Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  It's time. The Vienna's City hall aka Wiener Rathaus will host the ceremony on Monday January 12, 2026 at 7pm CET hosted by You can watch it live right here .  As usual there will be three rounds of voting. First the Big4 (only 4 as Spain withdraw) and host country Austria will be drawn into voting and performing in one of the two semi-final. Then the semi-finalists will be first drawn into the first or the second semi-final pot by pot, and after that also they will be drawn into the first or second half of that previously drawn semi-final. Sounds a bit chaotic but it's very straight forward and simple in the end.  Later once all the entries have been chosen and published and handed over to Ebu and their staging and props and all that is sorted out the producers will determinate the running order for each semi-final to make it smooth and dynamic and interesting, as they say.  As a Finn I am of course hoping for the second semi-final and second half as since introdu...

Today in Rotterdam the allocation draw took place and now each country knows where they will be; first or second semi-final, and where in it - the first half or the second half. Makes also a huge difference to the stay time in Rotterdam.  For a change Finland is in the second semi-final and even in its second half! Somehow I feel rather positive about that. Finland has been drawn into the second semi-final only twice before (2013, 2014) and both times we qualified and even finished 11th, the best result since Lordi's win in 2014. Finland has been in the second half only four times before, too and has always reached the final (2008, 2009, 2014, 2018) Also, Finland has never been in the second semi-final's second half yet (correction: in 2014, yes but the producers put Finland to perform at number 8....) and under those facts does that mean a guaranteed final then? But on the other hand we already lost the hilarious fact that Italy could vote for Cicciolina should we sen...

It's time again for the next step closer to the Eurovision song contest: the allocation draw. The 36 Semi-Finalists have been allocated into six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting and increases suspense in the Semi-Finals. The even will take place in Tel Aviv Museum of Art at 17 CET. There will be also the Host City Insignia ceremony, started in Helsinki 2007. Eurovision hosts Assi and Lucy will take care of the job. This year there has been only one special request: by Switzerland who wants to be in second semi-final.  And here's the outcome. Finland in the first semi-final. Again. And in the first half. Again. And San Marino and Italy separated. Again.   Pot 1 Albania Croatia F.Y.R. Macedonia Montenegro Serbia Slovenia Pot 2 Denmark Estonia Finland Iceland N...

Isn't she like brunette Krista Siegfrids?? Finland is back to semifinal one, in the 2nd half for a change Italy was the only one with a request this year,  and their wish to vote in the 2nd semifinal was granted Bye bye Kyiv, welcome Lisbon!

  The allocation draw to determinate in which semifinal the countries will perform took place today in Lisbon City Hall along with the Insignia ceremony wheee Lisbon officially takes over from Kyiv, a tradition started in Helsinki 2007.  You can watch it here at 13 CET. Below are the pots: Pot 1: Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland Pot 2: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden Pot 3: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine Pot 4: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Romania Pot 5: Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, Israel, Malta, San Marino Pot 6: Belgium, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland

Fans were complaining before about everyhting but NTU has come up with the logo, slogan, stage and allocation draw in January. Just as promised. :-) And even the ticket sales will start in a week or so... The stage (on top) looks very much inspired by Vienna and Helsinki with the Baku backdrop. But then again it's the same designer. Except for Helsinki of course! Looks promising. The semifinal allocation is sorted out as well today with the Host City insignia ceremony, passing the contest officially from Stockholm to Kyiv. A nice tradition started after Helsinki 2007 from the initiative of the Helsinki city people.  Italy, Spain and United Kingdom will vote in the first semifinal which is bad news for San Marino. Germany. Ukraine and France will vote in the second semifinal which is good news for San Marino if they send Serhat again..... And Finland? AGAIN first semifinal and AGAIN first half! This is 8th semifinal one in ten years, and the starting numbers have ...

The allocation draw and official handover from Stockholm to Kyiv  with Host City Insignia - a tradition introduced in Helsinki 2007, btw - will take place next Tuesday in Kyiv, January 31, 2017 (Who said Ukrainians can't make it? They said January and January it is, lol. Some fans.... sigh) As usual, first the Big5 and host Ukraine will be drawn into which semifinal they will broadcast and vote in. Germany has asked and granted the Second semifinal.  Next the countries in semifinals will be drawn into First or Second semifinal. Switzerland has asked and granted the Second semifinal. There will be 19 countries in the Second semi, 18 in the First. The 37 Semi-Finalists have been allocated into six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest’s official televoting partner Digame. Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting and increases suspense in the Semi-Finals. POT 1:  Albania, FYR Macedon...

Germany had asked to vote in the second semifinal, and thus Sweden was allocated in the first one, Israel had asked to be in the second semifinal.

