Eurovision Song Contest 2010 kicked off yesterday with the first 8 countries to rehearse for the first time on this stage and to meet an hungry press. Euroclub opened last night and I learned to pronounce the name of a certain Icelandic volcano - in Icelandic.
It's proving very difficult for most countries to make the stage look different for their performances this year but Belgium has managed just that. Tom's song shines in the Telenor arena with a very simple, but effective, set design.
Bosnia-Herzegovina was the last country to take the stage in the Telenor arena in Oslo this afternoon. Thunder & Lightning certainly lived uo to its name when it came to the lighting. It's very similar in style to Slovenia's 2001 entry.
Malcolm Lincoln took to the stage at about 11am Oslo time to get his first rehearsal under way. Onlookers were treated to what will be one of the quirkiest stage shows of the contest.
The Norwegan capital, Oslo, was founded in the year 1048 by king Harald Harderåde. Later excavations however suggest that people have been living in the area much longer.
Chanée & N'evergreen, who will be representing Denmark at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, is on a tour in Eastern Europe. They have deliberately put all their focus on the countries where Tomas already is a well known name, but where Denmark traditionally doesn't get many points from.
A previous draw allocated the 34 semi-finalists into two semi-finals and placed in which one of them the five finalists will be voting. Today a new draw took place in Oslo. It was time to find out in which order the semi-finalists will be competing on the 25th and 27th of May and which starting position the five finalists will have for the final.
This evening, the final of the Ukrainian selection was held. It was the culmination of three days of competition and resulted in Alyosha being chosen to sing To Be Free.
Tonight, national broadcaster ERR's ETV has held Estonian national final that is called Eesti Laul for the Eurovision Song Contest which will take part in Oslo this year. Malcolm Lincoln won the competition where ten acts participated for the ticket of Oslo.
Marty Whelan has commentated on the Eurovision Song Contest for RTÉ since Pat Kenny left the role after the 1999 contest. He spoke with EuroVisionary.com about his renewed enthusiam in Ireland's Eurovision effort and he and Terry Wogan sneaking Baileys into their commentator's boxes.
