Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) Is a Europe-wide annual competition with a reputation for unpredictability and diversity.
Official Eurovision website: http://www.eurovision.tv
Documents
Midlands Today: Prepare for Eurovision, National Indoor Arena (April 1998)
[External Website]
From BBC Rewind
2025 from Basel (69th Eurovision Song Contest)
Dates: 13 - 17 May 2025
Website: https://eurovision.tv/event/basel-2025
Lighting Design: Tim Routledge
According to Routledge, the show contains 4200 fixtures and takes up 850 DMX Universes.
The following Robe fixtures were supplied by Neg Earth Lights.
168 x Robe SVB-1
24 x Robe SvoPATT
72 x Robe iForte LTX
40 x Robe LEDBeam 150
12 x Robe RoboSpot followspot systems
In addition, the rig consisted of:
96 x ACME Pixel Line IP
924 x ACME Pixel Line 1000mm
2 x ACME Pixel Line IP 500mm Vertical
40 x ACME Super Dotline
269 x ACME Tornado
96 x Ayrton Rivale Profile
36 x Ayrton Cobra
45 x Ayrton Domino LT
200 x Ayrton Kyalami
119 x Volero Cube
96 x Clay Paky Arolla Aqua LT
70 x Clay Paky HY B-EYE K25
116 x Clay Paky Sharpy XFrame
76 x GLP Fusion Creos
78 x GLP Impression X5 IP Bar
84 x GLP Impression X5 IP Vert
96 x GLP JDC1
12 x GLP Mad Maxx
881 x Martin Sceptron 1000mm
234 x Martin Sceptron 320mm
34 x Wahlberg Lifting Column
12 x Robe Robin Forte Hi-F Robo
99 x Ayrton Mamba
34 x Clay Paky Arolla Aqua STD
50 x Robe Forte HF Key
34 x Ayrton NandoWash 502
2024 from Malmö
Dates; 7 May 2024 – 11 May 2024
2023 from Liverpool Arena, Liverpool
Dates: 9 May 2023 – 13 May 2023
2022 from Turin
Final: 14 May 2022
Article (in French): https://www.lightzoomlumiere.fr/photos/eurovision-2022-backstage-eclairage-structure-scene/
Schedule:
Set & Lighting installation began 15 March 2022
Set installation complete 11 April 2022 - the time until the contest performances was used for rehearsals & programming.
Final performance: 14 May 2022
Get-Out: 15-30 May 2022
Kinetic Sun consists of:
- Robe MegaPointe
- Ayrton MagicBlade FX
- GLP KNV Cube
Lighting
2821 moving lights
14 control desks (TBC)
Sound
39 audio crew
3.8km of speaker cables
10 mixing consoles
Over 400 audio sources
440 speakers
86 In-Ear Monitors
78 Wireless Radio Mics
Rigging
450 rigging points
150 tons flown weight
Over 1.8km of truss
TV Presentation
24 cameras
2021 from Rotterdam
Final: 22 May 2021
Equipment List (from AmpCo Flashlight website)
- 1782 automated fixtures from Ayrton, Robe, Clay Paky, GLP
- 16 x grandMA 3 lighting desk, with 30 processing units
- Follow-Me 3D: 64 followspot fixtures, PSN-motion integration
- Robe RoboSpot followspot system & Motion Cam
- 6 x Capture stations - pre-programming lighting, content & broadcast
- 2653 metres of trussing
- 506 electric chainhoists
- 220 tons of static load
- 298 speaker cabinets: L'Acoustics, Synco
- 4 x DigiCo Quantum 7T Consoles
- 20 Shure Axient digital quad receivers
- 4200m of speaker cables
2019 from Tel Aviv Fairgrounds, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Final: 18 May 2019
Equipment List:
- 358 x Ayrton MagicBlade-R
- 206 x Ayrton MagicBlade-FX
- 106 x Ayrton Khamsin
- 54 x Ayrton MagicDot-R
- 46 x Ayrton Ghibli
- 44 x Ayrton Bora
- 152 x Clay Paky Sharpy Wash
- 116 x Clay Paky SharpyPlus
- 72 x Clay Paky Unico
- 66 x Clay Paky Axcor 600
- 376 x DTS Katana
- 48 x DTS Synergy
- 210 x ETC Source 4 LED 2, Daylight HD
- 106 x GLP X4 Bar 20
- 30 x GLP JDC-1
- 28 x Goldpix 7x7 LED Matrix
- 116 x Robe BMFL WashBeam
- 87 x Robe BMFL Spot
- 78 x Robe MegaPointe
- 94 x SGM Q7
- 17 x LC Innovation Spotdrive Remote Followspot Control
- 8 x LITECOM Camera Ringlite, DMX Bi Colour
- 9 x LITECOM Camera Mini Panel DMX Bi Colour
- 8 x LITECOM Camera Panel DMX Bi Colour
- 4 x MA Lighting MA2 Full size
- 13 x MA Lighting MA2 Light
- 22 x MA Lighting NPC
- 22 x MA Lighting 8 port node
- 4 x MA Lighting 8 port node onPC
2018 from Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal
Final: 12 May 2018
First year for a while with no giant LED video wall at the rear of the stage.
