So it’s taken a little bit longer than we expected, but my series of posts about the albums and music of performers at Eurovision will be featured on the site over the next few weeks. First up though is a little interview with me:

…I know it’s an old question, but we have to ask – favourite ever Eurovision song – and why?

The second I saw this question I knew I might be in trouble, because I don’t really have a favourite as such. A lot depends on my mood and there’s rarely a single song that fits everything. The usual suspects, e.g. Love Shine a Light and Molitva, are in there, but I’ve a soft spot for tracks like Olivia Lewis’ Vertigo, Martin Sternmarck’s Las Vegas and Tal Sondak’s Ein Devar.

But then, hold on… there is one Eurovision tune that gets the heart going, that can lift my mood, that stirs passion and devotion. Marc Antoine’s Prelude to Te Deum… or the Eurovision Theme to everyone else. Sitting at home and hearing that familiar arrangement as the Contest starts is a rush every fan knows – but here’s a little secret. See when it plays in the venue? The place goes absolutely craaaaaazy!!!

The full interview is here!

And you might like to see just how many Eurovision songs and groups I sneaked into the answers…

Twitter got noisy surrounding Eurovision, as it sparked hundreds of amusing tweets about the song contest, and gave rise to an alternative tweeting voice when journalist Ewan Spence used Twitter to cover the event from the show’s frontline in Moscow, sending tweets, blogging and podcasting from the event.

This ‘new way to watch’ has been picked up by many people; Adam Tinworth wrote about it just before the contest had started, giving his readers a heads-up, many people on Twitter pointed out my @ewanspence account when asked who they should follow to stay in touch with Eurovision, and the Media140 Conference in London the week after Eurovision featured a number of discussions about the coverage and how it helped get many people through the night.

One final thought from Devaney:

He [Spence] out-tweeted much of the official BBC correspondents by speed of updates and depth of information, winning rave reviews from followers. Several said they preferred the commentary of the renegade Eurovision tweet host to the banter of Graham Norton’s debut year as Eurovision host.

You can read the full article over at the Digital Journal.

Becoming a success in Europe was one option after her appearance in the song Contest with the Lloyd Webber/Warren penned song. The other was to become a big name in the UK. Unfortunately the bottom line, chart success and single sales, hasn’t happened. She entered the Top 50 last week at #27, and this week has dropped out of the Top 75. Not good.

One of the reasons for the relatively good showing of the UK in this year’s Eurovision was the promotional efforts around the continent, and this was primarily driven by her record company. Alongside the involvement of a top song-writing team and the credible media reports in the UK, Colin Barlow and the support of Polydor was key.

And if you think that’s par for the course, glance over at Alexander Rybak – probably one of the most commercially successful Eurovision songs across Europe since Katrina and the Waves. Top 10 in the UK (through digital downloads, not even an official release), number one in Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Norway and Sweden, and still going strong (plus the album is flying off the shelves where it has seen a release).

Without the record companies involved, the strong foundation built by the UK this year may crumble – but will they get involved again after potentially  having quite a bad return on their investment with the parachuted into the selection Jade Ewen?

Or is this going to be a repeat of Jessica Garlic (3rd in 2002) to Jemini (nul points 2003) at next year’s Eurovision?

While it would take a lot to even come close to that, many of my Twitter commentary lines were very much loved on the night, and retweeted around the world. Now the event is over, I wonder which one of my lines would be “the one destined for a T-shirt” for next year? So here are the top 11 (I didn’t want to narrow it to ten!) re-tweeted comments. Which gets your vote?

Typical of the medium, I started getting pings on Twitter that I was getting mentioned from the panel on “The 140 Character Story…” So I pinged back to ask what was being said (which is a horrible Web 2.0 feedback loop, I know);

• Documentally: you were mentioned with love earlier for your amazing Eurovision coverage;
• darrenwaters: [Darren was on the panel, he said] that it rocked;
• billt I said it was great but I preferred it without listening to the songs!

There is no doubt in my mind that Twitter was one of the places to be during Eurovision. While I was busy working during the event, Nick Burcher had half an eye on the Twitter statistics and came up with this delightful fact-let: 9.95% of every twitter during the time of the contest contained the word “Eurovision”

One in ten twitters were about the Eurovision Song Contest!

