Eurovision Song Contest 2021
That is the Corona concept of the music event
The ESC, here a picture from 2017, should be held this year in any case.
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 should take place in around three months. The EBU has now presented the Corona concept for the music event.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 (ESC) is due at the end of May. The music event will not take place as usual. This has now been announced by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the venue Rotterdam and the Dutch broadcasters and companies NPO, NOS and Avrotros. At the same time, they announced what the Corona concept should look like for the 65th ESC, which will be held in any case.
This is how the show should go
According to a press release, three different scenarios are currently planned. It is preferable to organize a social distancing ESC, if possible. In a total of nine shows (six costume rehearsals, two semi-finals and one final), artists will perform in the Ahoy event hall in Rotterdam. The singers and bands, the delegations and production employees should adhere to social distancing on site. Among other things, corona tests are also planned. While artists who cannot arrive should record a live performance, which can then be played, artists present would perform live. An audience should either be there in a reduced size – in compliance with the rules of distance – or there will be no spectators in the arena.
In another possible scenario, the show will take place on site, but not a single artist or delegations would be present. All appearances would be pre-recorded. Here, only the moderators and break acts would appear in front of a limited audience or no viewers directly. The last option is a show completely without singers, delegations and visitors in Rotterdam. Appropriate protection plans have been prepared for all alternatives.
Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor of this year's ESC, explains: "Despite the pandemic, the Eurovision Song Contest will definitely celebrate its welcome return this May, but (…) it is unfortunately not possible to let the event take place as we did familiar with." The safety and health of everyone – from crew members to artists – is paramount. The international development of the pandemic will be closely monitored and planning for the three scenarios mentioned.
Tickets are refundable
The organizers have decided to refund the purchase price of all pre-booked tickets in February due to the reduced number of seats. It should be possible to buy the tickets again later. It is currently unknown how many tickets are expected to be available in total. Should the situation permit, additional tickets will be sold. According to the announcement, the decision on whether the public will be admitted should be made by mid-April at the latest.
In 2020 the singer Ben Dolic (23) should have represented Germany with the song "Violent Thing" at the ESC. Due to the pandemic, however, the event was completely canceled. Last November he decided not to participate again in the preselection for the German ESC contribution. At the end of December it was announced that the new participant had already been determined, but could not yet be named for organizational reasons. The final of the ESC 2021 is to take place on May 22, 2021, the two semi-finals on May 18 and 20.