Eurovision Song Contest 2013
| Eurovision Song Contest 2013 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Dates | |
| Semi-final 1 | 14 May 2013 |
| Semi-final 2 | 16 May 2013 |
| Final | 18 May 2013 |
| Host | |
| Venue | Malmö Arena, Malmö, Sweden[1] |
| Host broadcaster |  SVT |
| Website | eurovision |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 30 (to date) |
| Returning countries |  Armenia |
The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 will be the 58th annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest will take place in Malmö, Sweden, following Loreen's win in the 2012 Contest with the song "Euphoria". Three cities expressed interests to host the contest, and on 8 July 2012, the host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) decided upon the Malmö Arena as the venue. This will be the fifth time that Sweden has played host and the second time that Malmö has been the host city to the contest, having previously played host city to the 1992 Contest. The dates set for the two semi-finals are 14 May and 16 May 2013, with the final taking place on the evening of 18 May 2013.[2] So far, twenty-six countries have confirmed participation, including Armenia, who were last represented in 2011.[3]
Location
Malmö Arena in Malmö was announced by Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) as the venue for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest on 8 July 2012. This will be the fifth time after 1975, 1985, 1992 and 2000 that the competition is held in Sweden and the second time, after 1992 that it will be held in Malmö.
Malmö, in the southernmost province of Scania, is Sweden's third largest city by population after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and is one of the largest cities in Scandinavia. Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County. The administrative entity for most of the city is Malmö Municipality which has 303,873 inhabitants in eight different localities, with 30% being of foreign origin (either born outside of Sweden or having both parents born abroad).[4] Malmö is also a bimunicipal locality, as part of it is formally situated in Burlöv Municipality. The total population of the urban area was 280,415 in December 2010.[5]
Bidding phase
On the night of the win, the chief executive of Sveriges Television (SVT), Eva Hamilton, stated to Swedish media that venues in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö were being considered as host venues for the 2013 Contest.[6] The most recent host arena, the Ericsson Globe, used for the 2000 Contest, is however booked for the World Ice Hockey Championships, and will not be available to host the Eurovision Song Contest on the scheduled dates.
One alternative put forward in Expressen was to hold the competition at three different venues – the semi-finals in Gothenburg and Malmö – and the final in Stockholm.[7] This idea was dismissed by SVT due to the resulting complex logistics and as a result it has been confirmed that both semi-finals and the final will occur in just one city.[8]
On 20 June 2012, it was announced that Gothenburg had withdrawn from the bidding process due to their hosting of the Göteborg Horse Show in late April. There were also concerns about the availability of hotel rooms in the city due to a variety of other events taking place during the same time frame.[9]
The following candidate cities had provisionally reserved venues and hotel rooms, as part of their bids to host the 2013 Contest.[10] On 8 July 2012, Malmö Arena was confirmed as the host venue for the contest.
| City | Venue | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stockholm (Solna) |
Friends Arena | 67,500 | Currently under construction; scheduled to host the final of Melodifestivalen in March 2013, and also the 2013 Svenska Cupen Final five days after the Eurovision Song Contest final. |
| Malmö | Malmö Arena | 15,500 | The venue has served as the host of the Melodifestivalen semi-finals for the past four years. |
| Gothenburg | Scandinavium | 14,000 | The venue hosted the 1985 Contest. |
| Swedish Exhibition Hall | No permanent seating is currently set-up. |
