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© yle.fi
Preparations well under way
Stage contruction starts in Helsinki arena
The company responsible for the construction of the stage is the same UK firm that created last year’s OAKA stage in Athens with everyone hoping to see an amazing construction like last year’s or even better.
The stage was created from design students who firstly had the idea and proposed it to YLE, The Finnish broadcaster. The concept is based on a pike’s jaw, which once used to make the traditional music instrument called kantele. The hight of the stage is 1.2 meters and has an elliptic central area of 9.2 by 10.5 meters.
Meanwhile, the Helsinki Fair Centre, where the press centre will be situated hosting almost 1500 journalists, is also getting ready by technicians. The building will house the press working area and the press conferences as well as catering facilities for journalists and a common room to relax in and watch rehearsals via video link from the Hartwall Arena.
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Oops. I meant I liked the stages of Riga and [b]Istanbul[/b] much better.
> God what a desapointing stage last year from
> Athens ! It wasnt the quality, it was a
> stupid design ! This looks better !
I don't think Athens had a bad stage last year. I just liked Riga and Kyiv much better.
I don't know if I will like the asymmetrical design of this year's stage that much, but it certainly looks like the most technically advanced ever.
@Aleksi DC:
nobody says here is not going to be any better stage than the one in Athens last year...i left this comment, because i saw last year a great stage and a very good ESC and nobody neither last year nor this year said a really good word on this and to the booing thing: there is nothing wrong with that, ESC is also a live event, and it is good if the audience show its feelings towards the various entries or their liking or even disliking....and as far as i know there was also much more wild applauding and support by the audience to the entries than booing...
Hmm... the stage in Athens worked fine but I don't think there was anything special there really.
The only thing which really disturbed me in Athens was the booing.. that was embarrising.
Oh for f*cks sake,
If Athens 2006 really is the best anyone can ever do, what on earth is the point of continuing Eurovision and organising a new contest each year? I'm not saying there was anything wrong with Athens 2006, but it is well and truely over now, so it should FINALLY be laid to rest. It's Helsinki's turn now, and it will soon move on to another city. Almost all the praise Athens keeps getting in this forum has come from greek members, so I don't think it reflects the attitude of most Europeans (most of whom are not die-hard fans, so they couldn't give a f*ck).
@ Luka Andreev
So why is the stage so awful then? You seem to have to bring it up in every message topic, whether it's got anything to do with the stage of not.
@ryan rtd
I agree with you about how annoying it is, when people write how certain they are about the winning song and where ESC 2008 is going to be. I think these people are actually just really worried that their country's entries aren't getting enough attention and will do badly, or are jealous that another country has a much better song.
@ryan rtd:
i do not think that you or anybody else had ever seen before the ESC 2006 in athens a high tech stage with an ancient greek ampitheatre part who would move according to the needs and the likngs of the participants...or a stage with so much moving levels on the flat part of it and with such a fantastic lightening.. noone had ever seen such a thing seen before the contest in Athens
Cant stand when people already proclaim a song the winner. Get over yourself, nothing is certain. Top 10, ok, but claiming that number 1 spot just annoys the hell out of me.
Good to see some uniqueness in the design this year. Not boring us with the things we've seen a million times before.
i dont think it ll be in sofia next year , the song simply isnt good enough, im not even convinced it ll qualify
@Alexander
WHAT?
This is the greatest joke ever! Americans lecturing Europeans about culture? Incredible!
I think they are forgetting one very important detail:
WE INVENTED IT!
Hmm... but where should it be held? It doesn't seem to be some large indoor arenas in Bulgaria, at least not due to this site:
[url= url]http://www.worldstadiums.com/europe/countries/bulgaria.shtml[] url]http://www.worldstadiums.com/europe/countries/bulgaria.shtml[/url]/url]
I don't care what americans think. But Bulgaria has a fantastic song. It would be great to go to Sofija or Varna.
@ Alexander
who wrote this article? where was it published? is it just a personal opinion of some american "no-body"?
but the best will be n Valetta 2008, if people gives Olivia and Vertigo the chance to win...i have the impression Maltese people take this contest very seriously and they will prepare the best stage ever.....i hopr the Helsinki stage this year won't look like the wooden monster house of Lordi somewhere in the deep valley :-)
the stage last year in Athens was more than superb!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was amazing: simple, but high tech, and the lightening was great and unique for each entry.....it was one of the best stages ever...
Very nice. I think Finland is going to host one of the best Eurovision Festival ever. Good luck and congratulations because of the stage!
It's a nice stage, but it looks pretty small! And is the stagefloor it a little bit lopsided?
Looks cool to me. It will be interesting to see it on May 10th. 
Thanks for the picture link, Melina.
The stage looks like from Star Trek, pretty cool...
Beam me to Planet Helsinki
See a bigger picture here:
url=http://www.yle.fi/eurovision/kuvat/stagebig.jpg]http://www.yle.fi/eurovision/kuvat/stagebig.jpg/url]
The "starry sky" surrounding the stage looks amazing & beautiful.
The stage is going to be, to quote last year's host Maria, AMAZING!! It's really had to get a good idea from a preliminary, small picture like this... But I've seen a bigger photo, and it's visually amazing... And really does represent something special. See the green/bluish shapes surrounding the stage? They represent "fins" of a pike (a pike is the idea behind the whole stage design).
Thanks for the tip Garry, but i alway like to make personalised heart badges for everyone who comes...buts its hard making them different every year!
That why I like Peters logos so much
Here is a videoclip from the Hartwall areena:
url=http://www.iltasanomat.fi/videot/?id=1356754&ap=1]http://www.iltasanomat.fi/videot/?id=1356754&ap=1/url]
simon go to the link for the shop above and you can usually buy a set of heart badges for each country pareticipating
Ah shame...I was hop ing they were somewhere on the web, then i could use them at my Eurovision Party!
They're really nice...
If you fancy sending me what you have I'd really like them?
email=sdclifford2000@yahoo.com]sdclifford2000@yahoo.com/email]
Cheers
Do i see a circular screen in the floor? i hope so i love them!!
Simon Clifford:
I make all ESC-heart-logos on my profile-pics by my self, in Adobe Photoshop 6!
I have: UK, Sweden, Iraq, USA, France, EU, Geece and some more!
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