And in all of that, I have to thank everyone that labelled me as one of the “goto people” on Twitter for Eurovision. I could see all the RT’s of my commentary being passed around, I could see the discussions and questions coming at me, which is almost like instant feedback – something that Terry Wogan never had, and an impromptu community had sprung up.

Eurovision was set up back in the 50’s to push new technology and ideas to broadcasters – it looks like it continues to do so in the 21st century?

And it leaves another problem for the broadcaster. How do you pitch your Eurovision coverage next year when you have this on the sidelines waving its banner? Adam Tinworth, who gave his blog readers a heads up regarding my coverage summed it up nicely:

Around an event like the Eurovision, the main broadcast is in real danger of becoming just a social object that people interact about elsewhere.

Discuss!

Not only did Rybak win, but he won in style. Scoring a massive 387 points, he smashed through the previous highest points scored record of 298 points, which belonged to Finnish Rockers Lordi in the 2006 competition. There will be a lot of Eurovision fans happy they don’t need to see Lordi mentioned as the highest scoring song ever now.

It’s not quite the greatest song ever, though. Adjusting scores to take account of total points available each year, it’s beaten into third place by both Katrina and The Waves and The Brotherhood of Man — he would have needed 388 points to overtake the former and 396 for the latter. But in terms of modern Eurovision, with the dual semi-final format and 40-plus countries voting in the final, Rybak is sitting on top of a pile of douze points.

I also particularly love the headline that they left intact… Norway Brought a Gun to a Knife Fight.

As I’m still here, reporting on the Song Contest in Moscow, while watching the dress rehearsals I’ve recorded a commentary track for those who (a) are watching on the free internet stream at www.eurovision.tv and have no commentator, or (b) who would like something a little bit different to the regular TV commentators.

Please note that the commentary is very much a neutral affair, with little bias towards any country and more factual and eyebrow raising humour than out and out bitching and catty calls about the songs.

After you grab the MP3 files, you need to start the track at the correct time. Start the MP3 before Eurovision starts, I’ll remind you of what I’m about to write.

After the introduction music and my first comments, you’ll hear a beep on the track. At that point press pause. When Dima Bilan stops singing “Believe” (last year’s winning track) and the audience begin to applaud, un-pause the track, and we’ll be away. My guess is that should have everyone synced up within one second.

Now for the rest of the show. Timing is a tricky one here, as the show is running to a timetable but could slip, so you have a choice of two tracks. Both should work, but choose the track that fits best with your watching habits.

Option One (Download MP3 by right clicking here)

A 105 minute long track that covers all the songs, with hopefully the right gaps between songs, adverts and visits to the green room. Once you’ve unpaused after the Dima Bilan stops singing “Believe”, leave your MP3 player running. The easier track to listen to, but more likely to slip out of sync

Option Two (Download MP3 by right clicking here)

After syncing at the end of Dima Bilan’s singing, after each of my introductions you’ll hear the same beep. That’s your cue to pause the MP3 and enjoy the song. Un-pause as the song ends, you’ll get my introduction, and then another beep. And so on through the contest. Note that you only pause at a beep, not a silence (so leave the track running through the commercial break and the two trips to the Green Room).

Whichever track you download, do let me know how you get on. I’ll be doing textual commentary on Twitter (which will be live!)  so follow @ewanspence for the full audio, text and pictorial commentary from 54th Eurovision Song Contest!

And once it’s all over, your feedback either in the comments or by email (ewanspence@gmail.com) would be very much appreciated.

As with the semi-final posts, these are not the ones to win, these are ones to watch – a subtle difference at Eurovision!

Cirque Du Soleil, France, Portugal, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Malta, Norway and The United Kingdom

The full post, with preview videos, can be found here.

That game got particularly dangerous in the last few years.

So what can you do instead, given that we are in Magic 8-Ball territory on Graham Norton’s coverage (<fx: shake> Unclear, ask again later) and don’t know yet what we can latch on to?

