How Eurovision contestant has dodged 28-year long ban for live final
Finland's Eurovision entrant has been granted special permission to do something we haven't seen on the Eurovision stage for nearly three decades.
Saturday night's (16 May) Eurovision final will see 25 different performances from different European nations - as well as Israel and Australia - take to the stage in Austria's capital for the 2026 edition of the famous song contest.
Given the number of performers and the speed at which the stage needs to be prepared for each singer, organisers need to be super strict on timings and ensure as few hiccups as possible.
After all, nothing ruins a winning performance like a bunch of technical errors.
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For this reason, all acts are allowed to sing live, with any other instruments prerecorded and played as backing tracks.
This means that anybody you've seen with musical instruments on the Eurovision stage, such as 'Spaceman' singer Sam Ryder, Italy's 2021 entrant Måneskin and this year's UK act Look Mum No Computer, are all pretending on stage.
However, this rule will be lifted for the first time in 28 years for one contestant.
This lucky individual is Finnish Linda Lampenius, who will take to the stage alongside Pete Parkkonen to perform their song 'Liekinheitin'.
For those of you who have yet to hear the track, which is the current favourite to win the competition, Parkkonen's emotive vocals are accompanied by Lampenius putting a shift in on the violin – which she's been granted the rare honour of doing so live.
"We are so grateful that I'm going to be able to play live," Lampenius said in a recent interview with bleistiftrocker.de.
"My voice in the song, the way I always sing all my songs, is through my violin... Now I'm able to sing on stage, and I'm so grateful for that."
Lampenius went on to add that she believes all entrants should be offered the opportunity to perform live, adding: "I think that everybody should be able to play instruments, especially if you have one instrument that is so important to the song."
Why aren't acts allowed to play instruments at Eurovision?
According to the rules of the song contest, on-stage instruments are not allowed to be plugged in but instead pre-recorded and mimed.
As we mentioned before, the ban on plugged-in instruments is to ensure a smooth transition between acts.
However, this does not apply to vocals, with the Eurovision Broadcasting Union (EBU) rules strictly stating that lip-syncing is not permitted and backing tracks must not assist the live vocal performance.
Topics: TV, Eurovision
Brenna Cooper