AsiaVision has arrived!

Eurovision's expansion around the world has now spread to Asia. The very first AsiaVision song contest will take place in November.

There are initially 15 countries taking part - Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam.




National finals will take place from July. Host country not yet decided. You can find full details about AsiaVision here

Party time in London!

Following the massive success of last year's UKeurovision Preview Party, this year's event looks set to be just as fantastic.

Hosted by BBC semi-final commentator, Paddy O'Connell and Nicki French (UK 2000), the party takes place on Friday 17 April between 9pm and 4am at Scala in London, and will feature a number of this year's Eurovision entrants, as well as a disco from DJ Dave Simmons.

The first three acts to be announced are Christina Metaxas from Cyprus, Lidia Kopania from Poland and Eurovision Express favourite Johanna from Iceland. More names to be made known over the next few weeks.

For more information and to book tickets click here.

The country goes Boom-Bang-A-Bang!

Eurovision fans across the North West and the Midlands are gearing up for their first glimpse of the increasingly popular Boom Bang a Bang Preview event. The event, which has been held in Manchester for the past two years, is spreading its wings and now also going to Liverpool and Birmingham.

Fans and those coming along will be able to vote on all the songs in this year's contest. All the events will take a similar format with preview shows, voting, drinks offers, flag waving as well as an all request Eurovision Disco and prizes with a distinct Eurovision theme.

You can catch the event at one of the following venues....

Manchester: Bacchanalia Chapel Walks on Friday April 24 7pm
Birmingham: The Wellington, Bristol Street Saturday April 25 7pm
Liverpool: G Bar, Eberle Street on Thursday April 30 7pm

Purchasing tickets is much easier than getting seats in Moscow - available at £5.50 in advance or £7 on the door from eurovision@e-ventuality.com or by telephoning Eventuality on 0870 300 9510. But hurry – they are selling FAST!

We'll be there...will you?

The Sky's the limit for Sinead!

Ireland's Eurovision entrant - Sinead Mulvey - said in a recent interview that she has no plans to give up her day job regardless of her finishing position in Moscow. Sinead - who will join Black Daisy on stage to perform Etcetera, currently works as a flight attendant for Ireland's national airline Aer Lingus.

The Irish songbird spends most of her time jetting back and forth from the U.S. and since winning the Eurosong competition to represent Ireland in Moscow has become a mini-celebrity on her flights. She has even had requests for in-flight impromptu singing, which she has so far declined.

You can read Sinead's interview here

Eurovision 2009 Tickets go on sale!

picture: Moscow Times

The tickets for the dress rehearsals, semi-finals and grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 went on sale at the Olympiinsky Arena (seen here) and across Moscow on Monday.

Tickets were snapped up at the venue and via ticket agencies all over Europe.

If you still don't have your ticket, try one of these agencies or follow this link.

Good luck!

FROM RUSSIA AND FROM ABROAD BY PHONE • Ticket sales start on the 16th of March at 12:00 CET. Contact the official call center on +7 495 363 6060 (the call-center provides services on Russian and English languages).

FROM ABROAD • To book and buy tickets from outside Russia you can also contact the ticket company Eventim in your country. Eventim will open ticket sales shortly after the 16th of March and is available from the following countries:

• Austria Tel.: +43 1 96 0 96 http://www.oeticket.com
• Bulgaria Tel.: +359 2 9615370/71 http://www.eventim.bg
• Hungary Tel.: +36 30 30 30 999 http://www.eventim.hu
• Germany Tel.: +49 1805 570 070 http://www.eventim.de
• Italy Tel.: +39 2 392 262 0 http://www.ticketone.it
• The Netherlands http://www.eventim.nl
• Poland Tel.: +48 22 621 94 54 http://www.eventim.pl
• Romania Tel.: +40 21 250 10 08 http://www.eventim.ro
• Serbia Tel.: + 381 11 314 98 87 http://www.eventim-yu.com
• Slovakia Tel.: +421 2 5263 2425 http://www.eventim.sk
• Slovenia Tel.: +386 090 100 110 http://www.eventim.si
• Finland Tel.: +358 10 633 1000 http://www.lippu.fi
• Croatia Tel.: +385 1 655 2860 http://www.eventim.hr
• Switzerland Tel.: ++41 43 444 68 http://www.eventim.ch
• Sweden Tel.: +46 8 556 689 80 http://www.eventim.se
• Bosnia & Herzegovina http://www.eventim.com
• FYR Macedonia http://www.eventim.com
• Luxembourg http://www.eventim.com

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

We wish all our Irish readers a very happy St.Patrick's Day! And special wishes to Sinéad and the girls from Black Daisy! Good luck in May girls!

The Draws!

The two semi-final draws and big 4 placings have just been done in Moscow...in fact from the hotel we will be staying in whilst there!

