🔴 2006 Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final in Athens/Greece

Venue: Olympic Stadium's Indoor Arena, Athens, Greece
Date: Saturday, 20 May 2006
Presentation: Sakis Rouvas & Maria Menounos
Voting: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to its top 10 (by televote).
Number of countries: 24 (total: 37)
Qualification: Host + big 4 + 9 best of 2005 (excl. host, big 4 & Serbia-Montenegro) + 10 best of semi-final.

This high definition footage was filmed as part of a research experiment carried out by the European Broadcasting Union, ERT, the Institute for Broadcasting Technology in Munich and the research and development laboratories of Rai and the BBC.

It was never intended to be broadcast. There are no postcards, but you can see how fast the crew prepares the stage for the next act within 40 seconds.

Many aspects of this high definition cut differ from the definitive version of the 51st Eurovision Song Contest that was broadcast live from Athens on Saturday 20 May, 2006.

We’re excited to share this experimental HD footage with you for reference. It is not intended to replace the original show which can be watched here:

https://youtu.be/V0O74TlCuJA

The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the 2005 contest with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. It was the first time Greece had hosted the contest - 32 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the contest was held at the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall, and consisted of a semi-final on 18 May, and the final on 20 May 2006. The two live shows were presented by Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas.

Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest. Armenia took part for the first time this year. Meanwhile, Austria, Hungary, and Serbia and Montenegro announced their non-participations in the contest for various reasons. Serbia and Montenegro had intended to participate, however, due to a scandal in the national selection, tensions were caused between the Serbian broadcaster, RTS, and the Montenegrin broadcaster, RTCG. Despite this, the nation did retain voting rights for the contest.

The winner was Finland with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah", performed by Lordi and written by lead singer Mr. Lordi a.k.a. Tomi Petteri Putaansuu. This was Finland's first victory in the contest - and first top five placing - in 45 years of participation. It was the first ever hard rock / heavy metal music song to win the contest, and Lordi was the first band to win since 1997. Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Sweden rounded out the top five. Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved their best result in their Eurovision history. Further down the table, Lithuania also achieved their best result to date, finishing sixth. Of the "Big Four" countries Germany placed the highest, finishing joint fourteenth (with Norway).

The contest saw the 1,000th song performed in the contest, when Ireland's Brian Kennedy performed "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" in the semi-final.

Final

The finalists were:

the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom;
the top 10 countries from the 2005 final (other than the automatic qualifiers);
the top 10 countries from the 2006 semi-final.

Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points
01 Switzerland six4one "If We All Give a Little" English 16 30
02 Moldova Arsenium and Natalia Gordienko "Loca" English 20 22
03 Israel Eddie Butler "Together We Are One" Hebrew, English 23 4
04 Latvia Vocal Group Cosmos "I Hear Your Heart" English 16 30
05 Norway Christine Guldbrandsen "Alvedansen" Norwegian 14 36
06 Spain Las Ketchup "Un Blodymary" Spanish 21 18
07 Malta Fabrizio Faniello "I Do" English 24 1
08 Germany Texas Lightning "No No Never" English 14 36
09 Denmark Sidsel Ben Semmane "Twist of Love" English 18 26
10 Russia Dima Bilan "Never Let You Go" English 2 248
11 Macedonia Elena Risteska "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна) English, Macedonian 12 56
12 Romania Mihai Trăistariu "Tornerò" English, Italian 4 172
13 Bosnia and Herzegovina Hari Mata Hari "Lejla" Bosnian 3 229
14 Lithuania LT United "We Are the Winners" English 6 162
15 United Kingdom Daz Sampson "Teenage Life" English 19 25
16 Greece Anna Vissi "Everything" English 9 128
17 Finland Lordi "Hard Rock Hallelujah" English 1 292
18 Ukraine Tina Karol "Show Me Your Love" English 7 145
19 France Virginie Pouchain "Il était temps" French 22 5
20 Croatia Severina "Moja štikla" Croatian 12 56
21 Ireland Brian Kennedy "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" English 10 93
22 Sweden Carola "Invincible" English 5 170
23 Turkey Sibel Tüzün "Süper Star" Turkish, English 11 91
24 Armenia André "Without Your Love" English 8 129