On the 20th of November, it was time for the fifth edition of the biggest Eurovision Song Contest Party in the world, the annual Het Grote Songfestivalfeest. This show celebrates artists and songs from the broad history of the contest and invites a wide array of artists to perform their music at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam.
As it had been cold and rainy outside, fans slowly trickled into the Ziggo Dome when the doors opened at 18:30. Fans were welcomed by DJ duo The Heartbreaks, who played non-stop Eurovision(-related) hits to warm up the crowd. For one hour and 45 minutes, the audience got to dance to older songs, such as ABBA’s ‘Waterloo’, as well as newer ones, including Loreen’s ‘Tattoo’ and Go_A’s ‘Shum’. The DJ set ended at 20:15 with ‘Europapa’ by Dutch singer Joost Klein, which led to loud cheers.
About 15 minutes later than scheduled, the duo left the stage, and the introduction to tonight’s line-up started playing on the big screen. At the same time, the live band took to the stage. The stage itself had been totally renewed for this edition and now included multiple sets of stairs as well as a circular catwalk, with fans allowed to stand in the middle of that circle. The show opened with arguably the most-anticipated act of the night, 2023 runner-up Käärijä with ‘Cha Cha Cha’. Fans were also treated to an exclusive premiere of the singer’s new song that would be released at midnight, ‘Disko Balls’. As he sang the song, the other artists walked down the stairs to loud cheers from the audience. Joker Out’s lead singer, Bojan Cvjetićanin, ran up to Käärijä to dance to his new single together. At the end of this intense first performance, fireworks went off before one of tonight’s hosts, Edsilia Rombley, walked on stage to officially open the party.
Second on the line-up was Austria’s Kaleen, who sang her song ‘We Will Rave’. Arguably a banger, but it unfortunately fell a little flat as everyone was still gushing over the first performance. After Kaleen left the stage, Rombley welcomed her first co-host, “Mr. Eurovision himself,” Cornald Maas, to the stage. He spoke a bit about the great vibes behind the scenes, as tonight there would be no political tensions, no voting, just a big celebration of music without any of the stress of the contest itself. Maas then introduced Dutch-Greek singer Stefania, who not only performed her 2021 song ‘Last Dance’, but also the song with which she was supposed to represent Greece in the cancelled 2020 edition, ‘Supergirl’. Stefania performed her songs with a total of eight dancers, who would also be present in a lot of other acts that would be performed tonight, wearing different outfits for each and every song.
It was then time to add glamour to the show by inviting the night’s third and last host, the “most handsome guy in the building apart from Johnny Logan”, Rylan Clark. As Clark is one of the UK’s Eurovision commentators, he got to introduce the first of two acts present tonight that had represented the United Kingdom at the contest: Remember Monday, performing their 2025 song ‘What the Hell Just Happened?’. On top of that, they also performed a cover of Sam Ryder’s ‘Spaceman’, the audience holding up flashlights like stars as the three girls sang. They were followed by César Sampson, singing the song which got him the third place in 2018, ‘Nobody but You’, and the Norwegian band KEiiNO. The latter not only performed their 2019 song ‘Spirit in the Sky’, but also ‘Monument’, which got them second place in the 2021 edition of the Norwegian pre-selection MGP.
In between the acts, Maas sprinkled in some fun facts about the contest and the acts that would be performing. He mentioned how an act does not necessarily have to place high in the contest to gain success afterwards. One such act was the Slovenian band Joker Out, who performed ‘Carpe Diem’ in 2023. While they only placed 21st, they gained many fans all over Europe and have been steadily touring the continent ever since. A review of their own show in Tilburg the night before can be found here. After the band’s instruments were wheeled off-stage, they were followed by Eurovision 2015 winner Måns Zelmerlöw, performing his song ‘Heroes’. When the song was done, Zelmerlöw stayed on stage to be joined by Rombley. Together, the two of them spoke about the film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, as one of the singers from the film would be performing next. The iconic Molly Sandén sang her Oscar-nominated song ‘Husavik’, and also welcomed Rylan Clark back to the stage to perform ‘Ja Ja Ding Dong’ together.
Previous years, the line-up had been stitched together quite seamlessly, but this year it was a little more random. The show continued with the Dutch representative from 2010, Sieneke, who sang ‘Ik ben verliefd (sha-la-lie)’ (transl. ‘I’m in love’), the act completed by the barrel organ and dancers in traditional clothing. After she’d left the stage, it was time for Johnny Logan to perform. He’s been the only singer who has been present at all five editions of Het Grote Songfestivalfeest, and again performed both of his winning songs, ‘What’s Another Year?’ from 1980 and ‘Hold Me Now’ from 1987. In between the songs, Logan spoke a bit of Dutch, saying “Hoe gaat het met jou? Ik ben Johnny.” (transl. “How are you? I am Johnny”)
Next on the line-up was Imaani, who represented the UK in 1998 with ‘Where Are You?’. Edsilia Rombley took part in the contest in that same year, and mentioned before the singer’s performance how she was such a big fan of hers that she even named her first daughter after her. Upon Imaani finishing the song, Clark took to the stage again to introduce Edsilia as the next singer; together with Imaani, Rombley performed a very special version of her 2007 song ‘On Top of the World’. As soon as the two women finished singing, Maas returned to the stage. He said that there was bad as well as good news: Willeke Alberti had fallen ill and could therefore not be present tonight, but the organisation had found a replacement in Jeangu Macrooy. The singer, who represented the Netherlands in 2021, was also supposed to represent the country in 2020 with the song he would be singing tonight, ‘Grow’. The audience held up flashlights as the singer performed this beautiful ballad.
