Tonight Nicki I'm going to be.....

With the OGAE UK Eurobash just a few days away, Eurovision Express continues its preview of what's certain to be a fun-filled day.

This year OGAE UK celebrates the 10th birthday of 'Stars In Their Eurovision Eyes' in which 10 plucky contestants will become their favourite Eurovision celebrities. Whichever act sings and looks the best should win....well that's the theory anyway!

In 2007 'Bacarra', singing 'Parlez-vous francais', went home with the crown. This year's entrants are a closely guarded secret, but competition is likely to be fierce!

The event will be co-hosted by none other than Nicki French, who demonstrated her skill at keeping everything in order at the Eurovision Winners' Tour when it visited the Scala Club in London earlier this year. Let's take a peek at Ms French in action at the Song For Europe 2000

Countdown to the Bash!

OGAE UK - the British Eurovision fanclub - is holding Eurobash 2008 - its annual get-together this Saturday (4 October) in Birmingham. Over the next few days we'll preview what's likely to be on offer.

The first event will be a special contest - The Number 2s! As every Eurovision fan knows, no song has ever won the Contest after performing 2nd in the running order, so this contest will give 12 of the best songs to have been on 2nd, a chance for victory. The line-up hasn't been announced, but Eurovision Express certainly hopes Sonja Lumme's Elakoon Elama will be in the running. Enjoy the song again below, and look out for more Bash previews through the week.

Welcome back Slovakia!

After 11 years, Slovakia has decided to return to the Eurovision family and has confirmed that they will be participating in Moscow 2009!

This will only be the fourth time that the central european country has entered the contest, previous entries being in 1994, 1996 and 1998.



Here's the last entry...whom Eurovision Express remember very well from Birmingham in 1998. Katarína Hasprová was a formidable lady and plied everyone in the Press Centre with Slovakian drink during her stay in the UK! You did not dare refuse!

Welcome back Slovakia!

It's "De Toppers" for De Dutch!

The Netherlands are quick off the block with their Eurovision entry for 2009. They have chosen "De Toppers" - a male trio which includes 1988 entrant Gerard Joling - to carry the hopes of Les Pays-Bas in Moscow.

De Toppers are a very popular act in The Netherlands and regularly sellout to huge audiences. You can learn more about the trio here.

Perhaps the new voting system will finally benefit a Dutch act and we may even see De Toppers at De Top of the scoreboard! Well, one can hope!

Looking East! Asiavision is born

The EBU has announced that the Eurovision format is to be exported to other parts of the world, and in 2009, the first Asiavision Song Contest will take place.

This will involve countries such as China, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. If they cast their net wider, perhaps the Eurovision-loving Australia can join also?

Let's hope Asiavision is as successful and enduring as our own Eurovision. Good luck to all countries involved!

Details on Eurovision.tv here

The Jury is back..back..back.. for 2009!

News from the reference group meeting in Moscow is that the jury will have a say in the final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest!

In 2008, the jury only had influnce in the semi-final results (famously "saving" Charlotte Perrelli in the semi-final) but now the EBU have confirmed that the much-criticised neighbour/diaspora televoting that occurs in the final will be dampened by an expert jury vote, in some shape or form!

The actual details have yet to be decided upon, but we welcome this move, it is definitely a step in the right direction.

UK in Eurovision win!

Nowadays the words 'United Kingdom' and 'winner' don't appear that frequently in Eurovision circles, so Eurovision Express is delighted to hear that le Royaume Uni has won the Retro 1981 Contest.

Every year fans from across Europe vote in a Second Chance Contest, giving a whole bunch of national final songs the opportunity to compete against each other.

Second Chance began back in 1987, so a few years ago a bright spark decided it would be a nice idea to give those songs from 1986 and backwards their own 'retro' contest, so this year it was the turn of 1981, and Liquid Gold with Don't Panic emerged victorious!

1981 was obviously the UK's year, as, of course, Bucks Fizz won the real contest too.

Looking ahead to Retro 1980, Eurovision Express fully expects for Maggie Moone to keep up the good work and sweep the board with Happy Everything.

You can find out more about Second Chance and the Retro Contest here