In addition to the many events already planned in Basel proper around Eurovision (Eurovision Boulevard, Eurovision street, the now classic Eurovision Village, etc.), the border cities of Weil am Rhein (Germany) and Mulhouse (France) are also planning ESC-themed events during Eurovision week.
🇩🇪 Five days of music festival in Weil am Rhein
Weil am Rhein, a city that is just across the Basel border in Germany, will host a five-day music festival. The event will take place in a tent big enough to host 1,000 people, in the northern part of Rheinpark, less than 500 meters from the Swiss border, next to the Rhine river. With France on the other side of the Rhine, this location is as close as it can get to the tri-point border between the three countries.
The event will also broadcast the semi-finals and the final, with no live acts planned for these evenings. The rest of the line-up has not yet been announced.
The location will be easily accessible by public transportations, being placed on line 8 of the Basel Tramway, twenty minutes away from Barfüsserplatz (Eurovision Square) with no change of line needed.
🇫🇷 Public viewings for 5,000 people in Mulhouse
Further away, across the French border this time, the city of Mulhouse will organize free public live-viewing of the semi-finals and of the final. The event will take place in another sort of “Eurovision village”, at the “Autodrome” of the Automobile Museum of Mulhouse.
The Autodrome is an exhibition track outside the museum, where visitors can drive their own cars. Shows, not always linked to car, are hosted there, with enough space in the sitting areas to host 4,500 to 5000 people.
Talking to BZ Basel, the Mulhouse deputy mayor in charge of tourism Emmanuelle Suarez explained that the plan was to showcase Mulhouse, and was part of a wider series of events to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the city. She also hopes that Louane, the French representative at Eurovision, will also visit the city.
There will be a lot going on in Basel, and people could also visit Mulhouse.
We want to use Eurovision to show that Alsace is not just Strasbourg, Colmar and half-timbered houses, but that we are a small Europe on a large scale.
Emmanuelle Suarez, Deputy Mayor of Mulhouse in charge of Tourism
Although Mulhouse shares a binational airport with Basel, the city is not on the border itself, being about 25-30km north of Basel. Trains can be taken to go from one city to the other, and the deputy mayor is investigation the possibility of running more trains, during the night, for Eurovision.
Would you attend one of these events? Are you happy to see this “festival” atmosphere around Eurovision? Where else would you like to see Eurovision-themed events around Basel? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media, at @escxtra!
