Eurovision 2020: What did the Eurovision 2020 Committee see in Maastricht?

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The Eurovision 2020 Committee  (NPO / NOS / AVROTROS) completed yesterday  its first visit to Maastricht,the first is the two candidate cities for hosting ESC 2020.

The committee, as we wrote in our previous article, had technical meetings with the responsible parts  as well as visits to the proposed venues for the contest.

The Eurovision Committee 2020 was welcomed  by the Director of MECC MAASTRICHT, Mr. Van de Wiel and ESC Maastricht Project Leader, Ms. Inge Dovermann.

The meeting began with a virtual trip to the MECC, emphasized of course, on the stage created to host the great musical event.

The journalists did not have access to the meetings of the two parties but were given the opportunity to meet the city’s  officers  and the Eurovision 2020 Committee afterwards.

Sietse Bakker, Executive Producer ESC 2020, at the end of the meetings, stated:

« The MECC is a good, fantastic location with many options. You could host a great Eurovision here.
I am pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm in Maastricht. It’s really amazing! »

while, regarding the stage, he said:

« In terms of height, width and depth, the MECC hall is reminiscent of the venues in Kiev and Tel Aviv. This makes it challenging! They really want to have the contest here in Maastricht.
In both cities we look at the suitability of the location, what the city itself contributes and which accommodations are available. Rotterdam and Maastricht both meet these three points ».

Finally, Mr. Van de Wiel, MECC Director,said:

« They wanted us to move the stage a little, because the logistics around the stage are much bigger. So we have to go back to the drawing table ».

We are expecting tomorrow the Committee’s impressions from its meetings in Rotterdam!

Source: esctoday.com, 1 Limburg, Limburger.nl

Eurovision 2020: NPO to visit the two candidate cities

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Just yesterday, following a thorough examination of the candidates’ bids for the organization of the next Eurovision contest, as we had mentioned in our previous article, the responsible  committee of the Dutch broadcaster NPO announced officially that only two cities of five candidates meet the EBU’s criteria for hosting the next Eurovision: Maastricht and Rotterdam.
As expected, and without losing time, NPO executives have begun today the  visits to the two cities to see and discuss in detail everything that each city has in its  bid as well as to look closely at the structures that will host the music contest.
Their first stop is Maastricht, where they will mainly inspect the Maastricht MESC, with a capacity of 20,000 spectators proposed by the city to host the contest, as well as the other necessary structures such as accommodation and easy transfer of delegation  and fans. Significant weight is also given to the other venues and location  of the side events such as Euroclub, Eurovision Village, Opening Ceremony, Red Carpet, Press Center, Delegation Bubble etc.
Tomorrow,  NPO travels to Rotterdam, heading mainly to Rotterdam Ahoy, the venue proposed for the contest, and the other locations proposed for all the side events.
In both cases, NPO  will also have meetings with officials from the two cities involved in organizing the event to gain a fuller picture of the potential of cities based on the files they have submitted and to inform EBU afterwards.

It is worth mentioning that Rotterdam strongly wants to host  the event, which is apparent from the intention of the Southern Holland province to boost the city with an extra 1 million euros if it takes over the organization. At the same time,Rotterdam claims  as its strong point a very good network as well as its excellent connection with most European cities through two airports (Schiphol International Airport and Rotterdam-The Hague Airport), a point that is lagging behind Maastricht.
Whatever the case, the on-the-spot review is in progress and we expect any information from these inspects.

Albania: Arilena Ara the first name for Festivali i Këngës 2019?

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Since May, RTSH, Albanian public broadcaster, had announced that the subscriptions for « Festivali i Këngës 2019 » begin but without confirming the country’s participation in the upcoming ESC.

« Festivali i Këngës » is used as the Albania’s selection method, which the country’s representative at Eurovision come of from.  There have been many of the great names of national artists  and not only, but also this show is the first national final of the year for each annual Eurovision.

In the last few hours, on various news sites and in social media, the news that  a great name of the Albanian scene and a craving for many fans are preparing their song for the upcoming Festivali i Këngës is being circulated.

