Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.05.2019, Síða 13

Hatari's audience, ready for their BDSM awakening
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famed Justins (Bieber and Timber-
lake) when they performed (sepa-
rately) in Iceland.
Anybody who has been watch-
ing Iceland’s development over the
past decade knows that we have
hotel rooms to spare. Thousands
of hotel rooms have been built over
the last 10 years and hundreds more
are expected to come online by May
2020. This includes the city’s first
five-star hotel next to the afore-
mentioned Harpa, perfect for the
Eurovision prima donnas.
Let’s talk money
This year’s contest is reported to be
costing Israel’s state broadcaster 28
million euro. RÚV’s annual revenue
in 2018 was shy of 50 million euro.
Felix acknowledges the financial
difficulties that would arise from
Iceland hosting Eurovision.
“Eurovision will cost a lot of
money  and RÚV does not have a
very big budget. But when we are
faced with it, we will go into discus-
sion with all the parties involved,
the state, municipalities, the tour-
ism lobby, etc. I am confident we
will find the money to do it.” A fine
example of the Icelandic “þetta
reddast” attitude.
RÚV would not be the only insti-
tution to face chal-
lenges if Eurovision
were to make its way
to the North Atlantic.
Last autumn, Iceland
hosted major NATO
war games. This was
controversial in itself,
but to top it off, the visiting military
personnel drank all of the city’s beer.
Eurovision fans would invade like
an army of party people. Hopefully
the lesson has been learned and the
city’s bars will be ready their war
chests.
Eurovision typically sees forty
countries participating over the
course of a three night, live, interac-
tive show with close to 200 million
viewers and voters. Each country’s
official delegation consists of its act,
managers, journalists, and other
support staff.
The stage show itself
uses the most modern
technology and must
stay on an extremely
tight schedule. On the
night of the final, 26
wildly different acts
will perform elaborate
numbers for three minutes each,
with only minutes to clear and reset
the stage.
Though RÚV would have the
support of the EBU, nothing on the
scale of Eurovision has ever been
attempted on Icelandic television.
The most expensive production
was 2015’s “Trapped,” which was a
crime-drama costing about a third
of Eurovision, without the pressure
of a live broadcast.
“The biggest challenge is the
money and, of course, hosting an
event of such a scale,” said Felix.
“This is a huge TV show that we
would be leading and that would be
a new experience for us. But we are
willing and able.”
Despite the enormous chal-
lenges, Felix is eager for Iceland to
host the extravaganza. “Yes, I would
very much like to host the thou-
sands of people from all over the
world that would come to Iceland
to enjoy this amazing party.”
It’s all up to Hatari.
“The biggest
challenge is
the money and
hosting an event
of such a scale.”
13 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 07— 2019