Controversy scene

Italy’s technical and staging facilities were branded by experts as a real faux pas. The stage, which represents the sun and has a waterfall with water, experienced a technical failure a few days ago which was impossible to repair in time.. This break renders some of the mobile arches unplayable which has an LED screen on one side and lots of spotlights on the other. Although there was no official speech, many delegates reported that water on set had leaked through the floor into the mechanism that activated the stage, which was meant to stay alive throughout the gala. What was once a kinetic sun is now a massive black hole generated by a mass of iron that partially covers the screen. Several countries learned of the matter two days before arriving in Turin, so they found themselves having to adjust their candidacy or, in some cases, start designing it almost from scratch (an unfit task for many). Some countries have these arches to interact with their songs. Some like Croatia still don’t know how to avoid seeing a lot of wires during their performances.

Francesca Montinaro, who was in charge of the set design for this edition, defended her work by insisting that all delegates were happy and that they had two semifinals to practice and test different solutions. Fortunately, Spain have decided to cover the sun of discord during part of their performance with a large sheet of lights. We’re ready there. Chanel, at a press conference after practice, has decided that “we don’t need the sun to shine”.

sun original idea

The current scenario with a black hole

Master of Ceremony

Laura Pausini, Mika and Alessandro Cattelan are three presenters this year. The first two are famous singers and the third is an Italian television star who is responsible for presenting formats like X Factor. As a novelty, this issue will feature each candidate before their appearance. So, we get to see Pausini and Chanel talking before singing SloMo. Each singer will give way, along with one of the presenters, to a postcard that is famous and traditional in their country.