{"id":43921,"date":"2026-05-16T13:03:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T13:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/43921\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T13:03:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T13:03:27","slug":"how-vienna-reinvented-itself-for-its-campiest-spectacle-yet-eurovision-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/43921\/","title":{"rendered":"How Vienna Reinvented Itself for Its Campiest Spectacle Yet, Eurovision 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Eurovision experience begins within minutes of touching down at Vienna International Airport. I pause my headphones just in time to hear the pilot acknowledge the competition in German\u2014cheers from ecstatic gaggles of pals come from the front of the plane.<\/p>\n

As the aphorism attributed to Austrian satirist Karl Kraus goes, \u201cThe streets of Vienna are paved with culture, the streets of other cities with asphalt.\u201d What would Beethoven think of Romania\u2019s 2026 entry, Choke Me, I wonder, as I pass the Theater an der Wien. Something tells me the composer might have vibed with Dara\u2019s Bangaranga, though\u2014the Bulgarian track flutters between melodic hooks and Arabian-esque dance breaks at neck-break speed.<\/p>\n

Playlist rolling on, I assume more of a strut to Antigoni\u2019s Jalla (Cyprus<\/a>\u2019s entry, which, admittedly, has graced the Spotify playlist for weeks) and am transported to the superclub by the earth-shaking trance breaks of Felicia\u2019s My System, Sweden’s entry.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Grand buildings, many museums and palaces, can be found at every turn in Vienna.<\/p>\n

Connor Sturges<\/p>\n

As Vienna\u2019s blessed with sunshine after a spout of exceptionally bad weather that forced the Eurovision Village at Rathausplatz to evacuate just days before, I take to the streets for another unique musical adventure. Exiting Hotel Motto<\/a>, I\u2019m confronted by an euphonious classical rendition of Francesco Sartori\u2019s Con te partir\u00f2\u2014the melody to Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman\u2019s Time to Say Goodbye, also\u2014from Mariahilfer Stra\u00dfe, one of the capital\u2019s best-known shopping streets. I set off towards the Kunsthistorisches Museum, opened in 1891 by Emperor Franz Joseph I and now home to masterpieces by the brushstrokes of Titian, Rubens, and Pieter Bruegel.<\/p>\n

Sartori\u2019s contemplative masterpiece rings in my ears before\u2014a bin! A bright orange bin on Babenbergerstra\u00dfe catches my eye. \u201cSchmeiss Like a Phoenix,\u201d it reads, honoring Conchita Wurst\u2019s winning song from 2015, beside a logo of \u201cVienna, 12 points.\u201d As I later realize, all of the dustbins in the areas surrounding the Eurovision action have had a vivid facelift. It\u2019s working, if the pristine streets are anything to go by. Although this may be a result of Austrian values and respectful attendees, I can\u2019t see lyrics from Katrina and the Waves\u2019 1997 winning entry, Love Shine a Light, on dustbins deterring Soho Square\u2019s punters flinging their dogends into the night.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Hotel Motto<\/p>\n

Connor Sturges\"Image<\/p>\n

A statue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Burggarten<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Eurovision experience begins within minutes of touching down at Vienna International Airport. I pause my headphones just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20858],"tags":[25090,28002,20859,20860,28003,25089],"class_list":{"0":"post-43921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eurovision","8":"tag-arts-culture","9":"tag-editorial-features","10":"tag-eurovision","11":"tag-eurovision-song-contest-2026","12":"tag-historic-cultural-attractions","13":"tag-performing-arts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}