Europe song contest becomes solidarity spectacle

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — This was no contest.

Shut down by the coronavirus crisis, Europe’s annual musical spectacular that pits countries against one another instead sought to unite them Saturday.

The Eurovision Song Contest, whose final was scheduled for Saturday night, was canceled amid restrictions aimed at reining in the global pandemic.

So rather than judging songs and having countries allocate points to elect a winner, organizers created a two-hour show called “Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light,” which was broadcast in more than 40 countries.

Underscoring the effects of the novel coronavirus, the show opened with a montage of videos of the deserted streets of European cities before cutting to an almost empty studio in the Netherlands.

At the end of the show, it was announced that Ahoy and Rotterdam will host the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest.

Saturday’s show featured appearances by past favorites as well as the artists who were to have taken part in this year’s competition jointly performing 1997’s winning song, “Love Shine a Light,” made famous by Katrina and the Waves.

From its humble beginnings in 1956, the contest has become a vector of camp and kitsch, with almost 200 million viewers tuning in for the finale.

Johnny Logan of Ireland, who won twice as a singer and once as a writer, opened Saturday’s show with a performance of his 1980 winning song, “What’s Another Year,” accompanied by Eurovision fans on screens like a Zoom meeting.

Måns Zelmerlöw of Sweden sang his 2015 winning song, “Heroes,” this year dedicated to health care workers battling the virus.

Snippets of the 41 songs that were to have taken part in this year’s contest were played throughout the show with recorded messages from the performers.