| Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date and venue | |
| Final |
|
| Venue | Hammersmith Apollo Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom |
| Organisation | |
| Organiser | European Broadcasting Union (EBU) |
| Executive supervisor | Jon Ola Sand |
| Production | |
| Host broadcaster | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) |
| Director | |
| Executive producer | Guy Freeman |
| Musical director | David Arch |
| Presenters | |
Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits (also known asEurovision's Greatest Hits) was alive televisionconcert programme organised by theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) and produced by theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to commemorate the 60th anniversary of theEurovision Song Contest. The concert took place on 31 March 2015 at theHammersmith Apollo inHammersmith,London. Guy Freeman was the executive producer and Geoff Posner the director, both of whom held the same positions as the last time the BBC hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in1998. Simon Proctor was the senior producer and David Arch was the musical director for the concert. Tickets for the event went on sale at 10:15 (GMT) on 6 February 2015.
Graham Norton andPetra Mede hosted the event, which saw fifteen acts from thirteen countries performing their Eurovision entries from yesteryear. During the televised show, video montages from the Eurovision archives were shown in-between each live performance. The2015 entry for the United Kingdom, "Still in Love with You" byElectro Velvet, was performed at the concert as the opening act, but never broadcast on the televised show. The1994 interval act,Riverdance, was reprised as part of the anniversary celebrations.
Several countries confirmed that they would air adelayed broadcast of the concert on various dates that suited the broadcasters' schedules, includingAustralia, which would make its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015. The host broadcaster BBC and the Irish broadcasterRaidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) simulcast the show on 3 April 2015, acrossBBC One andRTÉ 2. In turn, several countries chose not to broadcast the event, includingLuxembourg, which had an act taking part.
Confirmation came on 3 February 2015 that the concert event would take place at theHammersmith Apollo inHammersmith,London.[1] This was the first time that London had hosted a Eurovision event since theEurovision Dance Contest 2007.[2]
It was announced on 22 October 2014 that the EBU had appointed the British broadcaster,British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), to co-produce a special anniversary show to celebrate sixty years of the Eurovision Song Contest, similar to the showCongratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place in 2005. The BBC's Entertainment department had been commissioned to host the 50th Anniversary show from the Royal Albert Hall in 2005 but this had to be declined as the BBC wouldn't commit to broadcasting the show. The details regarding the title of the show were unknown at the time the announcement was made.[3][4]
The EBU later issued the following statement regarding the 60th anniversary: "There are various exciting proposals from member broadcasters on the table to celebrate the 60th anniversary beyond the contest in May, which are currently in the final stages of being evaluated. A decision is expected shortly, so stay tuned!".[5] Edgar Böhm, executive producer of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest said in an interview that the BBC had been chosen to host a special anniversary show.[6] Guy Freeman was appointed as executive producer for the event, assisted by Senior Producer Simon Proctor, the script was co-written byEdward af Sillén, Daniel Réhn, Christine Rose and Simon Proctor whilst the director wasGeoff Posner, who had previously directed theEurovision Song Contest 1998 inBirmingham.[1]
On 3 February 2015, it was announced thatGraham Norton andPetra Mede would co-host the concert show.[7] Norton, who co-hosted theEurovision Dance Contest withClaudia Winkleman in2007 and2008,[8] has also served as the BBC's commentator for the contest since2009,[9] and would later co-host the final of theEurovision Song Contest 2023 inLiverpool. Mede was the host ofMelodifestivalen 2009,[10] theEurovision Song Contest 2013,[11] and later the2016 and2024 contests.[12]
Tickets for the anniversary concert went on sale from 10:15 (GMT) on 6 February 2015 via the BBC's Eurovision website and the Eurovision Song Contest's official website.[13]
