Meet the ‘invisible’ backstage team who make the song contest tick

Thirty-five seconds. That is on a regular basis you get to alter the set at Eurovision.

Thirty-five seconds to get one set of performers off the stage and put the following ones in the suitable place.

Thirty-five seconds to ensure everybody has the suitable microphones and earpieces.

Thirty-five seconds to ensure the props are in place and tightly secured.

When you’re at house watching the introductory movies often known as postcards, dozens of individuals swarm the stage, setting the scene for no matter comes subsequent.

“We name it the Method 1 tyre change,” says Richard van Rouwendaal, the affable Dutch stage supervisor who makes all of it work.

“Every particular person within the crew can solely do one factor. You run on stage with one gentle bulb or one prop. You at all times stroll on the identical line. When you go off track, you’ll hit any person.

“It’s kind of like ice skating.”

The stage crew begin rehearsing their “F1 tyre change” weeks earlier than the contestants even arrive.

Each nation sends detailed plans of their staging, and Eurovision hires stand-ins to play the acts (in Liverpool 2023, it was pupils from the native performing arts faculty), whereas stagehands begin shaving valuable seconds off the changeovers.

“We’ve got about two weeks,” says Van Rouwendaal, who’s usually based mostly in Utrecht however is in Basel for this yr’s contest.

“My firm is round 13 Dutchies and 30 native guys and women, who rock it in Switzerland.

“In these two weeks, I’ve to determine who’s proper for every job. Somebody’s good at operating, somebody’s good at lifting, somebody’s good at organising the backstage space. It’s a bit like being good at Tetris as a result of it’s important to line all the pieces up in a small area, within the excellent method.”

As quickly as a tune finishes, the workforce are able to roll.

In addition to the stagehands, there are folks liable for positioning lights and setting pyrotechnics; and 10 cleaners who sweep the stage with mops and vacuum cleaners between each efficiency.

“My cleaners are simply as vital because the stage crew. You want a clear stage for the dancers – but additionally, if there’s an overhead shot of any person mendacity down, you do not need to see shoeprints on the ground.”

The eye to element is medical. Backstage, each performer has their very own microphone stand, set to the right top and angle, to ensure each efficiency is digicam excellent.

“Generally the delegation will say the artist needs to put on a special shoe for the grand ultimate,” says Van Rouwendaal. “But when that occurs, the mic stand is on the fallacious top, so we have an issue!”

Spontaneously altering footwear is not the worst downside he is confronted, although. On the 2022 contest in Turin, the stage was 10m (33ft) larger than the backstage space.

Because of this, they had been pushing heavy stage props – together with a mechanical bull – up a steep ramp between each act.

“We had been exhausted each evening,” he remembers. “This yr is best. We have even acquired an additional backstage tent the place we put together the props.”

Props are an enormous a part of Eurovision. The custom began on the second ever contest in 1957, when Germany’s Margot Hielscher sang a part of her tune Telefon, Telefon into (you guessed it) a phone.

Over the intervening a long time, the staging has grow to be ever extra elaborate. In 2014, Ukraine’s Mariya Yaremchuk trapped considered one of her dancers in an enormous hamster wheel, whereas Romania introduced a literal cannon to their efficiency in 2017.

This yr, we have disco balls, area hoppers, a magical meals blender, a Swedish sauna and, for the UK, a fallen chandelier.

“It is a large logistics effort, truly, to get all of the props organised,” says Damaris Reist, deputy head of manufacturing for this yr’s contest.

“It is all organised in a type of a circle. The [props] come onto the stage from the left, after which get taken off to the suitable.

“Backstage, the props which have been used are pushed again to the again of the queue, and so forth. It is all within the planning.”

Throughout the present, there are a number of secret passageways and “smuggling routes” to get props out and in of imaginative and prescient, particularly when a efficiency requires new components half-way by.

Forged your thoughts again, if you’ll, to Sam Ryder’s efficiency for the UK on the 2022 contest in Italy.

There he was, alone on the stage, belting out falsetto notes in his spangly jumpsuit, when instantly, an electrical guitar appeared out of skinny air and landed in his fingers.

And guess who put it there? Richard van Rouwendaal.

“I am a magician,” he laughs. “No, no, no… That was a collaboration between the digicam director, the British delegation and the stage crew.”

In different phrases, Richard ducked onto the stage, guitar in hand, whereas the director reduce to a large shot, concealing his presence from viewers at house.

“It is choreographed to the closest millimetre,” he says. “We’re not invisible, however we have now to be invisible.”

What if all of it goes fallacious?

There are particular methods the viewers won’t ever discover, Van Rouwendaal reveals.

If he declares “stage not clear” into his headset, the director can purchase time by exhibiting an prolonged shot of the viewers.

Within the occasion of a much bigger incident – “a digicam can break, a prop can fall” – they reduce to a presenter within the inexperienced room, who can fill for a few minutes.

Up within the management room, a tape of the gown rehearsal performs in sync with the reside present, permitting administrators to modify to pre-recorded footage within the occasion of one thing like a stage invasion or a malfunctioning microphone.

A visible glitch is not sufficient to set off the back-up tape, nevertheless – as Switzerland’s Zoë Më found at Tuesday’s first semi-final.

Her efficiency was briefly interrupted when the feed from an on-stage digicam froze, however producers merely reduce to a large shot till it was fastened. (If it had occurred within the ultimate, she’d have been provided the prospect to carry out once more.)

“There’s truly a lot of measures which might be being taken to make it possible for each act might be proven in one of the simplest ways,” says Reist.

“There are individuals who know the laws by coronary heart, who’ve been taking part in by what might occur and what we might do in numerous completely different conditions.

“I will be sitting subsequent to our head of manufacturing, and if there’s [a situation] the place any person has to run, possibly that is going to be me!”

It is no shock to be taught that staging a reside three-hour broadcast with hundreds of transferring components is extremely hectic.

This yr, organisers have launched measures to guard the welfare of contestants and crew, together with closed-door rehearsals, longer breaks between exhibits, and the creation of a “disconnected zone” the place cameras are banned.

Even so, Reist says she has labored each weekend for the previous two months, whereas Van Rouwendaal and his workforce are recurrently pulling 20-hour days.

The shifts are so lengthy that, again in 2008, Eurovision manufacturing legend Ola Melzig constructed a bunker underneath the stage, full with a settee, a “sadly underused” PS3 and two (sure, two) espresso machines.

“I haven’t got hidden luxuries like Ola. I am not at that degree but!” laughs Van Rouwendaal

“However backstage, I’ve acquired a spot with my crew. We have got stroopwafels there and, final week, it was King’s Day in Holland, so I baked pancakes for everybody.

“I attempt to make it enjoyable. Generally we exit and have a drink and cheer as a result of we had an important day.

“Sure, we have now to be on prime, and we have now to be sharp as a knife, however having enjoyable collectively can also be crucial.”

And if all goes to plan, you will not see them in any respect this weekend.