Open selection anounced!

Today TROS, the Dutch broadcaster responsible for Eurovision, presented its plans for the new Eurovision season. Untill 30 September everyone gets the to enter a song by physically coming to Hilversum to submit their entry to the mailbox in the backyard of the TROS headquarters. All submissions will be filmed by a camera that is standby 24/7. A jury will select 6 to 7 songs that will have to compete against eachother in a grand finale that is to take place in January 2012. Many artist already revealed to be interested to join in, TROS manager Peter Kuipers revealed on this rainy afternoon in Hilversum.

If dates don't change Israel cannot participate

According to national law however, Israel cannot particpate in international events on Christmas eve and jewish holidays. When a date for the Eurovision Song Contest is revealed by the EBU it is very unlikely that it will be changed, especially regarding the fact that the final of the soccer Champions League will take place the weekend preceding the Song Contest.

Another problem regarding the Israeli participation next year concern security, as Azerbaijan borders Iran. A possible Israeli participation would increse the security costs substantially for organising Azerbaijan.

Source:Ynet, Alleshow.nl

Eurovision tracks doing well around Europe.

Winning track Running scared can be found in several countries'charts this week, as is the Irish song, the UK entry, Sweden's Eric Saade and several other tracks. Eurovision-sceptic Netherlands even has 6 of this year's entries in it's national charts.

See all about the Eurovision songs in the charts by clicking the link below.

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Germany Still Eurovision mad!

With the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest just a few days behind us, germany still seems obsessed by the contest. In today's ITunes Download top 10 in Germany, Irish Jedward features on the first place, followed by UK Entry I can on number 3, the Danish entry on 4, Stefan Raab's Rockabilly version of Satellite on 5, the winning Azerbaijani song on 7 and finally Eric Saade's Popular (Sweden) on the 9th place. Jedward also is number one in their homecountry as well as in Austria. The Greeks have the Greek entry on the first spot. See how your favourite tunes are doing in the ITunes download top 10 here.

Azerbaijani ambassador welcomes all British Eurovision fans

Homosexuality has been decriminalised in the country bordering Iran, but claims exsist that both male and female gays in the country still suffer police harassment and brutality. In response to the concerns raised, the Azerbaijani ambassador in the United Kingdom expressed his thoughts on the subject in today's Times. He welcomed all British Eurovision fans to his country next year andstresses that when they joined the Council of Europe the country removed all legislation that discriminated against minorities (by nationality, gender, sexual orientation or religion) from its statute books, and that subsequently there never has been taken a negative position on these issues in the council's debates and votes.

Source: Times

Rumours denied by TROS

After ending up on the last position in this year's Eurovision Song Contest, the Dutch have already started thinking about who to send next year. Even though TROS manager Peter Kuipers had already stated a name would not be revealed shortly, a tweet by the relatively unknown band Vangrail, sent yesterday had Dutch fans thinking their hope for Baku was shortly to be announced. Vangrail had some hits in the Dutch charts but never made it higher than #49. Listen to one of their songs here . Dutch showbizz site Alleshow.nl asked Dutch broadcaster if this band indeed will represent the netherlands next year, they denied the rumour. Source Alleshow.nl

Ever since the Nagorno-Karabakh War that started in the 1980's, and actually already before that, relationships between Eurovision winner Azerbaijan and neighbouring Armenia have been tense, to say the least. The same can be said about their relations when it comes to Eurovision, ever since Armenia entered the contest in 2006 and Azerbaijan doing the same two years later.

Now that Azerbaijan is entitled to organize the Eurovision Song Contest, a problem might emerge; Azerbaijan has banned the entry of Armenians to its territories. But banning another country to take part in the contest will surely not be allowed. So if Armenia does not withdraw volunteerly, we are very curious what will happen next year. Will Azerbaijan allow a Armenian delegation to enter the country, will they be able to guarantee the safety of them?

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Greece and Sweden won the semifinals

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Big efforts finally pay off...

After a season that has lasted nearly 9 months, we have new data for the music encyclopedia's of Europe. The title goes to Azerbaijan for the 1st time in Eurovision history. Azerbaijan only started participating 3 years ago, and has by far the most impressive opening record, never finishing outside of the top 10, and 3 top 5 placings. Competition seemed stiff at the start of the voting, but it would soon turn into Azerbaijan's favour forgood. Their final tally was 221. The runner-up was returnee Italy with 189 points, followed by Sweden with 185 points. Eurovision heads outside of European borders for the first time since 1999 in 2012, and we hope to be part of it again! Goodbye Dusseldorf! Find the results below.

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Proper protocol for celebrating tomorrow night!

The grand finale approaches. How will you celebrate - throwing your own party for 25 people with bratwurst and beer? Going to a bar and having cocktails and cigarettes in the smoking section? Sitting at home with your partner and kids, hoping they will fall asleep so you can hear the dulcet tones of Jedward?  Stuck outside Europe and watching on eurovision.tv in a Starbucks while sipping a pumpkin latte?

However you will watch the contest, be sure to remember the following for your ultimate Eurovision experience:

1. Vote tactically. A Eurovision in Baku vs a Eurovision in Paris. You do the math. And imagine a whole year of Jedward updates if Eurovision ends up in Ireland. Just think about it - Ireland is lovely but pick some other year to go there.
2. Beer plus liquor, never sicker. In your excitement over voting, remember what alcohol you are taking. Eurovision is all about FUN, not having blackouts the next day.
3. Avoid glitter and sequins. If you are hosting a party, remember that both glitter and sequins as brought by or given out to your guests are a bitch to vacuum up. You will be doing it for months - trust me.
4. Watch out for arm choreography. A Eurovision final is even better if you challenge everyone to take a drink when one of the following happens: someone pretends to fly when mentioning birds/angels/sky, someone reaches out as if they were grabbing something only to withdraw their hand slowly, general pointing at invisible things.
5. Don't do your own arm choreography. Leave this to the professionals. My own arm choreography once sent someone to a doctor the next day after I poked their eye.
6. Interval act protocol. It is acceptable not to watch the interval act and go make a phone call, smoke or talk to the person you've been eyeing all night who takes Eurovision very seriously. But remember, you might miss the next Riverdance, which was a genuinely thrilling piece of TV. And don't make phone calls during the voting... highly disturbing.
7. Keep tissues by your side. You may need them if Jedward win and you are crying over your loss. Or maybe you have pollen allergies, it's no fun sneezing on anyone else.

Ready for a Eurovision Afterparty?

Back from Düsseldorf, we are ready to share our finest musical moments from the Euroclub down there with you, in our very unofficial Eurovision afterparty in Utrecht. Don't want to say farewell to this year's contest yet? Feel like singing along to the best tunes of this year and recent years? Then join us in Utrecht on 4 June for yet another 3minutes 100% Eurovision party.

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The final countdown...

21:00 CET we'll be in Dusseldorf for the very last evening rehearsal. After 2 thrilling semifinals, we'll be crowning a new winner, or will we crown Lena? It's all about to happen in 24 hours. This is also the first evening rehearsal that has an audience. This will definately contribute to the jury voting, I suspect! 'Push forward' for the rolling blog!

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....tomorrow shortly after nine.

Tomorrow night the final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest will be held. The moment we've all been waiting for. The ten winning entries from the first semi final and the ten winning entries from the second semi final will be joined by Amaury from France, Blue from the United Kingdom, Lucía from Spain, Raphael from Italy and last but not least last year's winner Lena from Germany. These are the songs you can vote for, in the running order that now is complete:

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The second set of qualifiers.... and the rest...

Watch all performances by clicking the flags below.