Reunion and Babette Labeij won the first semifinal of the Nationaal Songfestival 2004, the Dutch selection for the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest.
The first heat of the Dutch Nationaal Songfestival 2004 took place in Amsterdam. Jury and television viewers both selected a winner.
Charly ended up 4th in the televoters decision and couldn't manage to make it to the final with his song She'll take your breath away. Arjen & Margriet got only 3 percent of the televoters' calls and SMS messages with their Dutch song De dag na de dertiende. Hot Black Stuff also got 3 percent of the televoters' votes with Bump, while Arno Kolenbrander got 14 percent of the votes.
Reunion won both the televoters' vote as well as most of the points of the jury, for their song Without you. During a press conference, the two boys said that “music won, we knew we had a great song”.
Reunion ended up first at the televoters' vote and the jury vote, because Babette Labeij ended up second at the televoters' vote she'll also continue to the final, which takes place on 22nd February. During the press conference after the show, she said that “there is no reason to shame”. As teacher of the first edition of the Dutch Idols, it was her goal to reach the final of the contest. Idols winner Jamai came by during the voting to support his former teacher.
The televoters' vote was brought by Azra Akin, Miss World who originally comes from Turkey who lives in The Netherlands.
The second semifinal of the Nationaal Songfestival 2004 takes place next Thursday.
A detailed backstage report with photos, exclusive information and small interviews can be found tomorrow at esctoday.com. Stay tuned!
