Eurovision acts are known for their elaborate gimmicks.
In last night's show (11 May), Finland's Windows95man hatched out of a giant egg with no trousers on, the UK's Olly Alexander performed in a gravity-defying bathroom, while the winning act, Switzerland's Nemo Mettler, leapt about on what looked lived a giant spinning top.
With such elaborate staging, Eurovision fans might be wondering how they turn the stage around between acts
Viewers at home were treated to pre-filmed segments introducing each contestant - which only lasted a minute or so at most - and by the time we returned to Sweden's Malmö Arena, the stage looked completely different.
Advert
Needless to say, there’s a tremendous amount of time, stress and energy that goes into getting the stage ready for each act.
Those who had the fortune of jetting to the Malmö Arena in Sweden to see the performances up close and personal were able to witness something quite extraordinary.
Every performance last night was spectacular, had a totally different vibe and accompanying theme, which is why it needed to be times and executed perfectly to move one performer to the next.
Sharing a stage has got to be stressful, right?
Well, according to a TikTok video taken by a fan inside of the arena, it’s a pretty swift operation.
In the clip you can see Croatia’s Baby Lasagna, whose catchy 'Rim Tim Tagi Dim' song was earmarked to win by bookmakers, but ended up finishing second.
After the flashing lights, dance crews and singing stopped, the switch was instantaneous.
You may have thought they’d need a few minutes to pull apart the old set and create a new one for Iceland’s singer, Hera Björk with her song Scared of Heights (which sadly didn't make it through to last night's live final). But you’d be wrong.
It actually only took around 30 seconds to wheel in some jazzy podium steps and switch up the background, lights and bring on Hera to the crowd before it all started kicking off again.
I do wonder how long it took to set up the UK’s entry Olly Alexander’s staging, as that was wild.
After nearly snatching the top spot two years ago with our beloved Sam Ryder and his song 'Space Man', it was a pretty dire time for us in 2023 when Mae Muller flopped at place 25 out of 26 finalists.
Even though Olly went on to bag us the 18th spot by jury vote only this year, it was quite embarrassing to see the UK awarded zero points by the voting public.
What does our little island have to do to win, Eurovision? It’s been 27 years since our last victory!
Anyway, at least now you know that if you fly over to see the Eurovision contest live, you won’t be sitting there waiting forever in between sets.
Topics: Music, Eurovision, TikTok
Britt Jones