DJ Bobo emerged victorious – for the second time in the UK – in Manchester last night after eighty fans gathered to hold a mock semifinal vote at a themed Eurovision Song Contest preview party.
To ensure the theme ran throughout the evening, fans were presented with Eurovision goodie bags on arrival, including lyrics booklets, whistles, hooter and clackers, artist biographies and of course, in a fitting tribute to UK entry scooch, "something to suck on" while waiting for the fun to begin. Instead of the usual piña coladas and mai tais, cocktails served at the bar included imaginative concoctions such as Windswept Carolas, Wild Dancers and Bobo's Vampires.
The semifinal preview DVD was projected onto the big screen for the show itself, and the biggest cheers were reserved for Bulgaria, Switzerland, Serbia, Norway, Malta, Hungary and Belgium. Some sixty votes were counted in all, and the final scores ranked the hopefuls as follows:
| 1 | Switzerland |
| 2 | Denmark |
| 3 | Belarus |
| 4 | Norway |
| 5 | Turkey |
| 6 | Malta |
| 7 | Slovenia |
| 8 | Hungary |
| 9 | Belgium |
| 10 | Georgia |
| 11 | Serbia |
| 12 | Austria |
| 13 | Bulgaria |
| 14 | Andorra |
| 15 | Moldova |
| 16 | Portugal |
| 17 | Netherlands |
| 18 | Israel |
| 19 | Cyprus |
| 20 | Latvia |
| 21 | Poland |
| 22 | FYROM |
| 23 | Estonia |
| 24 | Czech |
| 25 | Iceland |
| 26 | Albania |
| 27 | Croatia |
| 28 | Montenegro |
The Swiss win was perhaps expected after another recent OGAE UK vote placed DJ Bobo's Vampires Are Alive firmly at the top of the pile. Surprisingly, though, international OGAE favourites Serbia, Cyprus and Bulgaria all failed to make the Manchester semi top ten, despite winning through the OGAE UK vote.
A three-hour disco followed the event, which is hoped to become a regular occurrence in the North-West of England.
