In a press conference today, the Eurovision 2019 host broadcaster Kan revealed a lot of details about the guest acts of next month’s contest. Among these revealations are the confirmation of the appearance of last year’s runner-up Eleni Foureira, as well as a strong confidence in Madonna’s presence for the Eurovision Final.
Many guests have been announced, with at least a dozen of acts being either revealed or confirmed, spread across semi-finals and the final.
Semi-Final 1 – Israeli winners
The first-semi final, on May 14th, will be opened by the woman who brought the contest to Tel-Aviv: Netta Barzilai. She will sing a new version of her winning song “Toy”.
She will not be the only Israeli winner to appear in the semi-fnal, however, since Dana International, who won Eurovision in 1998, will also appear, probably as an interval act, as she had announced last week during Eurovision in Concert. The song she will sing has not yet been revealed.
Semi-final 2 – #DareToDream
For now, only one act has been confirmed for the second semi-final : Shalva. This band was formed 13 years ago, as a group of singers with special needs and disabilities. They took part in Israel’s national selection The Rising Star, but withdrew before the final : some of their members being religious Jews observing Shabbat, they wouldn’t have been able to attend the Final Dress Rehearsal of May 17th, had they won the selection.
However, they can totally take part in every rehearsal leading to the second semi-final, and the semi-final itself. There, they will sing the song “Million Dreams”, either as an opening or an interval act.
The Grand Final
Many guest acts are confirmed for the Final, and as you can read further below, some other acts cannot yet be associated with one of the three shows, so could very well end up being in the Saturday final too.
First, KAN has officially confirmed that they planned on having Madonna perform two songs as an interval act, and that “negotiations are coming to an end”. Last week, Haaretz had already “leaked” the information, revealing that a team of 160 people was expected to accompany “the Queen of Pop”.
Other singers have been confirmed: both Netta and Dana International will perform once again. None of their actual acts are yet known, but Netta’s shall be her upcoming single, which will be released by the end of April.
One last confirmed musical act is the Idan Raichel Project. Idan Raichel, an Israeli singer-songwriter and musician will perform his eclectic and sound-fusionning song “Bo’ee – Come to Me” with 24 singers and muisicians, before being joined on stage by the 26 finalists.
Finally, KAN confirmed the guest appearance of Gal Gadot, the Israeli actress and model playing Wonder Woman. She was first approached to host the contest, but scheduling issues made it impossible. It is not even clear wether she will really appear in the flesh, or what she will do, as even the official Eurovision website states that the capacity in which she will appear is “still being kept under wraps by the production team”.
The other acts
If you think you read about Eleni Foureira earlier up the line, you remember right? Indeed, a few acts have been confirmed but no information has been given as to when they will appear.
The most important act for fans will probably be the Eurovision Stars Mashup, or “Switch Song”, as advertised during the press conference. Four Eurovision stars (Conchita, Måns Zelmerlöw, Eleni Foureira and Verka Serduchka) will appear at some point, but they will each sing a song other than their Eurovision hit.
- Conchita will sing “Heroes” (Sweden 2015)
- Måns Zelmerlöw will sing “Fuego” (Cyprus 2018)
- Eleni Foureira will sing “Dancing Lasha Tumbai” (Ukraine 2007)
- and Verka Serduchka will sing “Toy”
After these switches, they will all join Eurovision 1979 winner Gali Atari to sing her song “Hallelujah”
With acts from Netta, Dana International and Gali Atari, there is just one Israeli winner (or at least winning act) missing. And Izhar Cohen, who won in Paris in 1978, will appear as the Israeli spokesperson during the final. There will also be a tribute to his winning act “A-ba-ni-bi” during one of the shows.
Finally, Kutiman (Ophir Kutiel), a songwriter, producer, filmmaker, mixologist and orchestra leader will exhibit an original video artwork, described as “an original multimedia interpetation of sixty-three years of Eurovision history”. Once again, we cannot confirm in which show the video will be shown, or wether it will be shown once or in multiple parts, like the “Nerd nation” serial in 2016, for example.
What do you think of these reveals? Who are you the most excited about? Do you think everything will fit in without any negative impact on the show’s quality ? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media at @escxtra !
