Eurovision Singing Contest final set for Athens

Fans of Europop worldwide will be tuning in to the kitschy but fervently followed Eurovision Song Contest this weekend.

Held since 1956 and likened to a sort of "Olympics of music," the annual singing showdown is voted on by viewers and a longtime precursor to the Pop Idol reality TV franchise.

Competing in Saturday's finals are Finland, Lithuania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ireland, Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Armenia, Macedonia, Greece, Switzerland, Moldova, Israel, Latvia, Norway, Spain, Malta, Germany, Denmark, Romania, Britain, France and Croatia.

Finland's ghoulish rockers make a splash

Among the 24 acts set to perform at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Athens Saturday night, there are many examples of the crooners and pop divas who typically make the cut.

However, several long shot outsiders will also vie for the top prize, including blue-collar U.K. rapper Daz Sampson and Finland's costumed heavy metal band Lordi.

Much attention has been made of the Finnish group: metalheads who performed their song Hard Rock Hallelujah while dressed in armour, faces covered with demonic-looking masks, and wielding fireworks-spewing guitars.

The band's entry into the final was met with both shock and anticipation in its homeland, where many citizens are still stunned that Lordi was even voted Finland's official entry this year. However, some are hoping the rockers will win because a Finnish artist has yet to take the Eurovision title.

Massive worldwide following

An estimated 100 million people around the world are expected to tune into Saturday's finale on TV. It will also be webcast from the Eurovision site.

While Swedish group ABBA is often touted as the contest's most famous winners (having received the nod in 1974 for Waterloo), other internationally known winners include Celine Dion, who performed on behalf of Switzerland in 1988, and 1980s British pop group Katrina and the Waves, who took the prize in 1997.

The contest's participants are countries whose national TV broadcasters are members of the European Broadcasting Union.

Each country, by a variety of means, determines one act and song as its representative at the contest. During the televised competition, the contestants have three minutes to perform the song live.

Viewers across Europe then vote for their favourite performance, but are not permitted to cast a ballotfor the representative from their own country. Acts with the top votes move forward in the competition.

Earlier this year, NBC announced plans to stage a U.S.-version of the Eurovision Song Contest, with performers selected from each U.S. state.