The announcement came from the EBU this morning:
Israel’s second largest, and self-defined “non-stop”, city is hosting the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. It will stage the event at the Expo Tel Aviv (International Convention Centre).
The Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Finals will take place in Tel Aviv on the 14 and 16 of May, with the Grand Final on 18 May.
Tickets are expected to go on public sale by the end of the year – members of OGAE fan clubs should check with their individual committees regarding the OGAE Fan Packages and rules for eligibility.
Those planning to head out to the Contest will be looking at flight options, hotels, apartments, and lots of other details… but for now the question is really ‘Team Netta or Team Nadav?’. While ‘Toy’ will be everywhere as the song that brought the Song Contest back to Israel, I have a sneaky suspicion ‘Golden Boy’ is going to be everywhere…
“Three minutes, bye-bye!”
The dates confirmed have some obstacles in regard to rehearsals.
2nd of May is Holocaust memorial Day.
9th of May is Memorial Day for Israeli soldiers, died during the wars in Israel.
Both dates are secular, non religious, events and are regarded as important days by all Israeli citizens.
Both start at sundown a day before and from that moment, everything is closed in Israel, even in Tel Aviv.
I suspect rehearsals on 1/5 and 8/5 will stop at around 18 hours. I do wonder how they are going to go around this on 2/5 and 9/5.
I assume the EBU is aware of these dates and have a solution for this.
Best guess is we’ll have a rehearsal day on Sun 5th May to replace Thur 9. 2nd May will be timetabled in the stage get-in day.
A small correction.
Memorial Day for the soldiers will be on the 8/5 and not 9/5.
This has to do with Israel Independent Day, which always follow Memorial Day. Independent Day never take place on Friday.
Speaking about Independent Day. This is a day for barbecue in Israel. One of the favourite places for this is Charles Chlore Park, where the Euro village will be. Not sure if the Euro village will be built before or after this.