Even though there will be no official Eurovision contest this year, Iceland‘s national broadcaster RÚV has made sure that their viewers will get into the Eurovision mood no matter what.
RÚV will, of course, broadcast the annual EBU alternative show Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, which airs on Saturday May 16, the night the actual final was due to be broadcast. But Iceland’s national broadcaster has also scheduled their very own celebration of the extravaganza Eurovision is.
During Easter RÚV started their annual panel show, “Alla leið”, which will be used as their jury vote in an alternative alternative Eurovision show 2020. On May 2 a public vote was opened online where Icelanders can vote for their favourite, which will be used as an alternative televote.
To warm us up a little bit Selma — Iceland’s representative from 1999 — performed her silver song “All of out luck” in the weekly talk show Vikan (The Week), which is hosted by the Icelandic Eurovision commentator Gísli Marteinn Baldursson. She went all in down memory lane as she had all of her dance moves on point and brought with her the original backing singers. She even put up her iconic hairbuns, just to make us feel like we were back in 1999.
Hið goðsagnakennda All out of luck var flutt í allri sinni dýrð í Vikunni með Gísla Marteini. Selma Björnsdóttir mætti með upprunalegu bakraddasöngvarana auk frábærra dansara sem fluttu atriðið með glæsibrag.Í næstu viku verður svo Eurovision-stemning á RÚV og við hvetjum ykkur til að fylgjast vel með.
Posted by RÚV on Saturday, May 9, 2020
On May 14, the same night that Iceland should have had their semifinal appearance, RÚV will broadcast a show where the top 15 songs of the combined jury and televote will be played and the Icelandic public given the chance to to vote for their favourite. In the end we will have the song that would have, or might have, gotten the famous douze points from Iceland in the actual Eurovision 2020.
But it doesn’t stop there. RÚV has planned a night full of Eurovision events during the would-be Eurovision weekend. Apart from Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, Icelandic viewers will be served a home concert on Friday night by non other than Daði himself, who was supposed to represent the small island nation this year. To wrap the weekend up we will have a party hosted by Euroband, Iceland’s representatives back in 2008, where they will get viewers to the dancefloor with the nation’s favourite Eurovision songs.
On top of that RÚV has decided to show old Eurovision contests with the original Icelandic commentating. Among them are the contest from 1998 which was held in Birmingham. Even though Iceland didn’t even participate in the contest, it has gained a certain cult status in Iceland as the commentator was non other the Paul Oscar, who represented Iceland the year before with “Minn hinsti dans”.
Iceland: RÚV’s full alternative Eurovision 2020 week schedule
All times are in local Icelandic time – GMT -1
- Saturday May 9: Fourth and last show of Alla leið (19:45 on RÚV)
- Tuesday May 12: Eurovision pre-party – A special broadcast where the top 15 of the alternative jury vote and televote will be revealed. (19:40 on RÚV)
- Thursday May 14: The Icelandic Eurovision songs 1986-2020 – All the Icelandic Eurovision songs played (13:05 on RÚV)
- Thursday May 14: Alternative Eurovision: Our 12 points – The top 15 songs played followed by a public televote to decide the alternative 12 points from Iceland this year. (19:40 on RÚV)
- Friday May 15: Euro-Daði – A live home concert with Daði from his home in Berlin. (19:40 on RÚV)
- Saturday May 16: Eurovision: Shine a Light (19:00 on RÚV)
- Saturday May 16: Eurovision-ball – A live concert with Euroband (21:10 on RÚV)
Screenings of old Eurovision contests:
- Sunday May 10 – Eurovision 2015 in Vienna
- Monday May 11 – Eurovision 2009 in Moscow
- Tuesday May 12 – Eurovision 1999 in Jerusalem
- Wednesday May 13 – Eurovision 1998 in Birmingham
- Thursday May 14 – Eurovision 1990 in Zagreb
- Friday May 15 – Eurovision 1987 in Brussels
- Saturday May 16 – Eurovision 1986 in Bergen
What do you think of RÚV’s Eurovision celebration week? Who do you think Iceland will vote for? Share your thoughts with us below!
That Selma clip almost made cry. Looks and sounds just as great 21 years later. Robbed by that ABBA soundalike nonsense
She had the original backing SINGERS, not dancers. Those were her nieces dancing with her, not the guys that were the original ones.
It’s a massive loss that Eurovision isn’t going ahead this year but I believe a lot of broadcasters have stepped up with their Eurovision related programmes. Would we see this quantity of programmes if Eurovision went ahead? I especially like that old contests are being shown again.