:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

The Irish broadcaster RTÉ has confirmed to esctoday.com that it will particpate in the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in 2010. Speculation had arisen that RTÉ may withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 given the current economic financial climate in Ireland as too other countries. With numerous countries' broadcasters having withdrawn or facing a consideration to withdraw due to financial strain, esctoday.com contacted RTÉ for an update. RTÉ have confirmed to esctoday.com that, this week that it has just submitted its' application to the EBU for its participation in next May's contest to be held in Oslo, Norway. With regarding a format for selecting a song, RTÉ are looking at a set of possible options and hope to reach a final decision shortly. SOURCE: ESC TODAY -

Someone has these on Facebook, had to put them here. What an opening to opening to the Eurovision Song Contest of 1996 in Oslo, Norway on May 18th when Morten Harket performed his song "Heaven's Not For Saints". Also included is Eimear Quinn, winner Ireland 1996 singing "Norwegian Wood". -

The popular Irish website was re-launched today at www.allkindsofeverything.ie ready for the Eurovision 2010 contest. They have also launched a Twitter feed aswell -

It seems Johnny Logan wants to keep far away from Ireland as possible as it has been reported that France will be represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo with a song written by Mr Eurovision Johnny Logan, according to the German magazine Bunte. Johnny Logan, who won the Eurovision Song Contest three times in 1980, 1987 and as a writer in 1992, would have been asked by the French public broadcaster to write the French entry. Johnny Logan told in an interview with the German magazine Bunte that "I was asked if I wanted to write a song and I said yes." The australian born Irish singer won the Eurovision Song Contest twice with What's Another Year and Hold Me Now and as composer of the song Why Me? performed by Linda Martin. -

INDEPENDENT.IE REPORTS CASH-strapped RTE, faced with a €68m funding deficit, spent €182,000 on our disastrous 2009 Eurovision entry. The massive sum was splurged on selecting and sending an entourage to Russia during May for the 54th annual song contest. Despite being touted as a decent bet for glory, Sinead Mulvey and Black Daisy failed to even make it to the final. The €182,630 bill covered the cost of selecting the band, entry fees, hotel bills, flights, entertainment and visas. The hotel bill for the 15 member delegation amounted to €24,710, flights €6,761, food and entertainment €9,540, visas €1,400 and airport transfers €978. The information was provided to the Irish Independent under a Freedom of Information request. The bill was more than last year's tab for dispatching Dustin the Turkey, to Serbia, which cost €170,000. This year, the cost of staging a national competition on RTE's own 'Late Late Show' cost €83,879, while the Eurovision participation fee was mor...

The Eurovision Semi Final 2 on Thursday 14th May featuring Ireland's entry Et Cetera performed by Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy, was the most watched programme on RTE Two that week with over 438,000 viewers watching Ireland failing to qualify for the final. This is down from 691,000 who watched Dustin the Turkey with his entry last year in Belgrade. The Semi Final 1 on Tuesday 12th May was watched by 208,000. The figures released by RTE , show that the Eurovision Final on Saturday was watched by 438,000, a low fugure compared to other years, due to Ireland not competing that night, but up from 377,000 watching last year . -

Three times winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980, 1987 and writer in 1992, Johnny Logan appeared on early morning television on commercial broadcaster TV3 Ireland's flagship morning show Ireland:AM . Johnny speaks of his reasons why he doesn't watch the Eurovision Song Contest anymore, why Ireland hasn't had much success in the past ten years, how the Eurovision Song Contest has changed and his new album. You can watch the interview here . -

Irelands 2009 hopeful Sinead Mulvey is planning to shock millions of fans with her outfit for the contest next week. Sinead and the band flew out from Dublin on Monday with a whopping five cases of clothes for the show. But when asked about what costume she will wear for the semi-final next week, she was keeping tight-lipped about the details saying “I can’t tell you because it is a surprise, really, it is WOW!. All of our outfits, everyone is going to be shocked. Its going to be like ‘Oh My God’ - you will never expect it.” She continued “Trying to pack my cases was a nightmare! I’ve about 5 cases and are going over to Moscow for 2 weeks. I want to have 2 outfits a day to get the image going and look out best.” Sinead and the band wore pink coloured costumes when they won the Irish National Final in February. They wore black and white costumes last week when they sang on the Late Late Show on RTE One. She is confident that their act will be able to compete with the ‘over the top’ perf...

