Eurovision Song Contest 1994 | |
---|---|
Dates | |
Final | 30 April 1994 |
Host | |
Venue | Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland |
Presenter(s) | Cynthia Ní Mhurchú Gerry Ryan |
Musical director | Noel Kelehan |
Directed by | Patrick Cowap |
Executive supervisor | Christian Clausen |
Executive producer | Moya Doherty |
Host broadcaster | Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) |
Website | eurovision |
Participants | |
Number of entries | 25 |
Debuting countries | |
Returning countries | None |
Non-returning countries | |
| |
Vote | |
Voting system | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs |
Winning song | Ireland " Rock 'n' Roll Kids " |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 30 April 1994 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), and presented by Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and Gerry Ryan, the contest was held in Ireland following the country's victory at the 1993 contest with the song "In Your Eyes" by Niamh Kavanagh. It was the first time that any country had hosted two successive editions of the contest, following the previous year's contest held in Millstreet.
Twenty-five countries participated in the contest, which for the first time featured a relegation system to reduce the number of interested participating countries. Seven new countries participated in the event, with entries from Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia and Slovakia featuring for the first time. However, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Turkey were unable to compete due to the new relegation rules as the lowest-scoring countries at the previous event, whereas Italy decided against participating by choice.
For the third time in a row, Ireland won the contest with the song "Rock 'n' Roll Kids", written by Brendan Graham and performed by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan. Never before had a country won 3 times in a row in the history of the contest. At the same time, it was also a record sixth win, cementing Ireland as the country with the most wins in Eurovision history up till that point. Poland, Germany, Hungary and Malta rounded out the top five positions, with Poland achieving the most successful result for a début entry in the contest's history.
The 1994 contest also featured the first appearance of Riverdance . Originally a seven-minute performance of traditional Irish and modern music, choral singing and Irish dancing featured as part of the contest's interval act, it was subsequently developed into a full stage show which has since become a worldwide phenomenon and catapulted the careers of its lead dancers Jean Butler and Michael Flatley.
The 1994 contest took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the 1993 edition with the song "In Your Eyes", performed by Niamh Kavanagh. It was the fifth time that Ireland had hosted the contest, following the 1971, 1981 and 1988 events also held in Dublin, and the previous year's event held in Millstreet. [1] Ireland thus became the first country to host two successive contests. [2] [3]
The selected venue was the Point Theatre, a concert and events venue located among the Dublin Docklands and originally built as a train depot and warehouse to serve the nearby port. Opened as a music venue in 1988, it was closed for redevelopment and expansion in 2008 and is now known as the 3Arena. [3] [4] At the time of the contest, the arena could seat around 3,200 audience members. [3]
Eurovision Song Contest 1994 –Participation summaries by country | |
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Twenty-five countries were permitted to participate in the contest. As the number of countries interested in participating in the contest grew, and following the use of a qualifying round in the previous year's event, a relegation system was introduced to the contest for the first time, which would prevent the lowest-scoring countries from the previous year's event from participating in the subsequent contest. [3] [5] In the summer of 1993 the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) confirmed that the seven lowest-scoring countries in the 1993 event would be barred from entering the 1994 contest, to make way for seven countries which would participate for the first time. [3] As a result, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Turkey were unable to enter the contest, and in the contest's largest single expansion of new participating countries since the first edition in 1956, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia made their début appearances. [3] [5] [6] Estonia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia had all previously participated in the 1993 qualifying round Kvalifikacija za Millstreet. [7] Belgium thus failed to participate in the contest for the first time, leaving Germany and Switzerland as the only countries to have competed in every edition of the contest so far. [3] Later in 1993 Italy's broadcaster RAI subsequently announced that it would not participate in the event, leading to Cyprus being readmitted as the relegated country with the best result at the 1993 contest. [3] [8]
