Eurovision gets ready for Moscow

Eurovision gets ready for Moscow

By Mark Watson

The 54th Eurovision contest, Europe’s largest song contest, is well underway with Sweden and the Czech Republic being the last of the 42 countries to announce their songs and artists.

Most of the participants will travel to various parts of Europe and perform their songs in a last-minute attempt to gain those big 12 points from other participating countries before jetting off to Moscow to begin the rehearsals.

Spain, France, the United Kingdom and Germany -” also known as -˜the big four’ -” already have a place in the final along with Russia, last year’s winner.

The other 37 participants will have to battle it out in two semi-finals with 10 participants from each semi-final going through to the final.

The first semi-final takes place on 12 May with Montenegro, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Belarus, Sweden, Armenia, Andorra, Switzerland, Turkey, Israel, Bulgaria, Iceland, Macedonia, Romania, Finland, Portugal, Malta and Bosnia and Herzegovina all battling it out to qualify for one of the ten places in the final. The other eight participants will be eliminated from the contest.

The second semi-final takes place on 14 May with Croatia, Ireland, Latvia, Serbia, Poland, Norway, Cyprus, Slovakia, Denmark, Slovenia, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Greece, Lithuania, Moldova, Albania, Ukraine, Estonia and the Netherlands competing to qualify for one of ten places in the final. The other nine participants will be eliminated.

The final will take place on 16 May in the Arena in Moscow. The 25 qualifying contestants will battle it out for victory and the right to host the 55th Eurovision song contest in 2010.

Tickets for Eurovision went on sale online on 16 March and were sold out within hours.

Most of the songs are available to listen to and watch at youtube.com.

I will be reporting from Moscow with all the latest exciting news on both the semi-finals and the final. Watch this space.

You May Also Like

One response to “Eurovision gets ready for Moscow”