When the winner of Eurovision 2021 takes the crown, they’ll have plenty of stars at hand to get advice from. That’s because Dutch broadcasters AVROTROS and NPO have confirmed that six former Eurovision winners will perform during the grand final interval in Rotterdam.
Here’s how the official release spins it.
“Six legendary former winners will be put in the spotlights again during the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Lenny Kuhr (1969), Teach-In (with Getty Kaspers, 1975), Sandra Kim (1986), Helena Paparizou (2005), Lordi (2006) and Måns Zelmerlöw (2015) make their appearance during an interval act of the Grand Final on Saturday, May 22.”
“The winners will perform their song from three unique locations in the Eurovision Song Contest host city Rotterdam. The roofs of the Maassilo, Hotel New York and the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen will be transformed into a stage, lifting the six former winners to new heights. Hence the name of the act: ‘Rock the Roof’.”
Head of Show Gerben Bakker said:
“The Eurovision Song Contest is back after a year of absence. Reason enough to treat the millions of viewers to unique performances from three locations in the middle of the city. The title of this great act is ‘Rock the Roof’ for a reason. By literally filming at great heights, we want to surprise Europe creatively and visually. In addition, I could not have wished for a better city than Rotterdam. Every shot in this city is a hit. Rotterdam will not soon be forgotten.”
“Because this is the 65th Eurovision Song Contest, we are taking a journey through time. Of course we give Dutch winners such as Lenny Kuhr and Getty Kaspers this unique podium with a lot of love. We are particularly proud that Teach-In reunites in the original line-up after a very long time. Every performance has its own unique atmosphere.”
Are you excited to see these familiar faces rocking out in Rotterdam? Let us know what you’re thinking down below!
Photo by IRIS VAN DEN BROEK for NPO/AVROTROS
If they dont announce soon that Molly will perform Husavik as an special interveal act, I swear I’ll never watch Eurovision again!!!!!
I’m going to be very original: Måns AGAIN?! Better call Buranovskie Babushki before they’re all gone.
Instead of being negative about Måns, how about being appreciative that he still takes time to appear in ESC related events and recognize what ESC did for his career. I mean we have winners and former participants who dont even want to acknowledge they did ESC..
What career?
Dana International said in an interview “Winning Eurovision is like getting a pension, since there’s a Eurovision every year and every year you’re invited to perform”. I don’t think Måns is being altruistic when he’s coming to participate in the ESC year after year, it’s not like he has to cancel tours or anything like that, he’s probably jumping on the oportunity to make some extra money and appearing in one of the most watched shows on earth, which is of course his right, who wouldn’t? I think people here aren’t pissed at Måns himself but rather the Eurovision producers… Read more »
I get what everyone’s saying about Mans, but you don’t know the circumstances. Maybe they asked other past winners, and they turned it down. Instead of thinking of it as a negative (Mans, AGAIN?!), maybe we could think of it as Mans being very hands on and appreciative of what Eurovision has done for him, and he’s trying to pay that back any way that he can.
Måns is so boring but I’m happy to see Lordi
Hey guys! I´m a Swede, and am also saying, Måns again!?!? Does he have to be involved every year in every flashback thing from now on?!? I´m getting tired of it! Spend some time showing off more Dutch talent instead please!
I cant believe they dont take the queen Loreen and chose Mans again. Urgh.
Mans again.
Haha
Does he even have a carreer out of ESC?
My thoughts exactly
I echo everyone else here – Mans again? Really?!
Glad to see some Dutch and Belgian participants from times gone by and to see Lordi and Helena Paparizou are going to be making an appearance but couldn’t they have chosen someone more original than Mans? Like even Ell and Nikki would have been a more interesting choice than Mans at this point.
Yes, I am also sick of Mans (he was also part of the coronavirus ESC show last year.
However, i think singing Heroes on top of a building will be kinda iconic.
I would just rather have Lena, Jamala, Sertab… Thank god we got Helena, she was on my wish list because she hasn’t done any ESC events since 2006 (not including national finals appearances).
Great, another appearance from Måns Zelmerlöw. Is he going to do another slow version of a good song?? Seriously, give someone else a chance?I mean, come on, Wouldn’t Loreen be a better choice, especially on top of the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen
I’m so sick of seeing Måns every year. Enough already.
