Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Sakis Rouvas was once again selected as the representative for Greece.

On 15 July 2008, ERT confirmed Sakis Rouvas as the Greek representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.[1][4] Rouvas had previously represented Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, placing third, and had hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens alongside Maria Menounos.[9] ERT's Eurovision project manager Johnny Kalimeris stated that Rouvas' participation was announced so early because they had "already agreed with Sakis Rouvas so there was no reason to keep it a secret [and that] it was about to leak [so they] decided to make a short announcement early on to avoid the usual speculations and rumors which could do more damage than good".[10]

Dimitris Kontopoulos, a previous Rouvas collaborator, was chosen as the composer for all three songs, a first for the Greek selection process.

Following the announcement of Sakis Rouvas as the Eurovision 2009 representative, ERT revealed during a press conference on 14 October 2009 that Rouvas would perform three songs, all written by Dimitris Kontopoulos and choreographed by Fokas Evangelinos, during a national final titled Ellinikós Telikós 2009.[11][12] In regards to the style of the songs, Rouvas stated that he trusted in Kontopoulos, and that Kontopoulos had written many hits for him and knew what style of songs that fit him the best.[13] The titles of the three songs were announced on 10 February 2009 and the songs in their entirety were presented during a press conference on 12 February 2009 held at the Hilton Hotel in Athens.[14][15]

The final took place on 18 February 2009 at the Athinon Arena Music Hall in Athens, hosted by Betty and Mathilde Maggira. The show, directed by Giorgos Kapoutzidis and televised on ERT as well as online via the ERT website ert.gr and the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv, had a main concept of Eurovision history and included a flashback to the Eurovision world from 1956 when the contest was broadcast on radio to the present.[16][17] Sakis Rouvas performed all three songs in playback and the winning song, "This Is Our Night", was selected by a combination of public voting (60%) and jury voting (40%).[10][13] The jury consisted of Mimis Plessas (jury chairman), Dimitris Gontikas (General Manager of ERT Television), Antonis Andrikakis (lyricist and General Manager of ERT Radio), Evangelia Piskera (President of ERT Public Relations), Olga Pavlatou (record executive), Giorgos Kyvelos (record producer), and a ninth press vote consisting of the results from a poll conducted by ESCToday that featured international Eurovision fans.[16][18] Public voting was conducted through telephone or SMS.[19]

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured guest performances by 2009 Belarusian Eurovision entrant Petr Elfimov, 2009 Cypriot Eurovision entrant Christina Metaxa, 2009 Maltese Eurovision entrant Chiara, 2009 Montenegrin Eurovision entrant Andrea Demirović, 2009 Turkish Eurovision entrant Hadise and 2009 British Eurovision entrant Jade Ewen.[20][21] 2008 Greek Eurovision entrant Kalomira was also present at the show, performing a medley which included "Just Dance" by Lady Gaga, "When I Grow Up" by The Pussycat Dolls and the Master Tempo remix of "Secret Combination".[20][22]

Ani Lorak and Philipp Kirkorov were frequent collaborators of Rouvas during his promo tour. Controversy of the nature of Rouvas and Kirkorov's friendship later led to Kirkorov withdrawing as head of the Russian jury.

Rouvas will be embarking on an extensive promotional tour around Europe after picking his song. So far it is rumored that almost all countries have invited him to be on their shows.[23] Even before his song was picked, Rouvas was invited to perform in Belgrade, Serbia on the talent show "Operacija trijumf", the Ex-Yugoslav version of Star Academy, on December 29, 2008.[24] On the show, which is broadcast in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia,[25] Rouvas sang his 2004 entry "Shake It" with Aleksandar Belov,[26] one of the shows contestants who is of Macedonian origin, while he also premiered the English version of his massive summer hit "+ Se Thelo" titled "Keep on Moving" for the first time with a fully choreographed performance.[27]

