The reason was that Finland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Austria all boycotted the 1970 edition, officially because they felt that the contest marginalised smaller countries and was no longer good television entertainment,[1] though it is rumoured that this was also in protest of the four-way tie result that had occurred in 1969.

[2] The winner of the competition was Ireland with the song "All Kinds of Everything", performed by Dana, and written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith.

The current congress and event center on Europe Square, was designed by Alexander Bodon and opened on 2 February 1961.

Austria (who had not taken part in 1969), Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden boycotted this contest as they were not pleased with the result of 1969 and the voting structure.

[4] Following the confirmation of the twelve competing countries, the draw to determine the running order of the contest was held on 15 January 1970.

An extended opening sequence (filmed in Amsterdam) set the scene, while every entry was introduced by a short video 'postcard' featuring each of the participating artists, ostensibly in their own nation.

On-screen captions introduced each entry, with the song titles listed all in lowercase and the names of the artist and composers/authors all in capitals.

Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.