We started in May last year with just crazy ideas. We made crazy concept ideas in December. And now we're trying to realize what we imagined in those crazy ideas, says executive producer Moritz Stadler at a press conference.
The Swiss city of Basel is hosting this year's edition of the glittering song festival and one of the world's largest annual live TV events. And the organizers promise that this year's edition will also be an extravagant event.
Switzerland won the very first Eurovision contest in 1956 - admittedly with only seven participating countries - and in 1988, Celine Dion, borrowed from Canada, took the second victory for the Alpine nation.
Will Dion come?
The question everyone is asking now is whether the recently illness-stricken Dion will appear on the Eurovision stage in Basel.
Celine Dion and Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland belong together. It's completely clear. Will she come to Basel? Will she be part of the program or not? There are good opportunities and we're working on them, says Moritz Stadler.
Tough ticket pressure
The competition takes place in the S:t Jakobshalle arena with semifinals on May 13 and 15 and the final on May 17. The arena's stage design is inspired by Switzerland's mountainous nature and linguistic diversity. The signature music for the final combines yodeling, a Basel-based drum corps, cymbals, and alphorn.
The organizers are still working on configuring the arena to fit in as much audience as possible. The first 42,000 tickets sold out within 20 minutes - with 250,000 waiting in the digital queue.
