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Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits

Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits (also known as Eurovision's Greatest Hits) was a live television concert programme organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest. The concert took place on 31 March 2015 at the Eventim Apollo, in Hammersmith, London. Guy Freeman was the executive producer and Geoff Posner the director, both of whom held the same positions as the last time the BBC hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998. Simon Proctor was the senior producer and David Arch was the musical director for the concert. Tickets for the event went on sale at 10:15 (GMT) on 6 February 2015.

Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits
Dates
Air date31 March 2015
Host
VenueEventim Apollo, Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom
Presenter(s)
Musical directorDavid Arch
Directed by
Executive supervisorJon Ola Sand
Executive producerGuy Freeman
Host broadcasterBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Graham Norton and Petra Mede hosted the event, which saw fifteen acts from thirteen countries performing their Eurovision entries from yesteryear. During the televised show, video montages from the Eurovision archives were shown in-between each live performance. The UK entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, "Still in Love with You" by Electro Velvet, was performed at the concert as the opening act, but never broadcast on the televised show. Riverdance performed a reprise of their Eurovision 1994 interval act as part of the anniversary celebrations.

Several countries confirmed that they would air the delayed broadcast of the concert on various dates that suited the broadcasters' schedules, including Australia, who first competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 as a wildcard entry. The host broadcaster BBC and the Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) simulcast the show on Good Friday, 3 April 2015, across BBC One and RTÉ 2. In turn, several countries chose not to broadcast the event, including Luxembourg, who had an act taking part.

Location

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The Eventim Apollo, London

Confirmation came on 3 February 2015 that the concert event would take place at the Eventim Apollo, in Hammersmith, London.[1] This was the first time that London hosted a Eurovision event since the Eurovision Dance Contest 2007.[2]

Organisation

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It was announced on 22 October 2014 that the EBU had appointed the British broadcaster BBC to co-produce a special anniversary show to celebrate sixty years of the Eurovision Song Contest, similar to the show Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place in 2005. The BBC's Entertainment department had been commissioned to host the 50th Anniversary show from the Royal Albert Hall in 2005 but this had to be declined as the BBC wouldn't commit to broadcasting the show. The details regarding the title of the show were unknown at the time the announcement was made.[3][4]

The EBU later issued the following statement regarding the 60th anniversary: "There are various exciting proposals from member broadcasters on the table to celebrate the 60th anniversary beyond the contest in May, which are currently in the final stages of being evaluated. A decision is expected shortly, so stay tuned!".[5] Edgar Böhm, executive producer of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest said in an interview that the BBC had been chosen to host a special anniversary show.[6] Guy Freeman was appointed as executive producer for the event, assisted by Senior Producer Simon Proctor, the script was co-written by Edward af Sillén, Daniel Réhn, Christine Rose and Simon Proctor whilst the director was Geoff Posner, who had previously directed the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 in Birmingham.[1]

Presenters

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Hosts Graham Norton and Petra Mede, during the show at the Eventim Apollo.

On 3 February 2015, it was announced that Graham Norton and Petra Mede would co-host the concert show.[7] Norton, who co-hosted the Eurovision Dance Contest with Claudia Winkleman in 2007 and 2008,[8] is also the current Eurovision TV commentator for the United Kingdom, serving since 2009.[9] Norton would later go-on to co-host the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Mede was the host of Melodifestivalen 2009 (Swedish national selection show),[10] host of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013[11] and later co-host of the 2016[12] and 2024 contests.

Tickets

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Tickets for the anniversary concert went on sale from 10:15 (GMT) on 6 February 2015 via the BBC's Eurovision website and the Eurovision Song Contest's official website.[13]

Programme

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The concert was recorded live on 31 March 2015 at the Eventim Apollo, London; allowing participating broadcasters the freedom to air the programme on a date and channel that was convenient for their broadcasting schedules.[14] Fifteen artists, representing thirteen countries, took part in the sixtieth anniversary gala event.[15] The first-ever winner of the contest (in 1956), Lys Assia, appeared in the audience as a guest of honour. During the broadcast, video montages were shown prior to each entry, showing footage for that particular year's contest, ending with Eurovision Song Contest footage for the entry that was about to perform on stage. Recap montages of Eurovision entries over the last sixty years, were also broadcast in-between performances. These sometimes differed between the UK/BBC and non-UK broadcasts because of copyright clearance and were as follows:[16]

