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Is Las Vegas missing a little dash of Eurovision? Written by on October 20, 2010 | 1 Comment

I’m just back from a blogging and podcasting conference in Las Vegas (yes, with the neon lights) and there was a little something missing. Not at BlogWorld, but in the Vegas experience. The City of Sin is missing douze points.

First up, a big thanks to Jess and the Social Media Team at Cirque du Soleil for sorting out tickets for their show, “O” at The Bellagio. It was a fantastic spectacle, an amazing show, screamed Vegas and is thoroughly recommended.

As much as Las Vegas is known for the Casinos and gambling, it’s also known for great shows, mixing in theatrics, music, comedy, dance and all round entertainment. Putting aside the Only in Vegas shows (such as Cirque’s “O”, which needs a specially constructed aquatic theatre), you’ve a huge number of shows that sell on the simple fact that they are a show in Vegas. While people will specifically go out to see shows such as Celine Dion or Elton John, there are other shows are from smaller names that might not be as well known (Terry Fator, Carrot Top, Jay Leno… okay maybe not the last one), and shows with big tunes, dancers, visual spectacle and energy.

I think Las Vegas needs a Eurovision Show.

In terms of spectacle, some of the best Eurovision songs would be perfect on the Nevada stages. You would need to have it as a “tribute” act as opposed to the original performers – but given the number of Jukebox musicals (such as Jersey Boys) – I don’t think that this would be a problem, so why can’t there be a Eurovision Tribute show in there as well?

While the Song Contest is known in America, it doesn’t have a huge mindshare. Getting on the stages at Vegas, where spectacle is standard, would give it an angle to work on. 12% of visitors to Las Vegas (in 2009) were from outside the US (via the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority). I can’t see a breakdown of that by country but it’s likely to hold a significant number of Europeans which gives it a natural audience as well as being something different for the US visitors.

To be clear, I don’t mean lift the entirety of Eurobeat and drop it into The Mirage, but to use actual Eurovision songs on the evening. Would I throw in the voting at the end of each night? You’d have to, wouldn’t you. Would there be opportunities for Eurovision performers to make guest appearances to draw in more crowds? For sure.

And would you open up every night with Martin Stenmarck’s Swedish standard of Las Vegas?

Back of the envelope calculation time for a ninety minute show would mean around 20 minutes for voting (you’d have to do this as quickly as possible), an interval act of ten minutes (I’d invite other Vegas shows to perform in here) and Stenmarck’s track as the opening, leaves around 50 minutes for the main songs – thirteen Eurovision hits.

Let’s sort out the perfect Vegas track listing in the comments!

About The Author: Ewan Spence

British Academy (BAFTA) nominated broadcaster and writer Ewan Spence is the voice behind The Unofficial Eurovision Song Contest Podcast and one of the driving forces behind ESC Insight. Having had an online presence since 1994, he is a noted commentator around the intersection of the media, internet, technology, mobility and how it affects us all. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, his work has appeared on the BBC, The Stage, STV, and The Times. You can follow Ewan on Twitter (@ewan) and Facebook (facebook.com/ewanspence).

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