Ahead of the 54th Eurovision Song Contest on May 16th in Moscow, Russia, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra are pleased to present an evening of celebration of Ireland's Eurovision Song Contest hits and others. The programme will include, "What's Another Year?" winner Eurovision Song Contest 1980, "In Your Eyes" winner Eurovision Song Contest 1993, "Volare" from Eurovision Song Contest 1958, "Rock'n'Roll Kids" winner Eurovision Song Contest 1994 and more. You can relive Ireland's successes, watch Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan perform in Eurovision Song Contest 1994 and Niamh Kavanagh in Eurovision Song Contest 1993. The show will be presented by Maxi, who represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973, and in 1981 with Sheeba. There will also be a guest appearance by Dustin the Turkey who represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. The show will be held at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, Ireland on ...

TV & radio Broadcaster Pat Kenny , who co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 has tonight announced that he will resign as host of The Late Late Show at the end of the season. The 61 year-old veteran TV host made the announcement live during tonight's show. He said he had come to the decision in consultation with his family and said that 'all good things must come to an end'. He hosted the Eurosong 2009 show this year to select Irelands entry for Moscow. He said it had been a joy to present the show for almost ten years and he was stepping down at a time when the viewing figures were at an all-time high. He said he would be moving to present another TV show in the autumn, but gave no further details of this. He thanked his audience for their support and wished the best of luck to his successor. -

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On the 20th February, the Irish national final for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest was held. Six acts competed and by a jury and televoting, it was decided that Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy will go to Moscow with the song Et cetera written by Niall Mooney, Jonas Gladnikoff, Daniele Moretti and Christina Schilling. -

RTE have announced ahead of the show tonight that 'America's Got Talent' host Jerry Springer will join Eurovision winner Linda Martin and Eurovision commentator Marty Whelan on the expert panel for Friday night's 'Late Late Eurosong Special' on RTÉ One at 9.35pm. The six Eurosong 2009 finalists were selected from a public competition and Friday night's winner will be decided by votes from regional juries and the public in a 50/50 ratio. The regional juries will be based in Cork (presented by 'Ice's Sinéad Kennedy), Sligo (presented by 'News2day's Paddy McKenna), Limerick (presented by 'Den Tots' host Emma O'Driscoll) and Dublin (presented by 'Kazoo's Kathryn McKiernan). The Late Late Show: Eurosong 2009 will be broadcast live on RTÉ ONE television and worldwide via webcast on Friday, February 20th at 22:35 CET (21:35 local time). More on the show here . -

RTÉ will air the audio pre views of the six songs that have made the Irish National Final show Eurosong 2009 which will be broadcasted live tomorrow night. The six songs who have a chance to represent Ireland at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be aired live by RTÉ radio 1 on The Mooney Show radio program today which begins at 15:00 in Ireland (16:00 CET). Here are the six finalists: 1. M.N.A - Flying (Ronan McCormack) 2. Laura-Jayne Hunter - Out of Control (Derry O’Donovan) 3. Lee Bradshaw - So What (Billy Larkin & Kevin Breathnach) 4. Johnny Brady - Amazing (Tony Adams Rosa) 5. Kristina Zaharova - I Wish I Could Pretend (Lauris Reiniks) 6. Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy - Et Cetera (Niall Mooney, Jonas Gladnikoff, Daniele Moretti & Christina Schilling. Singers first, then song title, followed by composers of the songs. RTÉ Radio 1 is available to everyone online and can be listened to on Windows Media Player or on Real Player. -

