The Eurovision Song Contest went ahead this spring after being postponed last year due to the pandemic. The same venue, Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands, hosted the event, and the original creative team (click the links for Live Design interviews) including stage designer Florian Wieder, video designer Falk Rosenthal, sound designer Jeroen ten Brinke, and lighting designer Henk-Jan van Beek stayed on board for the show in May 2021.
Above are a selection of photos from the event illustrating some of the changes made this year, from individual boxes for sound equipment for each band, to stage hands wearing masks for quick changes between the 39 acts, and helping the reduced audience (3,500 people instead of the usual 16,000) be a part of the show. For more information on managing the largest live for broadcast musical event in the world, head of production Erwin Rintjema talks about the process.
The behind-the-scenes video below offers insights into the massive event and includes comments from Marcus Graser of Claypaky, a company based in Bergamo, Italy which was hit hard in the first months of the pandemic.