SVT has expressed the desire to host the contest at a slightly smaller venue than previous years to increase the Eurovision experience thereby the choice of Malmö Arena. [11] The executive producer for the Eurovision in Malmö, Martin Österdahl told Swedish press that he did not like the fact that the Eurovision had been hosted in big arenas over the last few years. And that a bigger arena did not make Eurovision better, pointing to Eurovision 2001 in Denmark as an example, and that he and SVT wants Eurovision 2013 to be more close and personal and that they want to take "The Eurovision experience to the next level".[11][12] And with all the events surrounding Eurovision to be held close to the Malmö Arena so the artists can walk to the events and with no bus rides like in the last years.[12] The choice of Malmö Arena as host of the Eurovision Song Contest has been criticized by Swedes who overall had preferred to host it in Stockholm at the Friends Arena.[12] SVT has defended their decision of hosting it in Malmö.[12] SVT and Österdahl also points to European Broadcasting Union (EBU)'s wishes to keep Eurovision slightly smaller for 2013 as the event and costs has grown bigger and bigger, but also says that the decisions and preparations for the 2013 edition of the contest are fully up to SVT.[12]
Format
Ticket sale
On 11 July 2012, the Swedish production group and show producer Christer Björkman advised fans not to buy the tickets that currently are in circulation and to wait for tickets from official Eurovision channels. Björkman said that there was still a long way to go until the official tickets would be released, due to the seating plan and stage plan not being completed yet.[13]
Björkman also reassured Eurovision fans that accommodation options would be made available for the people that are going to travel to Malmö for the contest and that the organisation had booked a large quantity of hotel rooms for delegations and etcetera, some which may later be released to the general public.[13]
Swedish website Biljett Nu started selling tickets before they were even released. The prices of tickets are between 5,000–7,000 Swedish kronor (€600–850). Information about official ticket sale will be released at the end of August.[14]
Participating countries
Currently, the following countries have confirmed participation. Armenia (who were last represented in 2011, by Emmy, with the song "Boom Boom") confirmed that they will be returning to the contest following their one-year break.[3]
Semi-finalists
| Country | Language | Artist | Song | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Albania[15]
|
||||||
| Armenia[3]
|
||||||
 Austria[16]
|
||||||
 Azerbaijan
|
||||||
 Belarus[17]
|
||||||
 Belgium
|
||||||
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
||||||
 Bulgaria[18]
|
||||||
 Croatia[19]
|
||||||
 Cyprus
|
||||||
 Czech Republic
|
||||||
 Denmark[20]
|
||||||
 Estonia[21][22]
|
||||||
 Finland[23]
|
TBD 9 February 2013[24] | TBD 9 February 2013 | ||||
 Georgia
|
||||||
 Hungary[25]
|
||||||
 Iceland[26]
|
||||||
 Ireland[27]
|
||||||
 Israel[28]
|
||||||
 Latvia
|
||||||
 Liechtenstein
|
||||||
 Lithuania[29]
|
||||||
 Luxembourg
|
||||||
 Macedonia
|
||||||
 Malta
|
||||||
 Moldova
|
||||||
 Montenegro
|
||||||
 Netherlands[30]
|
||||||
 Norway[23]
|
||||||
 Poland
|
||||||
 Portugal
|
||||||
 Romania[31]
|
||||||
 Russia
|
||||||
 Serbia[32]
|
||||||
 Slovakia
|
||||||
 Slovenia[33]
|
||||||
 Switzerland[34]
|
TBD 15 December 2012 | TBD 15 December 2012 | ||||
 Turkey[35]
|
||||||
 Ukraine
|
Finalists
| Country | Language | Artist | Song |
|---|---|---|---|
 France[36]
|
|||
 Germany[37]
|
|||
 Italy
|
|||
 Spain[38]
|
|||
| Sweden[39] (host)
|
TBD 9 March 2013[39] | TBD 9 March 2013[39] | |
 United Kingdom[40][41]
|
Other countries
Greece – Greece withdraw from the contest because in year 2012 has achieved the worst result since 2004.
References
- ^ Slim, Jarno (8 July 2012). "Malmö to host Eurovision Song Contest 2013". EBU. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
- ^ Roxburgh, Gordon. "Dates announced for 2013 Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
- ^ a b c Hondal, Victor (27 May 2012). "Armenia set to return in 2013". ESCToday.
- ^ Necmi Incegül. "Statistik om Malmö - Malmö stad" (in Swedish). Malmo.se. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
- ^ "Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km2 2005 och 2010" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. 14 December 2011. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "SVT redan förberedda på schlager-EM 2013". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 26 May 2012.
- ^ "Eurovision 2013: Split Over Three Cities?". eurovisiontimes. 5 June 2012.
