The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of a semi-final on 18 May and a final on 20 May 2006, held at the O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece, and presented by Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), who staged the event after winning the for with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. Rouvas had also represented .
Broadcasters from thirty-seven countries participated in the contest. took part for the first time. Meanwhile, , , and announced their non-participation in the contest. Serbian-Montenegrin broadcaster Udruženje javnih radija i televizija (UJRT) had intended to participate, but due to a scandal in its national selection, the tensions between its members, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) and Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG), forced its withdrawal. Despite this, they did retain voting rights for the contest.
The winner was with the heavy metal-song "Hard Rock Hallelujah", performed by Lordi and written by lead singer Mr. Lordi. This was Finland's first victory in the contest - and first top five placing - in 45 years of participation, the longest time a country had competed without a win at that point. It was also the first ever hard rock song to win the contest, as well as the first band to win since . , , , and 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 placed the highest, tying for fourteenth with .
The contest saw the thousandth song performed in the contest, when "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" was performed by Brian Kennedy for in the semi-final.
Location
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Bidding phase
When Greece won the 2005 contest, the Head of the Greek Delegation, Fotini Yiannoulatou, said that the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) was ready to host the event in Athens the next year. However, multiple cities bid to host the 2006 contest, including Thessaloniki and Patras, the second and the third largest city in Greece, respectively. The majors of the three cities (Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras) were said that their cities were ready to host the event. The venues that were rumored for each city were: the Olympic Indoor Hall for Athens, Pylea Sports Hall for Thessaloniki and Dimitris Tofalos Arena for Patras.
A few days after Greece's win, the Greek public broadcaster stated that "ERT intends to hold the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, taking into account EBU's already expressed wish for the event to be combined with the Olympic facilities and amenities that the city of Athens has to offer". Mr. Panaghiotis Psomiadis, the Prefect of Thessaloniki stated the city will fight for the hosting of the contest. As the city of Patras seemed not to be available to host the contest, at the end it was a two-horse race between Athens and Thessaloniki.
Finally, on 30 June 2005, ERT and European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that Athens will be the host city of the 2006 contest, despite the opposition of some Greek politicians, stated that Athens already had its promotion during the 2004 Summer Olympics and that it's "another city's turn now". The joint decision of the EBU and ERT is to host the 51st Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, which has several modern Olympic venues, infrastructure and a proven ability to host events of this size.
Other sites The Eurovision Village was the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors' area during the events week. There, it was possible to watch performances by local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. Located at the Zappeion, it was open from 15 to 21 May 2006.
The EuroClub was the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Unlike the Eurovision Village, access to the EuroClub was restricted to accredited fans, delegates, and press. It was located at Athens Technopolis, an industrial museum and a major cultural venue of the city.
The official "Welcome and Opening Ceremonies" events, where the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place also in Zappeion on 15 May 2006 at 21:00 EET, followed by the Opening Ceremony.
Participants
All participating broadcasters in the Eurovision Song Contest must be active members of the EBU. On 16 January 2006, the EBU announced that the broadcasters from thirty-eight countries would participate in the 2006 contest, with the broadcaster from Austria opting not to participate due to the bad result at the previous contest, and the one from Hungary also withdrawing due to financial reasons. Armenia participated for the very first time in the history of the contest.
On 15 March 2006, the participating broadcaster from announced its withdrawal, reducing the participants number from 38 to 37 and leaving a vacant spot in the final; however, the country retained its rights to vote in the contest.
Several of the performing artists had previously competed as lead artists representing the same country in past editions: Carola had represented and she won the contest ; Eddie Butler had represented as member of Eden; Fabrizio Faniello had represented ; Ich Troje had represented ; Victor Diawara, member of LT United, had represented as member of Skamp; and Anna Vissi in addition to having represented with the Epikouri, had represented . Sigríður Beinteinsdóttir, who had represented as member of Stjórnin, as member of Heart 2 Heart, and , provided backing vocals for Iceland.
Additionally, Hari Mata Hari were selected to represent , but their entry was disqualified; Ireland's Brian Kennedy performed in Lumen, the interval act of the ; host Sakis Rouvas had represented ; and if No Name had been permitted to represent , they would have done so for the second consecutive year.
