Contact us

Does the stage matter?

anto475

Well-known member
Joined
January 18, 2012
Posts
2,583
Location
Dublin/Galway
Looking purely at the stages from, say 1968 onwards, when they started taking on a life of their own with the advent of colour TV, do you think that the stage layout and design played a role in the results of any contest, or could any contest be held on any stage and it wouldn't make a difference? Could Jamala have won on the 2001 stage? Would the 2010 stage have helped save Ann Sophie from bringing home nul points? Would Johnny Logan have been able to deal with the technological behemoth of the 2009 stage? Would Suus have been so astounding and emotive if we didn't have the high stage in the Crystal Hall? What are your thoughts?
 

midnightsun

Veteran
Joined
February 26, 2016
Posts
3,927
Location
Germany
I don't think the stage matters too much songwise. But it is an important part of a successful Eurovision night. The contests I adored most had great stages, better than in other years. In some years, the stage confused me a lot and didn't seem to be advantageous. Denmark 2014 had a terrible stage in my opinion (I know, many will think differently about it) and probably one of the worst stages ever was Ireland 1993. The stage was so big and asymmetric and the artists were in huge distance (at least it seemed so) to the audience. They seemed lost on stage and the songs seemed to be quite plain and cold then. So a nice stage underlines a song but the winner will probably win even on a crappy stage! :)
 

tuorem

Veteran
Joined
January 17, 2012
Posts
9,588
Location
GN-z11
I would say that staging matters, yes, even more nowadays.

The stage, however - whether it's an hi-tech orgy or a simple floor with black curtains in the background - does affect every act taking part in a same edition the same way: the way the stage is designed puts everyone on an equal footing, it is how a country is able to make the most of it regardless of its flaws that maximises their chances of success in the visual department.

Every year, we have examples of both hot visual messes and refined stagings (backgrounds, lights, props, camera works, etc.) and absolutely everything is possible on stage: one can set an intimate atmosphere in an arena or put on a show in a small venue. It is how a particular song is presented that matters imo.

Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't bad stages: for instance I thought the stage in Moscow was too big (most acts seemed lost in a LED ocean) while in Norway 2010, the lack of LED screens was a shame imo. BUT in those particular editions, there were still nations that made good use of what they had to work with.

If you ask me if any song would have had the same placing 10 years before or after, I couldn't tell because the results we have each year is the product of multiple factors, whether they are of a musical (compositions, lyrics, live performance, artist's charisma...), visual (staging, orchestra, camera work, hi-tech...), technical (number of participating countries, existence of jury vote and/or televote) or sociological nature (year the contest was held, evolving expectations of the viewers during the show, and the multiple reasons why someone would vote for a particular act...).

What I would say is that at the very beginning, Eurovision was purely about music since it looked more like an indoor music festival with no fancy distractions on stage. Now it has rather become an entertainment show where visuals can be so significant that they can help enhance not-so-strong songs musically-speaking. The contest has changed so much since its creation that I think it's pointless to assume what would have been the outcome in a different year.

If you just meant the stage at the exclusion of all the other factors (for instance, if we had had a stage like the 2001 one in 2016), then I'd say: most results would have roughly probably been the same.
 

Matt

Admin Schmadmin
Staff member
Joined
June 1, 2009
Posts
23,479
Location
Los Angeles, USA
Stage matters but I think it's more than having LED capabilities but just the ability for versatility these days. A lot of people may argue that Sweden 2015 & Russia 2016 heavily benefited from having a great Staging but they brought their own big screen with them. Would have the 2010 stage design been able to accommodate such endeavors?
 
Top Bottom