The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the Diamond Anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest and was held at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, following Conchita Wurst's winning performance at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The contest was held on the 19th, 21st and the 23rd of May and was hosted by Mirjam Weischelbaum, Alice Tumler and Arabella Kiesbauer. Conchita Wurst acted as the green room host. This marks the first time since trios became the norm in 2010 that the presenters are all female.
Cyprus, Czech Republic and Serbia returned to the contest after some time away, while Ukraine decided to withdraw. And for the first time, Australia competed in the grand final as a special guest because the country is one of the long-standing fans that are normally not allowed to compete - they voted in both semi-finals as well as the final.
This was the second time the city of Vienna hosted the contest, the first being in 1967. The theme of this year's contest was Building Bridges, symbolizing the unifying power of the event and spreading music across cultures, borders, and languages. The slogan was unveiled by ORF on 11 September 2014. The official graphic design was unveiled on 25 November 2014.
In conjunction with the event in Vienna, a special celebration concert was staged in London to commemorate the contest's 60th anniversary An official 60-year archive was released and is available here.
The contest was won by Sweden with the song Heroes by Måns Zelmerlöw. Russia ended in second place with Italy, Belgium and Australia rounding out the top 5.
On the other end of the scoreboard, Germany and Austria both finished with the ever-dreaded Nul Points. It was the first time since 2003 that an entry had failed to score in the final, and the first time since 1997 that two countries shared the dubious honor. As well, it was the first time that the host country failed to score (Austria also tied Norway's record of being served the nul points 4 times).
This was also the first time the winner did not win televoting, in which Italy placed first, followed by Russia with the actual winner Sweden in third place.
Postcards[]
The postcards of this year's contest also witness the slogan "Building Bridges". In the postcards, each of the clips start with every contestant receiving an invitation to Austria in their home country in the form of a package containing a single object. More specifically, the invitation is to a region in the host country with all nine Austrian provinces taking part. The story continues with the contestants making their way through one of the provinces where they have an individual task to fulfill to the host city of Vienna attached to the object they received. The tasks on the journeys vary from culture to sports, from economics to science and traditional to modern.
Incidents[]
The album covers of the songs Heroes (Sweden) and Hour of the Wolf (Azerbaijan) are similar, which some people suspect to be plagiarism.
Both covers feature the lead singer looking left with a transparent graphic version of themselves to the left.
The Swedish entry video was pulled from the official Eurovision channel when it was learned that the cartoon character was copied from another designer. It was replaced with the lyric video and the character was altered for Vienna.
Anti-booing measures had to be put in place for television viewers after the final Jury rehearsal, as Russia was predicted to place well on the night, and politics in Russia have a negative impact on the audience. Many viewers thought the audience sounded "canned" and "unnatural". This was made obvious when Jon Ola Sand and host Alice Tumler made it clear that politics should not be brought into the televoting.
Participants[]
The semi-final allocation draw was held on 26 January 2015 at the Rathaus in Vienna, and hosted by Andi Knoll and Kati Bellowitsch. The insignia handover ceremony took place before the draw began, officially beginning the countdown to the contest.
Kati presented the Austrian votes for the final live from the stage of the Eurovision Village, while Andi served as Austrian commentator for ORF.
The pots are as follows, calculated by the EBU's voting providers Digame and based on voting patterns over the past 10 years:
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 | Finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Albania North Macedonia Montenegro Slovenia Switzerland Serbia Malta
|
 Denmark Finland Estonia Norway Sweden Iceland Latvia
|
 Azerbaijan Belarus Georgia Israel Russia Armenia Lithuania
|
 Belgium Cyprus Greece Ireland The Netherlands San Marino
|
 Hungary Moldova Romania Portugal Poland Czech Republic
|
 Austria (Host) France Germany Italy Spain United Kingdom Australia (Guest)
|
Pre-allocations[]
As per request by the German broadcaster, ARD/NDR, which was approved by the EBU Reference Group, Germany was pre-allocated to broadcast and vote in Semifinal 2.
Austria was allocated to perform in the #14 slot in the final during the Head of Delegation meetings on 16 March 2015.
