KIEV, Ukraine (Eurovision Fans Website/ Top 40 Charts) - The 2005 Eurovision Song Contest Final was a spectacular way to round off the contest's first half-century of shows.
In a packed Sports Palace in Kyiv, the anticipation before the show was immense and a vocal crowd waved flags and chanted the names of their favourite artists. Later, Vitali and Volodymyr Klytschko would be making an appearance, but the show was kicked off by a heavyweight of the Ukrainian music scene – last year's Eurovision Ruslana. And her performance of a brand new track really packed a punch!
But then, of course, it was time for the contest to begin.
First up was Nox from Hungary. The opening of their song – in which a simple flute intro gives way to a thumping beat – has a real ‘wow' factor, which really got the crowd clapping. Szilvia and the guys gave a titanic performance, full of drama and passion. A great way to open the show.
Javine from the UK had been suffering from a sore throat in the dress rehearsal but was in fine voice tonight – with a performance full of sassy soul. She took to the stage in a gorgeous yellow dress, and responding to the noise from the crowd, sang with plenty of gusto. ‘Touch My Fire' is a classy, upbeat pop song with lavish Turkish strings and the red-hot dance routine was reflected by the images of fire that are projected onto the screens.
Next it was the turn of Malta. Newspapers on the island have nicknamed Chiara, ‘The Voice' and, on the strength of this performance, it's easy to see why. She sang her soaring ballad powerfully and effortlessly and looked thrilled to be alone on stage with just a microphone. She wore an elegant maroon dress and had the audience in the palm of her hand. Afterwards, she received a great reception from the audience.
Romania's entry, ‘Let Me Try', could hardly be more different to Chiara's ballad. Luminita sings this high-energy Euro-dance track accompanied by a thumping techno beat and thrilling percussion from Sistem. With its frantic movement and flying sparks, it's a performance that really quickens the pulse and members of the audience could be seen dancing in the aisles and singing along.
Norway's Wig Wam were greeted by huge cheers as they took to the stage. It seems that Kyiv is being converted to their rock ‘n' roll manifesto. Again, Glam somehow managed to squeeze into an unbelievably tight silver spandex suit, but it didn't seem to restrict him and he belted out the song, while drummer Sporty grimaced in the background angrily – pure rock.
Turkey's drummers are much easier on the eye: Gülseren and her dancers provide the percussion themselves, while dancing exotically and high-kicking – and we mean really high-kicking. The costumes were amazing too, especially Gülseren's turquoise and pink dress. The song, with its catchy chorus and Turkish rhythm, had the crowd clapping along enthusiastically.
Moldova's Grandma Boonika is fast becoming the star of Eurovision. While her younger band mates from Zdob [shi] Zdub played at 100 miles per hour, throwing themselves (and their instruments) around the stage, she sat on her rocking chair smiling benignly. And as always, she stood up towards the end of the song to play her dora and show that she is, in the words of the song, “a slapping queen”. The audience went crazy.
Albania's Ledina looked as stunning as ever in a white and red dress with a revealing split up the leg. She sang ‘Tomorrow I Go' with enormous passion as her dancers bopped around to the thumping house beat and her traditional Albanian drummer beat out his rhythm while lying on his back. In the end, Ledina and her dancers found themselves tied up by the drummer's long belt. As for the song, it's a typically toe-tapping Eurovision tune that the crowd thoroughly enjoyed.
Cyprus's Constantinos delivered a performance full of energy, rhythm and high camp. ‘Ela Ela' is uniquely Cypriot and, on a stage filled with revolving mirrors, Constantinos' Michael Jackson-esque sequined gloves, white cane and tight white t-shirt fitted the song perfectly. At one point, Constantinos broke the cane in two to make a pair of drumsticks which he used to accompany the upbeat tune. What a showman!
The most colourful performance of the night came from Spain's Son de Sol. Against projections of constantly changing colours (think Justin Timberlake's ‘Rock Your Body' video), the girls looked stunning in their brightly coloured dresses. Their song, ‘Brujería', reminds some people of Las Ketchup and has a really catchy chorus and a rap in the middle. It was as if we'd been transported to a beach party in Spain!
In the Semi Final, Israel's song followed a similar-sounding big ballad but here, with Shiri following Son de Sol's manic pop song, her voice sounded even more special. Shiri looked as stunning as she had on Semi Final night, and sang much of the song with her eyes closed as if to emphasise its emotional message. A really heartfelt performance.
Serbia & Montenegro's No Name will have had thousands of teenage girls across Europe giddy with excitement. With their good looks and rousing mid-tempo song, they were certainly popular among the girls in the arena. The guys wore plenty of brown leather and danced in their country's traditional way, which made the song seem very dramatic.
