:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

Mr Lordi, lead singer of Lordi which won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, will be interviewed by Podge and Rodge on " The Podge and Rodge Show " on RTE Two next week, either on Monday 16th February or Tuesday 17th February ahead of Eurosong 2009 on the 20th February in Dublin. Podge and Rodge announced that they will be interviewing Mr Lordi during their show last night. RTE's website will be updated soon with the information regarding Lordi's appearance. The reason for Lordi's appearance in Ireland is that the band is performing at The Button Factory, Dublin on Sunday 15th February . Mr. Lordi is not the only winner to make an appearance on Irish Television. Marija Šerifović, winner of the 2007 contest, was a guest at the Eurosong National Final 2008, while our most recent winner, Dima Bilan, performed his winning song on The Late Late Show , a week after winning the contest for Russia in Belgrade. -

On the 31st January, the Finnish national final for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest was held. Eight songs were presented in the final stage, which was held right after the second chance round with the non-qualifiers from the semi finals. Eventually, it was decided that Waldo's People will go to Moscow with the song Lose control . -

156 Greece 139 Armenia 135 Russia 106 Norway 104 Israel 096 Azerbaijan 094 Romania 079 Finland 072 Bosnia & Herzegovina 042 Poland 036 Slovenia 036 Moldova 027 The Netherlands 023 Montenegro 022 Andorra 022 Ireland 016 Belgium 008 Estonia 005 San Marino

After 2 Semi Finals, we now know the countries that are taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday. After many years, I can finally say that it is going to be a decent SONG contest this year. Can't wait. It is interesting to note, that Sweden are placed 15th slot on Saturday, the same slot as in Jerusalem in 1999 in which Charlotte Perrelli won with "take me to your heaven". It is also interesting to note that for the first time since 2000, Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Finland, are together for the first time in a Eurovision Song Contest Final. They were also together in 1999, when Sweden won. Running Order for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008: ROMANIA UNITED KINGDOM ALBANIA GERMANY ARMENIA BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA ISRAEL FINLAND CROATIA POLAND ICELAND TURKEY PORTUGAL LATVIA SWEDEN DENMARK GEORGIA UKRAINE FRANCE AZERBAIJAN GREECE SPAIN SERBIA RUSSIA NORWAY

Running order was decided at a press conference just now. Running Order for the Eurovision final: ROMANIA (Semi Final 1) UNITED KINGDOM From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) GERMANY ARMENIA (Semi Final 1) BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA (Semi Final 1) ISRAEL (Semi Final 1) FINLAND (Semi Final 1) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) POLAND (Semi Final 1) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) FRANCE AZERBAIJAN (Semi Final 1) GREECE (Semi Final 1) SPAIN SERBIA RUSSIA (Semi Final 1) NORWAY (Semi Final 1)

Countries through to the Eurovision final (in no particular order): GREECE ROMANIA BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA FINLAND RUSSIA ISRAEL AZERBAIJAN ARMENIA POLAND NORWAY Remember we don't know where these countries are placed in the final. I believe the running order will be done soon.

Watch the show live here . Just looking around in the Arena before the show starts, it seems only half full. Show starts, two girls singing the Te Deum song, then a choir sing and a band is playing jazz music, "Congratulations" and "Waterloo" and "Volare". Couples painted in blue and red are dancing. Presenters appear. there is a very small audience. there are showing the countries that are singing tonight. MONTENEGRO: Great Presentation. Looks very confident on stage. Everything went smoothly, just missed a few camera shots, but a great start. Great reaction from the audience. ISRAEL: Big reaction when he starts. Crowd really love this. He starts in Hebrew and then in English. Another great reaction from the audience. ESTONIA: Muted response and a bit of booing for Estonia before they start. This better not go through. More booing at the end. MOLDOVA: Nice response from the crowd, but this is a no from me. SAN MARINO: This country makes their debut. Ni...

Entertainment reporter for BBC News, Michael Osborn gives his lowdown on some of this years songs from Ireland, Latvia, Spain, Sweden, Estonia, Portugal, Hungary, Serbia, Belgium, Bosnia - Herzegovina, San Marino, Switzerland, Romania, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Finland, Turkey & Russia. Read More. Source: BBC News UK

Having hosted Eurovision 2007, Finland is having a smaller selection process for Belgrade. The Euroviisut Final was held on March 1st in Helsinki, hosted by Eurovision presenters Jaana Pelkonen & Mikko Peltonen. Before the final there were four semi-finals, including a "second chance" show. In the final the winner was chosen in two rounds of televoting: one to select the top three and the second the winner. Teräsbetoni and "Missä Miehet Ratsastaa" (Where The Men Ride) represents Finland in Belgrade. [ AKOE ]

We mentioned earlier, a possible venue change for the Eurovision Song Contest due to current problems in Belgrade. Kjell Ekholm, the Eurovision Song Contest Event Manager in 2007, has put Helsinki forward as a possible back-up location. According to Estonian news website, Sloleht, Mr. Ekholm hopes that the Eurovision Song Contest can take place in Belgrade. If that is not possible, he says that Finland could become an option with much of the knowledge and experience of hosting the competition last year coming into play. He is also a member of the EBU Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group and much of the infrastructure from 2007 is still in place. Do you think Helsinki should be the backup city? UPDATE: It is believed that Malmo, Sweden is being considered since it has experience in hosting big events, and was considered as an option in 2005 when problems occurred with Ukraine. Ukraine is being considered an option since they came second in Eurovision Song Contest 2007, but th...

