12points.tv

With Rick stuck in Sweden at home on the couch while his colleagues are having a ball at the hall, here's his analysis of how the first rehearsals went.

12points.tv reporter Rick was at the London Eurovision concert, and 2 days later still has no voice.

++ Perez Hilton likes Loreen ++ Sweden likes Cyprus  ++ We would all like to go to London ++ ..

After last weekend's preview event in Amsterdam it now is London's turn. This weekend the fifthe annual preview event will take place in London's Shadow Lounge. The party will be presented by Paddy O'Connell and Nicki French and will stage eight of this year's Eurovision particpants as well as Omar Naber (Slovenia 2005). 12Points.tv will be in London to report about this marvelous event.

With Ukraine, Hungary, Georgia and Slovenia added a total of ten countries have now been confirmed for Amsterdam in Concert. More to follow.

By now, Eurovision In Concert has become a tradition, for the fourth time Amsterdam is inviting all the Eurovision acts of this year over to give a preview of their song for Baku. previously we could allready announce the six first countries, today we can add four more. Gaitana, Eva Boto, Anri Jokhadze and Compact Disco will show us what they can in Amsterdam on 21 April. More information here.

Slovenia selected Eva Boto in a system similar to the German one this year. Two acts competed against each other, both singing three songs. In a superfinal, both sang one selected song. And there and then Eva Boto apparently impressed more than Nika & Eva Prusnik. She will sing Verjamem in Baku.

++ Atomic Kitten for the UK? ++  Results in Estonia and Lithuania ++ Slovenia choosing between Evas at EMA ++..

For the first time since years the Netherlands are having a real national final again, with multiple artists singing different songs. From the 491 submitted entered songs, six made it to tonight's contest. The broadcast starts at 20:20 CET, there is a webcast available (see top of our front page). The singers will compete against each other in three duels, the three winners will meet each other in a superfinal.

++ Roman for Germany! ++  Loads of Eurovision this weekend ++ Søren is back! Without Kirsten, and not for Denmark ++ ..

By the end of this weekend at least 16 of this years entries to the Eurovision song contest will be known. Let us know what is your top 10 so far? Will it be mystical Iceland on top? Poppy Cyprus? Oriental Norway? Alternative Switzerland? Artistic Albania? Middle of the road Denmark? (whoops was there a bit too much opinion in that last one?) Swinging Malta? Or any of the tunes we will get to know this weekend? You can find links to all selected entries on our frontpage or here.

++ Visa for Baku, a piece of cake  ++  48.4 million Euro allocated for the ESC ++ Will the contest improve the human rights situation in AZ? ++..

Tomorrow Norway (see details), Iceland (details) and Hungary (details) will select their Eurovision entry. This means yet another buzzing Eurovision night as Sweden and Lithuania also will continue their hunt for a suitable act for the Eurovision Song Contest. On Sunday the Germans will set the next step in their quest for a Star in Baku, presenting their semi final with only four remaining artists.

News Round-up of the day. Yesterday 5 acts survived the first Lithuanian semi final, tonight 2 made it to the final of EMA.

Eva Boto and the twins Nika and Eva Prusnik will meet each other in the Slovenian final, EMA, on 26 February. They got most votes from the jury and the televote tonight.

Samanta Tīna & Dāvids Kalandija, Paula Dukure, Andris Ābelīte, Rūta Dūduma and PeR were the lucky ones in Lithuania last night. They got their ticket to the Lithuanian national final.

News Round-up of the day. Twenty three acts will compete, songs can still be submitted till 16 January.

TRM has released details about the national final. Foreign authors are also invited to submit songs, but the nationality of the artists will have to be Moldovan. After 16 January a jury will select the acts that have to audition, 20 will be selected, 3 will be added through an internet selection. On 11 February the 23 finalists will be revealed.