Tonight: Don't miss out this year's alternative ESC show "Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light"

Tonight: Don't miss out this year's alternative ESC show
Saturday, 16 May 2020

  • Here we are people, after a heartbreaking Eurovision season that was interrupted by the contest's cancellation,  the EBU and the three Dutch broadcasters (AVROTROS, NOS, NPO) are ready to present us a spectacular Eurovision show even under these hard times ,inviting Australia and Europe to Shine a Light!

    Tonight the special alternative show that will be taking the place of this year’s cancelled Eurovision Song Contest, "Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light " will hit our screens live from Hilversum , The Netherlands at 21:00 CET. The show will be presented to us by the ESC 2020 hosts Chantal Janzen,  Edsilia Rombley (ESC 1998 & 2007) and Jan Smit. 

     

    What to expect in tonight's show

    The three hosts will welcome the audience to the show, and will take a small tour with shots from the city of Hilversum and make a visit at Rotterdam's Ahoy Arena, which has been turned into a hopsital to treat coronavirus incidents. A big led screen will follow displaying all 41 Eurovision 2020 participants that saw their Eurovision 2020 journey end so unfairly due to the covid-19 outbreak. 

    The first song to reach our ears will  be the international Eurovision hit Volare (Italy 1958) performed by the Dutch broadcaster’s Symphonic Orchestra. A special tribute to Mr Eurovision, Johny Logan is set to follow, with the Irish act to perform his winning ESC 1980 entry “What’s another year”.

     

    The 41 Eurovision 2020 participanting countries

    After Johnny Logan the show will go on presenting the 41 entries of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The presentation of each country will include the classic postcard, a snippet of the song and a 20 second video of the acts’ statements. The 41 entries will be presented in groups , between which the organisers have planned to treat the audience with several surprises , past winners, social media reactions and much more.

    First part

    After the first group of countries the show will feature as guest Mans Zelmerlow (Sweden 2015) performing his winning entry Heroes,  the winner of Junior Eurovision 2019 Viki Gabor, followed by a promo video for  Junior Eurovision 2020, that is scheduled for next Novemver. From there the show will continue to unfold on our sreens by taking us to Jerusalem where Gali Atari, will perform the winning entry Hallelujah (Israel 1979) alongside with past JESC participants. Further on Nikkie Tutorials will outline some of the social media reactions to the show.

    A really emotional and touching moment will certainly be Diodato's performance of his entry "Fai Rumore" live from Verona’s Arena in Italy, a country that has been hit hard by the covid-19 pandemic. 

     

    Second Part

    Following the second set of countries the show will travels to Belgrade and sees  Marija Serifovic perform her winning ESC 2007 entry Moltiva, in the empty streets of the Serbian capital city. Little bit after we will take a tour around the countries, taking a look over the illuminated monuments and landmarks. An inspirational video with all the ESC songs the lyrics of which inspire people to hold on during difficult time will lead us to the third group of participating countries. 

     

    Third Part

    Once the third group of countries is completed, the show will pop over to Hamburg in Germany where will see Michael Schulte (Germany 2018) perform his entry You Let Me Walk Alone. In addtion, Michael will go on with  Ilse Delange (ex member of Common Linnets-The Netherlands 2014) to perform Germany’s first winning entry  Ein Bisschen Frieden ( ESC 1982).

     

    Fourth Part

    Shortly after the fourth set of countries, the show will see Netta (Toy– Israel 2018), Duncan Laurence (Arcade– The Netherlands 2019) perform their Eurovision entries while a video with messages from past Eurovision winners will work as bridges to the past times of the contest. Just before the last group of countries the show will connect live with the BBC ESC commentator , Graham Norton.

     

    Last part

    Following the last group of participating entries, the organisers have planned for a special gues , an Eurovision Hero to appear on the show, a surprise for all the viewers out there! The show will conclude with all 41 ESC 2020 participants singing all together the song that inspired the whole show, “Love Shine A light” , the UK's winning entry back in 1997.

    The show will be aired by 45 nations and a total of 46 national broadcasters across Europe and Australia. Europe shine a Light is set for 21:00 CET and apart from the national broadcaster you can watch it on the official ESC Youtube channel.