Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light was a live television programme, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and produced by the Dutch broadcasters (NPO), (NOS), and AVROTROS. It replaced the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was planned to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The show was broadcast live from Hilversum, Netherlands on 16 May 2020 and lasted for approximately two hours. It was hosted by Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit, who had been chosen to present the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 before its cancellation.
The EBU reported that the show had an audience of 73 million viewers, based on data provided by 38 of the 45 countries that broadcast the programme. In April 2021, the show was nominated for a Rockie Award in the category Comedy & Variety.
Background
As the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 could not take place due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Europe, the EBU decided to organise Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light as an alternative programme to fill the space that was initially planned for the competition. The programme's name was inspired by the song "Love Shine a Light" by Katrina and the Waves, which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1997.
This was the fourth time that the EBU organised a special show in the Eurovision format, after the shows for the 25th, 50th and 60th anniversaries. Like the 25th and 60th anniversary shows, this was a non-competitive show.
Format During the programme, all 41 songs that had been chosen to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 were honoured in a non-competitive format. Participants from previous editions of the contest were invited to make an appearance. Johnny Logan, the hosts, and Eurovision fans who uploaded clips for the occasion, sang Logan's "What's Another Year", which won the contest for . Closing the show, all artists (except Hooverphonic, representing Belgium) performed "Love Shine a Light", the winning song for the , from their respective home countries. The show ended with the announcement that Rotterdam would remain as the host city for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.
Location On 1 April 2020, Hilversum was confirmed as the host city for the event, with Studio 21 in the city's Media Park as the venue of the show. It was the second time Hilversum had hosted a Eurovision event, having previously hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1958.
Presenters
The show was hosted by three presenters: actress and television host Chantal Janzen, singer and Dutch television commentator for the contest Jan Smit, and singer Edsilia Rombley, who represented the and . They would have been the three hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. Beauty vlogger Nikkie de Jager, also known as NikkieTutorials, presented the show's online content. All four went on to host the full contest in .
Contents Performances The show featured performances from the following Eurovision artists: Order Country Artist Song Language(s) Location 1 Johnny Logan "What's Another Year" English Dublin Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit Studio 21, Hilversum Various countries Eurovision Song Contest fans Various locations 2 Måns Zelmerlöw "Heroes" English London 3 Gali Atari (of Milk and Honey) "Hallelujah" Hebrew, English, Dutch Jerusalem Finalists of Junior Songfestival 2018 and 2019 Unknown 4 Diodato "Nel blu, dipinto di blu" Italian Milan 5 Marija Šerifović "Molitva" Serbian Belgrade 6 Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra "Love Shine a Light" None (instrumental) Various locations (Europe Shine a Landmark) 7 Michael Schulte "Ein bißchen Frieden" German Peace Palace, The Hague Ilse DeLange (of The Common Linnets) 8 Netta "Cuckoo" English Tel Aviv 9 Duncan Laurence "Someone Else" English Studio 21, Hilversum 10 All participating countries Artists of Eurovision 2020 "Love Shine a Light" English Various locations Katrina Leskanich (of Katrina and the Waves)
Song Celebration The show also showcased the artists and songs that would have competed at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, by showing short excerpts of the songs' music videos or stage performances, along with video messages from the artists themselves. These were as follows: Order Country Artist Song Language(s) First segment 1Eden Alene"Feker Libi" ()English, Amharic 2Ulrikke"Attention"English 3Little Big"Uno" English, Spanish 4Tornike Kipiani"Take Me as I Am"English 5Tom Leeb"Mon alliée (The Best in Me)"French, English 6Efendi"Cleopatra"English 7Elisa"Medo de sentir"Portuguese 8The Roop"On Fire"English 9The Mamas"Move"English Second segment 10Samanta Tīna"Still Breathing"English 11Hooverphonic"Release Me"English 