The running order is as follows:

Semi Final 1 - 12th May

1 Montenegro
2 Czech Republic
3 Belgium
4 Belarus
5 Sweden
6 Armenia
7 Andorra
8 Switzerland
9 Turkey
10 Israel
11 Bulgaria (chosen)
12 Iceland
13 FYR Macedonia
14 Romania
15 Finland
16 Portugal (chosen)
17 Malta (chosen)
18 Bosnia-Herzegovina

Georgia not taking part in ESC 2009 so only 18 countries in Semi-Final 1!

Semi-Final 2 - 14th May

1 Croatia
2 Ireland
3 Latvia
4 Serbia
5 Poland
6 Norway
7 Cyprus
8 Slovakia
9 Denmark
10 Slovenia
11 Hungary
12 Azerbaijan
13 Greece
14 Lithuania
15 Moldova
16 Albania
17 Ukraine (chosen)
18 Estonia (chosen)
19 The Netherlands (chosen)


and for the final on 16th May....

3 France
10 Russia
17 Germany
23 UK
25 Spain (chosen)

Good draw for Spain and the UK! Bad for France.

You can now see the songs in order of participation on the right-hand side of this page.

Under starter's orders....!

We now know all 43 songs (or 42 if Georgia get disqualified) for Moscow 2009. You can hear them all on the right-hand side of this page. Tomorrow we have the running order draw for each semi-final and the final placings for the big 4 and Russia.

According to the bettings, it's between Norway, Greece and Turkey, but we still have a long way to go until May.

Current betting....

Norway 9/4
Greece 5
Turkey 12
Malta 14
Azerbaijan 18

What a cliff-hanger!

Stockholm is a buzz with the nail-biting end to this year's Melodifestivalen, which has seen Malena Ernman win with her opera-pop song La Voix. It was a close call...in fact it was all decided on the last vote of the last jury (the public) and they chose Malena over Caroline! We're pleased with this result...spare a thought for poor Mans though who led most of the way right up until the public vote....

Here is the televote...Phew it WAS close!

Malena 322657
Caroline 318952
EMD 231098
Alcazar 199014
Mans 182651
HEAT 178283
Sarah 146300
Molly 51467
Agnes 49819
Emilia 48844
Sofia 19885

As we say goodnight from Sweden and from the OGAE party in Stockholm, let's relive that incredible public vote one more time!

Stockholm so far..!

Melodifestival fever has certainly gripped the Swedish capital this weekend. Last night we went to Club Paradise and danced the night away to some classic Swedish sounds along with what seemed like hundreds of ESC fans from all over Europe.

We were delighted when Velvet turned up to entertain us. She treated us to several stomping performances and sang her MF song Deja Vu which unfortunately didn't make it to Globen. There's always next year. Maybe it will be 4th time lucky as the lady herself said!



Today, whilst trolling around the Globen shopping center we were treated to a sing and sign session with Maria Haukaas Storeng and Anna Sahlene who sang their MF entry Killing Me Tenderly and spend time with their fans. Whata nice couple of ladies they are, shame they won't be in contention for Moscow..oh well, they will always have their own individual eurovision performances to cherish!


The next sing and sign session was with the Star Pilots (well, two of them minus the captain) who did their trade mark back flip and sang a bit of their song Higher. It was then time to get back to the hotel and change for the main event tonight!

As we said earlier, the vibe here is Caroline versus Malena but Alcazar apparently got a great reception at rehearsals this afternoon...so maybe we will have a schlager shocker! We will see!

Good luck to all in Globen tonight!

It's Caroline versus Malena

Eurovision Express is in Stockholm for Melodifestivalen. And it looks set to be the most closely fought battle for sometime.

The vibe seems to be with Caroline af Ugglas, with Malena a close second. Here at Eurovision Express, whilst we certainly appreciate that Snälla Snälla is a very good song, we think that La Voix would be the better option at Eurovision.

Later tonight we will see who the Swedes pick, and we're anticipating a very exciting evening.

Nästa...GLOBEN!

For those of you who have travelled on the Stockholm subway, you will be familiar with the phrase Nästa Globen. This means you have arrived at the venue for one of the highlights of the Eurovision year - the Melodifestivalen! And in just 2 days, we will hear those words.

We will be cheering on Alcazar, EMD and Malena Ernman hoping that one of them secures the ticket to Moscow on Saturday night to represent Sweden at ESC 2009!
After that, we will make our way to the MF after-party being organised by OGAE Sweden! All looks good for a great weekend!

Full details and live link on Saturday for Melodifestivalen here.

Watch out Globen, here we come!

Georgia don't wanna "put in"!

According to a news report here, Georgia have announced that they are withdrawing from the 2009 contest over the row with the lyrics of their song We don't wanna put in.

The EBU have said the song lyrics are unacceptable and Georgian TV have refused to replace the song or change the lyrics, so it looks like Semi-Final 1 on 12th May will only have 18 countries now!

