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 Eurovision Song Contest's 60th anniversary. 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 am on 6 February 2015.

Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits
Dates
Grand final31 March 2015
Host
VenueEventim Apollo, Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom
Presenter(s)
Musical directorDavid Arch
Directed by
Executive supervisorJon Ola Sand
Executive producerGuy Freeman
Host broadcasterEBU, BBC
Opening act"Still in Love with You" performed by Electro Velvet (not included in televised broadcast)
Interval actRiverdance
Reprise actAll of the acts (except Loreen) performed a medley of Eurovision hits, including "Hallelujah", "Nel blu dipinto di blu", "Making Your Mind Up", and "Waterloo".
Participants
Number of entries15
Participation map
  •      Broadcasting countries     Countries that have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest but did not broadcast Eurovision's Greatest Hits

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 for some of the Eurovision Song Contest archives were shown in-between each live performance. The United Kingdom entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was performed at the concert, as the opening act, but never broadcast on the televised show. Riverdance performed a reprise of their 1994 Eurovision Song Contest 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 scheduling, including Australia, who first competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 as a wildcard entry. The host broadcaster, BBC, and Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), simulcast the show on Good Friday, 3 April 2015 across BBC One and RTÉ 2. The Dutch broadcaster, AVROTROS, were the first to announce their decision to not broadcast the event. Other countries also announced their decision to decline broadcasting the event, including Luxembourg, who had an act taking part in the event.

Location
The Eventim Apollo, London

Confirmation was revealed on 3 February 2015 that the concert event was to take place in the Eventim Apollo, in Hammersmith, London.[1] The last time the United Kingdom capital held any Eurovision events was the Eurovision Dance Contest 2007.[2]

Organisation

It was announced on 22 October 2014, that the EBU had appointed the United Kingdom's 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 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
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.[9] Mede was the host for Melodifestivalen 2009 (Swedish national selection show),[10] host for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013[11] and co-host of Eurovision Song Contest 2016 held in Stockholm.[12]

Tickets

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

Programme

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, consisting of some of Eurovision's Greatest Hits, 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.[16] 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 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

Opening act

Electro Velvet performed their United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 entry, "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 via the BBC's social media pages and YouTube channel.[17]

Interval act
Further information: Riverdance

It was confirmed on 22 March 2015 that the interval act for Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits would be Riverdance.[18] The theatrical show consisting mainly of traditional Irish music and dance, and featured Irish dancing champions Jean Butler and Michael Flatley, with a score composed by Limerick native Bill Whelan, originated as an interval performance during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994.[19][20]

Performances

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  Spain1 Rosa López "La, la, la"2 Spanish
1969 "Vivo cantando"3
1973 "Eres tú"4
2002 "Europe's Living a Celebration" Spanish, English
08 1982  Germany Nicole "Ein bißchen Frieden" English, Italian, German
09 2006  Finland Lordi "Hard Rock Hallelujah" English
10 2001  France Natasha St-Pier "Je n'ai que mon âme" French, English
11 2008  Russia1 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  Ireland1 Johnny Logan "What's Another Year" English
1992 "Why Me?"5
1987 "Hold Me Now"
15 2014  Austria Conchita Wurst "Rise Like a Phoenix" English
Notes
1.^ 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.

Reprise performance

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, including: Anne-Marie David singing Israel's winning entry of the Eurovision Song Contest 1979, "Hallelujah". Swedish trio, Herreys, sang "Nel blu dipinto di blu", which finished in third place at the 1958 for Italy's Domenico Modugno. Bucks Fizz's "Making Your Mind Up", the winning entry for 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 Eurovision Song Contest 1974 winning entry, "Waterloo".[16]

International broadcasting

As the anniversary concert 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

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
Dutch-speaking region		 Eén Peter Van de Veire[23]
 Iceland RÚV No commentary
 Norway NRK1
 Finland
Swedish-speaking region		 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
French-speaking region		 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

The following list of countries declined to broadcast the show:

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

See also

References
  1. 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. "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. Storvik-Green, Simon (31 March 2015). "Tonight: Recording of Eurovision's Greatest Hits". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  16. 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. 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. "Germany: Will Broadcast Eurovision's Greatest Hits". Eurovoix. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  27. "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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