The excitement of the 54th final of the Eurovision Song Contest came to a head tonight when the Norwegian entry, sung by Alexander Rybak took the honours. A strong favourite from the beginning, Fairytale obviously charmed all the diverse countries in Europe for them to make it a runaway victory. It got the highest ever number of votes recorded in the annual Eurovision contest - 387 points. The ditty about a couple who loved each other but found it hard to live together eclipsed every other song with its catchy tune and folksy rhythm. Second place was Yohanna from Iceland singing Is It True? (318 points) followed by Aysel and Arash from Azerbaijan whose song Always collected 211 points. The United Kingdom's entry, It's My Time, powerfully rendered by Jade Ewen, was placed fifth, the best performance by Britain in the competition since 2002.
A packed Olimpisky Arena saw some eye-catching performances. Though the winner led from the first country's vote, it was a nail-biting finish as the other top songs were very close and kept jostling for position as each new vote changed the order. Without doubt, Moscow put on an incredible spectacle of Olympian proportions. The interval act of underwater dancers in a transparent pool interacting with the audience above their heads was simply amazing. Moscow staged a very professional, precise and entertaining competition, a visual feast which was very engaging and enjoyable. If I had one criticism it is that the sets overwhelmed the singers and were a little too grandiose. They were just a little bit over the top and detracted from the performers instead of enhancing them. Apart from that, it was difficult to find anything to fault.
If tonight's new way of voting is anything to go by, it has proved a huge success in that the best song actually won instead of people voting on political lines but it needs further competitions to see whether that will be the trend or tonight was a fluke.
I thoroughly enjoyed the 2009 event and even got three of my top five predictions in place when for too many years I have been way of the mark!
Finally, big congratulations to Graham Norton, who replaced Terry Wogan as announcer. He was excellent, and with some humour too without being insulting to other countries! Well Done, Graham!
Roll on 2010. It should be very interesting.
UPDATE
Watch the Grand Final and Interviews
The TOP FIVE Singers in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest:
(All photos by Indrek Galetin (EBU))
1. Norway: Alexander Rybak with Fairytale
Video
2. Iceland: Yohanna with Is It True?
Video
3. Azerbaijan: AySel & Arash with Always
Video
4. Turkey: Hadise with Düm Tek Tek
Video
5. United Kingdom: Jade Ewenwith It's My Time
Video
Eurovision Watch
To see ALL the videos of tonight's Finalists, click on Meet the 42 Participants, then Click on PREVIEW VIDEOS.
To enjoy some of the old winners in excellent sound, visit the Eurovision Song Contest archives . The site has some really interesting information and great performances, as well as some old classics from Bob Dylan and such like.
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