23.05.2003 | Eurovisionlive in the commentator-box!
| We had the honour making exclusive photographs out of a commentator-box. There is a lot to do for the commentator, the telephone always rings and lines were checked. The is a special channel with a different scoreboard - you can have the complete overview at a glance, who will get 12 point and 10 points.
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23.05.2003 | Russia's party was the hightlight of the Eurovision!
| The first rehearsal this afternoon has been quite problematically. Some spots even haven't been made. The Russians had to break off after the first seconds, only Elena was singing along. Now we all have to be expect that t.A.T.u. are going to make something crazy. All this has occurred many boos. Will they be disqualified for that? They are coming here everyday with their helicopter!
The new motto is called "A magical rendezvous". You are going to be surprised that the intro is a bit different from all intros in former years. Everything is different - but very well made. There is also going to be a small film about Riga which will be guided by Marie N and Reinars. All the postcards and video sequences are made in the video clip style - very modern. In the interval act there are two video clips one by Brainstorm and one from Marie N. The short reprise of all the songs running backwards for the first time. That's good for the songs at the beginning to be heard once again - so they are a bit longer in the viewer's mind.
Especially Iceland appears gorgeously on stage. Without any doubts it is one of the best songs this year and has the best stage. But also Turkey is very strong, too. There were standing ovations in the Skonto Hall as well as in the press center. Mando from Greece wears the bomb-dress. You can see almost everything, but we all must cross the finger for Mando that the straps will hold on Saturday. The French singer will be barefoot on stage and the Ukraine will present a contorsionist from the circus on stage. A very good presentation can be expected from Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Norway and Spain. The German contribution belongs to the average. The lightening was missing at the beginning and the background singers were standing in the dark! The Greenroom is situated directly behind the stage, so during the voting procedure the singers can be live in the hall!
A colleague from the Ukraine said that Lou's song "Let's get happy" has been written originally for the Ukraine, but they refused!
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23.05.2003 | Russia's party was the hightlight of the Eurovision!
| There are always parties and receptions at Eurovision. But never a a reception has been to special like the Russian. The girls of t.A.T.u. really have been there, but a little bit nerved by all the reporters. They could not even have a drink of their own. Getting an interview would have been like winning the lottery. We have tried so hard and have been so close! more--> 
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22.05.2003 | Receptions, parties and gossip
| Eurovision also means to watch and being watched. Due to that there are many occasions like parties and receptions of the participating countries. Here the journalists, artists and fans compete for the country's specialties. Yesterday there has been the German-Polish reception in the small guilde. Lou, Ich Troje as well as Mando and Lior Narkis gave their performance. The atmosphere exceeded in the Israeli community - all the Israeli entries were played. Nobody could refuse to dance when songs like "Diva" (Dana International), "Hallelujah" (Gali Atari & Milk and Honey), "Hi" (Ofra Haza) and "Ole Ole" (Izhar Cohen) were played. more-->
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22.05.2003 | Ralph Siegel glaenzte bei der deutschen Pressekonfernz
| Wie immer war die deutsche Pressekonfernz sehr gut besucht. Hier gab Lou noch einmal ihren Song zum besten. Ralph Siegel wurde hier in den Himmel gelobt. Er hat immerhin 17 mal einen Beitrage zum internationalen Finale geschickt - 13 mal fuer Deutschland. Hier schien selbst die Presse aus den USA (New York Times) eigens wegen Ralph Siegel amgereist zu sein. Doch wie sich hinterher herausstellte, lebt die Dame aus Berlin und spricht perfekt deutsch. Die israelischen Journalisten lobten Ralph Siegel fuer seinen grossen Hit 1979 "Dschingisk Khan", der angeblich heute noch im Radio in Israel Tag und Nacht gespielt wird.
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21.05.2003 | A fantastic stage!!
| There were always new ideas in the creation of the Eurovision stage. This year the floor is made of glass and can be lightened from below. So every entry can be set on scene at its best. That's a great advantage for the Netherlands. There are comets guiding Esther on the way to her microphone. Poland has chosen a rotating globe, which can also be seen on the floor. more-->
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20.05.2003 | t.A.T.u. consider Latvia, Riga and the stage as awful!
| The delayed Russian singers arrived today in Riga. On the railway-station there were many photographers waiting. The rehearsal was only 15 minutes long. They were laughing and they were not singing really, they obviously didn´t take it seriously.
