Eurovision 2013 - 14/16/18 May 2013

I don't think the point being made is about the wardrobe/lighting. It's the fact that often the main vocals are being sung by a backing singer hidden away rather than the main artist the performance is focussed on, in order to get around the "live vocals" rule.

I think a rule to close this loophole would be to state that the main vocal line must be sung primarily by the main artist.

Can you give some examples of some of these performances? I'm struggling to think of any apart from Greece 2009.

Romania, and their Balkan Girls, from ESC 2009.

Hmm - but that wouldn't work in many cases. Usually (i.e. when there is 'hidden support') the main artist is singing - but there is a second artist providing re-inforcement. Are you saying that you then enforce an artist decision saying that unison singing isn't allowed- or only allowed when the artist is within a certain distance of the lead artist (to ensure they aren't framed out?) So you'd allow harmonies from a 'hidden' singer, but not unison? How do you define 'hidden' etc. It's a minefield - and with 40+ songs to stage, script, light, screen produce for etc. and multiple rehearsals it would be a nightmare to attempt to police - and interpret. Simple rules are the best. (Maximum number of people on stage, all live vocals)

What would you do in the case of Eric Saade's "Popular"? Here there were two obvious singers ghosting Eric for much of the time, stood at the edges of the stage, 90 degrees to frontal camera shots, and with their backs to the dancers and Eric most of the time. They weren't unlit, they weren't masked, but they weren't really covered either, the bulk of the coverage was Eric and the three dancers... They were pretty clearly doing a lot of vocal re-inforcement - in fact during the middle-8 it didn't look like Eric was singing at all - yet strangely it didn't sound much different... If I were uncharitable I'd suggest that they were most of what we heard... But it was a great song, very well staged, and it is a group effort.

I KNOW it's obvious in many cases when it happens - and is much more subtle in other cases - and in some cases almost invisible (backing singers hidden behind set pieces etc.) - but given that there is huge pressure on Eurovision to allow pre-recorded backing vocals from some entrants (Sweden is very keen after they introduced it for Melodifestivalen) I don't see it happening.

Personally I think it's almost part of the charm - and gives enthusiasts an extra dimension to watch.

Eric Saade - Sweden - Popular - 2011 (Two backing singers definitely doing a lot of work and on the edge of stage)

Quartissimo feat. Martina - Slovenia - Love Symphony - 2009 (Second singer on stage camera left, hardly seen in coverage. Given that there is very little singing - and Martina is hidden behind a paper screen most of the performance - it does question who was singing...)

Alex Sparrow / Alex Vorobyov - Russia - Get You - 2011 (Two singers hidden behind the LED screens - you can just see their feet in some shots - and it's clear the three dancers aren't singing when you hear the BVs. Not suggesting the lead wasn't Alex)

Dana International - Israel - Diva - 1998 (Not as extreme, but there is a single backing singer - not hugely featured in coverage but not masked - camera left, and three others, who are lit and feature a lot... Though she may be more providing decent backing vocals rather than the three rather thinner ladies featured more heavily...)

You could argue Carola - Sweden - Invincible - 2006 (First half of the song has huge amounts of backing vocals in it, with just two of the backing singer/dancers right at the back of stage wafting her trains who then disappear. For the first half of the song the BVs are pretty much not on stage at all. Then half-way through 4 backing singer/dancers walk out and feature heavily. )

I remember Graham claimed that backing singer was doing all the work but if you watch it back it's quite clearly Elena doing all the main vocals. The backing singer's doing the backing vocals which are often different to what Elena is singing and none of the dancers have a microphone.

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 - Malmö ... We have the Second Entry ...
Representing - SWITZERLAND ...
Heilsarmee - You and Me

The right decision from the Swiss, certainly better than the Belarusian entry.

And technically isn't is a song writing contest so who sings it is kind of irrelevent - it's supposedly the song that wins, not the performer.

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 - Malmö ... We have the Third Entry ...
Representing - BELGIUM ...
Roberto Bellarosa - Love Kills

I agree. Personally it doesn't bother me at all, since (as another poster mentioned) I view Eurovision more as a song contest (as the name suggests) not a singing contest.

I suppose the EBU could try and police it and introduce rules to eliminate this if they really wanted to (I'm sure they could probably get the resources to do so if they were really bothered), however I think given the obvious use of backing singers especially in recent years it doesn't seem that they really care about countries doing this.

Yes - though I wouldn't jump to conclusions about resourcing.

The EBU is trying to make Eurovision more manageable, and trying to slightly reign back on the excesses of Moscow and Azerbaijan (which were huge and massively expensive) so that countries aren't scared of winning! They're looking at trying to streamline the whole production a bit I believe, as the current requirements make it very difficult to host (finding suitable venues with weeks of down-time in their schedules with less than a year's notice isn't the easiest - so the shorter the run-up the better)

I think Oslo is a model they are looking at (probably because the EBU ESC Exec was NRK's Exec on Oslo 2010...) as it was lower-cost (and in my view still one of the best contests in years - great hosts and an innovative set with some variety - and excellent coverage)