Exactly twelve years ago, Kiev has been the host city already. After Ruslana’s fulminant victory with “Wild Dances” in Istanbul 2004, she brought the Eurovision crown to Ukraine for the first time in history. A country which has only participated once before, this can be seen as a turbo start. By coincidence, the Kiev ESC 2005 was also the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, the motto “Awakening” symbolized the political developments at that time. In that year there has been an additional gala show “Congratulations” in Copenhagen to determine the all-time favourite.

The city of Kiev has surprised many visitors who came here for the first time. Kiev is a friendly and attractive city with big streets and squares, classical European architecture and a mix of former Soviet buildings. The people were warm hearted and interested. It was a great atmosphere everywhere, Ukraine had the “Orange Revolution” and the country was open for Europe. The city was decorated with many ESC banners and the Palatsu Sport (ESC arena) has been wrapped in a striking green construction with light spots outside.

In 2005 there was only one Semi Final, and it was a big one with 25 participants and only 10 could go the Grand Final. The shows were hosted by Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko. The great stage was sold later on to the famous group U2. In that year there were some familiar singers back on the ESC stage such as Helena Paparizou, she has been performing for Greece and the group Antique in Copenhagen 2001 with “Die For You”  . This time she could even win as a solo artist with “My Number One” , the first time for Greece in history. The Maltese singer Chiara had her second ESC entry in Kiev after “The One That I Love”  and a 3rd place, she could top it with “Angel”  and made a fabulous 2nd place. And there was Constantinos Christoferou, who came 9th with “Móno Gia Más”  in Oslo 1996, and now could only reach the 18th place with “Ela Ela” . And there were two successful singers from the past, which did not make it into the Grand Final: Anabel Conde from Spain, who made the 2nd place with “Vuelve Conmigo” in 1995, but in this year she supported Marian van de Wal from Andorra with “La Mirada Interior” , this entry ended up 23rd in the Semi Final. The other singer was Selma Björnsdóttir, who also made a 2nd place with “All Out Of Luck”  back in Jerusalem 1999, but this year she could not reach the Grand Final neither with “If I Had Your Love” , which came 16th.

Another interesting fact was that the composer David Brandes had two entries in the contest, the German and the Swiss. The group for Switzerland came from Estonia – Vanilla Ninja.

The interval act was beautifully made, a mix of drums, Ruslana’s new song and the body artist Anatolly Zalevskly.

After an exciting voting procedure it became clear very soon that Greece might be the winner of the ESC 2005. At the end Greece could win “My Number One”. And these were the Top 5:

1. Greece (230 points)
2. Malta (192 points)
3. Romania (158 points)
4. Israel (154 points)
5. Latvia (153 points)

• Have a look in our photo gallery from 2005
• These were our specials (interview with Vladimir Klitschko, backstage tour)
• Our interviews with the singers 2005
• And the performances of the 39 entries
  
  

Author: Bernd LemmermannEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Public relations, Editor, Journalist

About me:
As one of the founders of eurovisionlive.com I am responsible for the interviews with the singers and the editorial content. My passion for the Eurovision Song Contest exists since my early childhood. The exotic music, different cultures and languages have given a lot of inspiration to me. Since my very first ESC in Dublin 1994 I particularly appreciate the get together and friendship of all the nationalities and Riverdance was a thrill!