- 14 lighting desks
- 152 000 control parameters
- 300 active DMX universes
- 2632 lighting fixtures (including...)
- 36 Portman P1 Retro Lamp
- 12 Portman P3 PIX3L
- 24 days of pre-programming for the lighting designer and 6 operators
- 88024 metres of cable
- 3172 main power circuit breakers for lights
- 24 Follow spots controlled by ROBE RoboSpot Followspot system
- Prototype of GLP KV-N Arc strobe
- Back wall has 351 Ayrton Magicpanel FX
2017 from Kyiv, Ukraine
9, 11 & 13 May 2017
Equipment List
(89000 Parameters and 9856 Fixtures)
Light Designer: Jerry Appelt
Light
- 68 x PRG Best Boy HP2/li>
- 160 x CP Scenius Unico
- 56 x PRG Best Boy Wash Blade
- 55 x PRG Best Boy Wash
- 130 x PRG Icon Edge
- 132 x Elation Platinum FLX
- 70 x Elation Platinum Seven
- 142 x Elation Platinum 1200 Wash
- 20 x GLP A4 Bar 20
- 23 x GLP JDC-1
- 88 x Ayrton Magic Panel FX
- 60 x SGM Q7 RGB
- 36 x SGM Q7 W
- 36 x SGM P2 110x Elation Sixbar 1000 RGBAWUV
- 37 x Robe BMFL Wash/Beam
- 52 x Martin MAC2000 Wash XB
- 24 x Expolite TourLED CM42
- 351 x Elation Paladin/li>
- 78 x ETC S4 CE LED Series2 Daylight HD 15°-30° Zoom
- 4 x PRG Ground Control Follow LongThrow/li>
- 14x PRG Ground Control Follow BadBoy
- 8x LitePanel MiniPlus daylight, wireless control
- 6x RingLite DMX-control
- 12x Arri Broadcaster DMX
- 48x Fresnel 500W/650W
- 20x Fresnel 1000W
- 6x MDG ATMe, DMX-controlled + extra Fan
- 4x Fog Smoke Factory CaptainD
FOH lighting
- 12x Robe pickle patt
Light Control and Parameters
- 1 GrandMA2 Light as a System Desk on the Front of House
- 1 GrandMA2 Light as a System Desk inside of The Arena
- 1 GrandMA2 light as a Trigger Console at the Sound Department (running out of Session)
- 1 GrandMA2 Fullsize Keylights
- 1 GrandMA2 Fullsize Keylight
- 1 GrandMA2 Fullsize as Backup for Keylight
- 1 GrandMA2 Fullsize Main operator
- 1 GrandMA2 Fullsize as Backup for Showlight
- 1 GrandMA2 Fullsize Audience lights
- 1 GrandMA2 Fullsize Video Operator
- 1 GrandMA2 Fullsize Video Backup
- 1 GrandMA2 Light Delegation Specials
- 4 GrandMA2 Fader Wings For Special Faders
- 2 OnPC Fader Wings with a Running OnPc sending DMX in to Control Camera Lights
- 3 Grand MA3D running for the visualisation
- 20 NPU/Network Processing Unit active in the Session
- 9 NPU/Network Processing Backup out of the Session but plugged in the Network
- 28 Nodes (8port Nodes)
Video
- 16x Hippotizer V4 Boreals
- 9x Active
- 7x Backup
- 35x Active HD Outputs
- 168x Video Layers Over 72 Million Pixels
- 3x 33x33 Lightware Matrixes
- 2x Avitech Titan 9000 Multiviewers
- controlled by FIX8Group / Trust.
