Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  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...

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 ...