Eurovision
On 18 May 2006,the Eurovision Song Contest semi-final was held at the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens,hosted by the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) and broadcast live throughout the continent. As Finland had not finished in the top 10 at the previous contest,the song had to compete in the semi-finals. Lordi performed "Hard Rock Hallelujah" sixteenth on the evening [2] and received 292 points,placing first in a field of twenty-three-strong field and qualifying for the final. [3]
On 20 May 2006,in the grand final for the Eurovision Song Contest,Lordi performed "Hard Rock Hallelujah" seventeenth on the evening. [4]
Having led the voting for most of the telecast,it ultimately received 292 points again,winning the competition,breaking the previous record –held by "Wild Dances" by Ruslana –for the highest points tally in contest history as well as achieving the unusual feat of exactly emulating its semi-final points tally. [5] It was the country's first win and was voted as the most popular Finnish Eurovision entry in the forty years the country had participated. [6] It held the record for most points until it was beaten by "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak for Norway with 387 points three years later. It was the second Eurovision song with the word "hallelujah" in its title,the first one being Israel's "Hallelujah",which also got first place at the Eurovision Song Contest 1979.
The semifinal and final performances of "Hard Rock Hallelujah" at Eurovision were similar;the lead singer,Mr Lordi,stated before the final that the only planned changes were that "We'll scream louder. And turn the amps up." The performance took place on a fairly bare stage,with banks of video monitors in the back displaying abstract images of fire,and the band in their usual monster costumes.
The band brought a hat including the flag of Finland to the performance,worn by Mr Lordi in the actual performance and by Amen during the encore after the winning. For the final performances Mr Lordi also used two official stage props from Lordi's live concerts:a two-headed battle axe and bat-like wings. During the whole performance,the band members remained relatively stationary,with the exception of guitarist Amen,who hopped back and forth energetically.
The song had frequent use of pyrotechnics,starting with flames bursting from the stage during the song's introduction,and bursts of sparks,particularly during the chorus. The final chorus of the song had an extended pyrotechnic display,with the whole stage covered in sparks,including jets shooting from the ends of Amen's guitar and Ox's bass as they were being played,and from the two-headed axe that Mr Lordi held up above his head. The encore performance after they were announced the winners was much simpler,as the pyrotechnics were obviously not available and Mr Lordi's wings did not unfurl.
Aftermath
On 26 May 2006,Lordi broke the Guinness World Record of karaoke singing when approximately 80,000 people gathered to sing "Hard Rock Hallelujah" in Helsinki's Market Square,to celebrate their victory in Eurovision. [7] [8]
As the winning broadcaster,the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) gave Yle the responsibility to host the following edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. The grand final held on 12 May 2007,opened with a filmed sequence from "Arctic Circle,Finland,Rovaniemi" in which the band began to sing "Hard Rock Hallelujah",cutting to the band performing on the Eurovision stage mid-song. They also presented the trophy to the winner. [9]
On 31 March 2015,Lordi performed the song in the Eurovision sixtieth anniversary show Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits held in London. [10] [11] On 22 May 2021,the interval act "Rock the Roof" in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 grand final features "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Lordi. [12]
