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© Telenor Arena
Now known as Fornbu Arena
Telenor Arena to host Eurovision 2010
The Fornebu Arena is located in Bærum which is placed in the south of Oslo. The two Semifinals and the Grand Final, along with all rehearsals and press conferences will take place exactly there. It was selected ahead of the Spektrum, home of the Melodi Grand Prix final and previous Eurovision Song Contest host arena. The Spektrum has a smaller capacity and lacks the size to cope with the media circus that accompanies the competition. The Telenor/Fornebu Arena is the largest indoor arena in northern Europe and opened in February 2009 and can host 15,000 spectators for football matches, and 23,000 for concerts.
"We believe this is a good solution. Fornebu Arena is constructed to host major events - and this is definitely a spectacular event. This choice secures superb conditions for the production. Factors such as size, outdoor space and other production facilities have been important in the decision. It feels great to start summer vacation knowing we have the best possible starting point for the huge job ahead of us.", says Hasse Lindmo, TV-producer of the upcoming Eurovision at NRK.
A team made of EBU representatives had visited Oslo last month, for the first production meeting with NRK's Eurovision team. "They already filled their key positions, did in-depth research to what it takes to organise this enormous event and they are eager to lay the foundations of the production before summer holidays. I believe NRK made a good choice by picking the Fornebu Arena as location for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. It's brand new, equipped with the latest technologies and seems to meet all requirements to host Europe's favourite TV-show", says Svante Stockselius, the Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of the EBU.
The EBU's Reference Group will visit Oslo again in September to approve the Fornebu Arena as the venue of the upcoming ESC.
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I thought the stage in Belgrade just didn't work. I didn't like the shape - the two waves either side looked tacky. It was just like this multicoloured blob, and the lighting left a lot to be desired too. It wasn't terrible, I just thought it was ugly.
Enormous LED screens aren't everything... Just a clean, well designed, simple-cut stage like the one in Athens looked brilliant.
Personally, I'd love to see an island stage at Eurovision - a stage in the middle of the arena with no backdrop, with 360* views.
Athens, Kiev, Ankara, Riga, Tallin etc did show us their stage which in my opinion didn't give any effort to a modernism of the stage design in ESC if we compare them to concert-stages outside ESC in general. Same with the graphics.
Even though Helsinki had a very small stage comparing to those above, the Finnish organizers did at least start a modernism of the stage design. It was modern and different, and did clearly show that ESC is an unique contest. The graphics here were OK, but a good start for ESC.
Then, it came to Belgrade. In my opinion, it was that year where the "revolution" of everything about hosting the ESC started. Totally different design of stage, original graphics and everything. Belgrade was a good host 
Therefore, I also think the hosts in Moscow this year got a lot of indirectly efforts/idea from the Serbian organizers, and continued ESC's development on creativity 
Moscow had an advantage there, so it will be kinda wrong to say that Moscow was much better than Belgrade.
My favourite stage and general arena set up was Helsinki 2007 The huge LED backdrop allowed the stage to look entirely different for every single song (where some stages failed, Kiev) and because of the relatively small size of the stage the acts didn't seem lost on it And the arena was a nice size aswell.
Athens had a nice stage, alot of people say it was too cold, but I quite liked it, and it was very impressive Kiev was a nice concept but imo it just looked messy, there was too much going on and the stage did look quite dated.
Belgrade was good but it wasn't the most beautiful of stages admittedly. The lighting and everything was fantastic but it just looked a bit awkward 
And Moscow was just amazing!
@ Blaise Jones
That said, Belgrade's stage was a nice size, but ugly as hell.
hahaha, you are totaly wrong, our stage was very beautiful, but too small everybody from delegations said that, I know believe me, it should be a bit bigger! 
I really don't know reason, why you wrote it was soooooo ugly?!
Size isn't everything... Copenhagen 2001 was hosted in an enormous sports arena. There were 38000 people in there and even though the stage was huge, it was a mess. People walked out because they couldn't see the acts and the acoustics within the arena were terrible. A disaster in that respect.
The stage in Moscow was a little over the top too, performers looked lost on it and it was easy just to watch the enormous screens rather than the act!
That said, Belgrade's stage was a nice size, but ugly as hell.
I think ESC 2006 - Greece - was fantastic in terms of size and stage. The acoustics and lighting were brilliant too.
@ Benjamin Johnson
They couldn't choose anything worse that this years semi "hosts". Lets face it. NRK are a long standing EBU member and participant. The Norwegians are, I know, a proud people and would only want to put on the best. I am really excited about next years contest, and all of us (except the totally cynical here) will be wow-ing them after next years final, I'm sure.
The trick will be, with such a large venue, to ensure that the scale of the stage is the same as that of the hall. The Russians did this really well this year. Despite there being 23,000 people there, it felt far more intimate than that horrible, isolated, cheap stage in Helsinki (by far the most poorly staged show in recent times).
