Austrian broadcaster ORF, which will host Eurovision in Vienna in May, has made some detailed announcements on the opening and interval acts of the three Eurovision shows, including performances by reigning champion JJ, the return of previous Eurovision acts, as well as non-ESC artists.
The semi-finals
First semi-final – 70th anniversary and Australia/Austria confusion
The opening act of the first semi-final, will be a short film entitled 70 Years of Love, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Contest, “a film that portrays the life of a couple set against the backdrop of” Eurovision. It will likely showcase a couple’s life from childhood to old age, watching the contest every year.
After the film, the show will enter the Wiener Stadthalle arena with a 70-member choir singing “L’amour Est Bleu” (“Love is blue”), Luxembourg’s entry in 1967, the first time the contest was held in Vienna. The song, a hit from the Contest at the time, was originally performed by Vicky, aka Vicky Leandros, who ended up winning the contest in 1972.
The interval act between the performances and the qualifier’s reveal will first showcase the hosts, Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski, in an act called “Kangaroo”, debating over the ways to differentiate Austria and Australia. They will then be joined by last year’s representative from Down Under, Go-Jo.
Second semi-final – JJ’s show
There are less details about the second semi-final, but the hosts are announced as the opening act, performing last year’s winning song, “Wasted Love”. But, according to the official press release, “not everything goes to plan…”.
JJ himself will be back for the interval act, to introduce a new song.
More planned, including Eurovision trivia
ORF has not yet revealed everything about each show, but there will be a multitude of “Professor Eurovision” and “Eurovision quizz” segments throughout the broadcasts, the former likely being host Victoria Swarovski answering trivia questions about the contest, and the latter being host Michael Ostrowski testing the knowledge of participating artists with clips from the previous 69 contests.
The Grand Final
JJ and the Queen of the Night
The opening act of the Grand Final will feature a small clip of the paper boat from JJ’s staging last year making its way to Vienna all the way from Basel, across the Rhine and Danube.
Back in the arena, JJ will perform an hommage to Mozart with “The Queen of the Night” (the famous character from The Magic Flute), blending classical themes with his modern songs, with the performance intertwined with the flag parade.
The ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna will be present on stage during the Grand Final, and may be present for this opening act.
Three interval acts in the Final
Three interval acts will perform after the 25 finalists (with the host entry “Tanzschein” closing the line-up).
First, a Eurovision Allstars cast will perform songs from the Contests’ history in an act called “Celebration!”, celebrating the 70th anniversary. The participants selected for this act have not yet been revealed, although ORF has mentioned examples like Verka Serduchka, Erika Vikman, Lordi, and Il Volo.
The second one will be a DJ act from Parov Stelar, an Austrian electro-swing DJ and producer.
Finally, Eurovision 2018 jury winner and Austrian act César Sampson will perform a cover of Billy Joel’s “Vienna” before the reveal of the voting results.
There is likely more to come from ORF in terms of reveal (for example, the act “Life of Toni” presented in official pictures has not been described yet), but this already gives Eurovision fans a good idea of what to expect in May, as we now wait for the running orders of the semi-finals.
How do you feel about these announcements? Who would you like to see in the Allstars cast? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media at @escxtra!
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