For the first time Greece took part in 1974 they brought the crown to Athens! Helena had the special winning-smile in her face all the time and she has been the megastar here in Kiev. She has deserved to win with 230 points and she could even trump her third place in Copenhagen 2001.
On the second rank came Malta with 192 points, Romania on third rank with 158 point, then Israel and Latvia. Grandma Boonika from Moldova came 6th! Absolutely far behind the other came the Big Four countries (Spain, United Kingdom, France and Germany). The host country Ukraine came 19th. And last but not least Germany with four points only (from Monaco and Moldova). So sad for Gracia, her song “Run and Hide” wasn't that bad. The Greek party will definitely go on all night long here in Kiev as well as in Athens!

Now the day of the days has come – the 50th Eurovision Song Contest will be held at 21.00 CET and broadcasted all over the world. The atmosphere is great and you can feel that there is the certain tenseness. This a truly act of state – no less then Ukraine's President Jutschenko is going to hand over the winner trophy – a golden fern!
German singer Gracia is far behind in the bettings, but as we all know from Eurovision history you can rely on that bettings anymore. Due to rumours Norway has won the semifinal and let the others far behind. Walther from Latvia had no voice anymore and Kazha had to sing alone last night during the rehearsal. But tonight they will both sing for sure. Generally said this years final is quite rocky and ballads are in the minority. The taste of music has definitely changed a lot over the years.

Last night there were some problems here in front of the Sports Palace in Kiev. Behind the barriers there were hostile demonstrators who wanted to destroy the good image the Ukraine will receive while broadcasting the event throughout the world. Also aggressive was Angelica Agurbash from Belarus after not qualifying for the final. Supposedly she should have swirled chairs and tables around! A bit more peaceful was the first dress rehearsal of the final. The intro is really well made and much better then in the semifinal. Ruslana is going to present two new songs “The Same Star” and “Heart on Fire” iat the beginning. The Klitschko Brothers will officially open the voting procedure.

The semifinal is over and Europe has decided. Due to unforeseen reasons some countries could not qualify for the final on Saturday: the Netherlands and Iceland. But therefore Macedonia and Croatia qualified. Maybe the televoting system is not the best and fair minded and political reasons dominate. Latvia is on the 23rd position now and has quite good chances for Saturday, as well as Switzerland with the 22nd position. But on the other hand beside of the “Eastern disposition” there are the “old” countries who gained like Norway, Israel and Denmark! However it's going to be very exciting!

The most famous Ukrainian personalities are without any doubt the Klitschko-Brothers. They are going to appear on Saturday night during the Eurovision Song Contest – as well as Ruslana. We have met Vladimir Klitschko and he has answered us some question how he feels.

The second dress rehearsal of the semifinal took place last night and it has been quite impressive. In the arena the show appears differently than on TV. Generally said, it's going to be very very colourful - from pop to rock, from folklore to kitsch. It's like a big candy-box. But exactly this is what people want from Eurovision. The hosts are a bit worthy, a bit goofy - the interval act is as always with lots of dance and acrobatics. The postcards show impressive images of the new Ukraine.

Today eurovisionlive.com had the chance to take a look behind the scenes of the Eurovision Song Contest. Honestly, we were a bit disappointed by the fact that everything is quite simple: the artist-rooms are extremely small – a whole delegation will have some problems inside. But on the other hand beside of the mask and so on there is a shoe- and clothes-repair-service! We were able to watch the Turkish team considering the latest camera and light effects on stage in the “Viewing-Room”. Unfortunately it was not possible yet to take a look into the Green-Room. This will be a secret until the end! The rehearsals were all quite satisfactory. Surprisingly Serbia-Montenegto had a brilliant rehearsal with an interesting dance as well as Cyprus with a very sexy choreography. A bit disappointing were Spain – they were just turn up their skirts and Germany – the whole stage appears just black and Gracia suffered from some voice problems. There are many drums on stage by almost every third participant. Probably all the effort is worth nothing because a plain contribution is going to win!

The Sunday was quite calm here in Kiev. No drama happened, but one of the Irish background-dancers was fallen from stage during the press conference. The German singer Gracia has arrived with her delegation. David Brandes belongs now to the Swiss delegation. The rumour about Albania's participation has not been proved true. It was just a media-joke to bring Albania into focus. Otherwise nobody would remember her strange song.
The team of eurovisionlive.com has utilized that beautiful sunny day to explore the city of Kiev. It was really worth it. In the evening the first receptions have been held: Slovenia and Belarus. The Belarusian party was hard to enter - only V.I.P. people were allowed to get in at the beginning, after a British journalist has complained. For the first time there were singers from the final: Chiara from Malta and Helena from Greece.
Here is the official stamp with Ruslana!

