Eurovision PreParty Riga 2020 Cancelled

It has been a regular fixture on the preview concert circuit for over half a decade. However, as of Tuesday 25 February, Latvia’s Eurovision PreParty Riga is no more, for 2020 at least.

That means Samanta TÄ«na will be the first Latvian act in seven years who won’t get to welcome any international delegations to the capital city.

Eurovision PreParty Riga cancelled

On Tuesday 25 February, Miroslvas Kodis — the head of OGAE Latvia — posted a short message to Facebook. It read:

“Dear Eurovision friends! 🌞

🎉 Eurovision PreParty in Riga 🇱🇻 has always been a great time for fans, musicians and journalists! It has always been a great pleasure for me, for OGAE Latvia and for Riga, to host such an event! We have had 6 great and unforgettable concerts and I thank you all for being part of it ❤️🧡💛

🌺 This year we will take a break, but if everything will goes well, I hope we will come back next year and we will welcome you all at Eurovision PreParty Riga 2021 🥳

🤩 Thank you and see you in Rotterdam! 💞

#ogaeLatvia #PrePartyRiga #Eurovision #Latvia #Riga #OpenUp #ESC2020 #Rotterdam2020″

The post ends on a note of optimism, hinting that the show may return in 2021.

A history of Eurovision PreParty Riga

The annual shindig was first organised by OGAE Latvia in 2014. Then it attracted just three acts — Poland’s Donatan and Cleo, Austria’s Conchita Wurst and some members of Latvia’s own Aarzemnieki.

It quickly grew and by 2015 the number of competing acts jumped to eight — Switzerland’s Melanie RenĂ©, Georgia’s Nina Sublatti, Latvia’s Aminata, Lithuania’s Monika Linkyte and Vaidas Baumila, Azerbaijan’s Elnur HĂĽseynov, Poland’s Monika Kuszynska, the UK’s Electro Velvet and Moldova’s Eduard Romanyuta.

There were also an additional four acts from past contests — Alexander Rybak (Norway 2009), Eldar Gasimov (Azerbaijan 2011), Marie N (Latvia 2002) and Zlata Ognevich (Ukraine 2013).

The concert’s biggest year came in 2016. Then nine acts jetted into the Baltic city — Latvia’s Justs, Switzerland’s Rykka, Serbia’s Sanja Vucic, Belarus’ Ivan, Bulgaria’s Poli Genova, Estonia’s JĂĽri Pootsmann, Spain’s Barei, Israel’s Hovi Star and Malta’s Ira Losco. Sweden’s 1984 winners the Herreys also made an appearance.

However, despite two consecutive years of strong line-ups, the PreParty struggled to attract large audiences. The destination was too far off the beaten track for many international fans, while there never appeared to be much enthusiasm among the local fanbase.

Sadly, when faced with venues that were mostly empty, delegations started to stay away.

Only five acts made it to the 2017 event — Belarus’ Naviband, Lativa’s Triana Park, Poland’s Kasia Mos, Czech Republic’s Martina Barta and Norway’s JOWST. Ukraine’s 2004 winner Ruslana and Justs also showed up.

In 2018, Amber (Malta 2015) and local star Markus Riva joined four acts — Czech Republic’s Mikolas Josef, Moldova’s DoReDoS, Lativa’s Laura Rizzotto and Lithuania’s Ieva ZasimauskaitÄ—.

The 2019 concert only attracted two competing acts — Norway’s KEiiNO and Latvia’s Carousel. Monika Marija and Edgars Kreilis also performed.

The ever-growing preparty circuit may also have contributed to the event’s demise. Upon its 2014 launch, it was only the fourth such event, joining London, Amsterdam and Moscow. Since then events have cropped up in Tel Aviv, Madrid and Stockholm. Malta also had a one-off party in 2016.

Will you miss the Riga PreParty? Are you sad to see it go? Let us know in the comments.

Follow all of our Latvia Eurovision 2020 news.

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[…] NĂĄgra av de events som är inbokade är de sĂĄ kallade Eurovision Pre Partyn, där artister och fans träffas i olika städer för att tillsammans festa och ha roligt. Dessutom ges en vokal inblick i hur artisterna lĂĄter live. I skrivande stund är tre fester inbokade i London den 29:e mars, Amsterdam den 4:e april och i Madrid den 10:e och 11:e april. Dessa tre är ĂĄrligen ĂĄterkommande partyn. Det kan även bli tal om fler fester, däremot är det nu klart att det inte blir nĂĄgot inför-partaj i Riga. […]

Andrei
Andrei
4 years ago

No more sponsors for this event or no interest among the participants? If in the past years they only had 2 foreign guests, then…the cancelation is explained

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
4 years ago

Sad news from Riga. I do still want to visit Latvia one day. I hope the event can return in the future.

Chama Chameleon
Chama Chameleon
4 years ago

ESC Winners of the last 5 years :
2016 : Ukraine
2017 : Portugal
2018 : Israel
2019 : The Netherlands
2020 : Coronavirus

Bebethequeen
Bebethequeen
4 years ago

Tasteless joke.

Joseph Mendy
Joseph Mendy
4 years ago

Is this really needed. You’ve messed up big time.

Gabi
Gabi
4 years ago

Wow, you should be so proud of yourself. Now go to the corner and have a cry, like you always do

The Roop is On Fire
The Roop is On Fire
4 years ago

Last year’s concert was… sad… and I cannot blame them. But I hope they’ll have a blast next year and maybe invite some of the 2020 artists to make up for their absence this year.

Joe
Joe
4 years ago

So we know Amsterdam, London, and Madrid are on. Are Moscow and Tel Aviv still happening?

sam
sam
4 years ago
Reply to  Joe

Tel Aviv is no longer a fixture on the annual Eurovision calendar at least for now. The Israel Calling promo event served as a catalyst to bring Eurovision back to Israel by showing it can organize an event of such scale. The idea was to showcase Israel to journalists, bloggers, heads of delegation, the participating artists and their followers on social media as a serious contender after many years of poor results, relative stagnation and general public loss of interest. This was a private initiative organized by an independent producer who brought the commercial broadcaster into the picture and recruited… Read more »

kohen
kohen
4 years ago

because of the coronavirus?

kohen
kohen
4 years ago

then?

Chromium
Chromium
4 years ago
Reply to  kohen

1. “the PreParty struggled to attract large audiences”
2. “The destination was too far off the beaten track for many international fans”
3. “there never appeared to be much enthusiasm among the local fanbase”
4. “The ever-growing preparty circuit”

All quoted from the article above 🙂