  1. Teach-In – "Ding-a-dong": Netherlands, 1975
  2. Olivia Newton-John – "Long Live Love": United Kingdom, 1974
  3. Céline Dion – "Ne partez pas sans moi": Switzerland, 1988
  4. Jedward – "Lipstick": Ireland, 2011
  5. ABBA – "Waterloo": Sweden, 1974
  6. Serebro – "Song#1": Russia, 2007
  7. Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta – "A-Ba-Ni-Bi": Israel, 1978
  8. Kathy Kirby – "I Belong": United Kingdom, 1965
  9. Bucks Fizz – "Making Your Mind Up": United Kingdom, 1981
  10. Sonia – "Better the Devil You Know": United Kingdom, 1993
  11. Imaani – "Where Are You?": United Kingdom, 1998
  12. Lynsey de Paul & Mike Moran – "Rock Bottom": United Kingdom, 1977
  13. Michael Ball – "One Step Out of Time": United Kingdom, 1992
  14. Cliff Richard – "Congratulations": United Kingdom, 1968
  15. Sandie Shaw – "Puppet on a String": United Kingdom, 1967
  16. Dana – "All Kinds of Everything": Ireland, 1970
  17. Sheeba – "Horoscopes": Ireland, 1981
  18. Amina Annabi – "Le Dernier qui a parlé...": France, 1991
  19. Roberto Bellarosa – "Love Kills": Belgium, 2013
  20. Wig Wam – "In My Dreams": Norway, 2005
  21. Ira Losco – "7th Wonder": Malta, 2002
  22. Lena – "Satellite": Germany, 2010
  23. Niamh Kavanagh – "In Your Eyes": Ireland, 1993
  24. Birthe Kjaer – "Vi maler byen rød": Denmark, 1989

Opening and interval acts

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Electro Velvet performed their entry representing the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, "Still in Love with You". This performance did not appear on the televised show, but was exclusively done for the audience members of the concert hall itself and was later uploaded on the BBC's social media pages and YouTube channel.[17] The interval act for the show was Riverdance.[18] Consisting of traditional Irish music and dance, and featuring Irish dancing champions Jean Butler and Michael Flatley, with a score composed by Limerick native Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval performance during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994.[19][20]

Performances

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Fifteen Eurovision acts from thirteen countries participated in the anniversary concert.[15] Although there were originally fourteen acts confirmed by the BBC, it was later announced on 5 March 2015 that Norway's Bobbysocks would join the line-up increasing the total to fifteen.[21] Video montages were shown prior to each entry, showing footage for that particular year's contest, ending with Eurovision Song Contest footage for the entry that was about to perform on stage.[16]

Order Year[22] Country[22] Artist[22] Song[22] Language
01 2013   Denmark Emmelie de Forest "Only Teardrops" English
02 1973   Luxembourg Anne-Marie David "Tu te reconnaîtras" French, English
03 1984   Sweden Herreys "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" English, Swedish
04 1998   Israel Dana International "Diva" Hebrew
05 2000   Denmark Olsen Brothers "Fly on the Wings of Love" English
06 1976   United Kingdom Brotherhood of Man "Save Your Kisses For Me" English
07 1968   Spain[a] Rosa López "La, la, la"[b] Spanish
1969 "Vivo cantando"[c]
1973 "Eres tú"[d]
2002 "Europe's Living a Celebration" Spanish, English
08 1982   Germany Nicole "Ein bißchen Frieden" English, Italian, German, French
09 2006   Finland Lordi "Hard Rock Hallelujah" English
10 2001   France Natasha St-Pier "Je n'ai que mon âme" French, English
11 2008   Russia[a] Dima Bilan "Believe" English
2006 "Never Let You Go"
12 1985   Norway Bobbysocks! "La det swinge" Norwegian, English
13 2012   Sweden Loreen "Euphoria" English
14 1980   Ireland[a] Johnny Logan "What's Another Year" English
1992 "Why Me?"[e]
1987 "Hold Me Now"
15 2014   Austria Conchita Wurst "Rise Like a Phoenix" English

