The extremely colourful band Pollapönk represents Iceland this year. Band-members had given up all hope of reaching the finals when their name was finally announced.
“We thought this was the end of the road and had come to terms with it,” said band-member Haraldur Freyr Gíslason in an interview with the National Broadcasting Service on Tuesday.
Nine other countries progressed to the final on Tuesday, including Ukraine, San Marino, Montenegro, Armenia, Sweden, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Russia and The Netherlands.
Some 125 million people are expected to watch the grand final which will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Saturday. Icelanders are avid Eurovision fans and diligently tune in to watch the contest every single year since 1986.
Radio hosts Atli Fannar Bjarkason and Haukur Viðar Alfreðsson on X-ið radio station wanted to find out whether other countries were as excited about the song contest and contacted a bartender in London and an IKEA-employee in Sweden to find out. The interviews (in English) begin three minutes into the sound snippet.
Iceland was the tenth and final country to qualify for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest during the first semi-finals last Tuesday. Ten more acts will be selected during the second semi-finals tonight.
The extremely colourful band Pollapönk represents Iceland this year. Band-members had given up all hope of reaching the finals when their name was finally announced.
“We thought this was the end of the road and had come to terms with it,” said band-member Haraldur Freyr Gíslason in an interview with the National Broadcasting Service on Tuesday.
Nine other countries progressed to the final on Tuesday, including Ukraine, San Marino, Montenegro, Armenia, Sweden, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Russia and The Netherlands.
Some 125 million people are expected to watch the grand final which will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Saturday. Icelanders are avid Eurovision fans and diligently tune in to watch the contest every single year since 1986.
Radio hosts Atli Fannar Bjarkason and Haukur Viðar Alfreðsson on X-ið radio station wanted to find out whether other countries were as excited about the song contest and contacted a bartender in London and an IKEA-employee in Sweden to find out. The interviews (in English) begin three minutes into the sound snippet.