Today at 14.00 in a ceremony held at the Belgrade Town Hall the first ever Eurovision Host City Exchange took place. Lord Mayor of Helsinki Mr Jussi Pajunen, handed over a symbolic key ring to the Deputy of the Lord of Belgrade Ms Radmila Hrustanovic. "Now, that I have met the great people in Belgrade and saw your beautiful city, I am sure that the next Eurovision Song Contest will be one to remember", said Mayor Pajunen during the ceremony. [ESC Today]

Jussi VÄÄNÄNEN & Katja KOUKKULA from Finland won the first ever Eurovision Dance Contest in London, United Kingdom last night. The couple beat 15 other countries to win the inaugural Eurovision Dance Contest. Finland only recently won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 and hosted the contest in Helsinki this year. Participating Countries were: Austria (ORF), Denmark (DR), Finland (YLE), Germany (ARD/WDR), Greece (ERT, did not broadcast the show), Ireland (RTE), Lithuania (LRT), The Netherlands (NPB/TROS), Poland (TVP), Portugal (RTP), Russia (RTR), Spain (TVE), Sweden (TV4), Switzerland (SRG-SSR), Ukraine (NTU), and The United Kingdom (BBC). The show was hosted by Graham Norton and Claudia Winkleman. The BBC will broadcast the show in 2008. The show received mixed reaction with many saying that the BBC produced a cheap and rushed show and others saying that Graham Norton, the co-host was rude to spokepersons from Lithuania and Switzerland. Video of the winning proformance from Fi...

Amen-Ra of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 winners group Lordi performs in Auburn, Wash, USA kicking off Ozzfest 2007 on July, 12. (AP/Andrei Pungovschi)

The charm free zone that is Eurovision winner Marija Serifovic has upset the Finnish press by having a pop at her Helsinki hosts. a recent ill-judged press conference, the singer whined about the food during her stay in the country, claiming she survived on biscuits and fruit. Closet hopping Marija went on to say that she hated her time in Helsinki surrounded by blondes and people with what she called 'transparent skin'. It repulsed her physically she added. was however grateful for the twelve points awarded her Balkan production line ballad 'Molvita'. Journalists sat open-mouthed at her tirade which she later tried to pass off as an attempt at a joke.

Eurovision Song Contest 2006 winners Lordi are making their first film, an English-language horror movie called Dark Floors. Announcing the film in Cannes, frontman Mr Lordi described it as a "traditional modern horror", and promised monsters, plot twists and "horrific scenes". "Lordi goes to the twilight zone is what you can say," said the singer, whose real name is Tomi Putaansuu. The Finnish band are famous for wearing gruesome latex masks on stage. "All of the influences of this image comes from the horror films and the horror genre, so it is kind of natural for this band to have our own horror film," said Putaansuu. Shooting began earlier this month, and the group expect to release the fright feature in Finland by the end of 2007. But the movie venture is not the first extra-curricular activity for the hard rock band. Following their Eurovision success last year they opened a Lordi-themed restaurant, Rocktaurant, in their hometown of Rovani...

For the first time in recent years, there are three Eurovision Song Contest entry in the official UK Chart top100 . Scooch successfully held onto 8th spot that they occupied on the midweek chart as reported by esctoday.com. Verka Serduchka dropped from 20th on Wednesday to 28th on the final chart, and Serebro, who finished third for Russia just scraped into the top 100 at 99. Contest winner, Marija Serifovic dropped out of the top 100 but was still placed 112 in the chart, which officially lists the top 200 purchased songs including hard copy and download sales. In total, 10 Eurovision Song Contest entries can be found on the list, including the 2006 winners, Lordi as Hard Rock Hallelujah made a re-entry at number 164. Scooch were at number one on the midweek chart based solely on hard copy CD sales, and tomorrow, there will be confirmation as to whether they were the highest selling cd single of the week. All other eight songs from the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest have charted based o...

McLaren's Mika Hakkinen, the Finnish Formula 1 World Champion racing driver, is rumoured to be the famous guest who will start the voting for the Eurovision Song Contest tonight. Viewers will have 15 minutes to vote for their favourite song. (thanks Jawn for correcting the error).

Eurovision host broadcaster YLE is facing criticism from broadcasters about the lack of information about the stage for the 2007 contest. Estonian Television ETV recently voiced concern at the lack of information coming from Helsinki. It complained that delegation heads know nothing more than the size of the stage. It has led to speculation that things are falling behind schedule. YLE's silence is being seen as an attempt to cover up problems. In response, Finnish TV issued a somewhat vaguely worded press release stating that the stage would be 'something totally unforeseen in Finland.' There was more concrete information from lighting director Mikki Kunttu, who explained that huge LED screens would be used to project the backdrops for each song. Using these screens allows the director to change the style and shape of the stage for each song by simply flicking a few switches.