This year’s Eurovision Song Contest was one of the most unique yet, not only for the songs, but also for the organisation of the contest. With the COVID-19 pandemic still looming, each of the participating nations was expected to prepare a live-on-tape performance. This performance was prepared as a back-up just in case the nation was not able to make it to Rotterdam. As we know, Australia was the only nation to use their recorded live-on-tape performance. While Iceland was not able to perform on the Eurovision stage due to a positive COVID-19 test, they were able to use their rehearsal footage from Rotterdam.
In the lead up to the contest, each nation was required to submit their live-on-tape performance. To make things fair across the board, each nation had 1 hour to record their tape, with 3 attempts allowed within that hour. The national broadcaster could then pick the best attempt of the three, and that would be used as their back-up tape.
A special broadcast was prepared by the EBU, featuring the live-on-tape performances. The first performances released were the non-qualifiers, except for Ireland who chose not to reveal their live-on-tape performance during the broadcast. As you can see below in the broadcast, some nations used their national final performances, while others featured a performance similar to their actual Eurovision performance, minus the scale of the Ahoy Arena stage!
Here are the nations featured in Part 1 of the Eurovision Song Celebration:
- Slovenia / Ana Soklič – Amen
- Australia / Montaigne – Technicolour
- North Macedonia / Vasil – Here I Stand
- Croatia / Albina – Tick-Tock
- Romania / ROXEN – Amnesia
- Estonia / Uku Suviste – The Lucky One
- Czech Republic / Benny Cristo – omaga
- Austria / Vincent Bueno – Amen
- Poland / RAFAŁ – The Ride
- Georgia / Tornike Kipiani – You
- Latvia / Samanta Tīna – The Moon is Rising
- Denmark / Fyr og Flamme – Øve Os På Hinanden
What do you think of the performances?