Guy Freeman was the executive producer and Geoff Posner the director, both of whom held the same positions as the last time the BBC hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in Simon Proctor was the senior producer and David Arch was the musical director for the concert. Graham Norton and Petra Mede hosted the event, which saw fifteen acts from thirteen countries performing their Eurovision entries from yesteryear. During the televised show, video montages for some of the Eurovision Song Contest archives were shown in-between each live performance. The United Kingdom entry for the Eurovision Song Contest was performed at the concert, as the opening act, but never broadcast on the televised show. Riverdance performed a reprise of their Eurovision Song Contest interval act as part of the anniversary celebrations.
Alexander Rybank – Fairytale (2009)
Harry Connick Jr Announces New Album, ‘Alone With My Faith’
This is very much open to debate and personal preference, but we have put together a chronological list of what we think to be the 10 best Eurovision songs of all time. Due to the lack of a tie-breaker system at the time, the judges struggled to pick between four best Eurovision songs that year, eventually sharing the title between the UK, France, Netherlands and Spain. Upon its single release, the song reached No. It was temporarily banned and blacklisted during the Gulf War due to its potentially controversial title. The now globally-adored quartet scooped the gold for their home country of Sweden, in Beyond the now infamous outfits worn for the performance , the song itself is an example of how to assemble a perfect pop anthem — something the band went on to repeat and perfect for years following the contest. Adorned in flared trousers and equipped with easily imitable dance moves, this upbeat pop performance was voted in first place. The performance itself was pared down and put the song, which is catchy as hell, at the forefront. The Eurodance hit was completely infectious — perfect for the competition and dancefloors alike.
Related Topics
As the contest has grown, a different type of competition has emerged aside from a country trying to show off its ear for a catchy three-minute tune — bizarre costumes, staging, and choreography have opened up another way to make international pop history. As many of its most unforgettable moments prove, some of the best Eurovision competitors involve one country submitting a performance with simple hopes that millions of others will either tap their feet or get the joke. But in reality, the contest is filled with more self-awareness , as nations have taken to being tongue in cheek with their annual submissions. Below is a collection of performances that took a mad dash to the strange and unforgettable side of Eurovision history, many of them seemingly supported by countries without ever meaning to seriously win. Good luck getting these songs, and their performances, out of your head. Eurovision entries sometimes waver between bleeding-heart power ballads and eager dance tunes, but this one is silly just for the sake of it, advancing an attitude that would inform countless playful and memorable entries from the decades to come. Some countries seem to offer submissions that intentionally throw their chances of victory into the trash, but it was a Lithuanian supergroup that declared themselves winners from the very first sentence. Performed with specific minimalism, the act featured the men standing on the stage and eyeing the camera, until one of them breaks out into flailing dance moves to the tune of a violin solo. Though the tune only went to sixth place, LT United nonetheless succeeded in stealing a piece of Eurovision history. Her performance was out of this world at the contest, where she looked like she dropped in from a space disco that specialized in sequin dresses.
The contest, which has been broadcast every year since its debut in with the exception of , is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. The contest's winner has been determined using numerous voting techniques throughout its history; centre to these have been the awarding of points to countries by juries or televoters. The country awarded the most points is declared the winner. There have been 64 contests, with one winner each year except the tied contest , which had four. Twenty-seven countries have won the contest. Switzerland won the first contest in The country with the highest number of wins is Ireland , with seven.