Moldova has been highly expected on stage and at the press conference today. This year they are having their debut at Eurovision. And the most interesting thing is that Grandmother Boonika is on stage - she is coming from the countryside of Moldova. On stage she is sitting in her swing-chair and is listening to that rocky tune but at the end she jumps up and beating the big bass-drum as hell as you would never ever expect that. The audience was absolutely fascinated. This will give Moldova as a debut country a very special significance in the Eurovision history - if they qualify or not.
Belarus is unbelievable. The whole arrangement is quite ridiculous. Angela is beautiful - no question, she is really able to present three different dresses within three minutes. Everything far to exaggerated and reminds us to the style of Army of Lovers with frills. The voice is not very strong and that's the problem if you want to give everything.
Portugal was quite disappointing today. They heavily want to win and that's not good. The choreography is not well made, while the song is not bad at all. It appears a bit chumming up. With her hair-fashion she looks like a Portuguese chicken from Porto Gallo. On the other side Monaco and also Israel are really good on stage and effect goose bumps. An absolute thrill is Glennis Grace from the Netherlands - the has probably the biggest chances to qualify for the final.

The second day here at "Eurovision-Village" is much more relaxed than the first one. Today there are rehearsals from Romania to Poland. Interestingly Vanilla Ninja (Switzerland) already appeared on stage. Reportedly there should be a surprise on stage - but nothing happened so far - just two of the girls throw each other on the ground with their guitars. Marian from Andorra had serious voice problems. Romania was impressive with the drums on stage, Hungary had a cool dancing and Finland was very good due to the great chorus. Kaffe from Bulgaria mad indeed a great performance. Unlike Macedonia - the song does not appear professional - but as he told in the press conference that this is far his best song ever! Ireland had a terrible appearance - the voices are not harmonic at all - it almost appears that they are yelling and additionally Joseph can't move to the music! This is cheap version of Riverdance. There are rumors that Albania probably will not appear on stage or will send another song. There is nothing really new, but Ruslana will appear on a special stamp.

Now the Eurovision-week has begun. The eurovisionlive.com-team has arrived safely. On the first sight Kiev and the Ukraine appears quite west-orientated. This year's motto is calles "Awakening" and of course it is an allusion to the Orange revolution which took place in the Ukraine at the end of 2004. The Ukraine now would like to show the world how modern and progressive this country is. And the Ukraine also fancies to join the EU. The creative people of the Ukraine have invented a lot to this topic. Green and blue are the dominating colours, ferns and forests should arouse the relation to Ukraine's nature.
The stage definitely tops last year's stage from Istanbul. The world's newest technology will be used - the lightening itself weights over 83 tonnes! A Swedish production team is responsible for the stage.
Ruslana won't host the contest as earlier announced - instead Masha (Maria Efrosnina) will do her job. But Ruslana will appear otherwise at the live-transmission.
We also have to point out that there have been and still are significant organisational problems. The security staff doesn't speak English at all and everyone is frisked on every way two or three times! There are also very long ways from the hall to the press center and that makes it all a bit more complicated.

The eurovisionlive.com team will be on the spot from May 11th to 22nd in Kiev. There will be lots of live-interviews with the singers and participants, interesting background reports and the latest news. This year it's going to be more exciting than ever: it's the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest. For the first time such a big event will take place in the Ukraine. How well prepared is Kiev? How will all the international guests be welcomed? Are there any special issues for the jublee? We are pleased to receive questions and suggestions from you!

Time is running - in about three weeks time the offical Eurovision is going to begin. The city of Kiev has many ideas to make a trip to Kiev unforgettable for the masses of visitors, which are expected at Eurovision time. The tickets are already sold out for both the semifinal and final. There are also more than 1500 journalists from all over the world expected during the week of Eurovision. The problem is the accomodation. Where shall they all stay? The prices for hotels have risen up to 70-100% - it looks a bit like usury. The friends of Eurovision have to pay a high price this year! Due to our information there is a tent-village plant on an island on Dnjepr river, where up to 4000 people can be accomodated. A modern tent-village with LCD-screens where people can follow the rehearsals live from the Sport Palace as well as a shuttlebus-service. If you take a look on the weather map, it still looks quite frosty: 3 degrees at the moment! It seems to be a real wintercamp! It's going to be quite interesting if the organisers will be able to be finished until May 11th. That's the big question!

The year is almost over, but the preperations for the jubilee of the Eurovision Song Contest have already started. Kiev in the Ukraine is the host city on May 21st 2005. The qualifying round will take place on Thursday 19th May in the Palats Sportu - in the centre of the town.

The 50th Eurovision Song Contest is going to be the biggest contest ever. More than 40 countries would like to take part, but only 40 can go. New countries this year will be Bulgaria, Moldova and Lebanon.