Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1990

On 5 May 1990, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb hosted by Radiotelevizija Zagreb on behalf of Jugoslavenska radiotelevizija (JRT), and broadcast live throughout the continent. Azúcar Moreno performed "Bandido" first on the evening, preceding Greece. Eduardo Leiva [sv] conducted the event's orchestra performance of the Spanish entry. At the close of the voting "Bandido" had received 96 points, placing 5th in a field of 22.^[3]

A notorious mishap occurred at the start of the Spanish performance. Eduardo Leiva was unable to hear the backing track where some of the music was prerecorded, as the sound engineers had failed to raise the volume of the tape, and could not cue the orchestra to commence on time. When the volume was eventually raised the track was already partway through the song, meaning the orchestra and performers were out of sync with the tape, resulting in the two singers abruptly walking offstage in a huff, leaving viewers to wonder what had happened. After a few uneasy moments, the music began correctly and the song was performed in full.^[4] The duo also had problems with the clothing they were going to wear. Because the costumes designed especially for the performance by Francis Montesinos [es] broke during rehearsals, they had to wear their own dresses bought at El Rastro flea market.^[5]

TVE broadcast the contest in Spain on TVE 2 with commentary by Luis Cobos.^[6] Before the event, TVE aired a talk show hosted by Vicky Larraz introducing the Spanish jury, which continued after the contest commenting on the results.^[7]

TVE assembled a jury panel with sixteen members. The following members comprised the Spanish jury:^[7]

• Amparo Mendiguren García – housewife
• Pedro Calleja Martín – clerk
• Paloma Gómez Núñez – actress
• José Ramón Gamo – student
• Teresa del Río – actress
• Emilio de Villota – racing driver
• Fiorella Faltoyano – actress
• Julián Lago [es] – director of Tribuna magazine
• Raquel Revuelta [es] – Miss Spain 1990
• Juan Carlos Arteche – football player
• Conchita de los Santos – journalist
• Alfredo Roldán – civil servant
• Margarita Girón – public relations
• José Sanjuán – chemist
• María José Olmedilla – lawyer
• Javier Morera – lawyer

The jury was chaired by Miguel Blasco, Head of Broadcasting at TVE. The jury awarded its maximum of 12 points to Italy.