Eurovision Song Contest 1988
| Eurovision Song Contest 1988 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Dates | |
| Final | 30 April 1988 |
| Host | |
| Venue |
RDS Simmonscourt Pavilion Dublin, Ireland |
| Presenter(s) |
Pat Kenny Michelle Rocca |
| Conductor | Noel Kelehan |
| Director | Declan Lowney |
| Executive supervisor | Frank Naef |
| Host broadcaster | Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) |
| Opening act | Johnny Logan performing "Hold Me Now" |
| Interval act | Hothouse Flowers performing "Don't Go" |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 21 |
| Debuting countries | None |
| Returning countries | None |
| Withdrawing countries |
 Cyprus
|
|
|
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs |
| Nul points |
 Austria
|
| Winning song |
 Switzerland"Ne partez pas sans moi" |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 was the 33rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place on 30 April 1988 in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's win at the previous 1987 edition. The presenters were Pat Kenny and Michelle Rocca. The host broadcaster was Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) which revamped the show's production style compared to its earlier editions, in order to appeal to a younger audience.
The winner was Switzerland with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi", performed by future international superstar Celine Dion and composed by Atilla Şereftuğ with lyrics in French by Nella Martinetti. Switzerland beat the United Kingdom by just a point in the last vote to win the title. Twenty-one countries took part, after an initial plan of twenty-two, as Cyprus withdrew its already registered entry for breaching the contest's rules by being published few years earlier, in an attempt to represent the country at a prior edition of the contest. The Cypriot song had been drawn to be performed 2nd in the running order.
Host broadcaster RTÉ employed Declan Lowney, who was notable for being a director of music videos and youth programming, as director for this edition, in order to revamp the contest to attract and sustain a younger audience. The traditional scoreboard was replaced with two giant Vidiwalls located on either side of the stage, which also projected live images of the performers from the green room where the competitors set during the votes announcements, and a new computer-generated scoreboard was used.
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