I know someone twittered this on Thursday at me (please remind me by mail who you were so I can acknowledge you!) but having watched the acts, and the order of tonight’s final, this should work well.

Take a drink whenever you see a live pyrotechnic effect.

Simple as that – flames on the LED display don’t count, and a shot with three sparks can be considered just one drink,but the longer shots will require constant slugging. As tonight’s show starts off with a rather gentle pace, you’ll be able to ease yourself into it with some gentle songs. The fun will really start with Sakis Rova and the Greek entry, and then you can argue if lasers count during Armenia.

You’ll then be on a cycle that will build up throughout the evening to a massive crescendo during Finland’s “Lose Control.” That’s assuming you get past the Boyzone-esque delights of Brink (Denmark) and the longest continuous pyro shot in Eurovision history… probably.

More than 100 million people are expected to watch it across Europe; many of whom will also be hooked up to the net, discussing the staging, songs, hosts, and everything else that people chat about during Eurovision. And using the latest applications to achieve this, they will be continuing one of the original goals of the Eurovision Song Contest…

More in the full article, which is here. At the same time, Adam Tinworth has highlighted my online coverage of the Song Contest on his blog and how coverage like this is starting change events.

What I find really interesting about watching Ewan’s stuff is the completely different level of involvement you get from watching a genuine enthusiast cover an event they are passionate and knowledgeable about, as opposed to the "skating the surface" mainstream coverage. Around an event like the Eurovision, the main broadcast is in real danger of becoming just a social object that people interact about elsewhere.

More on that at One Man and his Blog.

Fail.

Update: From the twitter status site: “We are currently working through an unplanned outage of the site. We will update as we learn more.”

Guys you better get extra servers in for Saturday – the Eurovision final is gonna light Twitter up big time – the semi finals are only the apertif!

A reminder how this works… being in Moscow and covering the Eurovision Song Contest, I’m watching the dress rehearsals and using that as the basis for a commentary track for those who (a) are watching on the free internet stream at www.eurovision.tv and have no commentator, or (b) who would like something a little bit different to the regular TV commentators they may be used to.

Download the MP3 Files and start them about ten minutes before tonight’s Semi Final (the second of 2009) starts to receive your instruction on pausing the track (at the beep) and when to start again. That will get you in sync with me, and we’re all set.

Tonight’s moment to un-pause the track is when the blue Russian dancers unveil the flags that spell ‘Eurovision 09.’

To time the rest of the show you have two choices:

Option One (Download MP3 by right clicking here)

An 80 minute long track that covers all the songs, with hopefully the right gaps between songs, adverts and visits to the green room. Once you’ve unpaused after the flag/name reveal, leave your MP3 player running. The easier track to listen to, but more likely to slip out of sync

Option Two (Download MP3 by right clicking here)

After syncing with the name/flag reveal, after each of my introductions you’ll hear the same beep. That’s your cue to pause the MP3 and enjoy the song. Un-pause as the song ends, you’ll get my introduction, and then another beep. And so on through the contest. Note that you only pause at a beep, not a silence (so leave the track running through the commercial break and the two trips to the Green Room).

Whichever track you download, do let me know how you get on. I’ll be doing textual commentary on Twitter (which will be live!)  so follow @ewanspence for the full audio, text and pictorial commentary from the second Semi Final.

Ireland, Serbia, Greece, Ukraine and the Netherlands

For the full reasons why, and the preview videos, head over to my article at The Stage.

And one last minute addition to this, having seen the final dress rehearsal is host Andrey Malahov’s new hairstyle. It’s like… well… an entire canister of Harmony Hairspray and then the application of a finger into an electric socket…

My biggest problem… he just reminds me of Matt Berry from the IT Crowd from the stature and the proto-beard, to the measured delivery and absolute sincerity…

So if you need a little bit of an escape tonight, or you just have evil visions in your head of one of them going psycho on stage, then this clip is for you.

Tonight’s Eurovision Semi Final is at 8pm on BBC3 in the UK, or streaming online at www.eurovision.tv. I shall, as always be providing an MP3 commentary to download and a river of twitters (@ewanspence) from the Moscow Olympic Stadium