14.05.2011 Eurovision Song Contest

Esprit Arena, Düsseldorf (Germany)

After Lena reached an outstanding victory last year at Oslo Germany was now host of this years Eurovision Song contest and chose the Düsseldorf Esprit Arena as venue.
People from all over the world came to Düsseldorf (not only from the 43 participating countries but also e.g. from Australia) to watch the final in front of a breath taking scenery. Numerous hands turned the stadium of Fortuna Düsseldorf into temple of Eurovision Song Contest which offered seats to 36,000 visitors. The center was the stage in the middle of the stadium after which a gigantic 60x18m large LED wall was placed. The visitors were seated around this stage so that you were right in the middle of everything all the time. Additionally you need to point out the sound system: I have never heared such a good sound in such a venue.
As Lena wanted to defend here title the ususal ceremony that the Eurovision Song Contest is opened with the victorious song of the year before had to happen a little bit different: Stefan Raab, Judith Rakers and Anke Engelke, the presenters of the evening took over this job. So the show immediately started breath taking with a huge big band, 42 Lena-doubles waving the flags of the participating countries an a brief appearance of Lena with her victorious song "Sattelite".
Directly afterwards the contest with 25 participants started which could not have been much more different. The competition was opened by Finnland with Paradise Oskar who stood lonely with his guitar on the stage in front of a huge globe and sang his "Da Da Dam". Also Bonia-Herzegovina had a more quiet song before the Danes came with the first pop track "New Tomorrow". There were eurobeat songs like the Hungarian "What About My Dreams", metal songs like the one of the Georgian, rap with a solemn refrain of the Greeks but also the very ambitious chosen operatic song of the French "Sognu" which was presented very impressive by Amaury Vassili. Just as weired as the two guys of Jedward was also their performance and stage show during their song "Lipstick".
Overall all participants made use of everything the show technology is offering: the LED wall, light effects, fog, fireworks, etc. Especially remarkable were basically two performances: on the one hand the one of Lena where the venue was really at its boiling point and the one of Ukraine. The song itself was not that overwhelming but very much supported by a sand artist of who the live created artworks were shown in parallel on the LED wall.
After all 25 participants had sung there was a short break for the votes of the audience across the Eurovision with the following evaluation. To bridge the time Jan Delay with his band Disco Nr. 1 was allowed to rock the venue what he did really impressively. Afterwards it was continued with the obligatory awarding of scores. And also with that a new benchmark was set: as first it looked like Stefan Raab and Anke Engelke would go into the Green Room but then Stefan took the guitar and shouted towards Judith Rakers in the Green Room accompanied by the sounds of the Eurovision hymn: "Judith, tear down this wall!". Right afterwards the huge LED wall started opening and the participants at the Green Room in their boxes got visibal and were taking directly part in the awarding of the scores which was sovereign led by Anke Engelke.
After many exciting changes in lead finally my favorite Azerbaijan with his duo Ell / Nikki with the song "Running Scared" won through and so next year the Eurovision Song Contest will take place at Baku. Surprisingly from my point of view was also the second place of the Italians who joined the competition after a long abstinence. The 10th place of lena was in the expected range. Only the Swiss Anna Rossinelli was in my opinion beaten below her value. It was not an overwhelming song but also not that bad that she should be last by far.

Setlist:

1. Finnland: Paradise Oskar mit "Da Da Dam" (21. Platz, 57 Punkte)
2. Bosnien Herzegowina: Dino Merlin mit "Love in Rewind" (6. Platz, 125 Punkte)
3. Dänemark: A Friend In London mit "New Tomorrow" (5. Platz, 134 Punkte)
4. Litauen: Evelina Sasenko mit "C’est Ma Vie" (19. Platz, 63 Punkte)
5. Ungarn: Kati Wolf mit "What About My Dreams" (22. Platz, 53 Punkte)
6. Irland: Jedward mit "Lipstick" (8. Platz, 119 Punkte)
7. Schweden: Eric Saade mit "Popular" (3. Platz, 185 Punkte)
8. Estland: Getter Jaani mit "Rockefeller Street" (24. Platz, 44 Punkte)
9. Griechenland: Loukas Yiorkas feat. Stereo Mike mit "Watch my Dance" (7. Platz, 120 Punkte)
10. Russland: Alexey Vorobyov mit "Get You" (16. Platz, 77 Punkte)
11. Frankreich: Amaury Vassili mit "Sognu" (15. Platz, 82 Punkte)
12. Italien: Raphael Gualazzi mit "Madness of Love" (2. Platz, 189 Punkte)
13. Schweiz: Anna Rossinelli mit "In Love For A While" (25. Platz, 19 Punkte)
14. Großbrittanien: Blue mit "I Can" (11. Platz, 100 Punkte)
15. Moldau: Zdob si Zdub mit "So Lucky" (12. Platz, 97 Punkte)
16. Deutschland: Lena mit "Taken By A Stranger" (10. Platz, 107 Punkte)
17. Rumänien: Hotel FM mit "Change" (17. Platz, 77 Punkte)
18. Österreich: Nadine Beiler mit "The Secret is Love" (18. Platz, 64 Punkte)
19. Aserbaidschan: Ell/Nikki mit "Running Scared" (1. Platz, 221 Punkte)
20. Slowenien: Maja Keuc mit "No One" (13. Platz, 96 Punkte)
21. Island: Sjonni’s Friends mit "Coming Home" (20. Platz, 61 Punkte)
22. Spanien: Lucia Pérez mit "Que Me Quiten Lo Bailoao" (23. Platz, 50 Punkte)
23. Ukraine: Mika Newton mit "Angel" (4. Platz, 1 Punkte)
24. Serbien: Nina mit "Caroban" (14. Platz, 85 Punkte)
25. Georgien: Eldrine mit "One More Day" (9. Platz, 110 Punkte)