The 49th Eurovision Song Contest

http://www.esctoday.com/images/logos/logo_2004.jpg
Image from esctoday.com
In 12 days (Wednesday 12th May) the semi-final to the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 will take place. 22 countries will sing their hearts out (ranging from Bosnia & Herzegovina to Switzerand and the Ukraine ) and will be voted for by Europe. The outcome of the voting means that the top 10 countries from the semi-final will enter the final on Saturday 15th May and join the other 14 countries already there. The final includes, at the moment, the 'Big Four' (the four contries that give the most money into the Eurovision) Germany , France , Spain and the UK, as well as such others as Ireland , Sweden , Russia and the winner of last year's contest, Turkey .

The CD can be purchased from Amazon.co.uk for £8.99 with all 36 songs on and some are, in my opinion, of incredibly high quality. (as in the songs - not the cd sound!).

Listings:
Wednesday May 12th
BBC Three - Eurovision Semi Final, 20.00 - 22.00
BBC Three - Eurovision Semi Final [rpt.], 0200 - 0400

Thursday May 13th
BBC Three - Eurovision On Location, 2030 - 2100
BBC Three - Eurovision On Location [rpt.], 0030 - 0100
BBC Three - Eurovision On Location [rpt.], 0300 - 0330

Friday May 14th
BBC Three - Eurovision On Location, 2000 - 2030
BBC Three - Eurovision On Location [rpt.], 0030 - 0100
BBC Three - Eurovision On Location [rpt.], 0340 - 0410

Saturday May 15th
BBC One - Eurovision Song Contest, 2000 - 2310
BBC Three - A Little Bit More... 23.10 - 0010

My personal favourite songs are Ukraine - Ruslana: Wild Dances, Belgium - Xandee: 1 Life and Switzerland - Piero Esteriore & the MusicStars: Celebrate! (Switzerland's song is extremely euro-poppy!)

What songs are your favourites? Where will you be for the big day?

Stay tuned in this (Official ) thread for more news!

Thanks,
Joel.
xxx

Can't wait for Wogan's commentary. Hilarity at its best.

Yes! Eurovision rocks!

It's always fun to watch eurovision, we *always* congratulate Wogan's great comentary and then take the piss of the terribly tacky presenters with there christmas cracker style jokes.

Its quite sad, and I should never admit it. But we always write down the country then mark it out of ten, talking over the presenters about what we did/didnt like about it.

I need to get out more..

For the big day, I will be in the audience just behind the VIP seats.

Sorry - had to gloat...

I don't know you do I? We do exactly the same. We have a fee of £5 each and whoever gets the closest to the winning country by way of scoring, gets the cash-usually about £50.00!

Anyone think that if the final, like the semi-final is held in Turkey, that its close proximity to the Middle East might raise the threat of terrorism?

It's not a matter of "if" the final is held in Turkey; it is being held in Turkey.

I, for one, certainly hope it's not a target for terrorism . . .

Well they held it in Israel a few years back, Turkey's quite safe in comparison

Wouldn't say so, given that they've had two Al-Qaeda linked suicide bombings in the last six months, including targeting the British embassy.

On a more light-hearted note, I really like the song from Poland!

Istanbul is probably about as safe as any other major European city at the moment - not very much at all. But I'm sure that security will be paramount as ever, and that it'll run pretty much as smoothly as possible from that point of view.

What really does worry me is whether or not the contest will run at all. TRT are the Turkish State Broadcaster organising the event and, well, they're well known in this country for its claustrophic bureaucracy, and things just don't get done. Don't be too surprised if all the lights go out because somebody forgot to sign out an extra generator or Wogan isn't allowed into the stadium because his name on the security clear-out list is spelt "Terry Vogan"!