Four performers who had competed in previous editions of contests featured among the participating artists at this year's event: Marie Bergman, representing Sweden with Roger Pontare, had been a member of the group Family Four that had represented the country in the 1971 and 1972 contests; Cyprus's Evridiki made a second appearance in the contest, following her entry at the 1992 event; Sigga returned to the contest for Iceland for a third time, having previously competed as part of Stjórnin in 1990 and Heart 2 Heart in 1992; and Elisabeth Andreasson, competing in this event with Jan Werner Danielsen for Norway, also participated for the third time, having been a member of the group Chips, which represented Sweden in 1982, and Bobbysocks!, which had represented Norway and were the winners of the 1985 contest. [9] A number of artists which had previously competed in the contest also returned as backing performers: Rhonda Heath, who was a member of the group Silver Convention that had represented Germany in the 1977 contest, performed as a backing singer for the German entry MeKaDo; [10] and Eyjólfur Kristjánsson , who represented Iceland at the 1991 contest alongside Stefán Hilmarsson, returned as a backing singer for Sigga. [11] Additionally, having supported Malta's William Mangion as backing performers in the previous year's event, Moira Stafrace and Christopher Scicluna returned to the Eurovision stage as the country's entrants at this year's contest. [12]
Country | Broadcaster | Artist | Song | Language | Songwriter(s) | Conductor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Austria | ORF | Petra Frey | "Für den Frieden der Welt" | German |
| Hermann Weindorf |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | RTVBiH | Alma and Dejan | "Ostani kraj mene" | Bosnian |
| Sinan Alimanović |
Croatia | HRT | Tony Cetinski | "Nek' ti bude ljubav sva" | Croatian |
| Miljenko Prohaska |
Cyprus | CyBC | Evridiki | "Ime anthropos ki ego" (Είμαι άνθρωπος κι εγώ) | Greek | George Theofanous | George Theofanous |
Estonia | ETV | Silvi Vrait | "Nagu merelaine" | Estonian | Urmas Lattikas | |
Finland | YLE | CatCat | "Bye Bye Baby" | Finnish |
| Olli Ahvenlahti |
France | France Télévision | Nina Morato | "Je suis un vrai garçon" | French |
| Alain Goraguer |
Germany | MDR [lower-alpha 1] | Mekado | "Wir geben 'ne Party" | German | Norbert Daum | |
Greece | ERT | Kostas Bigalis and the Sea Lovers | "To trehandiri (Diri Diri)" (Το τρεχαντήρι (Ντίρι Ντίρι)) | Greek | Kostas Bigalis | Noel Kelehan |
Hungary | MTV | Friderika | " Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet? " | Hungarian | Szilveszter Jenei | Péter Wolf |
Iceland | RÚV | Sigga | "Nætur" | Icelandic | Frank McNamara | |
Ireland | RTÉ | Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan | "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" | English | Brendan Graham | No conductor |
Lithuania | LRT | Ovidijus Vyšniauskas | "Lopšinė mylimai" | Lithuanian |
| Tomas Leiburas |
Malta | PBS | Moira Stafrace and Christopher Scicluna | "More than Love" | English | Anthony Chircop | |
Netherlands | NOS | Willeke Alberti | "Waar is de zon" | Dutch |
| Harry van Hoof |
Norway | NRK | Elisabeth Andreasson and Jan Werner Danielsen | "Duett" | Norwegian |
| Pete Knutsen |
Poland | TVP | Edyta Górniak | " To nie ja! " | Polish |
| Noel Kelehan |
Portugal | RTP | Sara | "Chamar a música" | Portuguese |
| Thilo Krasmann |
Romania | TVR | Dan Bittman | " Dincolo de nori " | Romanian |
| Noel Kelehan |
Russia | RTR | Youddiph | "Vechny strannik" [lower-alpha 2] (Вечный странник) | Russian |
| Lev Zemlinski |
Slovakia | STV | Martin Ďurinda and Tublatanka | "Nekonečná pieseň" | Slovak | Vladimír Valovič | |
Spain | TVE | Alejandro Abad | "Ella no es ella" | Spanish | Alejandro Abad | Josep Llobell |
Sweden | SVT | Marie Bergman and Roger Pontare | "Stjärnorna" | Swedish |
| Anders Berglund |
Switzerland | SRG SSR | Duilio | "Sto pregando" | Italian | Giuseppe Scaramella | Valeriano Chiaravalle |
United Kingdom | BBC | Frances Ruffelle | "We Will Be Free (Lonely Symphony)" | English |
| Michael Reed |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was produced by the Irish public broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ). Moya Doherty served as executive producer, Patrick Cowap served as director, Paula Farrell served as designer, and Noel Kelehan served as musical director, leading the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. [6] [16] [17] A separate musical director could be nominated by each country to lead the orchestra during their performance, with the host musical director also available to conduct for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor. [9]
