VENUE Abdi Ipekci Sport Center, Istanbul		ENTRIES 24
HOSTS Meltem Cumbul Korhan Abay		DEBUTS Serbia & Montenegro, Albania

2004 saw some big changes. For the third time in the history of the contest there was a pre-selection after the national selections but before the big night. However, unlike in 1993 and 1996 that pre-selection didn't take place until 3 days before the contest and was promoted as a "semi-final",  broadcast to virtually all the countries who viewed the final, utilizing the same venue and the same hosts. 36 countries entered in total, if one includes the eliminated "semi-finalists", and amazingly all 36 were allowed to vote in the final.

As anyone with an ounce of foresight could have predicted, the "semi-final" songs that made it through to the final did disproportionately well once there, in fact no less than 5 of the top 7 had the extra exposure of the semi to help them on their way.  The invitation to all 36 budding countries to vote also meant of course that the massed ranks of ex-Yugoslavia and ex-USSR were give full rein to lavish votes upon each other. The Russian song, for example, which was delivered with the worst performance seen on an ESC stage in many a year, earned enough points from the apparently "eliminated" ex-Soviet Union nations to qualify for 2005.

Maybe more than ever (and maybe because of the "semi"- exposure) theatre was more important than song as the aggressive shows from Ukraine and Greece pulled in the votes. The atmospheric Serbian song with a long instrumental intro was also visually powerful.

12 countries were eliminated in a "semi-final" held 3 days before the contest.

Voting

IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK:

The final episode of "Friends" airs in America, attracting an estimated 52 million viewers.

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