DJ BoBo joins many other charting Eurovision Song Contest acts this week. He is entering the hit parade on the official Swiss singles charts at position #3. Plans are also underway for the “Vampires” tour. Though the tour is still a year away, ticket presales in Germany and Switzerland begin tomorrow (Friday, 23rd March) on DJ BoBo's official website. Despite the local chart success, 28,000 Swiss have signed their names to a petition asking the Swiss government to step in and have the song withdrawn.

Of course the chart success is good news for DJ BoBo and his team. "I'm extremely happy," the showman exclaimed. Vampires are alive moved from 'null' directly to #3 in the official charts. "It's a 'made to order' kick-off here in my own country," the singer said. The song is also heard on television commercials for Emmi Energy Milk in Switzerland. Emmi has long sponsored DJ BoBo and his tours and is giving away four trips to the song contest in Helsinki.

Despite the song's popularity with the Swiss public, 28,000 people have now added their names to a petition organized by a small but active evangelical Christian political party. The Eidgenössisch-Demokratische Union (EDU) is still gathering signatures, and they plan to present the petition asking the Swiss government to act in withdrawing the song next Tuesday. The EDU, which holds only two seats in the federal parliament, believes that DJ BoBo's song is "satanically inspired". The singer is busy in the studio finalizing production on his next album and has no comment.

Pardon me, but your teeth are on my neck
Seemingly, vampires really are alive in Switzerland – at least for the EDU; this week the party also set their sights on stopping a school production of the musical "Tanz der Vampire (Dance of the vampires)" in the Alps. The teenagers in the secondary school in Bischofszell, Switzerland are rehearsing a production of the popular musical which based on Roman Polanski's 1967 horror/comedy film "The fearless vampire killers". Before it was adapted into a stage musical in 1997, the original film was rated appropriate for Swiss children aged 12 and up in Switzerland. However, the EDU claim the "negative message" presented in the musical is "similar to DJ BoBo's" and should be set aside in favour of more Christian oriented themes.

Vampires on tour in 2008
Regardless of his Eurovision Song Contest result in May, DJ BoBo and his team are in the planning stages for another of his dance and special effects laden tours for 2008. The Tour is planned around the Vampire theme. Dates are already lined up for several venues in Germany and Switzerland with more planned for Poland, Austria, Hungary, and Luxemburg. Ticket pre-sales for the Swiss and German shows begin Friday 23rd March on the Official DJ BoBo site (here). Telephone pre-sales begin a week later, though the tour will only kick-off in Oberhausen, Germany on 30th April, 2008 just before next year's Eurovision Song Contest.

The single for Vampires are a live will be released outside of Switzerland on 20th April; the full album is due on the 11th of May one day after DJ BoBo's appearance in the Eurovsision Song Contest semi final.