On November 17th, the third edition of the biggest Eurovision Song Contest party, Het Grote Songfestivalfeest, took place in the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. The first two editions, held in 2019 and 2022, were a great success, and this one had another star-studded line-up ready for the thousands of fans in attendance.
As soon as the doors opened and the fans were allowed inside, they were greeted by DJ duo The Heartbreaks and their amazing playlist of Eurovision(-related) songs. They warmed up the crowd spectacularly during the over 1,5 hours between doors and the start of the actual show.
About 20 minutes later than scheduled, the duo left, the live band entered on the right side of the stage, and the first artist began his song. None other than Eurovision 2015 winner Måns Zelmerlöw got to open the show with his song ‘Heroes’. Together with him on stage was a little boy with a balloon, reminiscent of the visual graphics used in his performance back in the day. The version of ‘Heroes’ performed for this special occasion was an extended version of the original, with two saxophonists playing a catchy instrumental break right at the end of the catwalk.
One of the evening’s hosts, Edsilia Rombley, participant in Eurovision 1998 and 2007 and one of the hosts of Eurovision 2021, got on stage right after ‘Heroes’ ended to thank Måns for his performance, and to introduce the next act: WRS from Romania, singing his 2022 song ‘Llámame’ (translation: ‘Call Me’). WRS looked stunning in a sleek suit, performing the song together with two female dancers fully dressed in red. At the end of his performance, WRS attempted to sing the chorus one more time with the crowd, but Edsilia had already begun talking on stage too – awkward!
Many fans seemed to be a little shocked at how early the next act appeared in the night’s line-up. Cornelia Jakobs from Sweden ended fourth in 2022 with her song ‘Hold Me Closer’, a real fan favourite that could have been moved to a little later in the show. However, this did not take away from her raw and emotional performance and interaction with the fans. She even came down to the crowd to sing together with some of them.
After Cornelia’s performance, Edsilia introduced the evening’s co-host Cornald Maas, infamous for his wide knowledge of anything and everything Eurovision-related. Together, they introduced the next few acts, sprinkling in little facts wherever possible.
Next up, it was time for some Scandinavian acts. The first of which was the Norwegian duo Bobbysocks, who won Eurovision way back in 1985 with the song ‘La det swinge’ (translation: ‘Let It Swing’). While not very well known amongst younger fans, the older people in the audience surely appreciated this one – and there were quite a few of them. The two women forming Bobbysocks performed their song with eight dancers on stage, but ended it with just the two of them singing their hearts out at the end of the catwalk before making room for yet another Norwegian act. The trio that got the most votes from the public back in 2019, KEiiNO, made their way onto the stage to sing their song ‘Spirit in the Sky’. The audience was treated to the deep vocals of Fred Buljo, singing in Northern Sami, and to the first fireworks of the evening. The final Scandinavian act, for now, was Emmelie de Forest, singing the song with which she won Eurovision in 2013 – ‘Only Teardrops’. Just like then, she was barefoot on stage, but rather than being surrounded by male drummers and flautists, she found herself amongst four dancers performing a stunning choreography.
“Proud to be Ukrainian” was the statement of the evening’s next artist, Ruslana, who performed her winning song ‘Wild Dances’ all on her own – and she definitely did not need anyone else with her. Almost 20 years after her original performance of the song, she’s still an amazingly energetic performer, dancing to the beat of the song’s African drums amongst the flames. After the song ended, Cornald Maas took the opportunity to make a statement about supporting Ukraine and smoothly transitioning to the next act: Ruth Jacott with her 1993 song ‘Vrede’ (translation: Peace). While the song she performed back then was fully in Dutch, she added a verse of the English version in tonight’s performance – a nice touch for the abundance of international fans attending the show.
Two more Dutch acts were on tonight’s line-up, performing immediately after Ruth. First up was Linda Wagenmakers with her song from 2000, ‘No Goodbyes’, followed by host Edsilia Rombley – who was introduced by backstage host Rylan – and her song ‘Hemel & Aarde’ (translation: ‘Heaven & Earth’) from 2007. Can’t have a Eurovision party in the Netherlands without some successful Dutch entries!
After her performance, Edsilia made way for Gjon’s Tears, performing his song ‘Tout l’univers’ (Translation: ‘The Whole Universe’) with which he won the jury vote in Eurovision 2021, and got third place overall. While Gjon usually performs while playing the piano, he opted out of that this time to perform the choreography as he did at Eurovision. Definitely the best vocalist of the night, Gjon showed off his skillset with a massive high note at the end of the bridge.
Next up was Charlotte Perelli, who participated in Eurovision two times – once in 1999, when she won with ‘Take Me to You Heaven’ and once in 2008 with ‘Hero’. As the latter did not gain her as great of a result, she opted to perform this one first, before letting eight dancers join her on stage for the former. Her performance of this winning song was followed by another winning song, ‘Running Scared’ by Ell & Nikki. The duo stood together at the end of the catwalk, swaying around one another while singing.
