If you thought keeping up with all of the completely unique acts competing in the first of this year’s Eurovision semi-finals was exhausting, spare a thought for the stage hands and behind-the-scenes crew.
On Tuesday night, the first 15 of this year’s competing acts took to the stage for the first semi-final, with an additional 16 still left to compete for the last slots in Saturday’s grand final later in the week.
As you might expect with a competition as weird and wonderful as Eurovision, the majority of the competing acts have elaborate staging and set pieces that help bring their performances to life.
What Eurovision fans don’t often consider while watching at home is that each of these sets needs to be brought on stage, put up and then disassembled on stage in a matter of seconds.
However, with the competition now underway in Liverpool (where it’s being held on behalf of last year’s winners, Ukraine), fans in the arena have been lifting the lid on exactly what goes into a Eurovision semi-final – and it’s pretty remarkable stuff…
Hannah Waddingham, Alesha Dixon and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina are the hosts of this year’s Eurovision semi-finals, with regular commentator Graham Norton set to join the trio to front the live final on Saturday night.
It was also announced on Wednesday morning that a certain British comedy fave will serve as the UK’s commentator as part of the final, reading out the points our juries have allocated live from Liverpool Arena.
The next Eurovision semi-final airs on Thursday at 8pm on BBC One.