Eurovision Song Contest 1997

Infobox Eurovision
name = Eurovision Song Contest 1997


final = 3 May 1997
presenters = Carrie Crowley
Ronan Keating
conductor = Frank McNamara
director =
host = flagicon|Ireland RTÉ
venue = Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
winner = flag|United Kingdom
"nowrap|Love Shine a Light"
vote = Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
entries = 25
debut =
return = flag|Denmark flag|Germany flag|Hungary flag|Italy flag|Russia
withdraw = flag|Belgium flag|Finland flag|Israel flag|Romania flag|Slovakia
null = flag|Norway flag|Portugal
interval = Ronan Keating, Boyzone
opening =
con = Eurovision Song Contest
pre = ◄1996
nex = 1998►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1997, the 42nd in the series, was held in Dublin, Ireland, on 3 May 1997. The presenters were Ronan Keating and Carrie Crowley.

Katrina and the Waves, representing the United Kingdom, were the winners of the contest with the song Love Shine a Light and Marc Roberts from Ireland came second with Mysterious Woman. The winning song scored an unprecedented 227 points; it received points from all participating countries, including five sets of 10 points and a record-breaking ten sets of the maximum 12 points. Love Shine a Light is still regarded as one of the most successful Eurovision winners ever, [As noted on a TOTP2 Eurovision special, it ranks third in the rankings of points achieved as a percentage of maximum available with 227 out of 288 or 78.81%, behind Nicole's Ein bißchen Frieden in 1982 (161 out of 204 or 78.92%) and Brotherhood of Man's Save Your Kisses for Me in 1976 (164 out of 204 or 80.39%). For comparison, Elena Paparizou's 2005 win took 230 points out of a possible 456, or only 50.04%.] and was the closing song in the medleys that opened the 50th anniversary show "Congratulations" in Copenhagen 2005, and ESC 2006 Semi-final in Athens.

After the controversy over the pre-selection in 1996, the European Broadcasting Union introduced a new system for 1997: the countries with the lowest average scores over the previous four years would be excluded from the 1997 contest, and those with the lowest averages over the previous five years would be excluded from future contests (save that every country so excluded for one year would automatically be allowed to participate the following year), with so many countries being omitted as would reduce the number of participants each year to 25.

The Italian national broadcaster RAI declared that this year was their last year of participating at the Eurovision Song ContestFact|date=February 2008. Israel declined to participate as the Contest was held on its Holocaust Remembrance Day, granting a reprieve to Bosnia and Herzegovina which would otherwise have been excluded due to its low point average over the last four years.

RTÉ once again produced a highly spectacular show with a stage which had a smaller performance space for the artists than in previous years. This was the third Eurovision set to be designed by Paula Farrell, who had previously been involved with the 1988 and 1994 contests.

There was a wide array of different styles this year. Denmark brought a rap song, Croatia came with their version of the Spice Girls and Sweden brought a mid '1980s style boy band. The music was in general more modern than before, and for the first time in six years, an up-tempo song won.

This year, televoting was tested in five countries: Austria, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The results of the televoting countries were in some cases pretty different from those which used a jury. Iceland received 16 of its 18 points from these five countries.

Long-time Irish conductor Noel Kelehan was not the host conductor this year, the duty being fulfilled by Frank McNamara. However, from this year entrants were allowed to use playback, and in 1999, the orchestra was completely abolished.

Commentators

* Cyprus - Evi Papamichail
* Turkey - TBC
* Norway - Jostein Pedersen
* Austria - TBC
* Ireland - Pat Kenny
* Slovenia - TBC
* Switzerland - TBC
* Netherlands - Willem van Beusekom
* Italy - Ettore Andenna
* Spain - José Luis Uribarri
* Germany - Peter Urban
* Poland - Artur Orzech
* Estonia - Marko Reikop
* Bosnia & Herzegovina - TBC
* Portugal - Carlos Ribeiro
* Sweden - Jan Jingryd
* Greece - Dafni Bokota
* Malta - TBC
* Hungary - TBC
* Russia - TBC
* Denmark - Jørgen de Mylius
* France - TBC
* Croatia - Aleksandar Kostadinov
* United Kingdom - Terry Wogan (BBC TV), Ken Bruce (BBC Radio 2)
* Iceland - TBC

pokespersons

* Cyprus - Marios Skordis
* Turkey - Ömer Önder
* Norway - Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft
* Austria - Adriana Zartl
* Ireland - Eileen Dunne
* Slovenia - Mojca Mavec
* Switzerland - Sandy Altermatt
* Netherlands - Corry Brokken
* Italy - Peppi Franzelin
* Spain - Belén Fernández de Henestrosa
* Germany - Claudia-Christina Früchtenicht
* Poland - Jan Chojnacki
* Estonia - Helene Tedre
* Bosnia and Herzegovina - Segmedina Srna
* Portugal - Cristina Esteves
* Sweden - Gösta Hanson
* Greece - Niki Karra
* Malta - Anna Bonanno
* Hungary - Györgyi Albert
* Russia - Arina Sharapova
* Denmark - Bent Henius
* France - Frédéric Ferrer & Marie Myriam
* Croatia - Davor Mestrovic
* United Kingdom - Colin Berry
* Iceland - Svanhildur Jakobsdóttir

Map

References