+ Eurovision Song Contest 2006 participants Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) RTSH Luiz Ejlli "" Albanian RTVA Jenny "" Catalan AMPTV André "Without Your Love" English BTRC Polina Smolova "Mum" English VRT Kate Ryan "" English BHRT Hari Mata Hari "Lejla" Bosnian BNT Mariana Popova "Let Me Cry" English HRT Severina "" Croatian CyBC Annet Artani "Why Angels Cry" English Peter Yiannakis DR Sidsel Ben Semmane "Twist of Love" English Niels Drevsholt ETV Sandra "Through My Window" English YLE Lordi "Hard Rock Hallelujah" English Mr Lordi Virginie Pouchain "" French Cornelius Nyungura NDR Texas Lightning "No No Never" English Jane Comerford ERT Anna Vissi "Everything" English RÚV Silvía Night "Congratulations" English RTÉ Brian Kennedy "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" English Brian Kennedy IBA Eddie Butler "Together We Are One" Hebrew, English LTV Vocal Group Cosmos "I Hear Your Heart" English LRT LT United "We Are the Winners" English MRT Elena Risteska "Ninanajna" () English, Macedonian PBS Fabrizio Faniello "I Do" English TRM Arsenium Natalia Gordienko and Connect-R "" English Arsenie Todiraș TMC Séverine Ferrer "" French, Tahitian NOS Treble "Amambanda" English, Imaginary NRK Christine Guldbrandsen "" Norwegian TVP Ich Troje "Follow My Heart" English, Polish, German, Russian RTP Nonstop "" Portuguese, English TVR Mihai Trăistariu "" English, Italian C1R Dima Bilan "Never Let You Go" English RTVSLO Anžej Dežan "Mr. Nobody" English TVE Las Ketchup "Bloody Mary" Spanish SVT Carola "Invincible" English SRG SSR six4one "If We All Give a Little" English TRT Sibel Tüzün "" Turkish Sibel Tüzün NTU Tina Karol "Show Me Your Love" English BBC Daz Sampson "Teenage Life" English
Other countries Active EBU members Active EBU member broadcasters in , the , , and confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. withdrew from the contest due to a scandal in the selection process, which caused tensions between the Serbian and Montenegrin broadcasters (RTS and RTCG).
Format Visual design The official logo of the contest remained the same from 2004 and 2005 with the country's flag in the heart being changed. The 2006 sub-logo was presented to the public through a press conference that was held on 1 November 2005, at the King George Hotel in Athens, while it was created by the design company Karamela for ERT and was apparently based on the Phaistos Disc which is a popular symbol of ancient Greece. According to ERT, it was "inspired by the wind and the sea, the golden sunlight and the glow of the sand". Following 's "Under The Same Sky" and 's "Awakening", the slogan for 2006 was "Feel The Rhythm". This theme was also the basis for the postcards in 2006, which emphasized Greece's historical significance as well as being a major modern tourist destination.
In addition to the graphic design, there was a theme song used for the contest composed by Nikko Patrelakis, which was featured in the intros and in-between commercial breaks, as well as besides the participating entries. The theme music package was conducted by Andreas Pylarinos, while the ERT Symphony Orchestra recorded all music used during the show.
Broadcasting As with the 2005 edition, the shows were broadcast in widescreen 16:9 format in standard-definition. The shows were also filmed (but not broadcast) in high-definition, as part of a research experiment carried by the EBU, host broadcaster ERT, the Institute for Broadcasting Technology in Munich, the of RAI and the BBC. This was done to test high-definition television and to gather "artistic and scientific knowledge" for future contests, but the HD footage was never intended to be used as part of the original broadcast. The first edition produced and broadcast in high-definition was the in 2007.
On 31 July 2021, the HDTV raw footage of the 2006 contest was broadcast for the first time, as part of the EurovisionAgain series, on the Eurovision YouTube channel.
Stage design ERT announced that the British company Stage One has been appointed to build the set for the contest. Stage One had designed the sets for the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the 2004 Summer Olympics. The broadcaster have announced that the concept will be rich with traditional Greek elements, paying homage to the country's history and culture. The stage for the contest was designed by Greek stage designer Elias Ledakis. He would go on to design the stage for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The stage was a replica of an ancient Greek amphitheatre.
Postcards