12James Newman"My Last Breath"English 13VAL"Da vidna" ()Belarusian 14Aksel"Looking Back"English 15Vasil"You"English 16Gjon's Tears"Répondez-moi"French 17Hurricane"Hasta la vista"Serbian Third segment 18Blas Cantó"Universo"Spanish 19Arilena Ara"Fall from the Sky"English 20Lesley Roy"Story of My Life"English 21Ana Soklič"Voda"Slovene 22Vincent Bueno"Alive"English 23Victoria"Tears Getting Sober"English 24Senhit"Freaky!"English 25Daði og Gagnamagnið"Think About Things"English Fourth segment 26Stefania"Supergirl"English 27Benny Cristo"Kemama"English 28Alicja"Empires"English 29Natalia Gordienko"Prison"English 30Sandro"Running"English 31Roxen"Alcohol You"English 32Damir Kedžo"Divlji vjetre"Croatian 33Ben Dolic"Violent Thing"English Fifth segment 34Destiny"All of My Love"English 35Uku Suviste"What Love Is"English 36Montaigne"Don't Break Me"English 37Go_A"Solovey" ()Ukrainian 38Ben & Tan"Yes"English 39Diodato"Fai rumore"Italian 40Athena Manoukian"Chains on You"English 41Jeangu Macrooy"Grow"English
Appearances
Viki Gabor Alexander Rybak Lenny Kuhr Sandra Kim Anne-Marie David Niamh Kavanagh Getty Kaspers Ell and Nikki Sergey Lazarev Dana Helena Paparizou Carola Conchita Wurst Björn Ulvaeus Graham Norton
Landmarks Various landmarks in countries that were set to compete were illuminated as part of a segment titled Europe Shine a Landmark. The following landmarks were featured in the programme: OrderCountryLandmarkCity 1Kyiv 2AcropolisAthens 3Ivan Vazov National TheatreSofia 4Rock of CashelCashel 5 The Little Mermaid Copenhagen 6Belém Tower Lisbon 7Archaeological Museum of North MacedoniaSkopje 8Baku Crystal Hall (venue of the 2012 contest)Baku 9Sydney Opera HouseSydney 10Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet TheatreVilnius 11HarpaReykjavík 12Piazza del CampidoglioRome 13AtomiumBrussels 14Oslo Opera HouseOslo 15Skanderbeg MonumentTirana 16Esplora Interactive Science CentreKalkara 17Stari dvorBelgrade 18National Library of LatviaRiga 19London EyeLondon 20 Presidential Palace Nicosia 21Teatro Real (venue of the 1969 contest)Madrid 22 Croatian National TheatreZagreb 23Wiener RiesenradVienna 24Statua della Libertà and Palazzo PubblicoSan Marino 25 Eiffel TowerParis 26Spasskaya Tower and Saint Basil's CathedralMoscow 27Globen (venue of the 2000 and 2016 contests)Stockholm 28Royal Castle in WarsawWarsaw 29Ljubljana CastleLjubljana 30Tower of DavidJerusalem 31MatterhornZermatt 32Piața UniriiBucharest 33Yerevan TV TowerYerevan 34 ElbphilharmonieHamburg 35National Library of BelarusMinsk 36 Tallinn Song Festival Grounds Tallinn 37 Bridge of PeaceTbilisi 38ErasmusbrugRotterdam
The Czech Republic, Finland, and Moldova were the only countries that did not have a landmark featured.
Broadcasters and commentators The show took place on 16 May 2020 at 21:00 CEST. It was broadcast live in the following countries: + Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) RTSHRTSH 1, RTSH MuzikëAndri Xhahu AMPTV (1TV) David Tserunyan and Emma Hakobyan SBSSBSJoel Creasey and Myf Warhurst ORFORF 1Andi Knoll İctimai Television (İTV) Murad Arif BTRCBelarus 1, Belarus 24Evgeny Perlin RTBFLa UneJean-Louis Lahaye and Maureen LouysVRTEénPeter Van de Veire BNTBNT 1, BNT 4Elena Rosberg and Petko Kralev HRTHRT 1Duško Čurlić CyBCRIK 1, RIK Sat Andreas Iakovidis ČTČT artJan Maxián DRDR1Ole Tøpholm ERRETVMarko ReikopETV+Yuliya Kalenda and Aleksandr Khobotov YleYle TV2 France TélévisionsFrance 2Stéphane Bern GPB1TVDemetre Ergemlidze ARD/NDRDas ErsteMichael Schulte and Peter Urban ERTERT1Maria Kozakou RÚVRÚV 1 Felix Bergsson RTÉRTÉ OneMarty Whelan IPBC (Kan)Kan 11 RAIRai 1 (adapted and delayed)Flavio Insinna and Federico RussoRai 4, Rai Radio 2 (live)Gino Castaldo and Ema Stokholma LTVLTV1Toms Grēviņš LRTLRT televizijaRamūnas Zilnys PBSTVM TRMMoldova 1Daniela Crudu AVROTROSNPO 1Cornald Maas MRTMRT 1Aleksandra Jovanovska NRKNRK1 TVPTVP1, TVP PoloniaArtur Orzech RTPRTP1, RTP InternacionalNuno Galopim TVRTVR1, TVRiBogdan Stănescu Channel One (C1R)Yuriy Aksyuta and Yana Churikova SMRTVSan Marino RTVFlavio Insinna and Federico Russo RTSRTS1, RTS Svet Duška Vučinić RTVSLOTV Slovenija 1Andrej Hofer RTVELa 1, TVE InternacionalTony Aguilar, Eva Mora and Víctor Escudero SVTSVT1 SRG SSR SRF 1Sven Epiney RTS 1 Yoann Provenzano and Jean-Marc RichardRSI La 2Clarissa Tami and Sebalter STBTimur Miroshnychenko UA:PBC UA:First UA:Radio Promin Oleksandra Franko and Les Myrnyi BBC BBC One Graham Norton
+ Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries and territories Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) BHRT BHT 1, BH Radio 1 Maja Čengić Miralem Khabar Agency Khabar TV Nursultan Qurman and Mahabbat Esen RTK colspan="2" RTCG TVCG 1, Radio 98
See also Eurovision Song Contest 2020 Der kleine Song Contest Sveriges 12:a Eurovision 2020 – das deutsche Finale Free European Song Contest
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