Last weekend Switzerland‘s Nemo won the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden.
Wow! What a song! What a voice! What staging! What lighting! What direction! All culminating in the win!
Leonor Gomes, writing in D5 MAG, treats us to A Little Amuse-Bouche of Eurovision 2024’s Stage Lighting Design.
In it we learn some of the technical details: “Movable LED cubes, LED floors, light, video, and stage technology will be combined to create dynamic and customisable-to-the-brim variations in the arena. The stage is placed right in the middle of the audience, in a cross-like shape, giving people a 360-degree experience where lighting design, music, and performances are not just seen and heard but felt.”
Over at the European Broadcasting Union official site, more details abound:
- over 400 radios and 200 intercom panels
- more than 60 radio channels, both analogue and digital
- 196 variable speed hoists used to position and move the lighting and LED elements in the design
- 204 tons of technical gear suspended from the arena ceiling, supported by 3.5 km of truss
- over 2000 light fixtures, each with LED or laser sources
- approximately 1000 square meters of LED screens enveloping the set, from the stage floor to LED video cubes
- 68 speakers
- 56 microphones
- 9 sound desks
- 3 different sound mixes, including in-ear monitors for artists, PA for the on-site audience, and the broadcast mix for TV viewers worldwide
- 55 seconds to move each prop into place while simultaneously rolling another off the stage
- over 1000 accredited media representatives from around 60 countries
The Eurovision site names the two people most responsible: Florian Wieder and Fredrik Stormby.
Take a look at the incredible live Steadicam work during the French song:
My take: I love this show and watch it each year. I love the now-permanent slogan: United by Music.