Denmark's Jakob has changed his shirt and trainers since the Semi Final triumph. Tonight he wore a floral pink shirt with orange trainers, but his performance was identical to Thursday's – full of smiles, lively choreography and a feel-good vocal performance. Warning: this song is extremely catchy!
Next, another happy Scandinavian track. Martin Stenmarck knew that, as a Swede, he's following in the footsteps of Eurovision legends. So he deliberately avoided sounding like Abba, although his song did smack of the 1970s and was a real throwback to the days of Barry Manilow. To complement this retro feel, his dancers wore white leather biker suits that wouldn't have looked out of place in Charlie's Angels. Class.
One Martin replaced another as it was FYR Macedonia's turn to take the stage next. He repeated his success of the Semi Final singing, dancing and drumming enthusiastically, flanked by beautiful dancers wearing floral patterned dresses – but not the kind your mum would wear. Trust us.
The biggest cheer of the night almost lifted the roof off and was, of course, for Ukraine stars Greenjolly. The crowd joined in with rapper Roman's international lyrics, and clapped along to the huge drum beat, straight out of Queen's ‘We Will Rock You'. In the background, the screens were turned green and two dancers with their hands symbolically chained together put their hearts into their choreographed moves. An extremely passionate song and performance.
Germany's Gracia entered the stage swathed in black leather while a wind machine added to the sense of 80s rock. Supported by a five-strong grunge band, she gave an impressive vocal performance that had the audience punching the air and clapping wildly.
More drama was to follow in the next song, Boris' ‘Wolves Die Alone' – a far cry from the lyrical style of ‘Boom-Bang-A-Bang', I'm sure you'll agree. The song is a heartfelt soft rock song with a particularly rousing chorus in which Boris' three female backing singers from Lado lend passionate vocal support. Boris, who is one of the nicest guys in the contest, gave a stirring performance, which will have found as much favour among the voting public as it did here in the Sports Palace.
Next, it was the bookies' favourite Greece. Helena was wearing a beautiful short dress and looked confident as she sang her racy pop song, while throwing herself into some complicated choreography. At one point she was lifted high above the head of her dancers, mid-chorus, but her vocal performance showed no sign of disruption. A really good performance.
Natalia Podolskaya of Russia is another female rocker but with more modern influences. ‘Nobody Hurt No-one' is a passionate guitar-driven anti-war anthem that was thrillingly loud and really raised the heart rate. Dressed in a chic sci-fi mirrored dress, she gave it her all and her backing singers gave equally impressive performances.
Bosnia & Herzegovina's Feminnem are a sugary sweet girl band that clearly love performing in Eurovision style. Their song is a lot of fun and will be a favourite among traditional Eurovision lovers. With its Abba-esque melodies and playful dance routines, the song was a nod to the classic songs of yesteryear and is the perfect way to celebrate 50 years of Eurovision. The three blonde singers were supported by three brunette backing singers, who also give great performances. Tremendous.
Switzerland representatives Vanilla Ninja were up next. The girls have real attitude and look great in studded white jackets and boots – and they had plenty of noisy fans in the arena! When the song really kicked in, their instruments exploded thanks to some pyrotechnical wizardry, which the crowd in the Sports Palace just loved.
Walters & Kazha from Latvia performed next. Like Javine, Walters had been suffering from a sore throat and wore a scarf throughout the performance during the dress rehearsal. Their legions of fans needn't have worried though, because tonight both Walters and Kazha gave great performances. Besides, if his voice had failed, Walters would have been able to communicate the song's message anyway. Their choreography is made up of sign language, that recites the song's lyrics.
And finally, France singer Ortal gave a superb performance of her infectious pop song, ‘Chacun pense à soi'. The song has great tune and sounded beautiful, sung in its original French language. The scratching effect towards the end of the tune made it even more funky way to end the show. Ortal wore a sexy yellow dress and smiled as the crowd applauded the performance of her and her backing dancers.
Naturally, the show featured plenty of other delights. As well as two incredible performances from Ruslana, the voting was opened by the Klytschko brothers, Vitali and Volodymyr. And the voting is, of course, the most important thing...
50th Eurovision 2005 voting results (points):
1. Greece - 230
2. Malta - 192
3. Romania - 158
4. Israel - 154
5. Latvia - 153
6. Moldova - 148
7. Serbia & Montenegro - 137
8. Switzerland - 128
9. Norway - 125
10. Denmark - 125
11. Croatia
12. Hungary - 115
13. Turkey - 97
14. Bosnia & Herzegovina - 92
15. Russia - 79
16. Albania - 57
17. F.Y.R.O.M. - 53
18. Cyprus - 52
19. Sweden - 46
20. Ukraine - 30
21. Spain - 28
22. United Kingdom 18
23. France - 11
24. Germany - 4
