..it only seems like yesterday that Johnny Logan stood on that stage in Brussels and sang Hold Me Now and it was a fairly convincing win since he didnt take the lead until 7th round of voting which were given by Italy. Yugoslavia took an early lead with Novi Fosili and "Ja Sam Za Ples" then on the 6th round of voting Germanys Wind and their song "Lass Die Sonne In Dein Herz" took the lead for one round only to be overtaken by Ireland next. Irelands win was fairly convincing with them ending up taking 8 x 12 points and 3 x 10 points The Top 3 in 1987 looked like this 1 - Ireland - Johnny Logan - Hold Me Now - 172 points 2 - Germany - Wind - Lass Die Sonne In Dein Herz - 141 points 3 - Italy - Umberto Tozzi and Raf - Gente Di Mare - 103 points

Good news for UK fans for the up and coming Eurovision! It seems that with the latest revelations regarding the 1968 contest could see the Spanish in hot water with voters. So the story? Apparently, General Franco wanted to increase the image of Spain so that tourism would continue to florish. So what was his grand plan? Why of course, win the Eurovision. The only sticking point in his plan was that the Spanish entry for that year wasn't of winning quality. So not to be outdone, they decided to rig the vote and hey presto, Spain wins. So can Sir Cliff feel hard done to? No, not according to the French artist for that year! The one who finished below Sir Cliff, she believes that she would have won if it hadn't been for the votes being rigged. So how does she work that one out? She was third! If Spain wouldn't have rigged the votes then the UK would have won with France second. So it will be interesting to see if there is an reaction from voters, but seeing as th...

And the Eurovision Song Contest Final will be upon us............... Who will win? Who will come last? Will the fans favourites qualify? Well with less than 2 weeks now till I fly to Belgrade I must make my own conclusions!!!! My favourites songs are Sweden and Iceland with Armenia suddenly coming up fast on the rails. Suprisingly enough since I have heard some of the revamped songs on this years CD my personal favourites are changing, I now like the songs by Macedonia, Croatia and San Marino but still cannot see any of them winning! Personally I see the race for the Eurovision Crown being a 4 horse race between Russia, Armenia, Serbia and Sweden. Russia or Sweden would be a nice trip in 2009 but expensive. I would like to see Serbia win but only because I have pulled them out of the hat in the office Sweepstake which is now in its 4th year where I work and I organise and it manages to get an extra 50 odd viewers just to see if they have won or not. Now who will come last? Well the...

Which means I only have 38 days before I finish work for 2 weeks and head off to Belgrade............. Everyone at work is already fed up with me going on about it and can I blame them......well actually yes I can! This is my second "live" contest and am looking forward to it, though not as much as I did Helsinki which was my first. I still really don't know who to support in Belgrade.......My heart says I should support the United Kingdom as it is my home nation but, I am not really that sure I like our song even though I hope Andy Abrahams give the UK their first top 10 placing since Jessica Garlick in 2002. My head says that I want to support Sweden or Iceland but I dont know........any suggestions!! I still cannot warm to certain songs.....Moldova, FYR of Macedonia, Croatia and Montenegro and the funny thing is I loved all their entries last year. The gimmick songs still annoy me....but for some reason I think Spain will be the highest placed of all of them, but I s...

Well with 34 days to go until the Eurovision Song Contest final it would appear that Russia and Serbia are the bookies favourites, but oh how the fans seem to be disagreeing on ESCToday where the OGAE fan clubs are voting for Sweden in the droves! I have to say that I do have my favourites songs but am starting to convince myself that this time next year we will be preparing to go to Moscow. Will Russia make themselves the 8th first time winner in a row following Estonia, Latvia, Turkey, Ukraine, Greece, Finland and Serbia. Personally I'm still hoping for a Swedish victory.