- ^ Wilson, Ryan (18 June 2012). "General: Björkman ends speculation on three host cities for 2013". escXtra.
- ^ "Inget schlager-EM i Göteborg" (in Swedish). Sydsvenskan. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
- ^ Gustavsson, Rikard (28 May 2012). "The bidding has started!". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
- ^ a b Dahlander, Gustav (8 July 2012). "Eurovision Song Contest 2013 hålls i Malmö - Melodifestivalen" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television (SVT). Retrieved 9 August 2012.
- ^ a b c d e Dahlander, Gustav (9 July 2012). "Därför fick Malmö Eurovision - Melodifestivalen" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television (SVT). Retrieved 8 August 2012.
- ^ a b "Swedish hosts advise fans on tickets and accommodation for Malmö 2013". www.eurovision.tv. Eurovision Song Contest. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
- ^ Riku (31 July 2012). "CEO OF THE TICKET COMPANY SELLING NONEXISTENT TICKETS ARRESTED". Retrieved 25 August 2012.
- ^ Hondal, Victor (28 May 2012). "Albania to participate in Eurovision 2013". ESCToday.
- ^ "Austrian broadcaster confirms 2013 participation". ESCToday. 27 May 2012.
- ^ "Belarussian official: Participation must go on". Esctoday. 27 May 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
- ^ "BNT: Next year we will be part of the European competition again, it only remains to specify the selection process". BNT (in Bulgarian). 31 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
- ^ Kirilov, Konstantin (23 July 2012). "Croatia confirms participation in Eurovision 2013". ESCDaily. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ^ "Stærke omkvæd skal redde Danmarks ære i Grand Prix". D.R. (in Danish). 10 July 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
- ^ "Normet: Eesti Laulu korraldamist tuleb kindlasti jätkata" (in Estonian). 27 May 2012.
- ^ "Malmö 2013: Estonia confirms participation". escdaily.com. 28 July 2012.
- ^ a b "General: Three more countries confirm". escxtra.com. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
- ^ "Finland: Final on 9 February". escxtra.com (in Engish). 27 August 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ "Maďarské národní kolo zakončil úspěch u diváků". eurocontest.cz (in Czech). 14 February 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
- ^ "Malmö 2013: Iceland confirms participation". escdaily.com. 18 July 2012.
- ^ "RTÉ's Eurovision chief admits relief at not having to host 2013 contest". The Journal. 28 May 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
RTÉ would discuss a potential change of approach to the contest "in the next few weeks"...
- ^ "גורם ברשות השידור: "מאיה בוסקילה ראויה לאירוויזיון"". mako (in Hebrew). Keshet Broadcasting. 4 June 2012.
- ^ "Malmö 2013: Lithuania will participate in 2013!". Escdaily. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
- ^ "TROS blijft zich inzetten voor songfestival". NU.nl (in Dutch). 25 May 2012.
- ^ "ROMANIA MOST LIKELY TO PARTICIPATE IN 2013". ESCToday.com. 2012-05-31.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "Switzerland,Serbia and Ireland confirms 2013 participation". Eurovision-contest.eu. 28 May 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ "Slovenië stopt Misija Eurovizija in de ijskast" (in Dutch). Eurosong.be. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
- ^ "Das sagen Musik-Promis zum Baku-Aus". 20min.ch (in German). 23 May 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
- ^ "TRT Eurovision'u sanatçılara danışacak" (in Turkish). 27 August 2012.
- ^ "La France devrait-elle se retirer de l'Eurovision?, Les meilleures audiences de France 3". francetv.fr (in French). 28 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
- ^ "Der ESC 2013". Eurovision.de (in German). Retrieved 29 May 2012.
- ^ "TVE no se plantea abandonar el Festival de Eurovisión". Vanitatis.com (in Spanish). 16 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
- ^ a b c Toronidis, Theofilos (26 March 2012). "Sweden: New venue for Melodifestivalen 2013 final". ESCDaily.com. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
- ^ "United Kingdom: BBC Going Back to National Final". escflashmalta.com. 9 June 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ "Eurovision 2013:UK goes back to national final". Eurovisiontimes.com. 10 June 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