RTÉ today announced the six Eurosong 2009 finalists, as selected from the public competition. The song contest was open to songwriters from outside of Ireland and a jury chaired by Eurovision winner Linda Martin chose six songs from almost 300 entries received from both home and abroad. They are: 1. “Flying” performed by M.N.A and composed by Ronan McCormack. 2. “Out of Control” performed by Laura-Jayne Hunter and composed by Derry O’Donovan. 3. “So What” performed by Lee Bradshaw and composed by Billy Larkin and Kevin Breathnach. 4. “Amazing” performed by Johnny Brady and composed by Tony Adams Rosa 5. “I Wish I Could Pretend” performed by Kristina Zaharova and composed by Lauris Reiniks. 6. “Et Cetera” performed by Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy. Composed by Niall Mooney, Jonas Gladnikoff, Daniele Moretti & Christina Schilling. The songs will be performed in the order above as drawn by independent auditor Michael O’Neill of PriceWaterhouse Coopers. The winner...

ESC Today has reported that Latvian National Broadcaster, LTV has received the confirmation from Lauris Reiniks, the member of F.L.Y representing Latvia at Eurovision Song Contest 2003, that he is withdrawing from the Latvian semifinal to participate in the Irish National Final on February 20, 2009. Lauris Reiniks' song I Wish I Could Pretend performed by Kristina Zaharova had been submitted to both Latvian and Irish preselections. It is one of 6 songs out of 300 submitted to qualify for the Irish National Final. Meanwhile I Wish I Could Pretend entered the Latvian semifinal of Eirodziesma 2009. The rules and regulations of Eurovision National Finals determine that the author and the performer are allowed to represent one country only. Due to Lauris Reiniks' decision there will be 20 songs in the semifinal of Latvian Eirodziesma 2009 taking place on February 27, 2009 followed by the final on February 28, 2009. We wish a lot of luck to the people of Latvia! Labu veiksmi!! -

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. -

All Kinds of Everything is reporting from its sources that there were just under three hundred entries received by RTÉ for Eurosong 2009, which is an increase on the numbers in the last two years. I can be fairly sure, there is no "Dustin the Turkey" on the list!! While few entrants have made their participation public, an interesting name has caught my attention. Marketa Iglova, although born in the Czech Republic, has been based in Ireland for several years. Last year she won an Acadamy Award for the song "Falling Slowly" co-written with Glen Hansard from the film "Once". It is believed that the duo may also have collaborated on a potential Eurovision entry. The duo work together under the group name, The Swell Season. Eurosong 2009 takes place on 20th February. Video of "Falling Slowly": -

As announced by Pat Kenny (Eurovision Host 1988) on the Irish Television show "the Late Late Show" tonight, RTE has confirmed that this year's Irish entry will be selected by a mixture of a televote and regional juries. This decision is probably due to the choosing of Dustin the Turkey last year for Belgrade by a 100% public vote and shows RTE's determination to choose a strong entry for Moscow. Six acts will take part on the 20th February for a ticket to Moscow. -

As was provisionally announced , It now has been confirmed that Ireland's National final Eurosong 2009 will be taking place on Friday February 20th, 2009 during the popular chatshow " Late Late Show ". The show Eurosong 2009 will feature six shortlisted songs from all the entries received by RTÉ before Monday 02nd February 2009 at 13:00 CET (12:00 local time). A judging panel of five experts, chaired by former Eurovision Song Contest winner in 1992 - Linda Martin, from the music, entertainment, and television industries will select the six entries from all those received to compete in Eurosong 2009. Louis Walsh is set to act as adviser to the panel. The judging panel will make their selections employing the following criteria: a) suitability of the song for the ESC b) quality of the singer/performer(s) c) experience of the singer/performer(s) d) stage appeal of the singer/performer(s) RTÉ and the judging panel has yet to confirm the voting format for the show. More ava...