Things we didn't know: Hera (ESC10) was in Selma (ESC99)'s preview video!

We love bits of trivia here at Eurovision Express.  We've just discovered that Hera Bjork, this year's Icelandic entrant, was in the preview video for Selma's All Out Of Luck, Iceland's entry in 1999.  Check out the promo below, and forward to 1min 30secs for Hera!

Eurovision hits London

Eurovision Express enjoyed a fun night at the UK Eurovision Preview Party 2010, which took place in London on Sunday.  The Shadow Lounge was packed to the rafters with Eurofans, who were treated to a Eurovision disco and performances from four of this year's Eurovision entrants.

First up was Jon Lilygreen and The Islanders, representing Cyprus (pictured above). They kicked off their accoustic set with their Eurovision entry, Life Looks Better In Spring, and rounded off with the Glee classic, Don't Stop Believin'.

Next came Ovi and Paula from Romania.  They overcame technical difficulties with the microphones to give a rousing version of It's Raining Men, and, of course, Playing With Fire, which is one of this blog's personal favourites this year. 

The penultimate act was the UK's very own Josh, who sang Jason Donovan's Too Many Broken Hearts as well as the final version of That Sounds Good To Me.  Good luck to him!

Last but not least was the Eurovision legend that is Niamh Kananagh.  Joking with the crowd and demonstrating that she totally 'gets' what Eurovision is all about, Niamh had everyone in the palm of her hand. She gave an effortless performance of It's For You, this year's Irish entry, before moving on to her 1993 winner, In Your Eyes. 

She explained to the crowd that she didn't actually have a backing track to the song that took her to victory, and had to call up a friend to send her the the instrumental version, which was on the B side of the original single.  With tongue firmly in her cheek, Niamh asked everyone if they could remember the lovely front cover of the single which depicted her with a blue face!

Niamh also asked one British fan if she had had him in tears in 1993 depring the UK's Sonia of a win.  He said yes, and she said she was pleased! You go girl!

Organised by ESCToday's Barry Viniker, hosted by Paddy O'Connell and supported by John Kennedy O'Connor, author of The Official History of the Eurovision Song Contest, this was a night that was enjoyed by all.  It certainly whetted our appetite for Oslo!

This is London Calling....

This Sunday Eurovision Express will be wending its way to London for the 3rd UK Eurovision Preview Party, this year coming from The Shadow Lounge in the heart of Soho.

Four of this year's Eurovision hopefuls - Niamh Kavanagh (Ireland), Ovi and Paula (Romania), John Lilygreen (Cyprus) and the UK's very own Josh Dubovie - will be singing, and DJ Dave Simmonds will be at the helm of the Eurodisco.  UK semi-final presenter and Eurovision fan, Paddy O'Connell, will host.

The fabulous Hera from Iceland was also due to perform, but, owing to a certain volcano, is unable to make it.  We look forward to seeing her in Oslo.

Nonetheless, despite Hera's absence, we reckon this is going to be a great night, and we're delighted that the line-up includes a number of our personal favourites.  Look out for a full report on Monday!

Tweet Dreams!

@EurovisionExtra

You can now follow Eurovision Express on twitter.  We've always provided news in bitesize chunks, and now we'll be giving you "extra" headlines in 140 characters or less!

Join us at www.twitter.com/EurovisionExtra

Introducing Eurocafe 2010

One of the more recent additions to the Eurovision experience has been the 'Eurocafe'.  The Norwegian fanclub, OGAE Norway, has announced that this year's hang-out for all Eurovision fans will be at the Bar Royal in the lobby of the Clarion Hotel Royal Christiania in the heart of Oslo.

The Eurocafe will open on May 18th and will play Eurovision-music all day long and well into the night, with opening-hours between 14:00 to 02:00.  It also appears that the hotel has promised discounts for fans with OGAE membercards.

The Eurocafe offers everyone, and especially those who are not officially accredited, a place to hang out with other fans. 

Hera explodes onto the scene!

Whilst we are all currently "grounded" in Europe, Iceland have reacted to the current volcano eruption by re-releasing their ESC 2010 preview video (he! he!)!

Boom-Bang-a-Manchester

Boom-Bang-A-Bang is back!

Manchester's annual Eurovision Preview event has moved locations to a bigger, swankier and more exciting venue for 2010! Revolution Bar is conveniently located right next to Oxford Road Train station in the centre of Manchester. The date is Friday 30th April. Time : from 7pm.

There will be all the usual fun and frivolity - voting cards, party bags, excellent previews and of course the ever-popular Eurovision disco. This event is once again in a private area with its own bar, so no need to go far for one of our famous Eurovision themed drinks!!

Tickets are a bargain at £5 each and are already selling fast - so get yours quickly.

Send an e-mail to eurovision@e-ventuality.com for full details or pay straight away to info@e-ventuality.com (pls add 40p for PayPal transactions).

