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Musicians from 39 countries are in Norway for the 55th Eurovision Song Contest.More than 125 million people watched last year's competition, when 23-year-old violinist Alexander Rybak took home the trophy with a record 387 points.
The BBC's Mark Savage is in Oslo to report on the atmosphere at one of the world's biggest and most colourful music events.
FRIDAY, 28 MAY. 1100 OSLO (1000 BST)Abba's home country, Sweden, was the shock loser at last night's semi-final. Some bookmaker's had tipped Anna Bergendahl's acoustic rock number, This Is My Life, to come third overall.
Instead, she was ingloriously sent packing.
Sweden doesn't take Eurovision lightly, sending some of its biggest artists to the contest every year. In 2009, internationally-renowned opera singer Malena Ernman took part, and others include chart-topping glam rock group The Ark and Carola Haggkvist, whose debut album is the biggest-seller in Swedish history. So they are decidedly unhappy at being kicked out of this year's contest before the final.
"I am felling really bad. I'm so sad," Swedish fan Ana told us.
She added that there was bad feeling towards the UK back at home because, as one of the "big four" countries who provide 40% of the funding for Eurovision, they get an automatic pass to the final.
"The UK get it so easy each year," she complained. "It's no competition to go through to the final."
Her friend Don added: "In the Swedish papers today they were saying that you're not allowed to bring live animals on the stage, but maybe if we could bring a white elephant, do something extra, we would get back on top."
You heard it here first.
FRIDAY, 28 MAY. 0050 OSLO (2350 BST)Eurovision press conferences are indescribably dissimilar to the sort of thing you see at Downing Street.
For a start, they don't just let journalists in... the fans get to play along, too. This actually makes things much more entertaining - like those town hall meetings President Obama held during the US election campaign, if he'd been trying to get elected on the set of West Side Story.
The 10 qualifying acts from the semi-final have just endured such a press conference. It was delayed by a tense stand-off between Israel and Cyprus, whose supporters stood facing each other on opposite sides of the hall singing at the top of their voices. If anyone had started clicking their fingers, I'd have run for my life.
When it finally settled down, each country got to answer two questions, which ranged from the bland ("how do you feel") to the unfair ("what role will you take in uniting northern and southern Cyprus?")
Crueller still was the moment when each contestant had to plunge their hand into a bowl and draw out the number that would determine their place in the running order in the final.
Georgian beauty Sofia Nizharadze was hoping to get 13, as it represented her mother's birthday, and succeeded.
But the luckiest draw of them all went to Azerbaijan. Their act, Safura, claimed pole position - and will open Saturday's show with her song, Drip Drop.
Because the phone vote opens at the beginning of the programme this year, that could put her at a distinct advantage.
THURSDAY, 27 MAY. 1830 LOCAL TIME (1730 BST)UK hopeful Josh Dubovie has just performed on an open-air stage opposite the Nobel Peace Centre in downtown Oslo.
The 19-year-old was in fine voice - especially when you consider all the amaretto he drank last night. He was cheered on by a large contingent of flag-waving UK including Mark Loder and Carl Pfeiffer.
"We've seen him a couple of times and every time he gets more accomplished," said Carl.
"There's a lot of power ballads this year so hopefully he'll stand out," added Mark. "When you come to Eurovision you want to have a dance and a bit of a boogie."
Still, the fans are realistic about Josh's chances. "Where will he come?" mused Carl. "Top 10 would be amazing!"
THURSDAY, 27 MAY. 1545 LOCAL TIME (1445 BST)As many 40,000 people are descending on Oslo this week to take part in the Eurovision carnival.
It's tempting for the city's restaurants and bars to hike up prices - and, given that a solitary bottle of beer costs £7, you could be forgiven for thinking they'd succumbed.
But taxes on alcohol and tobacco are traditionally high in this clean-living country, and the local tourist board is working hard to make sure visitors don't get fleeced.
"We prepared the industry not to increase prices," says Frode Valland, from Visit Oslo.
"They are running with high season prices, but nobody has increased prices on top of that."
Oslo is well prepared for the influx. Buses, trams and taxis headed for the Telenor arena are branded with the Eurovision logo, and there are special events at the national ski arena, the opera house and even the Viking ship museum.
It helps, says Valland, that Oslo has previous experience in catering for international events.
"We have the trial world skiing championships in March, we work on the Nobel Peace Prize, the Bislett games - all of these events.
"Oslo's image is not created by two crazy weeks like this. It is created by a good, steady service."
But what about those of us who want a cheap drink to wash down our cheesy pop?
"Alcohol and cigarettes are expensive and, generally, they should be," he argues.
"But vegetables and juices are inexpensive."
THURSDAY, 27 MAY. 0030 LOCAL TIME (2330 BST)I'd forgotten from my previous Eurovision experiences that the dress rehearsal goes through everything in exhaustive detail... right down to the voting and the scoreboard, so apologies for the late update.