Well, the name is still Telenor Arena - but that term can't be used for commercial restrictions decided by the EBU.
Good luck for Norge
Excellent venue! All we need now is a brilliant show for next year with fantastic hosts, a superb interval act and lots of great songs with amazing singers and performances. The eurovision song contest 2010 will be the best if all these are included!
Come on NRK! We are counting on you to give us the best eurovision of all time and one that will be talked about in many years to come.
To the other countries, hope to see top quality singers and songs from you that will rock.
There is nothing wrong with big venues. Much more space for loads of eager fans. The more the merrier! Great selection!
Good luck Norway and all the best next year. Please choose better hosts for the semis.
I knew Fornebu Arena would be chosen in the end...and I hope it turns out to be a smart decision. Hope people will purchase tickeets and fill up the arena in both semis too (not only the final). I have no doubts at all that NRK will make a great show.
Btw. Here is a video of Aleksander Rybak AND Carola singing together at "Allsang på grensen" ("Sing-a-long at the border" this week (a mix of Främling and Fairytale + a beautiful tribute to the great Michael Jackson, singing "I'll be there"
http://www.youtube.c(...)/watch?v=IcxNgiRTkB8
One more thing...this is a band who would be cool as Norway's entry in ESC next year..hehe...I just love this song by the Norwegian band called "Donkeyboy". Here they are from "Raadhusplassen" a couple of weeks ago with their summer-hit "Ambitions" (which is at #1 on the norwegian charts at the moment).
http://www.youtube.c(...)&feature=related
@Lily Bel
That's right, I have to agree. Yohanna, the girl could sing live, but the song is a completely average, boring ballad.
@S B
I'm a little skeptic to how it will turn out. Either it will be something embarrassing like trolls and polar bears or something silly or they will try to be modern and make something ugly like the hideous Ikea opera house they built, haha.
I think they made the right choice of venue at least.
Heja Norge!
Can't wait!
WOW! With this impressive, large arena, next year should be a huge turnout.
Nice one guys!
thanks for great songs and good luck for Norway
Awesome choice!
I did mean, best choice.............
I do mean it's the best shoise too and i'm sure that NRK are fixing the comunication quite well between hotells and busses to the arena.
Thy have done it before and they can do it again.
The Fornebu Arena was the best choice I think. Good luck Norway
I loved the interval act in Moscow. Must have been great to have experienced it in the audience.
Great - Now lets hope that NRK give us a great show instead of the Circus we had in Moscow with a dreadful Interval Act and Postcards that meant nothing, and hosts who shouted at us.
James, I totally agree about the arena-size issue. In Helsinki, and audience of 10000, and the stage was totally seperated from the audience, especially with those huge pillars). Even the catwal;k didn't provide the intimmacy. Tallinn 2002 was the perfect example of an audience intimate with the stage (even if filming was horrible uncomfortable for the crew)
Why should an ordinary person buy a ticket for ESC in his home town when he sits in a different sound zone than the stage (in seconds) if they end up watching the video screens instead. NRK don't need to be emberassed with an empty semi final)
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ŠEF DIRIGENT
I agree that a live band could be introduced. Plenty of other shows do this (eg. Idol) and I think there is no reason why it couldn't work in Eurovision. The problem is the cost - people would seemingly rather spend more money on the stage than the music. Would artists rather live music or a backing track? A good artist would say live music, a mediocre one would probably prefer a backing track.
There were 38,000 people in Denmark, and I liked the atmosphere as much in Denmark as I did in Estonia and Latvia, with far fewer people.
@ james may
In Belgrade Arena was around 14 000 people (in final), but it can be around 20 000!
I think that 20000 head crowd will be too big . In moscow you could see that . Because i live Helsinki , i have visitied four
esc ´s 2000 , 2002 , 2003 and 2007 . I must say , that the less was more . In big halls like it was in Russia and in Denmark ,the crowd was too far from the stage and in tv screen it created cold and unpleasent feeling . i don´t remember how many people was there in Denmark . but in Russia there was 23000 ? compared to Lativa 2003 when there was only 6000 and Estonia 2002 with 8000 people . . in Helsinki there was 12000 people if i remember correctly , and i think itś the limit you shouldn´t cross . in Latvia,i was sitting in the middle of the crwod , but in Estonia , I managed to get en expensive vip ticket, i sat between the catwalk and the main stage . i have to said that the fact , that people were very close to the stage created a pleasent , kinda intimate mood , it also looked good on the screen. I am not saying you shouldn´t have big halls for esc , even more, in big countries it is pointless to sell small ammount of ticekts , it just covers too little part of the budget, wich big countries (like Russia ) have for the esc .
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