Reprise performance

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A medley of some of the Eurovision Song Contest's greatest hits were performed in English by all of the participating artists, as a reprise act at the close of the show. Anne-Marie David performed Israel's winning entry in 1979, "Hallelujah". Swedish trio Herreys sang "Nel blu dipinto di blu", which finished in third place at the 1958 contest for Italy's Domenico Modugno. Bucks Fizz's "Making Your Mind Up", the winning entry for the United Kingdom in 1981, was performed by Bobbysocks. The reprise concluded with Conchita Wurst and Dana International leading all of the remaining performers (except Loreen) back on stage to sing ABBA's 1974 winning entry for Sweden, "Waterloo".[16]

Broadcasts

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As the show was not broadcast live, the participating national broadcasters were able to broadcast the show on a date and channel that was convenient for their broadcasting schedules. Some broadcasters – such as Austria and Sweden – recorded additional links and interviews in London for their viewers and these were used as previews for the main show.[14]

Commentators

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The following countries, listed in order of broadcasting dates, had confirmed that they would broadcast the anniversary show.[15]

Date of broadcast Country Station Commentators
3 April 2015   Ireland RTÉ2 No commentary
  United Kingdom BBC One
4 April 2015   Belgium Eén Peter Van de Veire[23]
  Iceland RÚV No commentary
  Norway NRK1
  Finland Yle Fem Sarah Dawn Finer and Christer Björkman
  Sweden SVT1 and SVT World
5 April 2015   Albania RTSH No commentary
  Russia C1R Yury Aksyuta and Svetlana Zeynalova
  San Marino SMRTV No commentary
11 April 2015   Finland Yle TV2 No commentary; Finnish subtitles
  Israel Channel 1 No commentary
13 April 2015   Bulgaria BNT1
19 April 2015 BNT2
25 April 2015   Latvia LTV1 Aigars Rozenbergs[24]
26 April 2015   Portugal RTP1 Júlio Isidro
2 May 2015   Slovenia TV SLO 1 No commentary
4 May 2015   United Kingdom BBC Radio 2 Graham Norton[25]
12 May 2015   Belgium La Une Jean-Louis Lahaye and Maureen Louys
16 May 2015
  Denmark DR1 Ole Tøpholm
  Germany NDR and MDR Peter Urban[26][27]
  Greece NERIT1 and N HD No commentary; Greek subtitles
  Romania TVR1 and TVR HD[28] No commentary
17 May 2015   Austria ORF eins[29] Andi Knoll
19 May 2015    Switzerland SRF zwei (part 1) Sven Epiney
20 May 2015   France France 2 Virginie Guilhaume
21 May 2015    Switzerland SRF zwei (part 2) Sven Epiney
  Australia SBS One No commentary
22 May 2015   Estonia ETV
  Germany EinsFestival Peter Urban[26][27]
23 May 2015   Serbia RTS No commentary
  Spain La 1[30] José María Íñigo and Julia Varela[31]

Non-broadcasting countries

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The following countries declined to broadcast the show:

The following countries, which had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest at least once, had not announced their plans on whether to broadcast the show.[15]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c Entries performed as a medley.
  2. ^ Winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1968, originally performed by Massiel.
  3. ^ One of the winning songs of the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 (along with France, Netherlands, and United Kingdom), and originally performed by Salomé.
  4. ^ Originally performed by Mocedades, finishing in 2nd place at the Eurovision Song Contest 1973.
  5. ^ Johnny Logan wrote the song "Why Me?", which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1992, originally performed by Linda Martin.