The press conference was really outragous. The media interest was very high. The girls appeared as arrogant and unfriendly. They love it to provoke the people. They were saying that Latvia, Riga and the stage is awful. Furthermore they are going to sleep in one narrow bed together in their hotel. They were also laughing about a newspaper, which claimed that t.A.T.u. are going to be married in Germany. Finally Yulia and Elena received laughter and boos.
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20.05.2003 | State Reception was a huge success!
| The official state reception was a great success for all. Here you had the chance to meet the most of the participants, to chat and to listen to the entertainment program. After that it was great to dance in the Voodoo Club - the official Euroclub. The greatest hits of the evening were "A beautiful summerday" by Karmen (Slovenia), "Dime" by Beth (Spain) "Everyway that I can" by Sertab Enerer (Turkey) and "Many words of love" by Lior Narkis (Israel). Here Europe really get united and celebrates: from Iceland to Israel and from Finland to Portugal. more-->
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19.05.2003 | Lou gives everything!
| Today Germany also had it's first rehearsal. With full of verve and enthusiasm she began to impress the audience along with here colorful background-singers. Not too bad for now.
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19.05.2003 | Great presentation of Turkey
| One of the most extravagant entries this year is coming from Turkey. The singer Ertab knows her talent and to realize it on stage. Even if she couldn't bring the Topkapi-Palace with her, but she uses Turkish dancers with lots of cloth. The dancers or harems ladies look like wild cats who crawl on stage. Great!
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19.05.2003 | The Eurovision week has now started
| At 9 o clock in the morning the rehearsals were about to start, soundcheck, lightening, and a lot more. The opening of the rehearsals was made by Brigitta from Iceland. Her catchy song "Open your heart" received a warm applause by the audience. On the first starting position, Iceland is able to proof that the Eurovision Song Contest is full of modern pop-music. In the press-conference they were singing "Waterloo" and catched all hearts of the press.
In a total contrast there is the Austrian entry. The fascinating stage is decorated with cheap papier-maché-figures. But that is quite suitable for the Austrian entry.
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18.05.2003 | Slovenia was changed with Slovakia!
| Today there were Marie and Reinars on stage and were testing how the Ukraine is pronounced on French, because there was a first test for the voting-procedure. But there was made a big mistake on the map of Europe, which is shown during the voting-process. There was called Slovenia, but the map showed Slovakia! Hopefully it will be changed until Saturday!
Flowers and Gum!
Even if the theme "Planet Latvia" should domain the contest, the whole presentation will be animated with flowers! Surprisingly those are made of gum. But it looks very cool and is funny. The relation to the flowers comes from the great attitude of the Latvians to flowers. Everywhere in Riga you can see flowers and you can buy them all night long. Very nice Latvia!
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18.05.2003 | The first images of the stage
| On Sunday we had the opportunity to walk into the Skonto Hall for the first time. The first impression was fantastic. The stage is illuminated, colored and appears really modern. The round elements make it very futuristic.
Modern Scoreboard
In former years people invented so many new effects concering the scoreboard: more animation, more colorful, more effects. But this year there is a total new thing. The order of the countries can be changee in the voting-procedure after each point, so that everybody can see at a glance, how the actual position of each country is. That's even more exciting!
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18.05.2003 | The Eurovisionlive-Team has arrived safely in Riga!
| The Eurovisionlive-Team has arrived safely in Riga! Jens and Bernd enjoyed a cosy flight in a small Fokker 50 of the Air Baltic with a cool glass of vodka-orange. There was a great view on the Baltic Sea.
The first impression of the Skonto Hall was fascinating. Here we already met the presentors Marie N and Reinars Kaupers, who were not really made up for an interview.
Riga is a wonderful mediaveal city, which has a lot to offer. As we were walking through this fascinating city we felt in love with Riga. At the end we were lucky to watch the sunset over the Daugava-river.