Soon after, it was time for the hosts to introduce the next act, who entered Eurovision this year with a song written by Wouter Hardy, writer of ‘Arcade’. Alika from Estonia sang her song ‘Bridges’ with perfect vocals and in the same outfit that she wore on the stage back in May. Following her performance of this stunning ballad, the crowd got another more upbeat song – Luca Hänni performed his track ‘She Got Me’. A very catchy track with amazing choreography, this made for a fun interlude between Alika and the next performer: Johnny Logan.
Johnny Logan, also known as Mister Eurovision, was the night’s oldest performer at the age of 69. As the only person to win Eurovision twice before Loreen did so this year, he received loud cheers from the audience, who all sang along to both of his songs. First, he performed ‘What’s Another Year?’, and second ‘Hold Me Now’, which he dedicated to Rylan – who co-hosted Eurovision this year – the live musicians on stage, and the audience. While it’s been decades since Johnny won the contest, he still sounds perfect live and is able to perform these songs just as well.
Speaking of Loreen, she could unfortunately not make the show because of a scheduling conflict, but she did have a video message for the audience. The biggest surprise of the night was that her winning song ‘Tattoo’ was still performed; not by Loreen, but by an act already heard earlier in the evening: Gjon’s Tears, accompanied by the piano this time around. The song suited his voice so well, leaving fans in awe of his version – which included more high notes.
The show went on a track of having more recent artists perform their songs. Rosa Linn performed an extended version of ‘Snap’, the second most streamed Eurovision song of all time behind ‘Arcade’, adding some extra instrumental changes and singing together with the crowd at the end of it all. Stefania sang her 2021 song ‘Last Dance’ in a stunning outfit, surrounded by four dancers and an array of fireworks. The Roop from Lithuania also performed their 2021 song, ‘Discotheque’. All of these songs got the crowd singing and dancing the night away.
Next, Serhat from San Marino came on stage with his dancers to sing the song that got San Marino their best result so far, ‘Say Na Na Na’. While not necessarily one of the best songs, the crowd loved everything about it, and even booed host Cornald Maas when he mentioned Serhat’s “not so great” singing abilities. The audience was nothing but supportive towards every single performer that night, which was great to see.
The next two acts were performers from the most recent edition of the contest and got lots of excited screams from the attendees. Gustaph from Belgium performed his song ‘Because of You’ together with two of his own background singers. In a red jumpsuit and wearing a Mickey Mouse hat, Gustaph made everyone in the audience have the best time shaking it out to his song. His performance was followed by Alessandra’s, singing ‘Queen of Kings’ with which she came fourth this year. Alessandra entered the stage on her own, but was joined by several dancers from the first pre-chorus onwards. At one point during the song, she asked the audience to scream as loud as they could – and they sure did!
Heading into the final portion of the show, we finally got to some of the most anticipated performances of the night – all the second-placers on this edition’s line-up got to perform back to back. This section started with Ukrainian Verka Serduchka performing ‘Dancing Lasha Tumbai’. It was impossible not to dance along to this one, as Verka ran and jumped around at the end of the catwalk, joined by two dancers in silver outfits, two background singers in gold outfits and a lady in a football jersey holding up the Ukrainian flag at the end of the performance. “I want to see Russia goodbye” sang Verka, as fireworks shot out of the stage and silver confetti strings came down from the ceiling.
Eleni Foureira got on stage next, beginning with a slowed down version of her song Fuego, before bringing the energy back up and being joined by six dancers and an array of flames. During an added instrumental break, Eleni and her dancers performed a stunning choreography number surrounded by the audience.
Eventually, it was time for the one act it seemed everyone had been looking forward to the most, judging by how loud it became inside the Ziggo Dome. This year’s runner-up Käärijä walked on stage, together with three musicians, to perform his hit ‘Cha Cha Cha’. While completely in Finnish, this did not stop anyone from singing – or rather yelling – along to the lyrics. In his iconic green outfit, he dominated the stage, making everyone jump, scream, dance, and everything in between.
Edsilia and Cornald came back on stage one last time to thank all the crew and the audience for tonight’s show, before it was time for the final performer. Unfortunately, it might have been somewhat of a poor choice to not end the show with Käärijä, as the audience was still a bit flabbergasted regarding his amazing performance while Conchita Wurst was singing ‘Rise Like a Phoenix’. It can’t be denied, however, that Conchita is one of Eurovision’s biggest icons, and the song was still performed stunningly.
For attendees of previous editions of Het Grote Songfestivalfeest, the line-up was probably slightly less exciting – as a total of 16 out of the 26 had performed there before – but these songs remain iconic for a reason, right? All in all, it made for an exciting show featuring many iconic Eurovision songs, some newcomers from the past few years, and lovely hosts threading everything together.