Following the national final, initial plans for the promotion of "This Is Our Night" were revealed. The tour was revealed by Johnny Kalimeris to be quite extensive, with Rouvas visiting more Eurovision countries than had been visited in previous years. The first official stop kicking off Rouvas' promotional tour after the selection was to Bosnia and Herzegovina where Rouvas performed at the official presentation of the nation's entry "Bistra Voda" on March 1. Other guests included Turkey and Malta. The show was streamed live on eurovision.tv as had been for the Greek national final.[28] An extensive promotional schedule was laid out for the following day, with Rouvas doing many appearances on numerous press, television, and radio networks. Rouvas was a guest at the Pink TV BH Morning Show which aired live on Balkan Net, and also starred on the live radio show Stari Grad at 14:00. He also gave interviews to TV Hayat, the Obavezan smjer show on TV Sarajevo, and on the Radio Televizija BiH show Konacno petak. Following his two-day stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rouvas will return to Belgrade, Serbia where he will stay until March 4 and will appear on Fox TV, Radio S, live on 3 March, at 15.30 (local time), TV S, TV Avala and Pink TV. On the 4th March, he will be a special guest of Jovana Janković, the hostess of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, on the RTS Morning Show. Rouvas will conclude his promotion in Serbia at 15:00 that day with a live appearance on Novi SAT channel. Rouvas will then fly to Moscow, where he will perform live at the Russian National Final along with past Russian representatives, namely Dima Bilan, Yulia Savicheva, Alsou, Youddiph, Natalia Podolskaya, Prime Minister, and Serebro. The next day he will give a large performance at the Kremlin for the celebration of International Woman's Day in Russia. Russia, being the host country, has been called an important stop by ERT. Rouvas has also had success on the Russian charts with his hit "Se Thelo San Trelos" in 2004 and is known in the country from his successful collaboration with successful singer-songwriter Philipp Kirkorov. At the second press conference, it was stated that Rouvas' previous success and popularity in Russia will be a definite factor in Greece conquering the Eastern votes.[29] It has also been confirmed that Rouvas will give a concert in Cyprus on March 13, and will also be continuing promotion in Turkey from April 10–12. ERT is currently considering many more destinations for promotion, keeping Belgium and the Netherlands as a high priority.[30]

• In the Final Greece came 7th with 120 points: the public awarded Greece 5th place with 151 points and the jury awarded 11th place with 93 points.

It was announced in January that Greece would take part in the second semi-final on May 14 where it will have to qualify for the grand final. Greece was drawn to perform 13th out of a field of 19, succeeding Azerbaijan's AySel and Arash with "Always" and preceding Lithuania's Sasha Son with "Love". It was one of the ten performances which qualified for the grand final.

In the final, on May 16, "This Is Our Night" finished in seventh place with a total of 120 points, receiving maximum 12 points from Albania, Bulgaria, and Cyprus. The song therefore carried on Greece's Eurovision success by finishing within the top-ten for the sixth consecutive year, thus making the country the second most successful entrant of the past decade, despite not having even participated in 2000. The event was watched by 86% of the Greek television audience.[33]

The performance included complex choreography, with BBC News announcing that "Greece's Sakis Rouvas had one of the more ambitious dance routines" of the contest.[34] Rouvas wore an all white outfit designed by acclaimed Greek designer Celia Kritharioti. He performed on a rotating podium which transported him from left to right across the stage, was part of his group dance routine with four other performers and, in the end, was responsible for lifting him high into the air. In the same moment, a Greek flag is displayed on the floor, only visible to the television viewers. The final part of the performance was completed by silver fireworks in two separate parts. The official Eurovision website states that, this year, Greece had made "high-tech advancements" in the contest's standards.[35]

Rouvas –as seen here raising the Greek flag– was given full support by Greek media after his result.

Whilst Rouvas was disappointed with his seventh-place finish, announcing to Greek media "I am so sorry, I wanted us to win", there was still unanimous support towards the artist himself in the country. "Seventh in Europe, first in our hearts" many journalists reported on Greek television. The media and public pronounced their support for Rouvas, the general consensus being that the artist gave it his best even though this did not translate in enough votes in the contest. All criticism in Greece focused on the selection of the song itself, rather than the artist's performance. Rouvas stated that, overall, it has all been a wonderful experience for him: "some win, some lose, personally, I gave everything I had. But it was a wonderful experience".[36]

Some critics, including those from London Greek Radio, suggested the reason why Greece failed to achieve a higher placing was due to a lack of an ethnic-sounding song. He notes the way in which all of Greece's top-three placings, including Rovas' performance of "Shake It" in 2004, had an ethnic bouzouki sound, as did the 2009 Azerbaijani and Turkish entries which finished in third and fourth place respectively.[33]

The song has since peaked at number one on the Greek and Cypriot charts, and has also gone on to chart in Sweden, Ukraine, Iceland, Lithuania and Russia.

The Greek broadcaster ERT has confirmed that Greece will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010.[37]