ABBA’s Waterloo was voted the best song in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest and with this year’s Song Contest in Sweden, the organizers have a surprise ABBA tribute up their sleeve. Changes will also be made to both the voting system and the format of the live shows. The semi-finals will feature full live performances from artists representing the Big Five countries for the first time, and public voting will now open at the start of the live final.
The Eurovision Song Contest is organized by the European Broadcasting Union, the alliance of European pubcasters. The major event in Malmö will feature three live shows, covering the semi-finals and finals, and a total of nine shows including rehearsals.
Swedish TV producer Martin Österdahl is executive supervisor of Eurovision and took a few minutes out to speak to Deadline. He acknowledged the larger dimensions of the competition, as security measures have been tightened in Sweden and further protests are planned by those dissatisfied with Israel’s participation.
However, Österdahl said he wanted the event to be a celebration, especially given Sweden’s strong ties to the competition. “We have Sweden’s historic seventh win, tying the all-time record with Ireland, we have Loreen, the champion and only woman to ever win this competition twice, and of course there is this special group called ABBA who won the competition before 50 years with Waterloo“We’re going to celebrate all of these things,” he said.
The anniversary of the significant Waterloo The performance, which won the Eurovision Song Contest and helped propel ABBA to superstardom, has even inspired a feature documentary, Deadline revealed last week.
Österdahl didn’t want to elaborate on the planned ABBA celebration, but another Eurovision insider teased that the tribute would be “something that’s never been seen on TV before.” Fans have speculated that ABBA could perform in virtual form, like they do at the ABBA Voyage concerts in London. This show uses motion capture to create digital avatars of the band.
Eurovision front-runner Österdahl said getting viewers more involved was another important goal. “We’re always trying to optimize this format,” he said. “We may be the oldest musical entertainment show and still successful, but we are always trying to make it better and we are working a lot to increase engagement on the shows.”
The format changes include acts from the Big Five countries – France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK – performing their songs live and in full during the semi-finals. They still have an automatic place in the final. The same applies to Sweden as a host country.
Further optimization for the 68th edition means that viewers will be able to vote from the start of the show this year, rather than having to wait for the end of the last performance as before. This has happened twice before, but not since 2011. International Eurovision fans can even vote earlier. You can watch rehearsal footage and videos and then make your choice 24 hours before the semi-final and final shows.
The semi-finals will continue to be decided by a public vote and the finals by a mix of jury and audience voting. The semi-finals will take place on May 7th and 9th. The final will take place on May 11th.