Next Monday the allocation draw will take place in Stockholm's City Hall at 11.15 CET. Alexandra Pascalidou and Jovan Radomir will host the show. You can watch it live on eurovision.tv First there will be a draw to see in which semifinal the Big5 and Sweden will vote.  In the first semifinal there will 18 countries, in the second 19. There will be also a draw for the first or the second part of the semifinal for each country. Pot 1: Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia,  Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina Pot 2: Denmark, Finland, Norway,  Iceland, Estonia, Latvia Pot 3: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,  Georgia, Russia, Ukraine Pot 4: Belgium, Cyprus, Greece,  Australia, Netherlands, Bulgaria Pot 5: Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ireland,  Malta, Poland, San Marino Pot 6: Austria, Hungary, Moldova, Romania,  Switzerland, Israel (pre-assigned to the 2nd semifinal)

It has been quite awhile now that the host city insignia exchange and the allocation draw, or rather the draw in which semifinal each country will perform in, will happen in Stockholm on January 25, 2016. That's next Monday, folks! Now it's also clear SVT will also reveal the slogan and the logo for the contest at the same occasion. The logo is made by INGO Stockholm . Both SVT and INGO team seem to be rather excited about the project.  From a modern fairytale to Magical rendezvous Under the same sky. Having an Awakening while Feeling the rhythm in True fantasy and the Confluence of sound. Sharing the moment, Feeling your heart beat, lighting your fire, We are one. #JoinUs Building bridges .... what's next? Fredrik 'Benke' Rydman is again the head of choreography. He's familiar with the job as he did it also in 2013, and even in 2000 he choreographed the interval act in the final. Now he's the boss for both semifinal and the final's opening ...

Vienna city hall hosted the allocation draw (you can rewatch it here ) and now we know who's where and which part. The final running order will be decided later on.  Also the Big5 and Austria were drawn into semifinals they will broadcast and vote in. Except Germany that had asked and granted to do so in semifinal two. We also got to know Herr Niedermeyer from Digame, aka The Cheeky Frozen man.....

Tomorrow the Vienna edition 2015 kicks off officially when the Host city insignia exchange takes place in Vienna with the Mayors of Vienna and Copenhagen. This tradition started from Helsinki 2007 actually. But another thing takes more attention and is more interesting: the allocation draw! The first semifinal will have 16 countries and the second 17. Besides that the countries will be drawn into first or second half of the semifinal. The final running order will be determinated with this draw later when all the songs have been selected and presented to delegations in mid March in Vienna. Andi Knoll and Kati Bellowitsch will host the ceremony. There are five pots: Pot 1: Albania, Macedonia, Montenegrro, Slovenia, Switzerland, Serbia, Malta Pot 2: Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Latvia Pot 3: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Israel, Russia, Armenia, Lithuania Pot 4: Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, San Marino Pot 5: Hungary, Moldova...

So, here it is - the allocation draw. Italy had apparently asked earlier that they would be able to broadcast and vote in the first semifinal but that was no longer. The reason for the request was The Voice but its date has been moved to Wednesday instead of orriginally planned Thursday. Only Germany had then requested to vote and braodcast the second semifina. That means also there's no help for San Marino that was drawn into the first semifinal and it's second half. It would have been interesting see how they'd vote for a Sammarinese entry. But the news from Italy tell that for the first time RAI will broadcast both semifinals! Mamma mia! Finland was drawn to the second semifinal and its second half, theorically very good. Only that the countries that tend to vote for us are all in the first semifinal; Sweden, Iceland, Estonia... Oh well, we will see! Sweden was allocated already beforehand to the first semifinal and Norway to the second to secure the fans eno...

The allocation draw will take place next Monday, January 20, 2014 in Copenhagen City Hall. Some countries have asked for special treatment and therefor Italy will vote in the first semifinal, Germany in the second. Sweden will be in the first semifinal while Norway and Israel in the second. As usual the rest of the countries will be divided in pots and they will first be sorted out in the first or the second semifinal, then in the first or the second half of the show - this of course also for Sweden and Norway. Slovenia , in case they will participate, will be in the pot one. This year again the producers of the show will decide the actual running order based on the first/second half draw of each semifinal, and the final. Here are the pots: POT 1: Albania, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Switzerland, (Slovenia) POT 2: Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania POT 3: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine POT 4: Armenia, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands...

Moments ago the allocation draw took place in the Old City Hall of Malmö. Statistically it was best to be in the first semi-final this time as there are only 16 countries, and in the second half of it. That's good news for Belgium and Montenegro who haven't really shined in Eurovision, Montenegro never making the final so far. Worse for San Marino, another country with that track record: first part of the second semi-final, the worst possible. The Netherlands, also struggling to enter the final in recent years was drawn to the first semi-final and the first part for it. No good. The same fate for Bulgaria, only in the second semi-final. The eternal qualifiers were divided; Russia and Ukraine in the first one (and both in the first half) while Azerbaijan is in the second one and in its first half. Good news for Romania, Armenia and Greece - all in the second semifinal and its second half. And Finland? Now when it mattered a bit to be in the first semi-final as always, for t...

Tomorrow, January 17, 2013 at 14.00 CET the draw will take place for the semifinalists to determinate their semifinals and will they be performing in the first or the second half of it. Not the actual starting number as usual as this will be decided by the producers of the show. Previously Denmark and Norway have been already sorted out (Denmark in the first semifinal, Norway in the second) to help those neighbours who will be flooding into Malmö to het tickets. Israel is once again put already to the second semifinal for some religious date set on May 14 if my memory serves right. Here are the pots: POT 1: Albania, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Switzerland POT 2: Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania POT 3: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine POT 4: Bulgaria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, the Netherlands POT 5: Austria, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia Tomorrow also the key change insi...