Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

ORF and EBU have confirmed the dates for the Eurovision song contest 2015 in Austria. It all moved a week forward from the previously announced dates so the final takes place on Saturday May 23, 2015 while the semifinal as usual the previous Tuesday and Thursday, or May 19 and 21.  The venua has not yet been announced but it's due soon. Vienna's Wiener Stadthalle, Inssbruck's OlympiaWorld and Graz's Stadthalle are still in the running,meaning Vienna's other offer, Marx hall has been dropped. 

The fight for the right to host the 2015 Eurovision song contest in Austria is turning also a political decision. While ORF seem to favor Innsbruck's OlympiaWorld complex that has the back up by the local Tourist board and regional authorities and Landeschef Günther Platter (ÖVP) has secured the financing. But the mayor of Vienna, Michael Häupl (SPÖ, is having none of that in sight of the elections in 2015. As it seems Wiener Stadthalle is losing as considered outdated and also already booked with events that should be moved elsewhere (at the cost of ORF obviously). Also Graz's offering is considered without any chances at this stage. Now mayor Häupl is throwing in the Joker and pushing the second choice in Vienna still in the running: a new temporary built hall in Neu Marx. It seems the plans for that existed already way before Conchita's Wurst's win and Austria's rise from the Eurovision ashes like a Phoenix indeed. This multi-purpose hall, the largest in Eur...

The selection for the Eurovision song contest 2015 venue continues. They were 12 but now ORF has already dropped five and only three cities and seven venues are still in the run. Or rather only three venues as well, as Vienna is running with five suggestions, only one of them being an existing one. So, unless huge surprises the venue will be either Vienna's Wiener Stadthalle , Graz's Stadthalle Graz or Innsburck's OlympiaWorld complex. It seems Innsbruck (pictured above) is seriously challenging Vienna, as the complex would have basicly everything under the same roof or next door. If the rest of the necessary demands will be sorted out (hotels, transportation, etc) we might be off to Innsbruck after all instead of Vienna. The hall was built in 1963 for the 1964 Winter Olympics and it served the 1976 Winter Olympics as well. It could host around 10.000 people audience. Completely renoved in 2004 it's a part of the Sports park that consists other seven venues that ...