A press conference followed the announcement of Copenhagen as the host city for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in the DR’s Headquarters and here are the headlines and key information revealed:

Frank Jensen, the mayor of Copenhagen, mentioned that his city has been selected  by the European Union Committee as Europe’s Green capital in 2014 and  therefore the idea will be part of the Eurovision Song Contest by making it an environmental friendly show. He also revealed that Copenhagen will contribute with 40 million dkk to the contest.

Maria Robye, the head of DR (Denmark’s national broadcasting corporation), pointed out as well that Copenhagen was awarded this summer, the world’s best city and hopes to match this award with the best contest ever organised. Maria also mentioned that the whole city would be celebrated the contest with restaurants creating special Eurovision menus and the Royal Family ship anchored near the venue.

Pernille Gaardbo, the Executive Producer of the contest, hopes to have tickets available for 9 rehearsal shows and the 3 live shows to ensure everyone gets the chance to see the show. Dates for tickets sales have yet to be announced. The venue is a 60m high building and will be lighten up so that is can be seen all across the capital and the Eurovision park will be opened by the actual venue to make it a big celebration. The city centre will have a mile long way full of Eurovision events and boat shuttles on top of bus shuttles which will run around the city. The choice of B&W Hallerne was justified by the idea that it represents Denmark as it is on an island obviously surrounded by water like the whole country. Finally, she also emphasized that the contest will be bigger than the 2001 edition since up to 43 countries could participate, against 23 in 2001.

Jan Lagermand Lundme, the show responsible for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, revealed some details about the start of the show including laser lights and fireworks. The host or hosts will welcome everyone to Copenhagen from the top of the venue with the city’s skyline behind. The traditional postcards will be scrapped for small portraits of contestants.

Finally, the slogan #Joinus is the idea to get “closer to the participants, the music, the Danes, Europeans and the competition”.

Stay tuned for more information on the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest on esctoday.com