The nightlife of Riga is unusual for us. The people here were dancing polka all night long! Tired and exhauste we were fall in our beds… more-->
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09.05.2003 | High technical standard in Riga
| In Riga will be 1,500 journalists accredited for Eurovision Song Contest
Final. But the number of Internet connections in the Press Center will be
limited to 100 fixed connection points. Therefore in the whole area of the Skonto
Hall are create a Wireless Internet LAN. It will be
available in all halls, cafes and lobbies. This technology ensures data
exchange speed of up to 11 MBit/s. These are the best possibilities for the
eurovisionlive.com team to report from the Contest
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09.05.2003 | Eurovision Song Contest not so high as aspected in Germany
| This year in Germany is the interest in the Eurovision Song Contest not so
high as aspected. The journal "TV Spielfilm" asked 500 readers in the age from
18 to 45 years and the result is one of the worst of the last years. 10
percent of the asked readers will show the grand prix evening in the TV. Only one
percent means that the German entry could get the winner. Opposite of it 42
percent are convince that Lou and her song "Lets get happy" get a place on
the end of the scale. 33 percent dont know the song!
In 2002 watched near by 9.75 millions of people in Germany the broadcast
from Tallin. This means a share of the TV market for the ARD of 38,2 percent on
this evening.
Every fifth of the asked people wants to like to see Alexander Klaws or
Daniel Küblböck from RTL "Superstar" at the Eurovision Song Contest. Nearly 36
percent means that for Germany should start a popular popsinger as in Russia
the t.A.T.u girls who have great success in various Europeen countries as
number one hits.
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24.04.2003 | eurovisionlive Team in Riga
| The team of Eurovisionlive is going to be live on the scene in Riga. We are going to have interesting interviews with the singers and the participants of the Eurovision Song Contest. We are also going to bring daily reports with all the necessary things about the Eurovision Song Contest and Riga.
Here is now your occasion to put your questions, which we are going to include in our interviews.  info@eurovisionlive.com
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| The Stage
| The stage in the Skonto-Hall really comes a long with the motto of this years' Eurovision Song Contest "Planet Latvia". It looks like a galaxy with stars, celestial bodies and illuminated rings. There is going to be a ground of glass and the lightning is going to be unique, which the world has never seen before.
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| The Presentors
| The presentators of the 48th Eurovision Song Contest will be the two formerly Latvian contestants Marie N. and Reynard Cowper. The both young musicians would like to present a humorous and pleasant show, full of positive energy.
Marie N. brought the crown to Latvia last year in Tallinn with a very extraordinary latino-perfomance of "I wanna" (just think of the transformation into the pink dress). She was chosen in Latvia as the "European of the year" last year. In the meantime she has recorded an album called "On a journey" and also has been on stage in the USA.
Reynard came third in Stockholm 2000 with his band Brainstorm and "My star". Brainstorm took the Eurovision as a springboard for an international career. You will find Brainstorm in the charts in Latvia, Estonia, Scandinavia, Belgium and Germany.
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| The Skonto-Hall
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| The Eurovision Song Contest will take place in the Skonto-Hall in Riga. The venue is situated in the city center of Riga and has 8,100 m². The hall has already been used as Olympic venue, since then it often staged sport events. On the 24th of may there will be 6,095 seats available for the audience!
It wasn't clear at the beginning, if such a big international festival could take place in Latvia at all. There were three suggestions and the Skonto-Hall has been chosen. That venue is modern and roofed (the ceiling is 23 m high!).
Due to the capacity of the venue, not all citizens of Riga fit in the auditorium, there will be a big screen in the center of Riga for the live-transmission - like in Tallinn last year. Even though the event can be watched not only by television, also the internet will broadcast the Contest. This is especially interesting for people from countries, where it's not broadcasted via television. The show is going to take 3 hours and 10 minutes and the interval act will take 6 to 7 minutes and there will perform Latvian artists. The whole arrangement of the Eurovision will cost about 4 Mio. Lats (approximately 8 Mio. Euro).
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