It's the time of the year when the official cd and dvd are unveiled. First impressions are that the artwork is excellent this year. But that suddenly melts away when your eyes move to the price! 19.95 Euros for the audio cd (£15.73) 24.95 Euros for the dvd (£19.68). For years I always thought that I was unlucky to live in the UK when it came to prices, but it appears with the changeover to the Euros, everyone has taken the opportunity to hike their prices up. I for one won't be buying from them. For people thinking of buying from the official website, I would suggest you look at some other websites before buying, i.e play.com or amazon.co.uk. You can usually get £5.00 knocked off these prices. Also, another word of warning to those in the UK. If you buy the cd from the official sellers, you will get a copy-protected cd. If you buy from the UK, then you won't, as manufacturers are not allowed to add copy-protection to audio cds in the UK. (Some computers will not pla...

There will be many questions being asked this year in Belgrade and as with previous years, most will centre around the votes and finalists/winner. As more and more Eastern Europeans embrace the Eurovision, it seems that we are seeing a lot more resentment against the winners - whether it be a western or eastern European country. I've read with a sense of shame numerous comments on eurovision websites or chatrooms, where fans have taken patriotism to a different and wrong level, where patriotism is substituted for hatred of other countries. So after a number of years of complaints, the EBU have finally changed the qualification process in an attempt to stamp out friendly voting. However, with so many variables in the contest, have they just changed the process just to appease the moaners?! So how do the EBU count for..... 1. The migration of Eastern Europeans into the western countries after being accepted into the EU, 2. The quality of the song, 3. The music scene of Europe (i.e....

Armenia have been installed as the Bookies favourites and for the love of god I do not understand why!!!! Sweden only have odds of approximately 12/1 making them 6th favourites behind Armenia, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia and Ireland.........Ireland..........I just dont understand it. Iceland have a very low ranking with the Bookies too...... 33/1 so that makes 2 of the pre contest fan favourites not very high in the opinions of the bookmakers. The biggest suprise is that Spain is the more favoured of the "Big 4" at 33/1 along with France whilst the United Kingdom is at 50/1 (the lowest odds ever given for a UK entry) and Germany (one of my pre contest favourites is 66/1. The rank outsiders with the bookies all at 150/1 are:- The Netherlands, Moldova, San Marino and Montenegro. I have to say I am suprised the Netherlands are ranked so lowly but I wonder whether that is down to previous contests. Well with 64 days to go I wonder who will be the contest favourite by the time it s...

1 - Iceland 2 - Sweden 3 - Turkey 4 - Ukraine 5 - Lithuania 6 - Albania 7 - Switzerland 8 - Czech Republic 9 - Belarus 10 - Latvia 11 - Croatia 12 - Bulgaria 13 - Denmark 14 - Georgia 15 - Hungary 16 - Malta 17 - Cyprus 18 - FYR Macedonia 19 - Portugal Well this is the Semi final which I think will produce the winning song this year. Denmark, Macedonia and Portugal were all drawn first and were allowed to choose their positions and Portugal took the initiative and asked for singing last, which I think is a fantastic place for them. The first 4 countries drawn in this semi final are all pre contest fan favourites - Iceland, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine and will all be vying for the coveted 10 spots in the final.Then comes Lithuania and Albania and as much as I like Albania I cant see them qualifying from this spot. Then comes Switzerland, Czech Republic and Belarus which are 3 completely different songs, Latvia with their fantastic and in my opinion the best of the gim...

Semi Final 1 1 - Montenegro 2 - Israel 3 - Estonia 4 - Moldova 5 - San Marino 6 - Belgium 7 - Azerbaijan 8 - Slovenia 9 - Norway 10 - Poland 11 - Ireland 12 - Andorra 13 - Bosnia & Herzegovina 14 - Armenia 15 - Netherlands 16 - Finland 17 - Romania 18 - Russia 19 - Greece Well what can I say Russia, Greece and Azerbaijan were the first 3 countries out and were therefore allowed to choose their singing places in the 1st Semi Final. Both Greece and Russia opting for the end of the draw whilst Azerbaijan went for 7th apparently a very lucky number in Azerbaijan. I think that the first half of this semi final will come across as quite dull with the exceptions being the best Israeli and Belgian entries in years. Will the curse of number 2 strike Israel though???! Songs 14 - 19 make the end of this semi final very interesting as I think there are 4 of the strongest songs in the entire contest taking part in this section of the semi. After having my Ipod set up now an...