MOSCOW- Twenty-five countries battled it out Saturday in Europe's hotly fought kitsch extravaganza the Eurovision Song Contest, as gay activists urged a boycott after Moscow police arrested dozens of them.
Norway, Greece and Turkey were among the favourites to take first place in the contest, in which national acts have three minutes to wow juries and television audiences from 42 countries stretching from Iceland to Israel.
Host country Russia used the event to put a fresh gloss on its image.
Images of Miss World beauty queen Ksenya Sukhinova covered the hulking Moscow concert hall, while acrobats and fire jugglers from Canada's Cirque du Soleil warming up the audience.
Russia's powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had given the contest his blessing, hinting -- a touch improbably -- that he might vote for Britain at a meeting earlier with impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber.
But the idea of putting a gentler, fluffier twist on Russia's ice-hard image was undermined as gay activists use the event to highlight homophobia in Russia.
Eurovision has become an icon for European gays with its mix of outrageous costumes and high camp -- in evidence in this year's range of toned torsos, silver trousers and sexed-up peasant garb.
Earlier Moscow police detained about 40 gay activists for trying to mount a protest.
Leading Russian gay activist Nikolai Alexeyev urged contestants to boycott the event in protest at "Russia's state oppression of human rights" -- a call unheeded at the meticulously choreographed event.
Over 100 million people were expected to tune in, making Eurovision one of the most watched events on the planet.
Amid complaints of an east European bias in recent contests, several acts catered for a perceived liking for folk motifs among avid east European fans.
Portuguese act Flor-de-lis lent heavily on flamenco tradition, while Azerbaijan pioneered its own brand of high-energy Caucasus pop.
Norway, considered another favourite, had an entry clearly aimed at breaking the recent Eastern European domination of the contest.
The song, "Fairytale," is sung by Belarus-born Alexander Rybak and features an Eastern European-style rhythm.
"I'm in love with a fairytale/ Even though it hurts/ Cause I don't care if I lose my mind/ I'm already cursed," sang the baby-faced Rybak, who leaped around the stage playing the violin.
Also high in the running was the raunchy, high-energy belly dancing of Turkey's Hadise, performing "Dum Tek Tek," as well as "This is Our Night" from muscular Greek heart-throb Sakis Rouvas.
Voting by specialist juries in each country was being reintroduced this year alongside the tried and tested system of audience tele-voting.
This was expected to dilute the tendency for audiences to vote in regional blocs, something west European critics say has tended to skew the result.