- Rental /Beacon
Power
- Total: 38,05km of cable
- 29km single core cable
- 6,7 km multi core cable
- 660 yellow jackets
- Lighting needs 854 000 watts
Behind the Scenes 2017
2016 from Stockholm, Sweden
Live Design article about the technical production: http://livedesignonline.com/eurovision-song-contest-2016/eurovision-fun-facts-2016-technical-production
Equipment List
- ADJ Matrix Dotz 16 x 30
- Ayrton Magic Dot -R x 90
- BBS Area x 14
- BBS Pipeline x 5
- Chromlec Elidy Big x 21
- Clay Paky Mythos x 120
- Clay Paky Scenius x 58
- Clay Paky Sharpy x 308
- Clay Paky Sharpy Wash x 166
- Clay Paky Stormy x 5
- GrandMA2 Light x 11
- GrandMA2 Full x 2
- Hes Uno x 102
- Martin Atomic LED / Atomic Colours x 105
- Martin Mac Aura x 173
- Martin VDO 10 Spectron 32 x 60
- Robe BMFL Blade x 88
- Robe BMFL Spot x 6
- Robert Juliat Lancelot x 8
- SGM P5 x 200
- Tourpro Lightsky Aquabeam x 67
- Vari*Lite 3500 Wash x 40
2015 from Vienna, Austria
Lighting Tests:
Clay Paky lighting equipment:
Mythos, Sharpy Wash 330, A.leda B-EYE, Stormy
Lighting Designer: Al Gurdon
Set Designer: Florian Wieder
Rental company: Production Resource Group (PRG: Live)
PRG: UK Head of Event Services: Richard Gorrod
Pyrotechnic Effects:
Props and Scene Changes:
2014 from Copenhagen, Denmark
Information from technicians posting on Facebook, with many thanks
VENUE
The event was held in a former shipyard called the B&W Hallerne on the Refshaleøen which is a small island just off Copenhagen.
Venue website: http://www.bwgrandballroom.dk/bwgrandballroom/English.html
Google Maps: Venue location
Virtual tour: Inside the venue in the industrial days (Google Maps)
LIGHTING
- 260 Dimmers
- 52 RGB LED strips (some 100 meters..)
- 4 ETC Source4 LED
- 24 ClayPaky Alpha Beam 1500
- 192 ClayPaky Sharpy Wash 330
- 248 GLP Impression X4
- 199 Martin Atomic 3000 Color
- 56 Martin Mac 2000 Wash XB
- 192 Martin Rush MH3 Beam
- 26 Martin Quantum Wash
- 210 Martin Viper Profile
- 142 PRG BadBoy CMY Spot
- 376 SGM Sixpack SP-6
- 736 ShowTec Sunstrip Active (10 ch)
- 29 Vari-Lite VL3500 Spot
- 48 Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash
- 188 Vari-Lite VL5 (mode 5)
Total 2982 fixtures.
16 NPUs and 8 8Port nodes in 5 dimmer-cities
Network Distribution 16 Luminex Gigacore on fibernetwork
About 160 DMX splitters, MA and Luminex
3 Hippos send 43 Universes back into the system via artnet for mapping of the Sunstrips, Atomics and Sixpacks.
50,000 DMX512 channels
97 DMX universes
3000 fixtures
1700 moving heads
8MPU's
4 grandMA 2 full size
SOUND
The performers' vocals are all live - the musicians play their instruments, but the audio is not broadcast (or amplified) - the logistics of managing the wide variety of instruments and cable permutations in a fast-moving live TV production mean that it's not possible.
- 29 x L’acoustics K1
- 20 x L’acoustics K1-SB
- 42 x L’acoustics K2
- 83 x L’acoustics Kara
- 22 x L’acoustics SB18
- 75 x L’acoustics LA8 Amp
- 7 x L’acoustics LA4X Amp
- 3 x Midas XL8 Console
- 5 x Midas DL431 Input Splitter Unit 24Ch Analog
- 16 x Midas DL451 Modular I/O Unit 12Ch
- 15 x Midas DL442 Analog Output Card 8ch for DL451
- 33 x Midas DL452 AES/EBU Card 8/8 for DL451
- 8 x Klark Teknik DN9650, AES50 to MADI 64ch
- 200 x Shure SE535 InEar
- 1 x Digico SD10
- 15 x Sonifex RB-AES4X3
- 2 x Digico SD7
- 4 x Digico SD Rack
VIDEO
Video back wall is 110m long
LED floor is a new touch-sensitive video surface, 8mm thick
16 x Barco HDQ-2K40 for the upper rows of the cube
16 x Barco HDX-W18 for the bottom row of the cube
~1200m2 of Kindwin 30mm Spider LED for backdrop
4 x Barco SLM R12 for end of catwalks
4 x Barco SLM R12 for portrait oriented screens on columns in audience
Custom made Martin fixtures on all facets of the cube structure
D3 media servers
For audience screens:
A mix of Panasonic PT-DZ21K and PT-DZ13K
POWER
5MW from the local grid, an additional 10MW from generators
50 km Powerlock cable and 275+ km of other power cables