I would rather they show us a black screen then see him on stage AGAIN!
Very that!
I really like Mans, but does he have to figure in Eurovision all the time?
So they ditched Rybak for Paparizou, like I thought. I don’t understand Lordi again over any 90s winner, though. Mans (and Conchita) were there too many times. I’d rather have Loreen.
We’re also sick of Rybak. Yes, a great winner very successful but enough of him. He did the netflix movie, he took part in ESC 2018, did some other shows… that’s more than enough.
Helena hasn’t appeared in any ESC related shows (excluding Melodi) since 2006.
Cannot wait to see lording & Mans
I really don’t get people complaining about måns. Okay, he has been there more than some other artists, but who says that his/EBU’s fault? Maybe the other artists don’t want to be in an interval act. Why are we assuming they always ask him first??
It is because he is Swedish and swedes are not liked here. It is not like he has been everywhere in Eurovision as the say here either.
Nah, it’s because there are winners that are basically forgoten, like idk Lena or Emily the Forest, while Mans is there basically every year in some way. He’s super likable dude, but why not let other winners (who achived exactly what he did) perform? I don’t give a damn if he’s Swede or not. He may be even from other galaxy – that’s not the point.
I don’t think it has anything to do with him being Swedish. People still love Loreen. It’s just that Mans has been involved with everything edition of Eurovision in one way or another, and yet hasn’t really shown anything different. I think people expect something new every year and when the same person keeps popping up, it raises suspicions.
A medley of ESC winners singing their winning entries sound a bit uninspired, like the 2012 interval act. The 2019 interval at least had a fun twist to it. The roof thing sounds nice though.
Also, I love Måns but he’s passed the point of over exposure.
i like mans but this is just too much
“Teach-In reunites in the original line-up after a very long time”
That’s super news. Something they never managed in Tel Aviv, where we had Gali Atari without Milk or Honey and Izhar Cohen with not one letter of the Alphabeta
Apparently Atari only comes on condition that the guys won’t arrive as well which – if true – is terrible. It’s ironic that she was the one to break up the group when they were on the brink of international career before album was recorded and here she is coming back again and again with their signature song.
I disagree. She was never part of the group.
I would love to see Loreen,Jamala and Lena as interval acts in future
but I’m glad to see Helena and Lordi 🙂
I want to see Lena soooo bad
Will that religious group from Cyprus give us a statment once again?
How’s that relevant to the article?
They got angry for El Diablo, wouldn’t be surprised if Lordi would be a problem to them too. Anyway my comment was a joke, but judging by the downvotes Cypriot Christians have some fans..
Please don’t be like that. Lordi won in Athens. Ofcourse Greek orthodox won’t have a problem with them appearing as an interval act, like they didn’t have back then (Cypriots orthodox also belong to Greek orthodox church). Don’t make them sound like they are uncivilized orcs, just because they didn’t like the lyrics of the song, that will represent their country in a big contest. Try to understand why they react like that instead. Check their geography and historic times to get some clues. Maybe you would also react like them under those circumstances. Peace.
Though el diablo isn’t even about the actual Devil.
Great choice for Sandra Kim (who never appears and is a super nice gesture towards the neighbour), Teach-in and of course the Grand Dame Lenny Kuhr! As for Lordi, Helena and Mans… could you be more predictable?…
People here are so hypocritical. They claim they want countries and contestants to take the contest seriously and to be massive fans of it, yet they constantly complain about Mans who’s the epitome of those ideals. He’s shown nothing but love for the contest. What do you want – people like Salvador Sobral to win every year? He only stopped bashing the contest when he realized it was hurting his career, not helping it by distancing himself from the ESC. Or maybe Celine? She got her start there and she has no love for it. Be grateful that we have… Read more »
People don’t dislike Måns, but the annual “Whats Måns doing now?” Piece at every Eurovision is tiring. We’ve had over 65 years of winners – what makes the winner of 2015 so special?
Celine does have love for it. She was on the 1997 contest sending good luck to the performers. In 2016, she sent a congratulations message to Pat Kenny when he got some award. Both are on YouTube. If she’s performing concerts in Switzerland or Dublin, she mentions it. More importantly, she had her first kiss with her future husband on the night she won – something she will always remember.