Each participating broadcaster submitted one song, which was required to be no longer than three minutes in duration and performed in the language, or one of the languages, of the country which it represented. [18] [19] A maximum of six performers were allowed on stage during each country's performance, and all participants were required to have reached the age of 16 in the year of the contest. [18] [20] Each entry could utilise all or part of the live orchestra and could use instrumental-only backing tracks; however, any backing tracks used could only include the sound of instruments featured on stage being mimed by the performers. [20] [21]
Following the confirmation of the twenty-five competing countries, the draw to determine the running order was held on 16 November 1993 at the Point Theatre and was conducted by Niamh Kavanagh and Fionnuala Sweeney. [3] [22] [23]
The results of the 1994 contest were determined through the same scoring system as had first been introduced in 1975: each country awarded twelve points to its favourite entry, followed by ten points to its second favourite, and then awarded points in decreasing value from eight to one for the remaining songs which featured in the country's top ten, with countries unable to vote for their own entry. [24] The points awarded by each country were determined by an assembled jury of sixteen individuals, which was required to be split evenly between members of the public and music professionals, between men and women, and by age. Each jury member voted in secret and awarded between one and ten votes to each participating song, excluding that from their own country and with no abstentions permitted. The votes of each member were collected following the country's performance and then tallied by the non-voting jury chairperson to determine the points to be awarded. In any cases where two or more songs in the top ten received the same number of votes, a show of hands by all jury members was used to determine the final placing. [25] [26]
With the Point Theatre situated on the banks of the River Liffey, rivers were an integral part of the overall creative vision for the show and were a key theme of the opening and interval acts as well as the stage design. [27] Paula Farrell's design, which was four times the size of the stage constructed for the Millstreet contest, provided a scene of a futuristic Dublin at night, featuring representations of skyscrapers which incorporated video screens and lighting effects and underfloor lighting representing the Liffey and Dublin Bay. On either side of the stage podium-lined platforms were used by the presenters in-between songs and during the voting segment. [8] [28] [29] [30]
Rehearsals at the contest venue began on 25 April 1994. Each participating delegation took part in two technical rehearsals in the week approaching the contest, with countries rehearsing in the order in which they would perform. In each country's first rehearsal, held on 25 and 26 April, the delegations were provided with a 15-minute stage-call to prepare the stage and to brief the orchestra, followed by a 25-minute rehearsal. This was then followed by an opportunity to review footage of the rehearsal on video screens and to conduct a 20-minute press conference. The second rehearsals on 27 and 28 April consisted of a 10-minute stage-call and a 20 minute rehearsal. Three dress rehearsals were held with all artists, two in the afternoon and evening of 29 April and one final rehearsal in the afternoon of 30 April, with an audience present at the evening rehearsal on 29 April. The competing delegations were additionally invited to a welcome reception during the week of the event, held on the evening of 25 April in the Dining Hall of Trinity College Dublin. [3]
During the final dress rehearsal on 30 April, the Polish entrant Edyta Górniak performed the second half of her song "To nie ja!" in English. As this rehearsal was also heard by the juries this constituted a break of the contest rules. Although discussions were held on whether to sanction or disqualify the country, Poland was ultimately allowed to compete. [6] [8] [9]
The contest took place on 30 April 1994 at 20:00 (IST) and lasted 3 hours and 3 minutes. The show was presented by the Irish journalist and television presenter Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and the Irish radio and television presenter Gerry Ryan. [6] [9] Ní Mhurchú and Ryan had been considered as hosts for the 1993 event before the eventual choice of Fionnuala Sweeney. [31]
