Baku, Azerbaijan - At the EBU Press Conference held this afternoon in Baku, the provisional dates were announced for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. The Final of the 58th edition will take place on Saturday the 18th of May, 2013, with the First Semi-Final on Tuesday 14th May, and the Second Semi-Final on Thursday 16th May.

more details ……..

EUROVISION.TV
23-May-2012 @ 13:57

... on to Stockholm - Sweden next year.

Interesting issues arise ... I suspect the arena will almost certainly be Globen Arena

see here ……..

EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG
26-May-2012 @ 23:40

IF THE EBU want to downsize the event as intimated earlier this week.

However ...

Meldoifestivalen (the Swedish National Selection) is moving to a new location The Friends Arena which is a combo sports / music venue that eclipses the Globen for size

see here ……..

FRIENDSARENA.SE
27-May-2012 @ 00:01

So some ESC Politics will be involved in the choice.

Yeh! The countdown begins today!

Total madness being 'proposed' according to Expressen in Sweden today. How about holding the two semis and final IN DIFFERENT CITIES?

The EBU would be crazy to even consider this.

What's behind this proposal?

Presumably would be too expensive all round to be workable.

Besides, why?!

I guess since MF is held in various cities in the run up to the final they think they could do it with ESC.

However MF semis are held weeks in advance of the final not days.

Please. Not Eurovision 2013 so soon.

Threads like this only help magnify the inherent pointlessness of life. Camus would have approved, I'm sure.

Malmö Arena
Hyllievång, Malmo.

Has been selected (according to Aftonbladet in Sweden) to be the venue for the 2013 Contest.

EBU Confirm

more details ……..

EUROVISION.TV/PAGE
08-Jul-2012 @ 09:04

Same as it was last time then. Maybe they are going small to save some krone.

Report in the Swedish Press today ....

UK EUROVISION 2013 ...
Kimberley Walsh to sing a Frederik Kempe song.

see here ……..

NOJESBLADET on AFTONBLADET.SE
19-Jan-2013 @ 10:41

Thanks KernowKid.

Glorious by Cascada is Germany's song for Malmö. Chosen by radio-audience, jury and tele-voting thursday evening.




US-born Natalia Kelly will represent Austria in the 58th Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden with her song Shine. Natalia was in second place after the jury voting in yesterday's national final "Österreich rockt den Song Contest", but the audience vote put her to the top.





I am curious who will represent the UK in Malmö!

And remember: WE ARE ONE

Can anyone explain why we've dropped the uk competition and switched to our entrant being decided by the producers - whilst admittedly the old choosing system wasn't amazingly successful it did at least generate a few hours of saturday night TV show (that produced reasonable ratings) and this new system clearly isn't any better at picking viable entries.

I suspect it's just a temporary change.
We've gone through various ones over the years.

Dropped through cost, ratings really weren't that good.

There's hope though, an increasing number of countries are looking to the EBU to rule that National boradcast eliminators must be held.

The argument, which is very valid, is that it's a Song Contest, and one of it's key aims should be to encourage song writing. Some countries attract thousands of entrants which provides a focus for the industry in each participating country.

I expect once economic conditions 'normalise' then this rule change will gain the necessary support and the UK national selection, in some form, will then return.

I know they've been trying to think up ways of having a competition but just haven't found one they think will work yet.

Get Adele to do it. Hopefully she will come last and that'll be the end of her.

For a Cascada song that's a total flop imo

I've just spotted Scott Mills and Jedward on tonight's Melodifestivalen!

Bonnie Tyler! Amazing.

Once again the BBC shows utter contempt for the contest by sending a has been.

Well I've seen worse. It's not a bad little ditty.

has-been is a bit of a strong word - there's serious advantages to sending properly experienced singers over; whenever we've sent inexperienced performers it's generally been a car crash. However bad the Englebert song was there's no denying he delivered it perfectly on the night and knew how to play the media circus that goes with this sort of event; it was just a succky song. Likewise i'm quite sure Bonny will (on a technical level) be a very wise choice; though this doesn't change the fact that every year we seem to be getting closer and closer to submitting "My lovely horse" as our song.

I'll stick with has been, 5 UK top ten singles last in 1984, last UK chart entry of any kind 45 in 1995.

I don't think the BBC actually wants to win.

The songs better than last year but its not catchy enough to win or get near the top.

When was the last time an older singer won the eurovision?

Better song than last year & perhaps even a bit more Eurovision-y but still not the greatest of efforts. I agree that Bonnie should perform it well though.

It's a little more "instant" than last year's effort which may help it for any 'phone voters who only hear it for the first time on the night (probably not too many people these days).

I don't predict a Top 10 finish unfortunately.

