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May be forced to change the show to Eurovision: “Have no backup plan”
Published: Less than 20 min ago
THE SUN. Loreen may be forced to change the show to Liverpool.
It is unclear whether the stage ceiling in the Eurovision arena will hold her 1.8 ton device.
– We know we will have to adapt, says Melodifestivalen’s project manager Anders Wistbacka.
If Loreen wins Melodifestivalen, she may be forced to change her stage show to Eurovision in Liverpool.
In Mello, 16 stage technicians are required to set up the advanced scenography with a platform of led screens, which is filled with sand and a matching ceiling of led screens that is lowered over her.
Weighs 1,800 kilos
The device, which is lowered from the ceiling, also weighs 1.8 tons.
But in the Eurovision song contest, the organizers are usually hesitant about anything too advanced stage technology to be hung from the ceiling.
For one thing, the light rig required during a Eurovision is significantly larger than, for example, the Melodifestivalen, because it must live up to the demands and wishes of a total of 37 different competing countries, plus opening numbers and interludes. And secondly, artists from the 37 different countries must be given the same conditions to carry out the stage shows they desire.
Lundvik was refused
In Tel Aviv 2019, for example, John Lundvik was refused his request to hang a special lamp from the ceiling. Instead, SVT was forced to build a floor-mounted stand for the lighting device that was part of the stage show for “Too late for love”.
When Alcazar competed in Melodifestivalen 2014 with “Blame it on the disco”, it was also clear early on that the huge disco ball trio made an entrance from the roof would not have been able to come along to Eurovision, if they had won.
Loreen says she has no backup plan if she were to win Melodifestivalen and is forced to change the stage show to Liverpool.
– Right now we don’t have a backup plan, but if it were to happen that we get there… I will make it happen, she says.
Loreen: “Stands on me”
You intend to use your determined voice?
– I think it is important. Because if you want me to be there, I’ll have to be a little Rocky Balboa in everything and stand my ground. It’s not just me I’m representing, I’m reprimanding you all in that case.
Melodifestivalen’s project manager Anders Wistbacka first says that it is a discussion that SVT does not intend to take up with the EBU and the BBC until we have a result in Sweden and know who will win.
– We are not there yet, but I think you can hang things more than you have had to do before. But whether that means you can hang 1.8 tonnes or not, I don’t know, says Wistbacka.
Aftonbladet has contacted those responsible for Eurovision at the British television company BBC with questions about what restrictions there are for the competing acts’ stage shows, but has not yet received an answer.
SVT: It might not work
Eurovision organizer EBU’s press contact refers back to SVT.
“They have all the details about what can and cannot be used on stage in Liverpool,” writes the EBU’s representative via email.
But Anders Wistbacka still does not want to say whether Loreen’s stage show will be able to be performed on the Eurovision stage or not.
– There will still be a discussion afterwards when we have a winner, based on those specifications, what can and cannot be done.
But is it possible to hang 1.8 tonnes from the stage ceiling in Liverpool?
– Er… I don’t know.
But you have received those specifications.
– Yes we’ll see. It might not work. Then we’ll have to come up with something else, if it’s her who wins. But we may have another winner and then we have to adapt based on other conditions.
– We are completely focused on the Swedish TV program right now. Then we know that we will have to adapt depending on who wins. Some contributions will be easy to customize, others will simply be more of a challenge.