The contest was opened with a segment by the Galway-based arts and theatre company Macnas, featuring a mixture of pre-recorded and live footage of a replica Viking longship on the river Liffey, and dancers, flag-bearers and performers in caricature masks of notable Irish personalities in various locations in central Dublin and in the Point Theatre. [3] [32] [33] [34] The interval act, "Riverdance", was a seven-minute composition by the Irish composer Bill Whelan, and took inspiration from "Timedance", the interval act from the 1981 contest also held in Dublin. [35] "Riverdance" featured a mix of traditional Irish and modern music by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, choral singing from the Celtic ensemble Anúna, and Irish dancing led by the Irish-American dancers Jean Butler and Michael Flatley. [36] [37] The trophy awarded to the winners, entitled "Wavelength", was designed by the Irish sculptor Grace Weir of the Temple Bar Gallery, and was presented by the previous year's winning artist Niamh Kavanagh. [32] [38] [39]
The winner was Ireland represented by the song "Rock 'n' Roll Kids", written by Brendan Graham and performed by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan. This marked Ireland's sixth contest win –a new contest record –and also gave the country its third win in a row –the first time a country had won three successive contests. [5] [40] [25] "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" became the highest scoring winner in Eurovision history to date with 226 points, and was the first song to receive over 200 points. It was also the first time that a song had won without using the orchestra. Harrington and McGettigan additionally became the oldest winning performers and the first winning male duo. [5] [8] [25] First-time participating countries Poland, Hungary and Russia all finished in the top ten, placing second, fourth and ninth respectively, while conversely the four other débuting countries all placed within the bottom seven entries, with Lithuania scoring nul points with its first ever entry. [41] [42] Poland achieved the most successful début performance of any country in the contest's history at the time, and its second-place finish in this event remains as of 2024 [update] the country's best ever Eurovision placing. [2] [43]
R/O | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Place |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sweden | Marie Bergman and Roger Pontare | "Stjärnorna" | 48 | 13 |
2 | Finland | CatCat | "Bye Bye Baby" | 11 | 22 |
3 | Ireland | Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan | "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" | 226 | 1 |
4 | Cyprus | Evridiki | "Ime anthropos ki ego" | 51 | 11 |
5 | Iceland | Sigga | "Nætur" | 49 | 12 |
6 | United Kingdom | Frances Ruffelle | "We Will Be Free (Lonely Symphony)" | 63 | 10 |
7 | Croatia | Tony Cetinski | "Nek' ti bude ljubav sva" | 27 | 16 |
8 | Portugal | Sara | "Chamar a música" | 73 | 8 |
9 | Switzerland | Duilio | "Sto pregando" | 15 | 19 |
10 | Estonia | Silvi Vrait | "Nagu merelaine" | 2 | 24 |
11 | Romania | Dan Bittman | " Dincolo de nori " | 14 | 21 |
12 | Malta | Moira Stafrace and Christopher Scicluna | "More than Love" | 97 | 5 |
13 | Netherlands | Willeke Alberti | "Waar is de zon" | 4 | 23 |
14 | Germany | Mekado | "Wir geben 'ne Party" | 128 | 3 |
15 | Slovakia | Martin Ďurinda and Tublatanka | "Nekonečná pieseň" | 15 | 19 |
16 | Lithuania | Ovidijus Vyšniauskas | "Lopšinė mylimai" | 0 | 25 |
17 | Norway | Elisabeth Andreasson and Jan Werner Danielsen | "Duett" | 76 | 6 |
18 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Alma and Dejan | "Ostani kraj mene" | 39 | 15 |
19 | Greece | Kostas Bigalis and the Sea Lovers | "To trehandiri (Diri Diri)" | 44 | 14 |
20 | Austria | Petra Frey | "Für den Frieden der Welt" | 19 | 17 |
21 | Spain | Alejandro Abad | "Ella no es ella" | 17 | 18 |
22 | Hungary | Friderika | " Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet? " | 122 | 4 |
23 | Russia | Youddiph | "Vechny strannik" [lower-alpha 2] | 70 | 9 |
24 | Poland | Edyta Górniak | " To nie ja! " | 166 | 2 |
25 | France | Nina Morato | "Je suis un vrai garçon" | 74 | 7 |
Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for their respective country. [18] For the first time, the spokespersons were connected to the venue via satellite rather than through telephone lines, allowing them to appear in vision during the broadcast. [2] [6] [25] Spokespersons at the 1994 contest are listed below. [32]
Jury voting was used to determine the points awarded by all countries. [25] The announcement of the results from each country was conducted in the order in which they performed, with the spokespersons announcing their country's points in English or French in ascending order. [32] [25] The detailed breakdown of the points awarded by each country is listed in the tables below.