The best reaction at tonight's recitation went to the Dutch representative, Sieneke. Her song, Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha-la-lie), is probably the most traditional Eurovision ditty in the line-up. Written by Pierre Kartner (aka Father Abraham of "The Smurfs" fame), it's a simple, melodic folk song with a lilting barrel organ accompaniment. It is also dreadfully irritating. Whether the voting public will be as enthusiastic as the Eurovision faithful in the arena tonight remains to be seen. I don't want to give away too much more about the show, in case you're planning to watch it on BBC Three tomorrow night, but here are few things to watch out for:
• A robot stripper
• Performers shooting balls of fire out of their hands
• Something from Slovenia that probably sounded like a good idea at the time
• A "Bucks Fizz moment"
• A tree
And that is your lot.
WEDNESDAY, 26 MAY. 1815 LOCAL TIME (1715 BST)I've just caught up with UK hopeful Josh Dubovie for a chat about his time in Oslo.
Apart from the rehearsals, he's been out seeing the sights and making the most of his Eurovision experience. Today, he had tea with the British ambassador, Jane Owen, and went to a local school where the pupils had all learnt traditional English songs to sing him. Not Greensleeves, mind you, but Congratulations and Making Your Mind Up.
As for the rehearsals, he says: "The first one was about getting used to the Telenor arena and getting the sound levels and camera angles right.
"The second time, I tried to imagine the arena filled with 18,000 people. It was more about the performance and giving that extra 10 per cent. We decided on a few changes to the camera angles in the viewing room afterwards, but now we're all set."
But it's not all about the telly. Tonight, Josh is performing his track, That Sounds Good To Me, at the Euroclub in Oslo town centre and tomorrow he's doing a show in the Eurovillage, an open air stage in front of the town hall. All good preparation for the big night.
WEDNESDAY, 26 MAY. 1800 LOCAL TIME (1700 BST)It may only have been the first semi-final last night, but the Eurovision party has been in full swing for weeks.
Rehearsals started on 16 April, and every up, down, pout, pirouette and pyrotechnic has been documented and dissected by an army of journalists and Eurovision fans.
There are about 2,200 accredited members of the press here and, despite what you might think, they take it all very seriously indeed.
Put it this way - they sell toothbrushes and toothpaste in the press centre cafe. And journalists only wash their teeth on extremely special occasions. The UK entry, Josh Dubovie, got his first run-through last Saturday (there's video on theif you want a sneak peek). That was followed by a 20-minute press conference, where he described the experience as "unbelievable".
There have been countless more practice runs throughout the week and, later tonight, we'll see the second dress rehearsal of the second semi-final. It's a pretty big deal - not only is it a ticketed, public event, but it is also the performance juries will base their votes on.
I'll be in the arena tonight to see what happens. Check this page later for a full account.
WEDNESDAY, 26 MAY. 1430 LOCAL TIME (1530 BST) - NORWAY
Stunning views of Norway's forests and fjords as we flew into Oslo about an hour ago.
Sadly, the Telenor Arena, where I'll spend most of the next five days, isn't as picturesque.
En route to the venue, I stopped off at a McDonalds - they say the price of a Big Mac is one of the world's most accurate economic indicators.
In Oslo, you can expect to pay about 76 kronor for your bun and burger. That's £8. It's going to be an expensive couple of days.
WEDNESDAY, 26 MAY. 0930 BST - LONDONAs I sit in the departure lounge in Heathrow, I've been reading up on the Eurovision Song Contest's logo (the newsagent ran out of copies of The Economist).
The design remains the same every year - but the heart at the centre changes to reflect the flag of the host country.
According to the organisers, the logo "symbolises the emotions experienced by the fans and enthusiasts of the show and the flag waving behaviour which is unique to the Eurovision Song Contest".
Amazingly, the logo for next year's contest will be available immediately after the winner is announced on Saturday night. That means the "heart flag" for each country has to be designed in advance.
Here's just some of the options they've got sitting on the Eurovision supercomputer in a secret underground bunker on the moon.
TUESDAY, 25 MAY. 1700 BST - LONDONAll the fun kicks off in Oslo later - but I'm grounded in the UK until tomorrow morning. Bah, humbug. The first semi-final is broadcast on BBC Three tonight from 2000BST (1900 GMT) and you can play along at home, thanks to a handy scorecard on theBBC's official Eurovision site.
Few of the big favourites for the 55th contest are taking part in the first show, however.
Bookmaker's are backing Azerbaijan's entry,Drip Drop,a rousing ballad which will make its first appearance in the second semi-final on Thursday.
Google, meanwhile, is running its ownanalysis of the potential winners, based on the volume of searches made for each individual act. By their criteria, German singer Lena - whose songSatellitesounds like Paloma Faith doing Russell Crowe's "English accent" - is the surefire winner.
You won't get to hear that song until Saturday's final, though, as Germany is one of the "big four" funders who get an automatic pass to the last round.
But fans of the contest are backing Ireland as this year's dark horse. Niamh Kavanagh lifted the title for the Emerald Isle 17 years ago and is among the strongest vocalists in this year's line-up.
For better or worse her song,It's For You,calls to mind Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On. If you have an aversion to penny whistles, put the kettle on when she makes her debut on Thursday.
And who is worth watching among tonight's 17 hopefuls?
Fans of men in leather waistcoats will appreciate the Greek entry,OPA!And during the Polish song,Legenda, dancers will be doing unnatural things with apples.
Don't you just love Eurovision?This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.