The reason for Arilena Ara, which is currently enjoying her vacation in the US, while preparing her song with which she will participate in Festivali i Këngës.  If the news is true, it is a participation that surely all the fans are waiting for in anxiety and feeling, while at the same time it is the big favorite who wants to travel to the Netherlands.

Arilena Ara, became known through the children’s song contest “Little Genius”, where she took third place.  Later, she participated in the second version of the music contest, « The X-Factor », in the 2012-2013 season.  From the very beginning, she impressed by the audience and the committee, with Arilena finally managing to be a great winner of the show.  Since then, her career has sprung up.  One success succeeded the other with its reputation spreading to other countries, such as Romania and Russia, where her song « Nëntori » conquered the charts. Finally, she is one of three judges at « The Voice Kids Albania ».

We just wait for this reputation to be confirmed!

Source: CNA City News Albania, Prive.al, Eurovision Kosovo

Eurovision 2020: Rotterdam and Maastricht to be the official finalists for ESC 2020 hosting

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EBU,through its official website for the contest, announced a while ago what the Dutch media, but also what we had written a few days ago.  Rotterdam and Maastricht are the two remaining cities to claim Eurovision 2020 hosting.

This two cities had the most completed nomination bid and thus continue the fight for claiming Eurovision 2020. Next month, a team of the Dutch public broadcaster as well as EBU experts will visit the two cities in order to see and get up-to-date  , everything suggested by Maastricht and Rotterdam to organize the next contest.

« All cities and venues have made a great effort in their candidacies.  They impressed us with all their suggestions and I would like to thank all those involved so far for their positive contribution and commitment.  We are convinced that Maastricht and Rotterdam offer everything that a host city requires.  We hope the other cities will keep their enthusiasm for the song contest.  We would like to discuss the coming months how we can engage them in next year’s Eurovision. »

(Sietse Beker, executive producer of Eurovision 2020).

The cities that were considered inappropriate and had submitted a candidacy bid were Arnhem, Den Bos and Utrecht.

The final decision on the city that will host Eurovision 2020 will be announced at the end of August.

Georgia: the known format of « Georgia’s Star » to be used again

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Georgia has made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007, and since then, with only one absence (2009), has been a non-stop member of the institution with its better position to be the ninth (2010 and 2011).

The procedure followed since then for the representative selection has been shifted from a direct assignment to a national final without having resulted in a permanent procedure.  Last year, after years of national finals, GPB,the national broadcaster decided to send Iriao by selecting them internally, and this year, in Israel, they chose the Pop Idol method for choosing its representative, with Oto Nemsadze finally signing “Keep on going”.

About two months after the end of the 64th Eurovision, GPB announced that Georgia’s star, the Georgian version of the Pop Idol, will be again used for representative ‘ selection in the Netherlands, as it did last year.

Applications have already begun and whoever interested can submit applications here.

Norway: 40 songs will participate in the Melodi Grand Prix 2020

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Early in March, Norway first confirmed its participation in Eurovision 2020, while announcing significant changes to the Melodi Grand Prix 2020.

In 2020, MGP, Norway’s national final for the selection of the Eurovision country’s representative, will close 60 years of existance, conducting six big shows following the standards of the Swedish Melodifestivalen. The last years that the country made so many shows was 2014.

Today, NRK has announced that 40 songs will compete at MGP 2020, celebrating 60 years of Norway’s presence in the Eurovision family.

Each of the five semi-finals will vary according to the geographical origin of the artists.

The program is as follows:

Show 1: 8 songs will compete in Northern Norway
Show 2: 8 songs will compete in Central Norway
Show 3: 8 songs will compete in Western Norway
Show 4: 8 songs will compete from East Norway
Show 5: 8 songs will compete in South Norway
Show 6: 2 songs selected by each semifinal will compete in the Grand Final of the Melodi Grand Prix 2020

All 6 shows will take place in Oslo, with no dates announced yet.

In the semifinals, the result will be judged by both the television audience and the jury, while in the final, the final decision on who will travel to the Netherlands will be made by the TV audience.