Due to the nature of Australia's participation, they were given a direct pass to the final along with the host country and the Big Five, and given voting rights in both semifinals. This was done to allow the countries allocated to the semifinals a fair chance to qualify on their own merit.
Returning Artists[]
| Artist(s) | Previous Year(s) |
|---|---|
| Elnur Hüseynov | 2008 (with Samir) |
| Michele Perniola | JESC 2013 |
| Anita Simoncini | JESC 2014 (with The Peppermints) |
| Amber | 2012 (backing for Kurt Calleja) |
| Uzari | 2011 (backing for Anastasia Vinnikova) |
| Inga Arshakyan (Genealogy) | 2009 (with her sister) |
| Raay (Maraaya) | 2014 (composer/backing for Tinkara Kovač) |
| Hera Björk (backing for María Ólafs) | 2010 |
Gallery[]
Semi Final One[]
Austria, Australia, France and Spain voted in this semi. It was held on 19 May 2015.
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Moldova
|
Eduard Romanyuta | I Want Your Love | English | -- | 11 | 41 |
| 02 | Armenia
|
Genealogy | Face The Shadow[2] | 7 | 77 | ||
| 03 | Belgium
|
Loïc Nottet | Rhythm Inside | 2 | 149 | ||
| 04 | The Netherlands
|
Trijntje Oosterhuis | Walk Along | 14 | 33 | ||
| 05 | Finland
|
Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät | Aina mun pitää | Finnish | I always have to | 16 | 13 |
| 06 | Greece
|
Maria-Elena Kyriakou | One Last Breath | English | -- | 6 | 81 |
| 07 | Estonia
|
Elina Born & Stig Rästa | Goodbye To Yesterday | 3 | 105 | ||
| 08 | North Macedonia
|
Daniel Kajmakoski | Autumn Leaves | 15 | 28 | ||
| 09 | Serbia
|
Bojana Stamenov | Beauty Never Lies | 9 | 63 | ||
| 10 | Hungary
|
Boggie | Wars For Nothing | 8 | 67 | ||
| 11 | Belarus
|
Uzari & Maimuna | Time | 12 | 39 | ||
| 12 | Russia
|
Polina Gagarina | A Million Voices | 1 | 182 | ||
| 13 | Denmark
|
Anti Social Media | The Way You Are | 13 | 33 | ||
| 14 | Albania
|
Elhaida Dani | I'm Alive | 10 | 62 | ||
| 15 | Romania
|
Voltaj | De la capăt (All over Again) | Romanian, English | 5 | 89 | |
| 16 | Georgia
|
Nina Sublatti | Warrior | English | 4 | 98 |
Semi Final Two[]
Germany, Italy, Australia and United Kingdom voted in this semi. It was held on 21 May 2015.
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Lithuania
|
Monika & Vaidas | This Time | English | -- | 7 | 67 |
| 02 | Ireland
|
Molly Sterling | Playing With Numbers | 12 | 35 | ||
| 03 | San Marino
|
Michele & Anita | Chain of Lights | 16 | 11 | ||
| 04 | Montenegro
|
Knez | Adio | Montenegrin | Goodbye | 9 | 57 |
| 05 | Malta
|
Amber Bondin | Warrior | English | -- | 11 | 43 |
| 06 | Norway
|
Mørland & Debrah | A Monster Like Me | 4 | 123 | ||
| 07 | Portugal
|
Leonor Andrade | Há um mar que nos separa | Portuguese | There is a sea that separates us | 14 | 19 |
| 08 | Czech Republic
|
Marta & Václav | Hope Never Dies | English | -- | 13 | 33 |
| 09 | Israel
|
Nadav Guedj | Golden Boy | 3 | 151 | ||
| 10 | Latvia
|
Aminata Savadogo | Love Injected | 2 | 155 | ||
| 11 | Azerbaijan
|
Elnur Hüseynov | Hour of the Wolf | 10 | 53 | ||
| 12 | Iceland
|
María Ólafs | Unbroken | 15 | 14 | ||
| 13 | Sweden
|
Måns Zelmerlöw | Heroes | 1 | 217 | ||
| 14 | Switzerland
|
Mélanie René | Time to Shine | 17 | 4 | ||
| 15 | Cyprus
|
John Karagiannis | One Thing I Should Have Done | 6 | 87 | ||
| 16 | Slovenia
|
Maraaya | Here For You | 5 | 92 | ||
| 17 | Poland
|
Monika Kuszyńska | In The Name Of Love | 8 | 57 |
