When Switzerland secured the right to host tonight’s competition, many fans expected it to go for Geneva or Zurich.
Instead, the Swiss authorities chose Basel, a quaint riverside city in the north of the country.
With a population of about 170,000, Basel is usually a home for high art rather than campy spectacle.
Every year, the city hosts Art Basel, the world’s most prestigious art fair for dealers in modern and contemporary art, which has sister events in Miami Beach, Hong Kong and Paris. Basel is also home to the Kunstmuseum Basel, whose vast collection features paintings by Hans Holbein the Younger, Mark Rothko and Picasso; the Fondation Beyeler contemporary art museum; and, at the Kunsthalle Basel, an exhibition space renowned for its forward-thinking program.
Marcel Rohr, the editor in chief of the Basler Zeitung, the city’s main newspaper, said that Eurovision provided a “bit of contrast” to the city’s high-culture image, and that residents had embraced the event. “We’re not great party tigers,” he said, “but this week it’s an absolutely beautiful mood here.”
Last year, there was a brief attempt to stop Basel’s hosting Eurovision when members of the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland, a conservative Christian political party, demanded a referendum on the city’s contributing tax money toward Eurovision’s running costs. Those lawmakers said that Eurovision’s often outrageous performers threatened Christian values.
But the majority of Basel residents disagreed. In November, Basel held a plebiscite on funding the contest, and 66 percent of voters supported the city’s plan.
Rohr said that now Basel’s residents were just enjoying the spectacle and a rare moment when the city’s nightlife would extend beyond 10 p.m. “In a few weeks,” Rohr said with a sigh, “it’ll be business as usual.”
