April 29
Hejsan svejsan and welcome to the CREW BBQ! And not just any CREW BBQ! A new feature this year is that it is the RIEDEL CREW BBQ!
I happen to know that Riedel does something they call ¨Friends of the Games¨ every time they are involved with the Olympics, which is a get together crew and partners. They wanted to do something similar in conncetion to Eurovision. I said, well…….. why don’t you do a crew BBQ? They said- great idea! But lets do two! So, here is the first one! Next will happen during show week!
THANK YOU RIEDEL! We really needed this moral boost!
My Technical Directors Tarmo and Nuno did not read the fine print in their contracts before signing them. They were quite suprised to find that the fine print states that they are in charge of arranging the crew BBQ. They soon realized that they needed more than the smoker to be able to cook for 350 people. So EPC was nice enough to build them two grills as well. Top notch!
Here are three of our wonderful volunteers helping out – Sara, Veronica and Manu – Thank you girls!!
Tommy, Rob and Bubbles from Powershop are cowards and were hiding out in the inside seating area. I guess they are not waterproof……….
We did it during our dinner break, in an area that was approved by our head of security. And within minutes after breaking for dinner, hungry people started to show up.
Tarmo and Nuno kidnapped Hans as well to help them with all the fixings and cookings. They smoked 30 kg of pork, and grilled 600 sausages. This was served with bread, sauces and home made coleslaw by yours truly.
Paulo was VERY happy with the food, less happy with the drinks. According to his religion, BBQ comes with beer. Can’t argue with that, but security and health and safety can! Thank you SO MUCH SUPER BOCK for getting us 700 sodas for free in the blink of an eye.
Joao had no complaints either. He looks very focused on his pork sandwich!
Say HELLO to Lara Oliveira, our Production Secretary! It’s hard to lure her out of her office, but when the smell of smoked pork reached her desk, she came running.
After 3,5 intensive days of stand in rehearsals, we thought it was about time to feed our stand in artists. But don’t get used to this guys!
Say HELLO to Felix Berndt! Felix is in charge of a VERY important container in the OB compound- The EBU Switch!
And Jose Carlos Silva from RTP is responsible for the connectivity between the venue and the rest of the world. And also in charge of getting Felix a fridge for his container. Without it, I will not get the world cup in Ice Hockey on my monitor, and we can’t have that!
Tobias, Paulo and Joao hanging out with pork in their face. But who is the mysterious woman with her back against the camera???
It’s SARA! Hejsan Hejsan!
For some reason Diogo looks a bit guilty. I wonder why……. I wonder why………
And look at the focus Tobias has when he attacks the sandwich. Like a shark! Or a very hungry dolphin!
And here is representives from tonights host! Say HELLO to Thais and Fernanda from Team Riedel!
Do you know what rhymes with Nick Charalampidis? Nothing! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
A happy Ana and Ines in a sea of Happy People!
And the curse continues…….. it has been sunny and up to 30° C for two weeks now. On the evening of the crew BBQ, it was raining on and off, and 14° C. Just as usual. Oh well…….. at least it wasn’t snowing like in Finland in 2007.
Hang on! Why is Jan and his team from Highlight showing up? I’m sure he told me that they were having a Partner Dinner tonight! Turns out, he just HAD to try the pork as an appetizer!
Team Opertec is VERY happy today! Especially since the crew BBQ in Kyiv last year was cancelled. Why? Snow………… I’m telling you. We’re cursed!
After a couple of sodas too many I decided to make my move on Noa, who was working with our Stage Directors Marvin & Martin with all the stand in rehearsals. I guess it’s obvious that I was not that successful………….
But who gives a damn when my cow has dressed up for the occasion and looks extra spicy today!
Our Creative Manager Gonçalo Madaíl on the attack!
BBQ officially approved by our Venue Head Rigger Kim! And by everyone else of course!
Mattias, Christer and Tim looks like they never seen an hot dog before. I’m sure they have!
FOH has done some really long days the last couple of weeks. So it was a tired Matthias showing up. But a happy Matthias!
I decided to give it a shot with Ana as well! Same result as with Noa. So I ended up going home with my cow……….
And exactly how appropriate is it that we get a rainbow during crew BBQ evening. I’m sure it’s a sign of something. All we need now is pink fluffy unicorns!
Todays flashback takes us back to two Turbo Tomatoes on our stage in 2011. Set Design Florian Wieder, Lighting Design Jerry Appelt.