References

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  1. ^ a b Roxburgh, Gordon (3 February 2015). "Official: London to host Eurovision's 60th Anniversary Event". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  2. ^ BBC Press Office (13 April 2007). "Taking the floor – Eurovision Dance Contest". BBC. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  3. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (3 February 2015). "United Kingdom: BBC will host Eurovision's Greatest Hits Show in March". ESCToday. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  4. ^ Granger, Anthony (22 October 2014). "ESC'15: 60th Anniversary Showed To Be BBC Produced". Eurovoix. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  5. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (23 October 2014). "United Kingdom: BBC to produce 60th Anniversary Eurovision show?". ESCToday. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  6. ^ Weaver, Jessica (30 January 2015). "United Kingdom: BBC confirmed as 60th anniversary show host?". ESCToday. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  7. ^ Martinsson, Anders. "Petra Mede aktuell för Eurovision-jubileum" [Petra Mede current Eurovision anniversary] (in Swedish). Göteborgs Posten. Archived from the original on 20 December 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  8. ^ BBC Programming (6 September 2008). "Eurovision Dance Contest 2008". BBC. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  9. ^ BBC Press Office (5 December 2008). "Eurovision: Norton to replace Wogan". BBC. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  10. ^ Nylén, Susanne; Nikalsson, Ylva (8 February 2009). "Petra Mede fick ledas av scenen" [Petra Mede had to be led off the stage]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  11. ^ Siim, Jarmo (28 January 2013). "Petra Mede to host Eurovision 2013". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  12. ^ EBU. "Petra Mede and Mans Zelmerlow to host in Stockholm".
  13. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (5 February 2015). "United Kingdom: 4 more Eurovision acts join the party!". ESCToday. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  14. ^ a b "Eurovision's Greatest Hits – Ticket FAQ". BBC. 5 February 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015. When will the show be broadcast in the UK / my country?
  15. ^ a b c d Storvik-Green, Simon (31 March 2015). "Tonight: Recording of Eurovision's Greatest Hits". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  16. ^ a b c Norton, Graham; Mede, Petra (3 April 2015). "Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits". Eurovision Song Contest. London. British Broadcasting Corporation. BBC One. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  17. ^ Weaver, Jessica (17 April 2015). "United Kingdom: Watch Electro Velvet's first live performance". ESCToday. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  18. ^ Granger, Anthony (22 March 2015). "Eurovision's Greatest Hits: Riverdance to perform". Eurovoix. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  19. ^ "Riverdance unveiled". RTÉ. 30 April 1994. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  20. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1994". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  21. ^ Granger, Anthony (5 March 2015). "ESC's Greatest Hits: Bobbysocks to perform". Eurovoix. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  22. ^ a b c d Freeman, Guy (6 February 2015). "Eurovision's Greatest Hits – full line-up revealed!" (6 February 2015). BBC. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  23. ^ "VRT viert 60e verjaardag Songfestival op 4 aprils". deredactie. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  24. ^ "Latvia: To Broadcast Eurovision's Greatest Hits". Eurovoix. 4 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  25. ^ "BBC Radio 2 – Eurovision's Greatest Hits Live". BBC.
  26. ^ a b "Germany: Will Broadcast Eurovision's Greatest Hits". Eurovoix. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  27. ^ a b "Jubiläums-Show: "Eurovision's Greatest Hits" im TV". NDR. 24 April 2015. Archived from the original on 26 April 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  28. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits – concert Eurovision 60 de ani". TVR.RO. 25 May 2015.
  29. ^ ORF (4 May 2015). "TV-Fahrplan zum Song Contest" [TV schedule for Song Contest]. ORF (in German). Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  30. ^ "Edurne, camino a Eurovisión 2015: "Veréis en el escenario de Viena a una mujer con fuerza"". RTVE (in Spanish). 13 May 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  31. ^ "Julia Varela acompañará a José María Íñigo como comentarista de TVE para Eurovisión 2015". RTVE (in Spanish). 28 April 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  32. ^ Granger, Anthony (5 February 2015). "Armenia: will not broadcast 60th anniversary show". Eurovoix. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  33. ^ "Czech Republic: Will Not Broadcast Eurovision's Greatest Hits". Eurovoix. 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  34. ^ Granger, Anthony (4 February 2015). "Luxembourg: will not broadcast 60th anniversary show". Eurovoix. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  35. ^ Błażewicz, Maciej (5 February 2015). "MKRTV will not broadcast "Eurovision's Greatest Hits"". ESC Bubble. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  36. ^ Granger, Anthony (23 October 2014). "The Netherlands: Will Not Broadcast 60th Anniversary Show". Eurovoix. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  37. ^ Granger, Anthony (4 February 2015). "Ukraine: NTU will not broadcast "Eurovision's Greatest Hits"". Eurovoix. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
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