After being beaten by Texas Lightning and the song No, no never, in an interview with Bild newspaper Vicky Leandros criticized NDR for the poor technical conditions she had to put up with during her performance in Thursday's German selection programme.

Thomas Hermanns hosted the show supported by, among others, Joy Fleming (Germany 1975). During the evening, short clips of former German entries were sung by the original singers, namely Mary Roos (1972, 1984), Joy Flemming (1975), Ingrid Peters(1986), Michelle (2001), Corina May (2002) and Lou (2003). Brotherhood of Man (UK 1976), Dana International (Israel 1998) and the Olsen Brothers (Denmark 2000) sang their winning entries and gave the show an international touch.

Technical problems apparent
That something wasn�t working as it should have, was immediately clear when Thomas Anders was due to to present his Songs that live forever and the music to the song simply didn�t start. Thomas Hermanns tried to save the situation with a smile, explaining how such things can happen when you are broadcasting live, and apologising to Thomas Anders for the inconvenience. Yet, on the second try, the music still didn�t begin and, wearing a somewhat bitter smile, Anders said: I can also sing it a capella if I have to� In Germany they say all good things come in threes, and on the third attempt the music launched, even if it was not enough to take Anders to Athens.

What nobody suspected that evening was that Vicky Leandros too had her fair share of trouble with the technical elements of the broadcast. The most sharp-witted viewers may have noticed that, during her performance, Vicky unplugged her headset. In an interview with Bild newspaper, she explained that the headset wasn�t working properly because the sound was coming intermittently and she could hardly hear herself or the music.

Eurovision classics showcased
Yet, not everything went wrong last Thursday. As announced before, the three candidates also sang a Eurovision Song Contest classic each. Thomas Anders presented a Latin version of Nel blu dipinto di blu, Texas Lightning sang Waterloo in a Country style and Vicky Leandros sang her own Aprés toi without considerable changes to the original that gave her the victory in Edinburgh, back in 1972.

In the manner of the Barbara Dex Prize, NDR also showed a sequence of the most extravagant items of clothing that the Eurovision Song Contest has seen. Joy Fleming confessed how much she hated the green dress she had to put on, back in 1975, and explained how she tore it to pieces afterwards. Dirk Bach (a German television star) then appeared wearing a copy of the much-hated green dress causing Joy to laugh.

Only the winner, Texas Lightning, was announced, so there were no losers in the German selection evening.

Anybody who missed the show can see pictures from the evening at this link.