The concert was recorded live on 31 March 2015 at the Hammersmith Apollo; allowingparticipating broadcasters the freedom to air the programme on a date and channel that was convenient for theirbroadcasting schedules.[14] Fifteen artists, representing thirteen countries, took part in the sixtieth anniversary gala event.[15] The first-ever winner of the contestLys Assia (Switzerland 1956), appeared in the audience as a guest of honour. During the broadcast,video montages were shown prior to each entry, showing footage for that particular year's contest, ending with Eurovision Song Contest footage for the entry that was about to perform on stage. Recap montages of Eurovision entries over the last sixty years, were also broadcast in-between performances. These sometimes differed between the BBC and other broadcasts because of copyright clearance and were as follows:[16]
Electro Velvet performed their2015 entry for the United Kingdom, "Still in Love with You". This performance did not appear on the televised show, but was exclusively done for the audience members of the concert hall itself and was later uploaded on the BBC's social media pages and YouTube channel.[17] The interval act for the show wasRiverdance.[18] Consisting oftraditional Irish music anddance, and featuring Irish dancing championsJean Butler andMichael Flatley, with a score composed byLimerick nativeBill Whelan, it originated as an interval performance during theEurovision Song Contest 1994.[19][20]
Fifteen Eurovision acts from thirteen countries participated in the anniversary concert.[15] Although there were originally fourteen acts confirmed by the BBC, it was later announced on 5 March 2015 thatNorway'sBobbysocks would join the line-up increasing the total to fifteen.[21]Video montages were shown prior to each entry, showing footage for that particular year's contest, ending with Eurovision Song Contest footage for the entry that was about to perform on stage.[16]
A medley of some of the Eurovision Song Contest's hits were performed in English by all of the participating artists, as a reprise act at the end of the show.Anne-Marie David performed the winning entry forIsrael in 1979, "Hallelujah". Swedish trioHerreys sang "Nel blu, dipinto di blu", which finished in third place forItaly in 1958. "Making Your Mind Up", the winning entry for theUnited Kingdom in 1981, was performed byBobbysocks. The reprise concluded withConchita Wurst andDana International leading all of the remaining performers (exceptLoreen) back on stage to sing "Waterloo", the winning entry forSweden in 1974.[16]
As the show was notbroadcast live, the participating broadcasters were able to broadcast the show on a date and channel that was convenient for their broadcasting schedules. Some broadcasters – such those in Austria and Sweden – recorded additional links and interviews in London for their viewers and these were used as previews for the main show.[14]
The following broadcasters, listed in order of broadcasting dates, confirmed that they would broadcast the anniversary show.[15]
| Date of broadcast | Country | Station | Commentators |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 April 2015 |  Ireland | RTÉ2 | No commentary |
 United Kingdom | BBC One | ||
| 4 April 2015 |  Belgium | Eén | Peter Van de Veire[23] |
 Iceland | RÚV | No commentary | |
 Norway | NRK1 | ||
 Finland | Yle Fem | Sarah Dawn Finer andChrister Björkman | |
 Sweden | SVT1 andSVT World | ||
| 5 April 2015 |  Albania | RTSH | No commentary |
 Russia | C1R | Yury Aksyuta and Svetlana Zeynalova | |
 San Marino | SMRTV | No commentary | |
| 11 April 2015 | Finland | Yle TV2 | No commentary; Finnish subtitles |
 Israel | Channel 1 | No commentary | |
| 13 April 2015 |  Bulgaria | BNT1 | |
| 19 April 2015 | BNT2 | ||
| 25 April 2015 |  Latvia | LTV1 | Aigars Rozenbergs[24] |
| 26 April 2015 |  Portugal | RTP1 | Júlio Isidro |
| 2 May 2015 |  Slovenia | TV SLO 1 | No commentary |
| 4 May 2015 | United Kingdom | BBC Radio 2 | Graham Norton[25] |
| 12 May 2015 | Belgium | La Une | Jean-Louis Lahaye andMaureen Louys |
| 16 May 2015 | |||
 Denmark | DR1 | Ole Tøpholm | |
 Germany | NDR andMDR | Peter Urban[26][27] | |
 Greece | NERIT1 andN HD | No commentary; Greek subtitles | |
 Romania | TVR1 andTVR HD[28] | No commentary | |
| 17 May 2015 |  Austria | ORF eins[29] | Andi Knoll |
| 19 May 2015 |  Switzerland | SRF zwei (part 1) | Sven Epiney |
| 20 May 2015 |  France | France 2 | Virginie Guilhaume |
| 21 May 2015 | Switzerland | SRF zwei (part 2) | Sven Epiney |
 Australia | SBS One | No commentary | |
| 22 May 2015 |  Estonia | ETV | |
| Germany | EinsFestival | Peter Urban[26][27] | |
| 23 May 2015 |  Serbia | RTS | No commentary |
 Spain | La 1[30] | José María Íñigo andJulia Varela[31] |
The following broadcasters declined to broadcast the show:
The broadcasters in the following countries, which had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest at least once, did not announce their plans on whether to broadcast the show.[15]
Andorra
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Croatia
Cyprus
Georgia
Hungary
Italy
Lithuania
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Morocco
Poland
Slovakia
TurkeyWhen will the show be broadcast in the UK / my country?
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