Whether you’re a fan of the Eurovision winner or not, or even if you hate Eurovision and think it’s ridiculous, there’s one thing you can’t deny: in Copenhagen over the weekend, the stage itself was awesome.
Yes, this is just a flimsy excuse to post a couple of Eurovision music videos. But honestly, check out Austrian singer Conchita Wurst’s Rise Like A Phoenix and tell me you think that stage design and performance production was sub-par. The real action starts at 1:55:
The stage itself had two main parts: a giant Meccano skeleton of empty iron and aluminium boxes, strung with hugely powerful lighting and transparent displays. Behind the skeleton, a massive multi-projection screen displayed graphics, carefully designed to interact with the on-stage construction at various camera angles.
The platform that the contestants (entertainers? That seems like a stretch) performed on was actually its own giant display — a lattice of superpowerful LCDs that showed usually geometric effects designed into each art’s production. And, of course, it contained the mandatory Eurovision wind and fog machines.
Finland’s Softengine performing Something Better also demonstrated the amazing lighting rig on show to accompany the stage and screen — hang on ’til around 1:45 for the best effect:
Apparently Denmark’s production of Eurovision 2014 went $20 million over budget. With a stage and lighting setup looking this good, I’m not surprised. Hit up YouTube for a full list of semi-final and final performances from the converted Danish shipyard. [Eurovision 2014]