The folks at Eurovision Song Contest share some fun facts about the technical production, this 63rd edition held for the first time in Portugal at the Altice Arena.
Lighting
• GLP KV-N Arc strobe prototypes were used.
• 14 lighting consoles
• 152,000 control parameters
• 300 active DMX universes
• 24 followspots controlled a Robe RoboSpot followspot system.
• The back wall had 351 Ayrton MagicPanel-FX fixtures.
• Total number of lighting fixtures: 2,632
• 24 days of pre-programming for the lighting designer and six operators, with 32 crew to run lighting operations in show mode
• 88,024 meters of cable
Stage
• The backdrop comprised 56 rib-shaped structures ranging from 4.5m up to 13.5m high.
• The stage floor was a 460 sqm round center stage surrounded by a 220 sqm runway accessible from stage by two 12m steel constructed bridges
• The greenroom was a 480 sqm lounge area for the delegations at the far end of the arena. It accommodated up to 26 delegations at the same time.
• The stage was surrounded by three suspended spheres, measuring from 60m to 120m long.
• More than 3,000 pixel-by-pixel controlled LED strip lights were used in this stage.
Sound
• 20 loudspeaker arrays were flown, comprising 239 loudspeakers
• 232 microphones
• 15 sound consoles
• 250 IEM molds
• 110 IEM Receivers
• 18 IEM Transmitters
• 30 crew to run the sound operations in show mode
Pyro/Effects
• 8 heavy fog outlets on stage
• Wind machines
• Snow machines
• Smoke bubbles
• Waterfall
• Moving flames (brand new)
• Sparklers (brand new)
• 50 pyro positions in the stage
• 50kg of confetti for the winning song
Rigging
• 220 tons of rigged equipment in the roof
• 667 rigging points
• 74 CyberHoist II
• 177 load cells
• 3,910m of truss
• 45 riggers
Broadcast
• 30 broadcast cameras, 19 of them as show broadcast cameras
• 11km of broadcast cables
• 60 people involved to handle broadcast
• 3 multi-camera cirectors
• Cuepilot switcher programming
• 2 remote controlled dollies, one with 2 cameras and one with 1 camera
• 3 cranes, 1 2D system, and 2 Steadicams
Power
• 4.4 megawatts at full capacity
• 39km of power cables
Communication & Intercom
• 175 intercom panels
• 265 analog radios
• 205 Tetra radios
• 20km of signal fiber cables
• 1150 rechargeable battery sets
IT
• 4740kg IT Equipment
• 12,550m temporary fiber optic cable
• 177 network switches
• 4,248 network switch ports
• 242 Wi-Fi access points
• 112,749 of rows of code in the switches
• 8,000 Mbit/s Internet capacity
General
• It takes 42 days from load in to load out.
• Build up is 20 days long. Load out is only 72 hours.
• 11,500 spectators in the audience
• 3,000 shifts of stage hands
• 250 trucks of gear
• 42 commentator boxes
• 37 forklifts, cherry pickers, and scissor lifts for the build up and load out
• 200km cable