image: ATELIERMONTINARO

Good morning, Eurovision!

It’s day 2 in Turin, and day 2 in our homes, too. That’s where we stay this year, as said without online accreditation, but like in 2016 and 2017, we’ll do the best we can do to cover the Eurovision Song Contest in our own little way.

It’s also day 2 on twitter and elsewhere, where drama has erupted all across the fan circles. The kinetic sun, central element of the stage, is broken (source: La Stampa) and apparently can’t be fixed in time. Result: It’s topic number one in all comments below any post of the official Eurovision twitter account, and if you need a summary here, the song goes like this:

FIX THE STAGE! – Calm down, I am sure the stage will be fixed in time. – FIX THE SUN! – TYPICAL EUROFAN DRAMA! – [insert reliable statements that the sun really can’t be fixed here]… and so on.

As far as we understood, the arches can’t turn as freely as expected, and as a result, the side with the LED screens faces the opposite side of the viewer, leaving us with a dark sun, or an “eclipse”, as many have put it elsewhere. This is sad for the delegations, especially for those who have planned their whole staging based on turning arches, which now have to change their presentation last minute. This must surely also be incredibly sad for the stage designer, and we can only hope that daring and alternative stage concepts will still have a “new tomorrow” in the future of Eurovision. And of course it’s sad for us, too. But as basic as this sounds, these things happen, and I’m sure everyone at Eurovision and the delegations are professional enough to still put on a great show based on what now can be worked with.

Of course, the stage drama wasn’t the only one. Måneskin and Gigliola Cinquetti were announced to perform in the Grand Final, but suddenly a rumour made the rounds that Måneskin wouldn’t be in Turin. I’m sure they will. Less sugarcoatable points of criticism circle around the fact that the normal and fan press, on-location and online, were excluded from the first rehearsals, and more problematic, that first impressions are shown exclusively elsewhere.

And similar to the artists, which now have to work with a dark and stiff sun, we fan media now have to work with the lack of information. Some just describe what happens on the sources that are available. Some have halted their coverage and wait for the second rehearsals. Both is okay. Of course, I can direct you to the official Eurovision blog, which surely provides good and informative photo material. But for the meantime, I will continue to just share my thoughts of the day in this irregular, freestyle, caffeinated column.

Happy Sunday,

Felix