Plus she was apparently quite interested in doing a cameo in the Eurovision Movie, while ABBA turned it down immediately.
I think she just doesn’t like her winning song much.
Really? Why wasn’t she in it?
About the ABBA – I don’t think that had anything to do with their love for the contest. Benny was involved in so many projects over the years and even recently. At this point I’m sure some members actually hate each other which isn’t an uncommon thing between ex couples. Their new material has been pushed back so many times that I’m sure it’ll never see the light of the day.
Sorry, it appears I was misinformed. I googled her talking about the competition a while ago and the only thing that popped up was an article which clearly didn’t explain her humor. I remember reading about how she felt the whole thing was strange and how she felt like a horse with people placing bets and I felt disappointed. I just watched the interview Fatima mentioned in their comment and it appears the whole story originated there and had a completely different tone.
***
This has nothing to do with contestants taking the contest seriously or not. It’s about us being tired of seeing Mans yet again for a freaking 7th year in a row! Also, I’m pretty sure that there’s way more contestants who love abs respect Eurovision other then Mans!
I agree with Jonas on this, if you see Dion’s interview with Jonathan Ross on YouTube, she talks about the contest with some affection.
One thing to keep in mind with Celine is she was not a native Swiss. She wasn’t a young local who was held up as a hero for several years like Lena or Rybak. In fact there wasn’t even the fandom like there is today back in 88. It’s only since the dawning of the internet that we have the fandom like we do now.
I am so surprised at the negativity of responses on this thread – your excellent reply is very well put and totally agree.
Salvador wasn’t bashing the contest though. And his then-latest album before he took part in FDC got a boost in streams following his win, and even mnathed to sing with one of his jazz idols as part of the interval act in 2018. 🙂
Alexander Rybak is sulking in his bed right now.
So happy to see faces that hadn’t appear for a long time. When Mans is on is my toilet break, he needs to leave eurovision alone for some years
måns should be replaced with rybak, loreen, or dima bilan in my opinion
Loreen for sure. Considering how iconic and successful her Eurovision stint was, I’m honestly surprised she hasn’t been in the position that Måns is in every year and appearing more often.
They missed a trick with Loreen. Roof-phoria.
Hahaha YES! Love it
I’m disappointed the Gigliola Cinquetti performance had to be cancelled. I understand of course, I would not want her risking her health. At least we saw her at Sanremo. Maybe she can give the Italian jury points instead.
I guess she should have had her vaccine by the time it’s Eurovision Week? She’s 73. But it might have been tricky to bet on that.
Vaccine progress in Europe is at a snails pace just now, all bets are off really as to when everyone can get it.
I am so glad that this idea for the interval act is gonna happen this year. I was intrigued when it was announced last year, and it’s cool the broadcasters found a creative way to integrate this with pandemic restrictions. Best of luck in May.
I feel like Måns Zelmerlow has appeared at every Eurovision since 2015 in some form.
This sounds good though. Looking forward to seeing Lordi again if I’m honest.
True:
2015 – Participant
2016 – Host/Presenter
2017 – Commentator / Featured segment guest
2018/2019 – UK national selection host (And not counting the times he co-hosted Melodifestivalen pre-2015 and this year).
2019 – Interval performer
2020 – Featured guests in Europe Shine A Light.
Before Arcade, yes, Lenny Kuhr is the best winner we (The Netherlands) had. But Arcade is definitely better.
That guy? Bitter much? Let me guess: Still felling raw that 2015 winner wasn’t those Italian guys with their stereotypical over the top camp song?
Only egos who prefer songs sang in a country’s national language think Lenny Kuhr is better than Duncan.
Says the one who usually starts hating on people with unpopular opinions except if it is an unpopular opinion with which you agree. Lmao. Hypocrisy at its finest.
Yay to all! I like all of them. Hope it wont rain though cause that could destroy things…
Queen Helena Paparizou <3
I’m kinda tired of Mans. Exited for the others tho!
Helenaaaaaaaaaa Helenaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Yeiiiiiiiiiiii
Greek Pop Queen.
The woman who started it all!
Helena, the Greek pop Queen who created a niche for others to be influenced of (Kalomira, Eleftheria Eleftheriou, Ivi adamou, Eleni Foureira, Tamta, Stefania)
Welcome back!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
They should bring Lys Assia back from the dead to perform. Would be a great treat!
