From about 2mins 30 in this video you may see a man pop up with hot needles dangling from his eyes. This is West End Eurovision, an annual fundraiser where the casts and choruses of the big London musical productions convene in one place for the night and perform cover versions of Eurovision entries past in a big do for charity. And in true Contest style, the audience votes on a winner. There can't have been many acts there who actually had a Eurovision song to call their own - so the cast of Sweeney Todd got tp use what some could even call an unfair advantage. A couple of minutes after launching into their version of the UK's 1992 entry One Step Out of Time, the troupe were joined on stage by company colleague Michael Ball, the man who took silver with the same ditty in Malmo 20 years ago.

It was such a neat touch, Team Todd were named winners and Michael Ball finally got to win a Song Contest. He's probably swap it for an Olivier though...

You may have heard the rumours on Digital Spy and the tweets from Heat magazine's showbiz team but tonight Boom Bang a Blog can confirm it is true. There is going to be a meet up for all Eurovision fans who wish to attend in Liverpool on Saturday, May 12. Apparently, if you don't go, your name will wind up on the 'Going Down' arrow in Saturday's Guardian Magazine.

The venue for the event will.i.am would attend if he wasn't doing The Voice that evening will be held in Dr Duncan's pub in the city centre (a hop and a skip from Lime Street station for those arriving from other conurbations), beginning at 2.30pm.

The Crystal Hall is finished. I don't think very many crystals went into its construction and the jury is out on how clear the consciences are of those who evicted people from their homes to make way for its construction. It's a sad assumption I have to make that the authorities in Azerbaijan are more concerned about what's going on inside the hall right now instead of the people who used to live quite near it. Construction crews have been allowed in to start building the stage as rehearsals are due to begin in Baku in about a fortnight's time. At this point in the stage-erecting phase I haven't got a scooby doo what it will wind up looking like but from pictures I have seen elsewhere on the web, it's sort of zig-zaggy and not unlike a geometric version of Spaghetti Junction.

The EBU has released these images of the start of building work. Wouldn't it be marvellous if, after the Contest is over, the stage is dismantled and turned into scaffolding to build new houses for the families who are still looking for somewhere else to rest their heads. I think I'll write a letter to the President.