Pounding beats? Check. Uplifting lyrics? Check. Huge, backlit white wings? Check.
After last year’s Eurovision Song Contest was canceled amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, it is roaring back to life this year with coronavirus bubbles added to its heady mix of music and melodrama.
National delegations traveling to the Dutch port city of Rotterdam are abiding by strict measures to reduce the risk of infections, while the thousands of fans allowed to attend dress rehearsals, two semifinals and May 22′s grand final will have to undergo testing to ensure they do not bring the virus into the cavernous venue.
Executive producer Sietse Bakker is glad it’s going ahead at all.
“Organizing the Eurovision Song Contest is always challenging because you have less than a year to organize one of the biggest and most complex events in Europe, but to do it in a pandemic is much, much more complicated,” he said.
