2004: An Overview
"UNDER THE SAME SKY" IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY
The contest in Istanbul was the beginning of a new era for Eurovision. The first with a broadcast semi-final, and thus, the most entries ever in history - the 49th Eurovision Song Contest was a true spectacle. Anything impressive from the 2003 contest was out-done, from the stage technology to the size of the crowd. The first Eurovision to be host in Turkey and as the hosts would claim in the "only city to bridge two continents," the 2004 show was a long, rough, experiment as the broadcaster struggled to accommodate such a large audience.This was the first year I followed the preamble to the competition. I hadn't yet dived into watching the national finals, but I paid attention to when the entries were announced. Usually each entry was accompanied by a preview video. My friends and I delighted in the different songs and videos, some of which were supremely funny (especially Albania's). I listened to all the songs, I studied the odds and I went into the competition ready. I had my favorites, Ukraine and Serbia & Montenegro at the top of my list.
I actually missed the semi-final, I was on a flight to Amsterdam at the time - the first stop before I would arrive in Poland for a tour of the country. I was in Lublin, Poland watching the end of an opera when the final began. I rushed to my hotel to watch what I could, worried I'd have been too late to see the entries I wanted. Too my luck, I hadn't been very late at all! I was shocked to turn the TV on to find the most lambasted of the songs by me and my friends, mostly because of it's now lost preview video, had qualified for the final. Albania was on stage and she was performing quite well. I had only missed 9 of 24 songs. Next up was my favorite, Ukraine! I was glad that I didn't miss it.It seemed the amount of glitches doubled in the 2004 show, but that almost highlighted the tense atmosphere and tough competition. The Turkish hosts were even more awkward than in Riga, it seemed one had learned English just for the show. When it came time to vote, I finally got to see a recap. I had missed Serbia & Montenegro and a few other songs I'd wanted to see. I shrugged it off and spent nearly the entire voting period trying to figure out how to call out from my hotel phone. It was 2004 kids, I didn't have a cell phone. I was able to get a vote out for Ukraine. I don't really remember the Interval act, but on re-watch it's a very nice expose on Turkish dance and music.
When voting came, Serbia and Montenegro took the lead, I wasn't surprised to see it do well. The commentary was in Polish, which I didn't understand a lick of at the time, so I had no context to what was going. The voting was even more arduous than the year before, but eventually Ukraine edged the Balkan country's song out of first place.The last country to present their votes was Ukraine. At this point there was no amount of points they could give Serbia and Montenegro that would catch them up. The Ukrainian votes presenter understood his country had won and excitedly rushed the camera men away from him. Hilariously, the Turkish host instead of proclaiming the winner only said "It'd didn't change anything!" Terry Wogan would say "Is this it?!" It took almost 3 minutes for Ruslana to get to the stage. Last year's winner, Sertab Erener, got her shoe caught in a grate before she could present the trophy to the new winner. A fitting end to a crazy night. I would later buy the DVD and CD for the event while in Poland to celebrate the first Eurovision I voted for, and I even voted for the winner! Opa!
Picks of 2004
2004: The Best (Serbia & Montenegro)
2004: The Worst (Switzerland)
2004: The Guilty (Sweden)
2004: The Weird (Belarus)
2004: The Hilarious (Albania)
2004: The Honorable (Greece)
2004: The Winner (Ukraine)
Semi-Final Song Recap May 12, 2004:
Grand Final Song Recap May 15, 2004: