With Eurovision less than a month to go until Semi-Final 1 of Eurovision 2019 — that’s 29 days to be exact — officials are ready to show their hand. Today Israeli Broadcaster KAN and the Tel Aviv Municipality held a special press conference at EXPO Tel Aviv in which they introduced their plans for Eurovision. We were on hand and let us tell you something — THEIR AMBITIONS RUN HIGHER THAN ELENI’S ON-STAGE FLAMES!
The conference was held in two sessions – one in Hebrew for local journalists and the second one in English for international media. During the conference, organisers presented some official news and teased us with tantalising tidbits about the show. And after that they guided journalists inside the arena to see how construction is progressing. We were also allowed to take photos of the venue.
From Eurovision Village to the red carpet, which is now orange, there’s a lot to talk about. So let’s do this!
Ticket sales
The second — and probably the last — wave of tickets will go on sale tomorrow. That’s Tuesday April 16th at 17:00 CET. There are still around 1,000 tickets for the Grand Final. That’s not a lot, so you’re going to need to be both fast and lucky.
We all remember the public criticism after the first wave was halted due to the tremendously high prices. Happily, KAN and the EBU have been listening. According to the official press release, prices will range from 200 NIS for rehearsals of the semi-finals (that’s €55/$50) to around 2,000 NIS for the VIP Green Room, which will be available for the final only (€550/$500). The EBU and the KAN recommend purchasing tickets only from the official website: Eurovision.tv/tickets.
You can also enter the MyHeritage #DareToSing contest for a shot at an all-inclusive GROUP trip to Israel.
Preview of the Eurovision 2019 postcards
Over the last two months, all 41 acts have visited Israel to film their postcards – the introductory segments that air jut before the songs are performed. This year each participant will dance in one of the country’s stunning vistas accompanied by professional dancers. During the press conference, KAN shared a glimpse of the postcards, and they looks original, fresh and downright stunning. We will just put it here for you to judge by yourselves.
Orange is the new red (carpet)
This year, the Red Carpet is going orange! On May 12 the stars will strut to the Opening Ceremony in Habima Square, just in front of Israel’s national theatre and not far from the fancy Rothschild Boulevard. All delegations will arrive in limousines and after some mingling, will enjoy an entertaining show.
Israel’s Eurovision hosts
The First Semi-Final will take place on May 14th, the Second Semi-Final will take place on May 16th and the Final will be held on May 18th, under the direction of the four Israeli Eurovision Hosts: Erez Tal, Bar Refaeli, Assi Azar and Lucy Ayoub. For the first time, the final broadcast in Israel (so for Israeli viewers) will start at 21:40 local time with a special broadcast developed by Yardena Arazi. It marks 40 years since she co-hosted the first Eurovision Song Contest in Israel exactly 40 years ago. According to KAN, all four hosts will appear in all the shows.
Netta Barzilai and Izhar Cohen among Israeli interval acts
This year, the interval acts will play a central role in each show and showcase Israeli culture. Yuval Cohen, TV and Show Producer and Deputy Executive Producer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 said:
“After twenty years we are excited to host the world’s largest music competition, in which 41 unique songs from different countries around the world will take centre stage. A great deal of thought was invested in developing the line-up of the performances, with the aim of relating to the 200 million viewers watching across the globe and in the same breath bringing an Israeli experience to the screen”.
דנה אינטרנשיונל מכינה את העיר לאירוויזיון from Tel Aviv Yafo on Vimeo.
The full line-up:
- Last year’s winner, Netta, will perform a new and festive version of her winning song “Toy” and will open the first Semi Final. She will also sing a new song during the Grand Final.
- Dana International, Eurovision 1998 winner, will perform during both the second Semi Final and the Grand Final with a song which “will remind us that everyone deserves to be loved”.
- Izhar Cohen, the first Israeli to bring the Eurovision Song Contest to Israel after his win in 1978, will present the votes of the Israeli jury. Israel’s jury will be the last to present.
- Other Israeli artists will also participate during the interval. They include The Idan Raichel Project (a band led by the Israeli singer Idan Raichel) who will perform a song called “Bo’ee (translates as “Come to Me”). We’ll also hear from multi-media video artist aka Kutiman, who has recast a Eurovision song, and Shalva band, who participated in The Next Star but withdrew just before the final.
Gal Gadot at Eurovision
The highlight of the star-studded lineup is — no doubt — Israel’s very own Wonder Woman Gal Gadot. Today we learned she will also take part in the show…although the format has not been revealed. All we know is that she “will show Tel Aviv and Israel as never before…”).
All-star international mashup
There’s more. The interval acts will also include a segment dedicated to the history of the contest, during which past participants from various participating countries will also appear. Curiously, they will do it in an unorthodox way: Eurovision 2014 winner Conchita Wurst will sing Eurovision 2015 winner Måns Zelmerlöw’s “Heroes” who will perform Eleni Foureira’s “Fuego” who will in turn pay tribute to Verka Serduchka’s iconic “Dancing Lasha Tumbai”. Verka will conclude this part of the show by singing “Toy”. Let the hilarity ensue! Eurovision 1979 winner, Gali Atari (lead singer of Milk & Honey), will also participate in this entertaining act.
Last but not least – Madonna. Although no formal conformation was given, KAN’s CEO, Eldad Koblenz implied that the iconic megastar will sing two songs in the Grand Final.
Dare to Dream
As we all know, the Eurovision slogan this year is Dare to Dream. It symbolizes both Israel as a (relatively) new state that was founded after World War II and its victory last year in Lisbon. KAN are aiming to prove to Europe that Israel has not only dared to dream but is also fulfilling the Eurovision Dream. This was expressed by Zivit Davidovitch, KAN’s Executive Producer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019:
“The Eurovision Song Contest is not what we knew 20 years ago and certainly not 40 years ago. In 1999, there were only 23 participating countries and this year 41 countries will participate. As people across the globe look to Israel as the 2019 Eurovision hosts, we want to present Israel in the best way we can. The Israeli team working on the Eurovision Song Contest is of the most experienced, both in terms of production and creativity. The Israeli Eurovision team are working on the project with the deep aspiration and mission to represent Israel and to produce the best Eurovision Song Contest in the 64 years of the competition’s existence”.
Let me show you Tel Aviv
The Tel Aviv Municipality had their own session in which they presented all of their plans as well. They’ve printed out a guide with all the essentials and schedules that any fan must read. Said guide will be distributed to tourists throughout the city. We will present its salient points in a separate post within the next few days once we’ve reviewed it. It’s extensive.
Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv teaser from Tel Aviv Yafo on Vimeo.
How excited are you? Are you also counting the days until Eurovision 2019? Tell us what you think in the comments’ section below
Beautiful cake decorations cannot hide the burnt base of racism, apartheid, atrocities and violation of human rights!
My only hope is that Iceland will turn this year’s conetst into a political protest!
LOL the Icelandic act is a bunch of trolls in harnesses who don’t have much of a real agenda rather than to say something controversial to get some attention. I’m not even sure that they know what is the conflict about. Keep on hoping
A few additional points missing from this summary: 1. All 26 finalists will join Idan on stage for the ending of the song Boei. It will be performed with a live orchestra. 2. Shalva band will sing the song a million dreams in the second semi final. 3. All the Eurovision winners from the international mashup will then join Gali Atari for the song hallelujah. 4. Kutiman the producer and animator has watched all 63 Eurovision shows in full since the first one and created two videos summarizing the history of the competition, each will show in one of the… Read more »
I guess Israel’s kinda saying sorry for the fact that their last hosting gig was the first contest without an orchestra. But man, that’ll be spectacular.
Why should Israel apologize for that? That was an EBU decision to make it optional and an orchestra could be back in Stockholm 2000 or any other year after. But it didn’t. Because there’s no real need in it anymore
wow, exciting news, and those interval acts i look forward to, gonna be a fun show
Gal Gadot, is great as wonder woman, but the Original wonder woman Lynda Carter is also great, i see her still on the series supergirl, still looking quite good despite having gotten older
Gal Gadot will not be there phisically! it will be a video or something similar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApIWOAwqBos
the postcards preview in a better quality
Looks stunning! Really nailed it with the postcards this year!
i think it’s fair to say this may be one of the
most iconic eurovision’s ever…
Wait, so the all star interval act is not a joke? lmfao can’t wait then
On conference, this looks like a plan for an amazing show. I hope the execution will be the same. A little opinion about the stage: Now that the animated renders are out, I’m kind of… mesmerized with the size of catwalks and how the center stage looks, or feels, smaller than expected. Also different to previous WD stages, while they are mostly symmetrical, this feels really focused to the middle–would be good for staging someone singing in the middle area, but not really convinced if it would work with the other staging plans since for a reason it will break… Read more »
I hope Gali Atari has a decent-sized role, and she had better sing Hallelujah.
I’ve heard that she will sing Hallelujah together with Conchita, Måns, Eleni and Verka 🙂
WOW!
OT, but there’s an unspeakable tragedy in France just happening! The beautiful Cathedral of Notre Dame is caught on fire and the damage is already enormous. Now we must pray that the front belltowers remain standing! 900 years of culture and heritage! I am heartbroken and hope at least the structure remains standing. My thoughts are with France and the whole Europe.
Stay strong French people
I think we’re all with France today.
Watching that unstoppable fire fills me with fear and pain.
You’re right Colin. All we can do is to pray.
I just hope this tragedy won’t cause another wave of false accusations. Let’s not give in to hate, and instead turn our pain and fear into sympathy and compassion for Parisians and French people.