SUPPLIERS
- Tv Production- VideoHouse www.videohouse.be
- Broadcast- 2Sat Europe www.2.sat.nl
- Lighting- LightCOM + PRG www.lightcom.dk www.prg.com
- Sound- MOTO PA - www.Motorental.dk
- Wireless Audio (Mics&Stuff) - Sennheiser www.sennheiser.com
- Special Cameras- MediaTec Broadcast www.mediatecgroup.com
- LED &Projection- MediaTec www.mediatecgroup.com
- Projectors- Barco www.barco.com
- Content- Rockart Design http://rockartdesign.com
- Coms (Radios and headsets)- Radioudlejningen www.radioudlejning.dk
- Commentator Equipment- Riedel www.riedel.net
- Special Effects- Confetti-World www.confetti-world.com
- Pyro- Lunatx SFX www.lunatx.de
MANUFACTURERS
- Martin Professional
- SGMlight www.sgmlight.com
- Panasonic www.panasonic.com
- AV center www.avcenter.dk
Eurovision Steadicam - 2009
Best of Eurovision
Past Eurovision venues:
2016: Stockholm, Sweden (The Globe Arena, which was completed in 1989, already hosted the Eurovision Song Contest before, back in 2000. The venue's regular capacity is between 14,000 and 16,000 spectators)2015: Vienna (Wiener Stadthalle)
2014: Denmark (Copenhagen, B&W Hallerne)
2013: Sweden (Malmö Arena)
2012: Azerbaijan (Baku, Baku Crystal Hall)
2011: Germany (Düsseldorf, Esprit Arena)
2010: Norway (Oslo, Telenor Arena)
2009: Russia (Moscow, Olympic Indoor Arena)
(to be confirmed: "The set for the Eurovision Finale in Moscow in 2009 utilised 30 percent of the world's supply of LED screens")
2008: Serbia (Belgrade, Belgrade Arena)
2007: Finland (Helsinki, Hartwall Arena)
2006: Greece (Athens, Olympic Indoor Hall)
2005: Ukraine (Kiev, Sport Palace)
2004: Turkey (Istanbul, Abdi ?pekçi Arena)
2003: Latvia (Riga, Skonto Hall)
2002: Estonia (Tallinn, Saku Suurhall)
2001: Denmark (Copenhagen, Parken Stadium)
2000: Sweden (Stockholm, Stockholm Globe Arena)
1999: Israel (Jerusalem, International Convention Centre)
1998: UK (Birmingham, National Indoor Arena)
1997: Ireland (Dublin, Point Theatre)
1996: Norway (Oslo, Oslo Spektrum)
1995: Ireland (Dublin, Point Theatre)
1994: Ireland (Dublin, Point Theatre)
1993: Ireland (Millstreet, Green Glens Arena)
1992: Sweden (Malmö Isstadion)
1991: Italy (Rome, Studio 15 di Cinecittà)
1990: Yugoslavia (Zagreb, Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Centre)
1989: Switzerland (Lausanne, Palais de Beaulieu)
1988: Ireland (Dublin, RDS Simmonscourt Pavilion)
1987: Belgium (Brussels, Centenary Palace)
1986: Norway (Bergen, Grieghallen)
1985: Sweden (Gothenburg, Scandinavium)
1984: Luxembourg (Luxembourg City, Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg)
1983: Germany (Munich, Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle)
1982: UK (Harrogate, Harrogate International Centre)
1981: Ireland (Dublin, RDS Simmonscourt Pavilion)
1980: Netherlands (The Hague, Nederlands Congresgebouw)
1979: Israel (Jerusalem, International Convention Centre)
1978: France (Paris, Palais des Congres)
1977: UK (London, Wembley Conference Centre)
1976: Netherlands (The Hague, Nederlands Congresgebouw)
1975: Sweden (Stockholm, Stockholm International Fairs)
1974: UK (Brighton, Brighton Dome)
1973: Luxembourg (Luxembourg City, Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg)
1972: UK (Edinburgh, Usher Hall)
1971: Ireland (Dublin, Gaiety Theatre)
1970: Netherlands (Amsterdam, RAI Congrescentrum)
1969: Spain (Madrid, Teatro Real)
1968: UK (London, Royal Albert Hall)
1967: Austria (Vienna, Großer Festsaal der Wiener Hofburg)
1966: Luxembourg (Luxemboug City, Villa Louvigny)
1965: Italy (Naples, Sala di Concerto della RAI)
1964: Denmark (Copenhagen, Tivolis Koncertsal)
1963: UK (London, BBC Television Centre)
1962: Luxembourg (Luxemboug City, Villa Louvigny)
1961: France (Cannes, Palais des Festivals)v 1960: UK (London, Royal Festival Hall)
1959: France (Cannes, Palais des Festivals)
1958: Netherlands (Hilversum, AVRO Studio)
1957: Germany (Frankfurt-am-Main, Großer Sendesaal)
1956: Switzerland (Lugano, Teatro Kursaal)