Eurovision Song Contest 2007 - Wikiwand

The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following the country's victory at the 2006 contest with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle), the contest was held at the Hartwall Areena, and consisted of a semi-final on 10 May, and a final on 12 May 2007. The two live shows were presented by Finnish television presenter Jaana Pelkonen and musician and TV-host Mikko Leppilampi. In addition, Krisse Salminen acted as guest host in the green room, and reported from the crowds at the Senate Square.

Forty-two countries participated in the contest - three more than the previous record of thirty-nine, that took part in 2005. The EBU decided to put aside its limit of 40 countries, which would have meant excluding some countries using a ranking order scheme.^[1] The Czech Republic and Georgia participated for the first time this year, with Montenegro, and Serbia taking part as independent nations for the first time.^[2] Austria and Hungary both returned, after their absence from the previous edition. Meanwhile, Monaco decided not to participate,^[3] despite initially confirming participation.^[4] Monaco has not competed in Eurovision Song Contest ever since.

The winner was Serbia with the song "Molitva", performed by Marija Šerifović and written by Vladimir Graić and Saša Milošević Mare. This was Serbia's first victory in the contest, coincidentally the first year it competed as an independent nation. It was also the first winning song entirely performed in a country's native language since "Diva" for Israel in 1998. Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and Bulgaria rounded out the top five. Further down the table, Belarus achieved their best placing to date, finishing sixth. Meanwhile, Ireland achieved its worst placing in the contest up until that point, finishing twenty-fourth (last place) in the final. Of the "Big Four" countries, Germany placed the highest, finishing nineteenth.

Helsinki, the Finnish capital, was chosen as the host city, although other cities were in the running; the second-largest city of Espoo, the third-largest city of Tampere, and the city of Turku all submitted bids to host the contest alongside Kittilä, Lahti, and Rovaniemi. The choice of Helsinki was justified, among other things, by the requirements of the number of people and technology, as well as its superior flight and transport connections and accommodation capacity.^[5]

Venue

A total of 11 venues in seven locations applied for hosting rights. The known possible venues for the contest included LänsiAuto Areena in Espoo, Helsinki Ice Hall, Helsinki Fair Center, industrial workshop buildings at Pasilan konepaja [fi] in Helsinki, Lahden suurhalli [fi] in Lahti, Rovaniemi Lapland Arena, Pirkkahalli (main hall of Tampere Exhibition and Sports Centre), Tampere Ice Stadium and Turkuhalli.^[6]

In the end, Helsinki was chosen, with the host venue being the Hartwall Areena.^[5] The venue is a large multi-functional indoor arena, which opened in 1997, and can take some 12,000–15,000 spectators for concerts. Its name comes from its largest sponsor, the beverage company Hartwall, also based in Helsinki. For the contest, the arena was referred to as the Helsinki Arena.

On 12 March 2007, the draws for the running order for the semi-final, final and voting procedure took place. A new feature allowed five wild-card countries from the semi-final and three countries from the final to choose their starting position. The heads of delegation went on stage and chose the number they would take. In the semi-final, Austria, Andorra, Turkey, Slovenia, and Latvia were able to choose their positions. In the final, Armenia, Ukraine, and Germany were able to exercise this privilege. All countries opted for spots in the second half of both evenings. Shortly after the draw, the entries were approved by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).^[7] The United Kingdom chose its entry after the deadline because they were granted special dispensation from the EBU.

The contest saw some minor changes to the voting time-frame. The compilation summary video of all entries including phone numbers was shown twice. The voting process was the same as 2006 except there was fifteen minutes to vote, an increase of five minutes on the 2006 contest. In the final, the results from each country were once again shown from one to seven points automatically on screen and only eight, ten and twelve were read by the spokespeople. For the first time, the winner was awarded a promotion tour around Europe, visiting Denmark, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Greece, and Germany. The tour was held between 16 May and 21 May. The event was sponsored by Nordic communications group TeliaSonera, and — as with several previous contests — Nobel Biocare. Apocalyptica were the interval act, and played a medley of songs: Worlds Collide, Faraway and finally Life Burns!, but without the usual lyrics.

Participating broadcasters in a Eurovision Song Contest must be active members of the EBU. The broadcasters from 42 countries submitted preliminary applications. Although in previous years the maximum number of participating countries was 40, the EBU allowed all 42 to participate in 2007. The Czech Republic, Serbia, Montenegro, and Georgia all entered the contest for the first time in 2007.^[2] Monaco announced its non-participation on 12 December 2006,^[3] and the EBU announced the final lineup of 42 countries on 15 December 2006.

Several of the performing artists had previously represented the same country in past editions: Evridiki had represented Cyprus in 1992 and in 1994, and provided backing vocals in 1983 and in 1987; Karolina had represented Macedonia in 2002; and Edsilia Rombley had represented the Netherlands in 1998. In addition Eiríkur Hauksson representing Iceland, had represented Iceland in 1986 as member of ICY and Norway in 1991 as part of Just 4 Fun.

All countries participating in the contest were required to use televoting and/or SMS voting during both evenings of the contest. In the event of technical difficulties, or if the votes of the country did not meet the EBU threshold, a back-up jury's results were to be used. Albania and Andorra were the only countries that used their juries.

The official Eurovision Song Contest website also provided a live stream without commentary, using the peer-to-peer transport Octoshape.

In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the Barbara Dex Award were contested during the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. The OGAE, "General Organisation of Eurovision Fans" voting poll also took place before the contest.

Eurovision Song Contest: Helsinki 2007 was the official compilation album of the 2007 contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by CMC International on 20 April 2007. The album featured all 42 songs that entered in the 2007 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.^[112]