page_title: Eurovision Song Contest
section_title: Interval acts and guest appearances
hierarchical_section_title: Eurovision Song Contest / Interval acts and guest appearances
caption_attribution_description: English: The interval act of the final, during the first dress rehearsal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016&#160;in Stockholm. (Help translate this text)
context_page_description: The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song competition, organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union and featuring participants representing primarily European countries. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio, transmitted to national broadcasters via the EBU's Eurovision and Euroradio networks, with competing countries then casting votes for the other countries' songs to determine a winner.
  Based on the Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy since 1951, Eurovision has been held every year since 1956, with the exception of the cancelled 2020 edition, making it the longest-running annual international televised music competition. Active members of the EBU, as well as invited associate members, are eligible to compete in the contest, and as of 2019, 52 countries have participated at least once. Originally consisting of a single evening event, the contest has expanded greatly as new countries joined, leading to the introduction of relegation procedures in the 1990s and eventually the creation of semi-finals in the 2000s.
context_section_description: Besides the song contest itself, the television broadcast regularly features performances from artists and musicians which are not competing in the contest, as may also include appearances from local and international personalities. Guest performances were first seen at the contest's first edition, and have become a staple of the live show since the 1960s. These performances have varied widely, with music, art, dance, and circus performances having featured in past editions. Previous winners of the contest also regularly feature, with the reigning champion traditionally returning to perform last year's winning song, as well as sometimes performing a new song from their repertoire.
  The interval act, held after the final competing song has been performed and before the announcement of each country's votes, has become a memorable part of the contest and has featured both internationally-known artists and local stars. Contest organisers have previously used these performances as a way to explore their country's culture and history, such as in "4,000 Years of Greek Song", performed at the 2006 contest held in Athens, Greece; other performances have been more comedic in nature, featuring parody and humour, as was the case at the 2016 contest when "Love Love Peace Peace", a humorous ode to the history and spectacle of the contest itself, was performed by the contest's hosts Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw and featured several of the contest's most memorable moments and past winners.
  The first public appearance of Riverdance was as part of the Eurovision Song Contest interval at the 1994 contest held in Dublin, Ireland; the seven-minute performance featuring traditional Irish music and dance was later expanded into a full stage show that has since been performed at over 450 venues worldwide and seen by over 25 million people, becoming one of the most successful dance productions in the world and a launchpad for its lead dancers Michael Flatley and Jean Butler. Riverdance was subsequently invited the perform as the interval act at both the 50th and 60th anniversary specials in 2005 and 2015 respectively.
  Recent contests have seen a number of world-renowned artists take to the Eurovision stage in non-competitive performances: Danish Europop group Aqua performed a music medley, which included their worldwide hit "Barbie Girl", at the 2001 contest held in Copenhagen, Denmark; Russian duo t.A.T.u., who had previously represented Russia at the contest in 2003, performed their hit song "Not Gonna Get Us" alongside the Alexandrov Ensemble at the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia; American entertainer Justin Timberlake gave the first televised performance of the Grammy Award-winning "Can't Stop the Feeling!" as part of the interval act at the 2016 contest; and the self-styled "Queen of Pop" Madonna featured at the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel, in a controversial performance tinged with politics featuring her songs "Like a Prayer" and "Future". Montreal-based circus company Cirque du Soleil has also performed at the song contest, opening the contest's grand final in 2009.
  Guest performances in the contest's history have also been used as a channel and response to global events happening at the same time as the contest. The 1999 contest in Jerusalem closed with the contest's presenters inviting all competing acts onto the stage to sing a rendition of the English version of "Hallelujah", the Israeli winning song from 1979, as a tribute to the victims of the ongoing war in the Balkans. In 2016, part of the interval act for the first semi-final featured a dance performance entitled "The Grey People", choreographed by Fredrik Rydman and devoted to the European migrant crisis.
  The contest has featured guest appearances from well-known faces from outside the world of music. These include athletes, such as boxers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko in 2005, tennis players Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic and basketball star Vlade Divac in 2008, and footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović in 2013; and actors such as Gal Gadot in 2019. The contest has also seen the 
caption: "Love Love Peace Peace" at the 2016 grand final, performed by Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw and featuring three previous contest winners
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