Don’t tempt them!
Using new technologies to bring artists ‘back from the dead’ for free performances they never consented to, and never performed, should be considered wholly unethical (until, perhaps, clear standards are in place on how to produce content appropriately in this way).
finally im not the only one who thinks that performance was awful
Your in-your-face ruler technique is childish. Ain’t gonna take you nowhere.
Oh I can’t hear Mans for one more time. Now I don’t know when it was the last time he didn’t appear in Eurovision
2018
So we either gonna have Rybak either Mans haha
Pre 2015 (= 1956 – 2014) if he hasn’t been a background singer.
YASS! Queen Helena is BACK! Also glad we gonna see again Lordi
LORDI ? Perkele, it was about time to hard rock the corona !
yay for Lenny!!!
EBU sure loves Mans Zamerlow huh
You’d swear that there wasn’t 60 something other winners to choose from lol
Well, that’s why Il Volo did not win…
Why not a winner from the 90’s? Somebody Irish probably?!
Agree with the “enough of Mans” movement.
Definitely agree with this, like we’ve won the most out of everyone, a damn Riverdance troupe would suffice. Lol
Paul and Charlie were going last year, that’s been cancelled too…maybe an age thing because of Covid.
I’m not actually sure how old they are, I doubt Paul was actually sixteen in 1962 – maybe their song doesn’t suit the rooftop thing.
Ah I forgot about that. But I’m sure Niamh or J-Lo or someone could have shown up, even by a video link or something.
(Not Linda Martin though, she can barely sing these days)
Not Johnny, please, we saw enough of him last year on Shine a Light – the presenters even sang the song with him. I’ll take Eimear Quinn if you’re sending someone over…I mean, her husband is the boss of the EBU…I’m sure it can be arranged…
I can’t wait to see Mans shouting the same two lines from “Heroes” for tenth time since he won. How exciting.
Would be funny if he got confused and shouted out “We might as well be Lovers on The Sun”. Or A Million Voices 1.0, as we know Version 2.0 is in the contest this year and in my view a potential NQ.
omg so happy about Helena!! the last time she appeared in ESC was in 2006, plus the Congratulations show. I can’t wait to see her perform My Number One and remind it to new fans.
I wish they have invited Gigliola as well, Italy is underrepresented as usual. Even Toto’s song from 1990 would have made sense because it talks about united Europe.
Heroes is a very good song with meaning but we are really tired of seeing him every year!!! Even Loreen would have been a better choice (she’s overplayed to death but it’s an iconic entry).
Italy would’ve had a representation last year if I remember correctly.
Hmm what happened this year then?
Intriguing stuff. Hope the weather holds out! Nice to see some retro names, although Måns is a little over familiar. Thankfully no Verka
Any word on if Glennis Grave will be back? Hope she gets to perform, it can make up for her 2005 appearance. Invite Trijnte as well
I’d love for Glennis and Trijnte’s group with Edsilia Rombley “Ladies of Soul” to perform
Good idea! I’m familiar with them. I’ve been watching a lot of those retro Top of the Pops over the last summer and I was surprised to see Candy Dufler had a hit with Dave Steward in 1989!
Last year they invited Gigliola. I’d rather had her perform instead of again Måns.
That sounds sick!
Come on ESC winners, let’s get sickening!
Did they steal “Rock The Roof” from INNA? As she used to do “Rock The Roof” videos all over Europe!
Wow love this line-up more than last years. Also laughed hard Mans is returning again, no problem with that I’m a big Sweden fan.
Mans will be at every eurovision till he dies and I can’t be convinced otherwise
At least it’s better than Rybak.
At least I can pencil in my toilet break FFS
How often do you need the toilet, Jofty?!
More than once! I will need to train my bladder to be in sync with the performances of say, France, Iceland and Sweden!
Completely understandable! I’m sure there are some performances we’d all want to qualify just to guarantee relieving your bladder in peace. Amen to that!
On one of the occasions I attended Maltasong the barman wanted to know why I was buying 5 drinks at the same time. When I told him I did not want to miss anything he advised not to worry, there were plenty of “toilet break” songs!