Welcome and bienvenue to Eurovision 2015! This year's contest will be held on the 19th, 21st and 23rd of May in Vienna, a city of former imperial glory and statues of dudes who punch horses.
If you clicked on this thread, you probably know what this is all about (that is, aluminium costumes and giant rotating hamster wheels), but here's a quick summary: the Eurovision Song Contest is a song competition held annually by the European Broadcasting Union, a union of European public service broadcasters. Each member country is eligible to enter one song to be performed live on television and radio. Generally these songs are considered to be of questionable quality or they're songs which would work in no other context.
Here's a map of all participating countries, courtesy of Wikipedia user Sims2aholic8:
red - countries in the first semi-final (19 May)
pink - finalists voting during the first semi-final
dark blue - countries in the second semi-final (21 May)
light blue - finalists voting during the second semi-final
violet - This year's special guest and Eurovision debutant, Australia!
Where can I watch the contest, you might ask? Everything will be streamed under http://www.eurovision.tv/. Various national TV stations will also offer commentated broadcast, with various degrees of outright disdainfulness or patriotic fervour. If nothing has changed, all shows will begin at 19:00 GMT/20:00 BST/21:00 CEST.
Participants in the first semi-final, 19 May
Albania - Elhaida Dani - I'm alive
Armenia - Genealogy - Face The Shadow
Belarus - Uzari & Maimuna - Time
Belgium - Loïc Nottet - Rhythm Inside
Denmark - Anti Social Media - The Way You Are
Estonia -Elina Born & Stig Rästa - Goodbye To Yesterday
Finland - Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät - Aina mun pitää
Georgia - Nina Sublatti - Warrior
Greece - Maria-Elena Kyriakou - One Last Breath
Hungary - Boggie - Wars For Nothing
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - Daniel Kajmakoski - Autumn Leaves
Moldova - Eduard Romanyuta - I want your love
The Netherlands - Trijntje Oosterhuis - Walk Along
Romania - Voltaj - De la capăt / All Over Again
Russia - Polina Gagarina - A Million Voices (Praying for Peace And Healing)
Serbia - Bojana Stamenov - Beauty Never Lies
Participants in the second semi-final, 21 May
Azerbaijan - Elnur Huseynov - Hour of the wolf
Cyprus - John Karayiannis - One Thing I Should Have Done
Czech Republic - Marta Jandová and Václav Noid Bárta - Hope Never Dies
Iceland - Maria Olafs - Unbroken
Ireland - Molly Sterling - Playing With Numbers
Israel - Nadav Guedj - Golden Boy
Latvia - Aminata - Love Injected
Lithuania - Monika Linkytė and Vaidas Baumila - This Time
Malta - Amber - Warrior (the second song of this name this year)
Montenegro - Knez - Adio
Norway - Mørland & Debrah Scarlett - A Monster Like Me
Poland - Monika Kuszyńska - In The Name Of Love
Portugal - Leonor Andrade - Há um Mar que nos Separa
San Marino - Anita Simoncini & Michele Perniola - Chain of Lights
Slovenia - Maraaya - Here For You
Sweden - Måns Zelmerlöw – Heroes
Switzerland - Mélanie René - Time to Shine
Countries which already qualified for the final through excellence in beards, novelty or spending power, 23 May
Australia - The Guy Sebastian - Tonight Again
Austria - The Makemakes - I Am Yours
France - Lisa Angell - N'oubliez pas
Germany - Ann Sophie - Black Smoke
Italy - Il Volo - Grande Amore
Spain - Ruth Lorenzo - Edurne - Amanecer
United Kingdom - Electro Velvet - Still In Love With You
So please enjoy the contest and use this thread to post videos of your past favourites!