Elvis is alive....in Belgium!

Belgium have finally revealed their Elvis-sounding song for Eurovision 2009. It's called Copycat and is sung by Patrick Ouchène.

Get your Blue Suede Shoes and Pink Wigs ready for Moscow.
Here's the song....

Turning Forty!

With tonight's finals in Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine, we've reached the 40 mark with the selections for Moscow.

You can hear all songs selected so far on the right-hand side of this page.

Do you have your favourites yet?

It's now down to Czech Republic, Belgium and Sweden to complete the line-up for 2009.

Next to reveal will be Belgium on Tuesday.

Puppet on a Serbian string?

Last year's hosts, Serbia, choose their entry for Moscow tonight. In the running are the 2007 backing singers for Maria Serifovic, known as the Beauty Queens. They are joining forces with whom we presume to be a local celebrity called Oscar to sing a 1920's-inspired ditty called Superstar. Just like BWO, there seem to be two versions of this song - one with puppets and one with the real singers! We prefer the puppets....judge for yourselves..

First the real Beauty Queens...



and now the puppets....

Sweden challenges us to a duel

This Saturday Sweden holds its Andra Chansen round, giving the songs that came 3rd and 4th in the previous 4 heats a chance to claim 2 spots in the final.

But this is no simple affair. The 8 acts in Andra Chansen have been split into 4 pairs that will compete against each other, to give 2 remaining pairs, who will battle it out to qualify. Maybe it's best to demonstrate it with this handy guide:


So, how are things likely to shake up? Eurovision Express has been gazing into its crystal ball, and this is what we think will happen on Saturday:

Duel 1
Scotts versus Sarah Dawn Finer - a poppy song from Scotts against a big ballad from Sarah DF. Neither song really sets our world alight, but we think Sarah should win this round.

Duel 2
Lili and Susie versus BWO - we love BWO but You're Not Alone is not a patch on their past two Melodifestivalen entries. If they were to use the disco version, we might think again, but we reckon Lili and Susie should make it through with the uptempo and typically Swedish Show Me Heaven.

Duel 3
Amy Diamond versus Star Pilots - we love Higher by Star Pilots. Ok, it sounds like a cross between Eye of the Tiger and Waiting for a Star to Fall, but it's fab, and we'd love this to make it to the Globen. But, thinking with our head, and not our heart, sadly we expect Amy Diamond's fanbase to give her enough sway to come out of top with It's My Life.

Duel 4
Rigo and the Topaz Sound feat. Red Sox versus Caroline Af Ugglas - Eurovision Express can't claim to like either of these songs that much, but we would imagine Caroline's very individualistic sounding Snälla, Snälla to be the one the Swedes will go for.

OK, so that results in a further round which we think will see Sarah Dawn Finer go up against Lili and Susie, and Amy Diamond compete against Caroline Af Ugglas.

Our prediction would be Sarah Dawn Finer winning the first battle, and Caroline Af Ugglas the second, giving them a spot in the final running order in Stockholm.

There is one more spot left - which will be decided by the International Jury, but after negotiating our way through the duels we've kind of lost track of how that works!

BWO - To Disco or not to Disco....?

....That is the question!

BWO are in the 2nd chance round of Melodifestivalen 2009 on Saturday with their ballad version of You're Not Alone. However, they also have a disco version of this song available.

Have they made the right decision to enter the ballad version? We think not.
Judge for yourselves.



...and here is the ballad version we will see on Saturday.

Some you win, some you lose

By a rather bizarre scoring system, giving the three juries 60% of the vote and the public 40%, Israel has somehow managed not to send one of the best songs of the year to Eurovision!

Will You Dance With Me? (above) is a beautiful, simple song. It was the Israeli public's favourite, but 2 juries gave it their lowest points.

So the song that will represent Israel is the slightly more obvious choice of There Must Be Another Way, which, to be fair, isn't a bad song. The sad thing is they could have sent something much better - and the Israeli televoting public knew it.

Saturday Night and Sunday Evening

So Latvia, Spain, Croatia and Portugal have chosen. Of the four, Eurovision Express likes the Spanish song best - Soraya with La Noche Es Para Mí.

Three countries used a combination of jury and public vote. In Spain Soraya was the public favourite and came 2nd with the jury. In Portugal, Flor de Lis was the jury favourite but 2nd with the public, and in Croatia Igor Cukrov was 2nd with both jury and the public. It's interesting how things can change when you combine juries and televoting....

Tonight sees Bosnia and Herzegovina present its entry for Moscow. The band Regina (above) will sing Bistra voda, in a show which will also feature a bunch of other performers from this year's Contest, including Sakis (Greece), Jade (UK), Quartissimo (Slovenia), Hadise (Turkey) and Andrea Demirović (Montenegro).

Last year Bosnia and Herzegovina provided one of the most memorable performances of the Contest, so we look forward to hearing what they have to offer this time round.