Sweden | 48 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Finland | 11 | 1 | 10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Ireland | 226 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 8 | ||
Cyprus | 51 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | |||||||||||||||
Iceland | 49 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 4 | ||||||||||||
United Kingdom | 63 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | |||||||||
Croatia | 27 | 10 | 12 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Portugal | 73 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 6 | ||||||||||||
Switzerland | 15 | 8 | 2 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Estonia | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Romania | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Malta | 97 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 7 | |||||||||
Netherlands | 4 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Germany | 128 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 7 | |||||
Slovakia | 15 | 12 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Lithuania | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norway | 76 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 8 | ||||||||
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 39 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
Greece | 44 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | |||||||||||||||
Austria | 19 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||
Spain | 17 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Hungary | 122 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 12 | 7 | |||||||
Russia | 70 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 1 | ||||||||
Poland | 166 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 12 | ||||
France | 74 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 6 |
The below table summarises how the maximum 12 points were awarded from one country to another. The winning country is shown in bold. Ireland received the maximum score of 12 points from eight of the voting countries, with Poland receiving five sets of 12 points, Hungary receiving four sets, Germany two sets, and Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal and Slovakia each receiving one maximum score. [50] [51]
N. | Contestant | Nation(s) giving 12 points |
---|---|---|
8 | Ireland | Croatia , Germany , Iceland , Netherlands , Norway , Portugal , Russia , Switzerland |
5 | Poland | Austria , Estonia , France , Lithuania , United Kingdom |
4 | Hungary | Ireland , Finland , Poland , Sweden |
2 | Germany | Hungary , Romania |
1 | Croatia | Slovakia |
Cyprus | Greece | |
Greece | Cyprus | |
Malta | Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
Portugal | Spain | |
Slovakia | Malta |
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers. [20] Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Australia | SBS | SBS TV [lower-alpha 3] | [82] | |
Belgium | BRTN | TV2 | André Vermeulen | [83] [84] |
RTBF | RTBF1 | Jean-Pierre Hautier | [83] [85] | |
Denmark | DR | DR TV | Jørgen de Mylius | [86] |
Israel | IBA | Channel 1 | [87] | |
Slovenia | RTVSLO | SLO 1 | [88] | |
Val 202 | ||||
Turkey | TRT | TRT 1 | [89] |
Although the winning song had modest success, peaking in the Irish Singles Chart at number 2 and also entering the Dutch and Flemish charts following the contest, [90] [91] it was largely overshadowed by the contest's interval act. The music to "Riverdance" was subsequently released as a single shortly after the contest and shot straight to number 1 on the Irish charts where it remained for 18 weeks. [92] [93] As of 2023 [update] "Riverdance" remains the second best selling single in Ireland ever, behind Elton John's "Something About the Way You Look Tonight"/"Candle in the Wind 1997". [93] [94] An invite was subsequently given to feature the original seven-minute performance at the Royal Variety Performance in November 1994 at the Dominion Theatre in London in the presence of Prince Charles. [95] At the same time preparations were underway to develop the seven-minute performance into a stage show, preparations led by Moya Doherty, who had been the executive producer of Eurovision 1994, and her husband John McColgan. [96] [97] Opening in February 1995 at the Point Theatre and featuring original lead dancers Michael Flatley and Jean Butler, the full length show ran for an initial run of five weeks, with tickets selling out within three days of going on sale, followed by another sold-out run at the Hammersmith Apollo in London and in March 1996 its first performance in the United States, at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. [93] [98] [99] It is estimated that Riverdance has now been seen live by over 27.5 million people at performances worldwide, and that over 10 million home videos of Riverdance performances have been sold. [96]
The relegation system introduced to the contest in this edition continued to be used in various forms for the next ten years and allowed even more new countries to join the event, with Macedonia, Latvia and Ukraine competing for the first time in 1998, 2000 and 2003 respectively. [100] [101] [102] However, as the contest continued to develop, and as even more countries began to express an interest in competing, the relegation system proved unable to meet the needs required to allow for an equitable solution for all countries. Ultimately this led to the introduction of a semi-final to the contest format in 2004, allowing all interested countries to participate once again, which was eventually expanded to two semi-finals from 2008. [5] [103] [104]
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the 42nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) and presented by Carrie Crowley and Ronan Keating, the contest was held in Ireland following the country's victory at the 1996 contest with the song "The Voice" by Eimear Quinn. The 1997 contest was the seventh – and to date last – edition to be staged in Ireland, as well as the fourth to be produced by RTÉ in five years. The Point Theatre served as the host venue for the third time, following the 1994 and 1995 contests, becoming the only venue to have been the site of three Eurovision Song Contests.
Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "They Can't Stop the Spring" written by John Waters and Tommy Moran. The song was performed by the band Dervish, which was internally selected in November 2006 by the Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) to represent the nation at the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland. RTÉ organised the national final Eurosong 2007 to select the song that Dervish would perform. Four songs faced a public televote, ultimately resulting in the selection of "They Can't Stop the Spring" as the Irish entry.
Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "We've Got the World" written by Martin Brannigan and Keith Molloy. The song was performed by Mickey Joe Harte. The Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) returned to the Eurovision Song Contest after a one-year absence following their withdrawal in 2002 as one of the bottom six countries in the 2001 contest. The Irish entry for the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia was selected through the music competition series You're a Star, organised by RTÉ. The competition consisted of 20 shows and concluded with a final, resulting in the selection of "We've Got the World" performed by Mickey Joe Harte as the Irish Eurovision entry after facing a public televote.
Ireland was represented by Johnny Logan with the song "Hold Me Now" in the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest in Brussels.
Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Et Cetera" written by Niall Mooney, Jonas Gladnikoff, Daniele Moretti and Christina Schilling. The song was performed by Sinéad Mulvey and the band Black Daisy. The Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) organised the national final Eurosong 2009 in order to select the Irish entry for the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia. Six songs faced the votes of four regional juries and a public televote, ultimately resulting in the selection of "Et Cetera" performed by Sinéad Mulvey and Black Daisy as the Irish Eurovision entry.
Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Waterline" written by Nick Jarl and Sharon Vaughn. The song was performed by the duo Jedward, who had previously represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011 where they achieved eighth place with the song "Lipstick". The Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) organised the national final Eurosong 2012 in order to select the Irish entry for the 2012 contest in Baku, Azerbaijan. Five songs faced the votes of five regional juries and a public televote, ultimately resulting in the selection of "Waterline" performed by Jedward as the Irish Eurovision entry.
Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "Only Love Survives" written by Wez Devine and Ryan Dolan. The song was performed by Ryan Dolan. The Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) organised the national final Eurosong 2013 in order to select the Irish entry for the 2013 contest in Malmö, Sweden. Five songs faced the votes of five regional juries and a public televote, ultimately resulting in the selection of "Only Love Survives" performed by Ryan Dolan as the Irish Eurovision entry.
Russia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, held on 30 April 1994 at the Point Theater in Dublin, Ireland. The Russian broadcaster RTR organised a public selection process to determine its entry for the contest. Held on 12 March 1994 in Moscow, the event saw nine songs compete to be the Russian entry; the results were determined by the jury panel. The song "Vechny strannik", written by Lev Zemlinski and Piligrim, and performed by Youddiph received the most votes and was selected to represent the nation. Russia performed 23rd out of the 25 countries competing in the contest and at the close of the voting process, finished in 9th place, receiving 70 points.
Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 in Dublin, Ireland. The Russian broadcaster Russian Public Television (ORT) internally selected Philipp Kirkorov with the song "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana", written by Ilya Bershadskiy and Ilya Resnik, to represent the nation. Prior to Kirkorov's selection, ORT organised a public selection process to select the Russian entrant. While the event did take place, the jury could not decide on the winner of selection and ultimately opted to choose the artist internally.
Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Heartbeat" written by Jonas Gladnikoff, Rasmus Palmgren, Patrizia Helander and Hazel Kaneswaran. The song was performed by Can-linn featuring Kasey Smith. The Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) organised the national final Eurosong 2014 in order to select the Irish entry for the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. Five songs faced the votes of five regional juries and a public televote, ultimately resulting in the selection of "Heartbeat" performed by Can-linn featuring Kasey Smith as the Irish Eurovision entry.
Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Playing with Numbers" written by Greg French and Molly Sterling. The song was performed by Molly Sterling. The Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) organised the national final Eurosong 2015 in order to select the Irish entry for the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria. Five songs faced the votes of five regional juries and a public televote, ultimately resulting in the selection of "Playing with Numbers" performed by Molly Sterling as the Irish Eurovision entry.
Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits was a live television concert programme organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest. The concert took place on 31 March 2015 at the Eventim Apollo, in Hammersmith, London. Guy Freeman was the executive producer and Geoff Posner the director, both of whom held the same positions as the last time the BBC hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998. Simon Proctor was the senior producer and David Arch was the musical director for the concert. Tickets for the event went on sale at 10:15 (GMT) on 6 February 2015.
Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy with the song "That's Rich" performed by Brooke. The Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) organised the national final Eurosong 2022 in order to select the Irish entry for the 2022 contest. Six songs faced the votes of an international jury, a studio jury and a public televote which ultimately resulted in the selection of the Irish Eurovision entry.
For the first time since the 1970s participants were free to choose which language they performed in.
The orchestra also saw their days numbered as, from 1997, full backing tracks were allowed without restriction, meaning that the songs could be accompanied by pre-recorded music instead of the live orchestra.