This year Norway was  represented by KEiiNo, with the song “Spirit In The Sky”, winning the 6th place with 331 points, scoring 1 in the televoting.

Israel: Two shows for the next country’s national selection

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The Israeli broadcaster, KAN, has confirmed the country’s participation in Eurovision 2020, making Israel the 25th country that announces its participation.

Together with confirmation of participation, KAN also announced how it will choose its  representative but also the song.

Initially, the selection of the artist will be made another year through the talent show « HaKokhan HaBa L’Eurovizion », which makes sense since,using this option after 2015, the country has not lost the qualification to the final – including of course Netta ´ s victory  in 2018.

But the selection of the song is the detail that will be changed. Until this year, the song was chosen by a team of experts.  However, for 2020, KAN will organize an additional show for the selection of the song which will be determined this time by the television audience.

KAN  is expected to invite artists to participate in HaKokhan HaBa next week, but the dates of the talent show have not yet been announced.

After Netta’s victory, Israel’s next representative was Kobi Marimi with the song « Home ».  Kobi won 23rd place.

Source : eurovoix.com

Greece: Watch Antique singing “Die For You” 18 years later

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The favorite of all Greeks, Elena Paparizou, and Nikos Panagiotidis, who formed the Antique, reunited, for the  anniversary of the formation of their band, 20 years later, and interpreted all their great successes, at a great concert, yesterday in Gothenburg .

In the “Vi som älskar 90 talet” festival (“Who Love’s The90’s”), Elena Paparizou and Nikos Panagiotides, who in the late 90’s started their carrer timidly and two years later,in 2001, brought Greece for the first time on the top3, in the Eurovision Song Contest, made a unique performance as Antique in their hometown, Gothenburg.

Of course, among their hits,they could not leave “Die For You” out, their greatest success, which was the forerunner of what Greece would live in the 2000s in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Watch their performance in the videos below:

2 Dutch cities fight for hosting the Eurovision Song Contest!

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Despite the fact that 5 Dutch cities have submitted for hosting the contest next year, it is said that only two of them are considered to be the most suitable ones! The Eurovision 2020 Core Team will visit only these two cities in order to decide which of them can fulfil their plans the best.

Firstly, it was 9 cities that expressed their interest to host the show. But, after receiving the requirements they have to accomplish, only 5 of them have officially submitted their bid books to the Dutch national broadcaster (Find out more here).

It’s not clear which are these two cities, but, according to Dutch media, Maastricht and Rotterdam meet the criteria for hosting the event.

Sietse Bakker, Executive producer Event, claims:

You produce perhaps the most complex TV show worldwide, It is important that you have a location where you have the space to do that. And then the city itself: do you have the hotel rooms and can you handle the logistics so that not only the visitors, but also all kinds of other people attracted to it can stay in the city centre?

source: eurovisionary.com

Ireland: Eurovision 2019 exceeded €300,000

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In a yesterday’s article in Irish Mirror, the cost of the Irish participation in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest was listed.

Specifically, RTE spent more than 300,000 euros to participate in this year’s event. The total cost of € 336,617 was increased by 10% from last year’s € 304,088. RTE said the cost increase can be attributed to a number of factors, such as the journey distance, 5,500 km from Dublin to Tel Aviv, compared to 2,800 km for Lisbon in 2018.

RTE sent a delegation of 19 people to Tel Aviv, while flights to Tel Aviv reached close to 22,000 euros. In addition, they spent 50,000 euros for 2-week accommodation. Finally, 43,000 euros were spent on design, construction, props and lighting.

Of course, the public broadcaster had to pay also a subscription fee of  EUR 85,000 to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for its participation in Eurovision 2019.

An RTE’s spokesman stated that the costs did not include RTE’s workforce charges and that all flights were economy class while Eurovision representatives should stay only in designated hotels.

The cost of Eurovision 2019 may have been high, but the final result was disappointing. The queen of Eurovision, represented by Sarah McTernan and the song “22“, failed to qualify for the big Finals, finishing in the 18th (last) of the second semifinal with 16 points.