Easter Greeings from InCulto

InCulto, the Lithuanian representatives at this year's Eurovision, have created a very special Easter version of their song.  Check it out above.  Happy Easter!

Running Order - Winners and Losers

The Running order for the Semi-Finals and the Final of this year's ESC took place earlier in Oslo. You can see the order on the right-hand side of the page where each country is numbered accordingly. The voting order has also been decided. Here it is...

So who are the winners and the losers of the draws? Well, in the Final, it's not good for Spain (at the dreaded no.2)  or for Norway at no.3 as songs towards the beginning of the contest tend to do less well. Neutral for the UK at 12 and good for France at 18 and Germany at 22.

As for the Semi-Finals - in SF2 it's good for Ireland as it follows several uptempo songs. It's also good for Iceland finishing SF1. 

With 2010 being one of the most open Eurovision Song Contests in years, h no obvious favourite at this stage, the rehearsals will be particularly interesting this year! Can't wait for May!

Ukraine's song...3rd time lucky?

Well, we thought we had all songs chosen last night until the news came in from Ukraine that the winning song - To Be Free - was actually released in 2008, so breaking the ESC rules! 

Time is running out to get a replacement as the deadline for submission is tomorrow, and it seems that even the second place song in last night's final was released last year. Could this mean the song that came 3rd last night will be the entry, or maybe they will go back to their original choice before the final - Vasyl Lazarovich with I Love You? Who knows but I guess we will find out for sure on Tuesday at the draw!

What a drama!

All songs now known!!

After the "second" Ukrainian selection tonight, we now have all 39 songs chosen for ESC 2010. You can see them all on the right-hand side of this page! It's hard to pick a winner at this stage. Maybe we'll have a better idea when the running order is decided on Tuesday. You can follow the draw live here

Taking Stock - UK remixed

Mike Stock, one of the composer's of this year's UK entry, That Sounds Good To Me, has spoken on his website about the song and its singer, Josh (left). 

It appears that Mike is very happy that Josh was selected as the UK's representative, but it looks as if the track itself is going to get a substantial revamp now that both Mike and Pete Waterman know who the performer is.

On his website Mike says: "What I found most frustrating was having to record six different versions of ‘That Sounds Good To Me' incomplete and unfinished.  Obviously until you know who has won you can't deliver the final version."

He goes on to add: "Nevertheless, I am now busy getting together the final version which will be significantly different from what has already been served up.  I accept the comments that have been posted on the (Mike Stock website) forum and I expect in a short while for everyone to be pleasantly surprised at the end result."

Josh is in the studio this week working on the 'new' version. It's going to be very interesting to hear how the song will sound once its final version has been completed. 

Anna's booked her ticket to Oslo!

Just back from the Melodifestival weekend in Stockholm. Despite the fact that our faves - Timoteij - didn't win, we still enjoyed a great weekend and witnessed a great final.
On the night, there was no big surprise when Anna Bergendahl romped home to victory with "This is My Life". Thankfully we got Anna to autograph her cd for us beforehand.
During the show we witnessed the duel between Norway and Sweden with singers from Eurovision past from both countries! We were especially thrilled to see Kikki Danielson and Bettan!
So Anna joins a plethora of ballads in this years contest. It looks like Semi-Final 2 is going to be a tough one to qualify from, but we wish the lovely Anna all the best of luck!

Melodifestivalen 2010 - vote Timoteij!

Eurovision Express is in Sweden for Melodifestivalen 2010.  If the Swedish charts are anything to go by the winner looks like it's going to be either Anna Bergendhal with the ballad, This is my Life, or our favourites Timoteij with Kom . 

Probably giving these two acts the closest run for their money will be Eric Saade with Manboy.  We'd also like to see the excellent Peter Joback vying for the top spot.

As always we're sure it's going to be an exciting and well produced show! 

Frenzied Friday!

Tonight four more countries - the UK, Germany, Estonia and Greece pick their Eurovision songs. 

We've already reported on the UK, so let's take a quick look at what to expect elsewhere.

In Estonia we think it's a battle between Lenna Kuurmaa with the very retro-sounding Rapuntzel (listen below), and Violina and Rolf Junior with Maagiline Paev.


In Greece the battle is, we think, between Giorgos Alkaios with the uptempo Opa, and our favourite, Emigre with Touch Me Deep Inside (watch below).



After an X Factor style selection process Germany has 2 singers slugging it out: Jennifer Braun and Lena Meyer-Landrut.  They will both sing three songs each, two of which will be the same, with each singer then having a separate third song.  Having had a quick look at the two singers it really could be either of them: Jennifer is probably the safer choice, although Lena is a bit more contemporary and quirky.

Will the UK go pop?

This time last year Jade had won the UK's Eurovision selection programme and had been half way round Europe in an attempt to get them to vote for her.