Final[]
The Grand Final was held on the 23rd May 2015, and these countries below have qualified from their semi final, or are Big Five, guests, or hosting countries that have auto-qualification to the final. All 40 countries voted
Withdrawing countries[]
Andorra will not return in 2015 as stated by RTVA, the broadcaster for Andorra.[4]- Bulgaria BNT made it official on 19 December 2014 that Bulgaria will not participate in 2015 despite a deadline extension by the EBU.[5]
- Bosnia and Herzegovina have confirmed that BHRT have financial difficulties and have decided to withdraw from Vienna.[6]
- Croatia HRT confirmed that Croatia will not participate in 2015.[7]
- Télé Liban confirmed that Lebanon will not debut in 2015.[8]
- 1FLTV stated Liechtenstein would not debut in 2015.[9]
- Luxembourg RTL confirmed that Luxembourg would not be participating in 2015. A joint entry with San Marino had been proposed by SMRTV, but was later dropped due to insufficient funding.[10]
- Monaco had rumours of returning, but TMC have stated they will not participate in 2015.[11]
- Slovakia stated they will not participate in 2015 due to a lack of sponsors.[12]
- Türkiye TRT's General Manager confirmed on 5 September 2014 that Turkey will not participate in 2015.[13] However, they will participate in 2016.[14]
- Ukraine NTU announced on 19 September 2014 that Ukraine will withdraw for 2015 due to financial, political and military instability.[15]
Other Countries[]
- Canada once again aired the contest on the cable channel OUTtv. Adam Rollins and Tommy D returned as commentators.[16]
Trivia[]
- This contest was the first to have more than one entry with the same title, in this case both Georgia and Malta's, which were titled "Warrior". A similar case would also happen in 2021.
- It would be the last time that all of the Baltic nations would participate in the final together until 2024.
- The greeting "Good Morning, Australia!" made its first appearance with the debut of Australia as a competing country. This greeting is significant as Australian fans watch the live shows on SBS at 5am AEST.
References[]
- ↑ http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=australia_to_participate_in_the_2015_eurovision_song_contest
- ↑ http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=armenia_changes_song_title
- ↑ http://escxtra.com/2015/02/19/grande-amore-confirmed-for-il-volo/
- ↑ http://esctoday.com/84971/andorra-rtva-will-return-eurovision-2015/
- ↑ http://esctoday.com/89999/bulgaria-bnt-will-not-participate-in-eurovision-2015/
- ↑ http://esctoday.com/90077/bosnia-herzegovina-bhrt-will-return-eurovision-2015/
- ↑ http://esctoday.com/86890/croatia-hrt-eurovision-2015/
- ↑ http://esctoday.com/3485/lebanon_withdraws_for_financial_reasons/
- ↑ http://esctoday.com/85870/liechtentestein-1-fl-tv-will-debut-eurovision-2015/
- ↑ http://www.wort.lu/en/culture/esc-2015-no-eurovision-deal-for-luxembourg-and-san-marino-547356040c88b46a8ce40a08
- ↑ http://esctoday.com/85056/monaco-tmc-will-return-eurovision-2015/
- ↑ http://esctoday.com/86385/slovakia/
- ↑ http://esctoday.com/86670/turkey-trt-confirms-return-eurovision-2015/
- ↑ http://eurovoix.com/2015/02/06/turkey-returns-to-eurovision-in-2016/
- ↑ http://1tv.com.ua/uk/about/news/2014/09/19/59170
- ↑ http://eurovoix.com/2015/04/02/canada-outtv-to-broadcast-eurovision-2015