If Sweden pick the man with the fiery piano tomorrow, then Bonny will be in good company with null points in May.

So Britain are doing what Ireland did in Father Ted; doing their best to NOT win so they never have to pay to host the event?

How bloody arrogant is that.

I guess you'll dismiss the success that she has had in Europe since the 2000's then, or the fact that she is currently touring in Germany. Not that success or exposure to a European market would have any bearing on this piss pot excuse for a competition anyway.

I assume that as you have been retired for some time, and out of a professional setting, by your logic above it would be quite acceptable for me or anyone else to refer to you as a has been!

As I said before arrogant, uncalled for and downright fucking rude.

Although it pains me to agree with Lord KK... he does have a point.


I believe we went through all this with last years "has been with a ballad"

"Ooooo he can REALLY sing"
"Ooooo he's had umpteen hits"
"Ooooo he's massive in Europe"

Had the 18-25 year olds of Central Europe heard of him?
Nope.
Did they vote for him?
Did they fuck.


We'll be lucky if we make 3rd from last.


I love the contest and just wish the Beeb would put some proper effort into finding a good entrant.
In a UK-pride sort of way... it's embarrassing. AND, when we get nil fucking points, it just feeds into the medias "WHY ARE WE PAYING FOR THIS? EVERYONE HATES US! PULL OUT!" frenzy

This so called European Success definately isn't reflected in chart appearances and position.

She has had three charting albums since 2000, The first of which charted in five major markets, peaking at number 29 in Norway, the second and third only charting in two the second peaking at 18 in France, the third making 50 in Norway.

As for SOLO singles, she's had one which reached 250 in France in 2011.

All the other charting entrants being duets with other artists. The only real single success being in French markets where she achieved a number 1 with a duet alongside Kareen Antonn, in 2003, ten years ago.

(Data from Wikipedia)

At least Humperdinck had the novelty of an Octogenarian. Her husky voice will also be an issue to explain, to the other participating countries, if it is, by their respective commentators.

Roll on tonight and Melfest's conclusion.

and judging on the photo in todays paper.. she looks like Kerry Katona after a botox explosion... and she has the arms of an ape.

Wouldn't be so bad if the song was memorable, it's the sort of thing you might hear in the background getting ready for bed.

Perhaps if they'd given her a belter it might have stood out but it's bland.

Winner Melodifestivalen 2013 and Sweden's Eurovision entrant



Robin Stjernberg with the song You

Tyler may have last scored in the UK in 1995 (was that making Love out of Nothing at All?), but she is a respected singer who seems to have a big audience in many parts of Europe, where she is not a "has been" though I agree here she is.

The choice is for me far too close to Engelbert last year in reasoning. If we really wanted to tAke the contest seriously we could choose a cutting edge star, but what such star would wish to be involved with it. Or maybe that is a vicious circle? If we sent a contemporary heavy hitter perhaps the contest would finally achieve the credibility it was meant to have (and sometimes did of course--Abba--the year that we sent a great star with a crap song--Olivia with Long Live Love).

It comes around again.

I reckon we should send John Shuttleworth next year

I think there was nothing wrong with Enge-- I just don't believe think the song was right for him. He's had power ballads that have been his biggest hits; yet the choice for him last year was insipid. Equally Bonnie is capable, but I'm not sure about her song; an improvement on last year's offering, not a patch on the material she did with Jim Steinman.

If I recall rightly, the last time the UK got in the Top Ten, was a song featuring Andrew Lloyd Webber: He's not cutting edge, past his heyday (I don't mean that in degrading way)-- but still well-known in Europe. Same could be said for Bonnie really. I think she's a lovely person, and deserves to do well. As for those laying into her already and denigrating her; I think it says more about those critics' need to denigrate, than it does about Bonnie-- (it's clearly cold in the ground where KK gets up). She hasn't had a chart for a few years-- so what? Katrina & Waves won in 1997, eleven years after they'd noticably troubled the upper reaches of the chart. Some folk have short memories.

I guess the reason why current/new chart acts don't want to do it, is because they are worried about the effect it'll have on their careers, the Ratner's touch; for instance Blue tried to make a come-back via EV, didn't work out. Least the likes of Bonnie and Enge (or Michael Ball, Sonia and Cliff farther back) didn't have anything to prove.

Well, representing EV for Britain is a dirty job, but somebody has to do it. Let's hope it's not a total eclipse from the start, and she's not holding out for a zero and gets heart-ache faster than the speed of night. Least she'll be in Sweden, so she won't be lost in France.

PS: Bonnie openly admits to using Botox! Also she's has had the husky voice for years, her trademark indeed. It was the result of having nodules removed about 35 years ago.