It's a little different for 2010. We still have Your Country Needs You, but it's all happening on one night - this Friday at 8.30pm on BBC1.

Six acts are lining up to represent the UK, and it looks like the emphasis is on youth. The 6 hopefuls comprise: Alexis (aged 20), Josh (19), Esma (17), Karen (18), Miss Fitz (a 3 piece all girl group) and Uni5 (which is made up of 3 girls and 2 boys).

It's pretty much impossible for us to say who should win, because we've not really heard any of them sing. From the info available, we quite like the sound of Miss Fitz, who have already given The X Factor a go. Marina is the daughter of none other than Colin Berry (left), who regularly read out the UK's votes, and Maiken hails from Oslo and seems to know plenty about her country's past Eurovision entries.

But what of the song one of these 6 acts will sing?  Well that's in the hands of Pete Waterman and Mike Stock (pictured right).  Eurovision Express normally loves ballads, but this year's Contest is saturated with them, so we're hoping for an uptempo pop classic - something like Banarama's Love In The Third Degree, Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up or Kylie's Better The Devil You Know.

On Friday the six acts will be whittled down to three, who will then each sing the Waterman/Stock composition.  The UK entrant will be decided by a public televote.

Here at Eurovision Express we've got everything crossed for a fantastic UK entry!

Russia snatches defeat from the jaws of victory!

It was looking like St. Petersburg 2011 when song 14 came on during the Russian Final. It was the "Buranovskiye Babushki" and had this made it to Oslo, it could have won ESC.
For some inexplicable reason, Russia chose to send Peter Nalitch with a song called "Lost and forgotten"!!(video on the right-hand side of this page). Judge for yourselves! Here are the "Buranovskiye Babushki"

Russia and Belgium throw the Dice

2 more songs for Oslo will be revealed tonight. First up will be the Russian Final at 7pm (CET) featuring 25 acts.  Early indications were that Dima Bilan was rumoured to be taking part, but he subsequently ruled himself out of the fight. 

And then at 9.15pm (CET) the Belgian entrant, Tom Dice will present his Eurovision song.

Both shows can be watched live on eurovision.tv

Romania's on fire!

After a night of lacklustre selections (Croatia and Moldova), we really like the Romanian entry for Oslo. It's called Playing with Fire and is sung by two people who have tried to enter Eurovision before - Paula Seling who tried to represent Romania on many ocassions in the past and Ovi who tried for Norway! Well, this time they have made it. In a contest of ballads, this really could stand out.

Battling it out in Sweden

It's the 2nd Chance round in Sweden tonight.  Here are our predictions, with the songs that we think will make it through each round in bold:

Pernilla Wahlgren vs. Pain of Salvation
Crucified Barbara vs Pauline
Neo vs Calle Moreaus
Alcazar vs Jessica Andersson

Then
Pain of Salvation vs Pauline
Neo vs Alcazar

So we predict Pain of Salvation and Alcazar to the Final!

Something to Cro about?

In the 1990s Croatia looked like a prime candidate to win the Eurovision, but in the last decade it seems to have lost its way a bit.  Tonight's DORA final boasts a mix of rock, ballads, rap and ska, all with a distinct Croatian feel to them.

The 16 songs are made up of 8 pre-qualified entries, plus another 8 that made it through a semi-final. 

There are a couple of 80s sounding entries that we especially like: Franka Batelić with Na tvojim rukama, and AliBi with Prvi pogled.  They could both be in contention, along with Žiga i Bandisti with Blagdani. 

Our tip for the top though is the ethno pop song Jobrni je jobrni by Frano Krajcar (below).

Five Live!

Tonight no fewer than five countries are selecting their Eurovision entry.  By the end of the evening we'll know which songs will be representing Ukraine, Romania, Croatia, Portugal and Moldova. And Sweden has its 2nd Chance round too!  What a night!

Our thoughts on the runners and riders coming soon.

Ireland - Niamh is for you!

Former ESC winner - Niamh Kavanagh-  is taking part in the Irish selection for Oslo tomorrow night. The song is called "It's for You" and is BY FAR the best song in the selection! Do the right thing Ireland, vote for Niamh! Check out the entry here!

Lithuania: the favourite and our favourite

Lithuania picks its song for Oslo tonight.  Here's the favourite:



and here is our favourite:

Dates for the diary

Eurovision fans have got a busy few days ahead of them  Here are the national finals coming up this week:

Tuesday 2 March - Azerbaijan final
Wednesday 3 March - Turkish entry presented
Thursday 4 March - Lithuanian final
Friday 5 March - French entry presented
Friday 5 March - Irish final
Saturday 6 March - Moldovan final
Saturday 6 March - Croatian final
Saturday 6 March - Ukrainian final
Saturday 6 March - Portuguese final
Saturday 6 March - Romanian final
Sunday 7 March - Russian final
Sunday 7 March - Belgian final