Moving on to more energetic performances yet again, the hosts spoke about the country of Sweden and their success at the contest, welcoming Norwegian twins Marcus & Martinus to the stage. The brothers first performed their Melodifestivalen 2023 song, ‘Air’. As Maas stated, they were not the only people who had been a runner-up in the Swedish pre-selection. The other one present tonight was no one less than Måns Zelmerlöw, who got second in this year’s edition with ‘Revolution’. Fans would have surely rather seen the winner, KAJ, perform, but they were unfortunately playing their own concert that same evening. Another Scandinavian act was up next, a “very unique and special” one, as it contains almost no lyrics, so stated Rombley. She was, of course, referring to Secret Garden, who won the contest in 1995 with ‘Nocturne’. The three-minute-long, almost fully instrumental song really stood out in the line-up, giving fans a chance to take a breather.
The haunting and quiet atmosphere didn’t stay, however, as the show then moved on to introduce Moldova’s Sunstroke Project to the stage. The group represented their country at Eurovision twice: once in 2010, together with singer Olia Tira, performing ‘Run Away’, and once in 2017 with ‘Hey Mamma’. The most famous member of the group is the so-called Epic Sax Guy, whose solos tonight led to a lot of applause. The audience got to continue showing off their dance moves as Verka Serduchka took to the stage next, performing ‘Dancing Lusha Tumbai’. Serduchka has performed at Het Grote Songfestivalfeest multiple times, getting all the thousands of people to shout “Russia goodbye!”, lyrics of the song that were never performed at the contest but have been a part of the song outside of it.
Time to go back to Scandinavia then. Edsilia Rombley said that her daughter had been asking the entire time if a certain act would be present tonight. This particular act turned out to be Norway’s Kyle Alessandro, who participated in this year’s edition with ‘Lighter’. As soon as he took to the stage, the many teenage girls in attendance could be loudly heard. They were possibly even louder when, afterwards, Marcus & Martinus returned to perform their 2024 song ‘Unforgettable’. “Amsterdam, ik houd van jullie!” (transl. “Amsterdam, I love you!”) Marcus said at the end of the song.
The rest of the evening would consist of more acts that had taken to the Eurovision stage very recently. Eight more artists would be performing, with the Netherlands’ own Claude up next. The Congolese-born singer performed ‘C’est la Vie’ and, as a special surprise, he invited young dancer Olivier Manuel to the stage. Manuel took part in the music video for the song and danced the choreography together with Claude. This made for a very wholesome moment, and it was adorable to see the youngster enjoy his time on the big stage this much. More dancing followed when Red Sebastian sang ‘Strobe Lights’. The Belgian singer, unfortunately, did not reach the finale this year, yet still got the entire Ziggo Dome swinging. Then followed an act that did, possibly against all odds, make the finale: the Danish Sissal with ‘Hallucination’, performing in the same outfit she wore back in May.
Rombley returned to the stage to speak about how sometimes, one hears songs that make people feel like they are allowed to be themselves. An example of this is the song from the 2024 winner, Nemo. While they would not be performing tonight, there would be three acts up next that each celebrate their own identity, specifically as powerful women. “Strength and sexuality can go hand in hand,” Rombley stated before inviting Destiny to the stage, who sang her 2021 entry ‘Je Me Casse’. She had four female dancers with her, all clad in pink. She was followed by the Spanish Chanel, performing her 2023 song ‘Slomo’, complete with choreography. The third and last of these three acts was Miriana Conte, who sang this year’s Maltese entry ‘Kant’ (or ‘Serving’, as it had to be renamed for the contest). Near the end of the song, there was a sudden pause, and a video began playing on the big screen. It was a video call between Sissal, Kyle Alessandro, and JJ, who were jokingly roasting Miriana and saying she should “invite them to the stage”. The audience cheered loudly as the four ‘beauty blenders’ finally reunited, all eagerly skippyballing on the catwalk.
The final act of the night was, of course, this year’s winner, JJ from Austria himself, performing ‘Wasted Love’. “He’s from Austria, he’s from Vienna, and he loves opera,” said Rombley to introduce him. JJ walked on stage together with the most dancers present during any act tonight. Together, all of them performed a dramatic rendition of the song as a final treat for the audience. The show had gone overtime by about 15 minutes, but no one cared: the night had been one to never forget.
Photos of all performances can be found here.
