Tonight: Watch this year’s special ESC show “Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light”

The final day has come! After a heartbreaking season that led to the cancellation of Eurovision 2020, the EBU and the three Dutch broadcasters (AVROTROS, NOS, NPO) are ready to present us a spectacular Eurovision show even under these difficult circumstances inviting “Europe to Shine a Light’!
Tonight the special show that will be replacing this year’s cancelled Eurovision Song Contest, Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light will hit our screens live from Hilversum , the Netherlands. Hosts of the show will be the ESC 2020 hosts Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley (ESC 1998 & 2007) and Jan Smit.
What will we see
The three hosts will open the show, show us around in the city of Hilversum and make a visit at Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam which has been turned into a hopsital to treat covid-19 incidents. A big led screen will follow displaying all 41 contestants that were so unlucky this year and never had the chance to complete their Eurovision 2020 journey.
The first song to be heard will be the international Eurovision hit Volare (Italy 1958) performed by the Dutch broadcaster’s symphonic orchestra. A special tribute to Mr Eurovision, Johny Logan is set to follow, with the Irish act performing his winning ESC 1980 entry “What’s another year”.
The 41 ESC 2020 entries
After Johnny Logan the show will go on presenting the 41 entries of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The presentation of each country will include the classic postcard, the song itself and a 20 second video of the act’s statements. The songs will be present in groups , between which the organisers have planned to treat the audience with several surprises , past winners, social media reactions and much more.
First part
After the first set of countries the show will feature as guest Mans Zelmerlow performing his winning entry Heroes, the winner of Junior Eurovision 2019 Viki Gabor, followed by a promo video for Junior Eurovision 2020, that is set to take place next Novemver. From there the show will travel us to Jerusalem where Gali Atari, will perform the winning song Hallelujah (Israel 1979) alongside with past JESC participants. Further on Nikkie Tutorials will showcase all the social media reactions to the show.
A remarkable and emotional moment will be the live transmission from Verona’s Arena, Diodato’s performance of his entry “Fai Rumore”.
Second part
Following the second set of countries the show will take us to Belgrade and watch Marija Serifovic perform her winning ESC 2007 entry Moltiva, in the empty streets of the Serbian capital city. Little bit after we will take a tour around the countries, taking a look over the illuminated monuments and landmarks while a short inspirational video will follow shwowcasing all those ESC entries the lyric of which inspire people to hold on during the hard times.
Third part
After again the third group of countries, the show will pop over to Hamburg in Germany where will see Michael Schulte (Germany 2018) perform his entry You Let Me Walk Alone. In addtion, Michael will go on with Ilse Delange (ex member of Common Linnets-The Netherlands 2014) performing Germany’s first winning entry Ein Bisschen Frieden ( ESC 1982).
Fourth part
Shortly after the fourth set of countries, the show will see Netta (Toy– Israel 2018), Duncan Laurence (Arcade– The Netherlands 2019) perform their Eurovision entries while a video with messages from past ESC winners will hit our screens. Just before the last group of countries the show will connect live with the BBC ESC commentator , Graham Norton.
Last part
Once the last group of entries is presented the organisers will treat the viewers with a special guest , an Eurovision Hero! The show will close with all 41 ESC 2020 participants singing all together the song that inspired the whole show, “Love Shine A light” , the winning UK entry back in 1997.
The show will be aired by 46 national broadcaster and 45 nations and is scheduled to start at 21:00 CET . You can watch the show either through the national broadcasters or the official ESC Youtube channel.