Come behind the scenes at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö
Bambie thug speaking with media ahead of the Eurovision song Contest Final in Malmo, Sweden. Picture Andres Poveda
It’s no surprise that behind the scenes at the Eurovision Song Contest you’ll find a slick, well-oiled machine backstage.
I’m on a tour of Malmö Arena organised by cruise partners Royal Caribbean of everything you don’t see on the screen during the competition — which, like an iceberg, is most of it.
We start in the media centre, where our tour guides Richard and Katrina tell us up to 1,100 accredited journalists have based themselves. It is a hive of activity, even during the early afternoon of Eurovision Final Eve. We poke our noses into interview rooms and around corners, though the door for the conference room, where the ultimate winner will speak to media late Saturday night, is firmly locked during our visit. We’re told you can often find some of the acts in the area, and as we move around we bump into Bambie Thug’s dancer/choreographer Matt Williams who, even at noon on Friday, is in his distinctive stage makeup complete with blue horn.
We nip out a back door, across an open area and into a covered ‘tunnel’ that leads to the delegates area. We don’t disrupt the finalists in their sanctuary but we walk in their footsteps along the path they take to the stage. And it’s a surprisingly long one! Many of our group wonder aloud how they manage it in full costume, especially in some of the shoes they wear to perform. Katrina let’s us in on a secret: she’s seen them flip-flopping their way back and forth to save their feet.
Along our route we see where the equipment for each performance is stored in what is usually ice hockey team Malmö Red Hawks’ practice court. The whole arena has been transformed for Eurovision. Richard tells us it took 46 days to bring it all together but it will need just 96 hours to rip it all apart. There’s a hockey match next weekend so the team needs its home back.
Along another dark and narrow walkway, we turn a corner and find a mic-check spot with no more than six numbered chairs waiting to the side. This is where each contestant sits briefly for a final check before making their way on stage, just six seats as that’s the maximum number of people the contest rules permit on stage.
We move a few steps beyond and spy some props from afar waiting to be brought to the other side — Windows95man’s giant egg is there and just in front of it and balancing on its side is a circle of candles any Irish Eurovision fan would recognise as part of Bambie Thug’s on-stage spectacle. Seeing the scale of the props makes you appreciate how much rushing and manoeuvring take place during the show without interrupting it. The crew has under one minute each time to change the staging between acts while a short video of the next country’s act plays overhead in the stadium and on televisions across the Europe and beyond, an impressive feat during a show that’s live-streamed to 200 million across the world.
From here we move to the bright inside of the stadium, along a route our guides tell us audience members will take to their seats. Through one door and the sheer breadth of the arena is before us, all bright lights and big screens. And there, centre stage, is Loreen, Sweden’s latest Eurovision winner and the woman who matched Johnny Logan’s two-win record as well as tying Sweden’s overall wins with Ireland’s historic seven successes. She’s practicing for her guest appearance on Saturday night — not a secret act by any means but we are quickly ushered out nonetheless and forbidden from taking pictures or video while the Tattoo and Euphoria artist is there.
After the thrill of seeing a Eurovision winner in the wild, we pop into the hospitality VIP area to admire its pink carpets and disco balls. Our guides take the chance to tell us some interesting facts about this year’s contest, including how teenagers from Malmö learned each country’s song and choreography weeks ago so staging could begin with stand-ins before the international acts could start preparing on site, with recordings sent to the artists to help to prepare them.
Finally we walk back towards the media centre, buzzing with excitement for the show and after what felt like a forbidden glimpse at a Eurovision legend. We will see the results of those working frantically behind the scenes tonight during the grand final of Eurovision.
