After several weeks of waiting, the excitement about the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Austria will reach its first peak tonight, when the singer and song for Baku will be chosen in two rounds of voting.
First of all, the number of candidates will be narrowed down from ten to two by means of televoting. Then, the two super-finalists will perform again, and the TV public will decide who will be flying the Austrian flag in the capital of Azerbaijan in May. This is the order of appearance for tonight:
James Cottriall - Stand Up
Krautschädl - Einsturzgefohr
Valerie- Comme ça
3punkt5 - Augenblick
Conchita Wurst - That's What I Am
Mary Broadcast Band - How Can You Ask Me!
!DelaDap - Don’t Turn Around
Papermoon - Vater, Father, Mon Père
Trackshittaz - Woki mit deim Popo
Norbert Schneider - Medicate My Blues Away
Initially, !DelaDap were supposed to sing Crazy Swing, but it turned out that the song had been performed in public prior to September 1st, 2011, making it ineligible according to the rules of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. You can listen to all the entries on the ORF website.
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Tonight's show will be presented by Mirjam Weichselbraun, Robert Kratky and Andi Knoll, who is also the current Austrian commentator in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Eric Papilaya, who represented Austria in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, will be one of the special guests tonight, as well as Petra Frey, who took part in 1994 with Für Den Frieden Der Welt, and Marianne Mendt, who sang Musik for Austria in 1971.
Of course, Nadine Beiler, who made Austria proud by securing the first ever 12 points from neighbouring Germany last year, will also join the show, just like several Austrian celebrities, including Peter Rapp, Christian Kolonovits and Thomas Rabitsch.
