We now know that the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Vienna. ORF thinks fans will love the home of classical music and architecture, and now they know that the bigwigs from the EBU already do. It may have taken the Eurovision bosses a week to visit Vienna Stadthalle, but the wait was worth it. They love it, y’all!
Jon Ola Sand, the Executive Supervisor, had this to say:
“The Stadthalle is a very good choice for the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest – the venue has the space, capacity and know-how to run big events. Of course the contest is a very special event, but it seems to perfectly fit. We will have compact ‘games’ with a good flow for artists, press and delegations.”
He added that both the Eurovision Village and the Euro Club will be within easy reach of the arena. It’s close to the city centre, making it easily accessible by underground, tram and even by foot. You shouldn’t underestimate how important this is. Contestants, fans and members of the press will now be able to move directly from rehearsals and press conferences to daytime concerts and nighttime parties. Last year everything was so spread out a lot of people gave these extras a miss. It didn’t help that shuttle buses were unreliable and suh-low.
The big boss also suggested that Vienna was a better choice than the smaller alternatives:
“Vienna is a fantastic city with lots of culture, arts and culinary highlights – it has it all. The city is one of the big European centres and perfect for the Eurovision Song Contest. I’m sure it will absorb the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest well.”
The biggest Eurovision ever?
As we wait for the final list of participating countries, we can be confident that it will grow. Negotiations with countries within the EBU have been going on since last year, so as to ensure that the 60th anniversary of Europe’s favourite TV show will include more participants than ever. Jon Ola Sand seems sure about that, emphasising that many countries have confirmed participation already, including Cyprus which withdrew in 2014.
Vienna’s city hall has suggested that local shops will stay open on Sunday during the competition. Looks like they are pulling out ALL the stops!
Photos: ORF/APA – Hans Klaus Techt
Deven- Thank god for that! Finally RTE have seen sense to put some effort into Eurovision
Bledar, I have some good news for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We won’t be using the Late Late Eurosong anymore. Apparently we might be using the Hit. It is held in the O2, hosted by Nicky Byrne and puts emphasis on finding the right singer and songwriters.
@Deven Exactly! Albania will never win with our NF. If Albania wants to win we should internally select the winner of X Factor Albania/Kosovo or The Voice of Albania and Kosovo, but Albania is in absolutely no economic position to host. It would be nice for Ireland to win though as I live in Dún Laoghaire and the O2 is 15 minutes on the DART, but we won’t be bringing it back to Dublin if we keep using The Late Late Show. We should internally select our Irish artist for 2015!
Bledar, I honestly am not sure if Albania will ever win because the thing is, your home country’s national final is extremely dated and in fairness, when I watched the 2013 Festival i Kenges, it felt like I was watching a new wave competition in Singapore or Malaysia. 🙁 The quality of songs was also quite poor. I think Ireland will win soon because they have a strong qualification success rate (7 times since 2004.) and it is a hugely popular event in Ireland. We are not doing as well as we should be because of the standard of songs… Read more »
Deven – I don’t think Ukraine will withdraw. The Ukrainians love Eurovision and it gets huge ratings. Even though there’s a war in Eastern Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina didn’t withdraw during their brutal war. With the potential winners, I don’t think that Ireland will win (I’m not being offensive I live in Ireland), but even though we’ve sent good songs since 2009, we’ve been underrated every year (except 2011). With your other potential winners, I think Cyprus and Malta will put loads of effort into trying to win it. If The Netherlands carry on their streak of choosing brilliant songs they could.… Read more »
@Deven how can you mention some potential winners even though the songs haven’t come out yet? Please don’t tell me that it’s another fandom thing..
Deven, how on earth could you come up with a list of potential winners? And Ireland?! Who’s to say France or FYRM don’t knock it out of the park? In August 2009, no-one would predict Germany would win 🙂
I think the following might happen:
Hosts: Andi Knoll
Christoph Waltz
Executive Supervisor: Jon Ola Sand (OBVIOUSLY)
Participating countries: 40
Returning countries:
Cyprus
Croatia
Serbia
Bulgaria
Bosnia Herzegovina
Withdrawing countries:
Ukraine
Israel
Potential winners:
Netherlands
Italy
Ireland
Hungary
Romania
Armenia
Sweden
Norway
This needs to be amazing .. I want
Water
Virtual reality
Moving parts of stage eg Moscow 2009 , Dublin 1995
Blockbuster interval acts
Amazing themes and concepts
And above all a great winner ..
Vienna will not disappoint that is for sure!
The capital city of Austria will host a spectacular Eurovision.
I’m still so happy that Vienna was chosen over Innsbruck and Graz, they were lesser cities.