Eurovision Championships – Knockout 2 – This is going to be tough

    By
    Phil Colclough
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    In Denmark vs. Iceland, we see one of the few match-ups in the tournament when recent colonisers face their former colony. Denmark have a storied history at Eurovision having won the contest on an impressive three different occasions and have given the contest many fantastic hits both before and after the abolition of the language rule despite living mostly in the Eurovision shadow of neighbours Sweden. For Iceland on the other hand, everything they have managed to achieve has been punching above its weight and they have six top 10 finishes to show for their incredible progress. In a year when Iceland has taken a lot of the Eurovision headlines, will you vote for the reliable classics or the en-mode rising stars? In this article, we travel to Zagreb, Jerusalem and Stockholm to help you make your decision.

    Zagreb 1990 marked a Eurovision at a turning point for Europe, something that was represented in a lot of the music that year but most celebrated in the Italian winning song as Tuto Cutugno sang with passion about the uniting of Europe. Iceland performed 8th at the contest with Stjórnin performing ‘Eitt lag enn’, an upbeat, romantic duet about dancing to one more song that finished 4th in the final standings. Denmark performed 11th on the night as Lonnie Devantier sung ‘Hallo Hallo’, another upbeat, energetic song with this one centred around a woman trying to phone her lover unsuccessfully and the song eventually came 8th.

    The next time that Eurovision was hosted so far east, it was the turn of Jerusalem to host the contest in 1999, a year when the abolition of the language rule took centre stage as 14 of the 22 competing songs contained at least some English with one of them winning in Sweden’s Charlotte Nilsson and ‘Take Me to Your Heaven’. Denmark performed 9th on the night with Trine Jepson & Michael Teschl duetting ‘This Time I Mean It’, a pop-infused ballad about a couple promising to do better on their next attempt at a relationship, they would end up coming 8th overall. Iceland performed 13th on the night with Selma and ‘All Out of Luck’, a banger about believing in yourself and doing what feels right that only narrowly missed out to the Swedish victors, coming a close 2nd.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymOBmBj8PDs

     

    The following year came and as the world entered into the new millennium, Eurovision entered a new stratosphere as Stockholm 2000 brought the largest venue to host a Eurovision Song Contest to date in the 16,000 seat Globen Arena. The precedent for the modern Eurovision as being set in style with its massive screens, flamboyant outfits and a winner that felt like a modern classic from the moment that the Olsen Brothers stepped onto the Globen stage. Iceland performed 12th on the night with August & Telma duetting ‘Tell Me!’, a sweet duet with a bouncing tempo and a rocky hint that earned Iceland a 12th place finish. Denmark performed 14th on the night as the Olsen Brothers sang ‘Fly on the Wings of Love’, a classic ballad about a beautiful woman with some clever tech bits thrown in to make it feel modern and despite not being the contest favourites, Denmark would win Eurovision for the second time in their history that year.

     

    2nd Knockout Tie – This one might be a bit tough

    Iceland
    Denmark

    Please vote no later than August 3 rd when we will release the vote for the third knockout round match-up as The Netherlands take on Ireland for a place in the next round.