It is so sad. At least right now it seems like the basic stone structure (towers included) will be safe. A lot has been lost, and is irreplaceable, but maybe with time it will again serve its primary function as a place of worship. I’m sure it will.
It’s a bit off topic. But as a French (and Parisian) I just say thank you for all your messages of sympathy and support. We’re all very sad here.
It is quite off topic, but I didn’t know where else to post and I wanted to inform the ESC community (which is about music, but also art in general, and this is one of the greatest architectural accomplishments ever) and to give you all my support. By now, the fire is over and thankfully, the structure, including the two magnificent rectangular towers have survived. I am also informed that the large number of statues and relics are saved. It is still a devastating loss for all the artwork which couldn’t be saved. We are all standing with France in… Read more »
Thank you so much.
This is going to be so cool
I love how serious the take the contest and how they want to do the best but the hall is freaking small. I saw a video of the venue with the stage and it looks like a big TV studio….
Really? I was blown away by that video after hearing fans complain so much about the venue size! It looks more than big enough, the camera angles are great, and the stage is breathtaking.
Lol you have no idea about directing. There isn’t any kind of depth in these shots, and that is a problem
Are you really gatekeeping the ability to think camera angles look good?
Yet, it will be a better acoustic experience since there would be less reverb. We never tried medium-sized arena since 2003, so it’s also cool to see this being executed in 2019.
Jack, take your directing knowledge and shove it to a place that cares about it.
Your behind
It’s small, so what? Does that somehow impact on the audience’s enjoyment, either at home or in person? I don’t think so. I really don’t get this obsession with hyping the arena size.
Lol they’ve done Eleni dirty. Dancing Lashai Tumbai? I suppose she would have agreed to it so she must have something up her sleeve!
It’s going to be hilarious! I can’t wait.
This ESC will be better than expected. I hope so…
And people were worried about Madonna. It looks there is MUCH MORE than Madonna waiting for us and that they took the interval shows really serious with also many more authentic & creative acts.
Israel proves again – it deserves the global crown for creativity and innovation. I think its the first time I’m REALLY looking forrward not just to watch the songs and the contest but also the ENTIRE weekend of the ESC & all the shows. Madonna?! Mans singing Fuego?! Eleni (The Israel’s “Rival” from last year getting this huge honor – show Israel’s amazing spirit!) I just CANT WAIT. And by the way – these postacts looks stunning. Its the first time Im actually reallyyyy want to watch them. Its like Israel trying to make you carve for everything in ESC… Read more »
Incredible postcard, plus sounds like a great show.
Semifinal 1 looks like it will be more interesting in terms of interval acts! I guess they want to sell more tickets as the SF2 was selling more due to Russia, Switzerland, Sweden and Netherlands.
I really hope we will be able to buy tickets and it won’t be the usual case of bots…
There are more than plenty of cheap tickets for the dress rehearsals for the semi finals. Starting from 200 sheqels.
what do you think about the venue and the arena in general?
Stage looks awesome, especially with the rotating LED screens. I’m not worried about the arena size but the camerawork may not be at its best when presenting wide shots of the arena and stage.
Btw to follow the stage coming together, go to Ola Melzig’ Eurovision Diary – https://m-m-pr.com/index.php/eurovision-diary-2019
yeah that’s the only thing that I’m really worried about, cause I find the camerawork really crucial for wether a show is good or not. For example 2015 didn’t really have the best camera angles and made the show way worse (for me at least)
Woww its going to be the best eurovision ever
The mashup sounds like terrific fun and I especially love how they incorporate Eleni and Fuego after last year’s alleged “rivalry” between Israel and Cyprus.
Also, Måns singing Fuego will be both ridiculous and hot.
Oh it will be super hot. I bet he’s in the gym everyday now preparing to make us moist.
These postcards look amazing.
One & Only Queen Foureira is back !
Yaaass !
There’s not much to judge, but from what we’ve seen, those postcards look gorgeous. Colorful, dynamic, diverse, fun, once again – what a cool concept it was. I just hope graphics are gonna match those great visuals.
Are we going to witness the biggest Eurovision show ever in history this year??? It sure looks like it!
The postcards look incredible and the mashup idea sounds fun.
The article I’ve been waiting for! I am very excited about the tribute thing. Sounds like they want to have the best interval acts this year
They’re not playing! This is gonna be spectacular! Interesting how they didn’t mention Lior Suchard though (I guess since we already knew about him?)
I could be wrong about this, but isn’t he technically not an interval act? I thought he was just going to be doing some tricks with the artists in the green room when production needs a little extra time to set up the stage.
They actually did mention him it’s just not showing on this post. They said he will preform in all three shows. He was mentioned right after the slide about the hosts so I guess he’s kinda between a fifth host and an interval act.