AstroVision America Song Festival 1

"Juice Up"

## Dates

Semi Finals : June, 18 2023

Grand Final : June, 26 2023

## Host

Venue : Palacio De Los Deportes, Mexico City, Mexico

Hosts : Maria José, Marco Antonio Solís & Gabriel Iglesias

Broadcaster : SPR

## Participants

Number of entries : 32

Debuting countries : Algeria , Argentina , Aruba , Barbados , Bermuda , Bolivia , Bonaire , Brazil , Canada , Cayman Islands , Chile , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Curaçao , Falkland Islands , French Guiana , Guatemala , Honduras , Jamaica , Martinique , Mexico , Panama , Peru , Puerto Rico , Saint Kitts & Nevis , Suriname , Trinidad & Tobago , United States , Uruguay , U.S. Virgin Islands , Venezuela ,

Returning countries : None

Non-returning countries : None

## Winner

Winner : **United States** Bad Omens - *"The Death Of Piece Of Mind"*

Points : 163

The **AstroVision America Song Festival #1**, often shortened **AVASF #1**, is the first edition of the American spin-off of the AstroVision Song Festival, a European-based fan contest.

This edition was hosted in the Palacio De Los Deportes located in Mexico City, Mexico by the Mexican national broadcaster SPR.

## Host & Organization

As there has not been an AVASF winning country yet, the host country was decided by an internal selection. The AstroVision Broadcasting Union indeed submitted a candidature call from American and Caribbean nations to submit a hosting proposal with a venue.

In total, ten countries submitted their own candidature to gain the hosting process of the AVASF #1. The AVBU then explored the candidatures to select the best one through a two-times voting process : one to select six candidatures out of the ten submitted, which would also form the edition's official prequalified countries part of the Big 6 ; and then a second one to define a winner. .

Here are the ten candidatures deposed by the volunteering broadcasters :

    - **Candidature #1 - UNITED STATES**  | The United States are the first country to submit their candidature to host AVASF #1. NBC submitted as their venue the Crypto.com Arena located in Los Angeles, United States , a multi-purpose indoor arena which hosts concerts and basketball matches, with a capacity of 20,000 attendants. Out of the 10 volunteering countries, the United States are the only one which already handled an AstroVision event before, back in AVSC #9 which was hosted in San Francisco.

    - **Candidature #2 - CANADA**  | The second country to submit their candidature is Canada. CBC's proposed venue to host the contest is the Scotiabank Arena, located in Toronto, Canada , a multi-purpose arena which hosts basketball, hockey and lacrosse matches along with concerts. Its capacity for conerts is of 19,800 places. Canada took part several times to the former AVSC as a Guest Country, and therefore know how an AstroVision event can be handled.

    - **Candidature #3 - BRAZIL**  | The third candidature comes from the land of the carnaval : Brazil! And this denomination isn't there for nothing for this submission. Indeed, if their candidature gets selected, TV Brazil plans on hosting the contest in the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , an arena which hosts several sporting events along with concerts. The planned attendance for the venue is of around 18,000 people. Brazil isn't the most influent country in the AstroVision franchise, but they took part once for the AVSC RETRO Special Edition, and they count on this participation to prove that they can handle such an event.

    - **Candidature #4 - MEXICO**  | Out of all the candidatures, the Mexican one surely is the one which plans large, with the largest venue of them all. Indeed, the Mexican public boradcaster SPR proposed as their venue the Palacio De Los Deportes (Palace of Sports) of Mexico City, Mexico , which has a capacity of not less than 26,000 spectators between its walls which mainly host sporting events. Mexico only took part to an AstroVision event once back in AVSC #20, but their vision of a large and spectacular event is the key for them to gain the right to host AVASF #1.

    - **Candidature #5 - ARGENTINA**  | Argentina submitted their candidature for AVASF #1 with a smaller venue than most candidatures, but they insist on their country being the second largest country in South America to gain the right to host. Argentin broadcaster TVP proposed to host the event in the Movistar Arena of Buenos Aires, Argentina , a fairly recent venue which handles mainly concerts, with a capacity of 15,000 places, which is fairly small for this selection. Contrary to our past candidatures, Argentina doesn't have any past experience with AstroVision.

    - **Candidature #6 - CHILE**  | Contrary to their neighbors, Chile does have a small experience with AstroVision as they were invited as a Guest country back in AVSC #11. Their national broadcaster TVN wants to insist on this to put their candidature on the foreground. Their submitted venue is the Movistar Arena (yes, again) located in Santiago, Chile . The venue was used for several international sporting events and is mainly used for concerts, and has a capacity of 17,000 people.

    - **Candidature #7 - COLOMBIA**  | National broadcaster Caracol Televisión proposed their own candidature to host AVASF #1 with the will to promote their country to the largest amount of people. Their selected venue is the... Movistar Arena (yes, Movistar is litteraly everywhere), this time located in Bogota, Colombia , which is an indoor sporting arena which can also handle concerts, with a capacity of only 14,000 people, a rather low attendance potential which is explained by Colombia's vision of providing a quality show while keeping it within a reasonable budget. Colombia is no stranger to AstroVision as they won the AVSC RETRO Special Edition back in 2021.

    - **Candidature #8 - PUERTO RICO**  | The small nation of Puerto Rico submitted their own candidature, being the only small-scale nation to do so. However, this didn't discouraged local TV channel WiPR which still submitted a large venue with the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, which is the largest venue of the nation with a capacity of 18,500 people. "El Choliseo" as it is often nicknamed is a large concert and sporting venue located in San Juan, Puerto Rico . Puerto Rico promotes their candidature with their influence in the latino music genre worldwide to prove their capacity to handle an international show like the AVASF, in addition to their past participation back in the AVSC RETRO Special Edition.

    - **Candidature #9 - ECUADOR**  | Ecuador's public broadcaster Ecuador TV submitted a late candidature to host AVASF. They looked up for a large enough venue to handle the hosting, and came up as a submission with the Coliseo General Rumiñahui, an indoor sporting arena located in Quito, Ecuador with a capacity of 16,000 people. While being a fair outsider in addition to being new to the AstroVision franchise, Ecuador still believe in their chances to host, with their will to show that their country has the potential to shine internationally in the hosting of such an event.

    - **Candidature #10 - URUGUAY**  | After first, Uruguay was not among the volunteering countries to host the AVASF #1, as other countries wanted to submit a candidature first, but could not figure out a venue to host the event. Therefore, Uruguay came out as a latecomer to the candidature selection. However, they didn't come barehanded, as national broadcaster RNU proposed as their venue the very recent Antel Arena located in Montevideo, Uruguay , a very modern multipurpose arena handling basketball matches and concerts, which opened in 2018, and which has a capacity of 15,000 people for concerts. While being new to AstroVision as well, they promote their vision of an avant-gardist show for AVASF #1 that they could handle best.

After the first round of voting, six candidatures were accepted : **Mexico** , **Argentina** , **Uruguay** , **Puerto Rico** , **United States**  and **Canada** . On June, 2nd 2023, it was announced that **Mexico**  had won the hosting ticket for the first edition of the AstroVision America Song Festival.

On the same day, the broadcaster revealed both the theme art and the stage design for this edition. The theme represents a pineapple represented in triangle art with neon elements, a logo which is a reference to the Palacio De Los Deportes' shape which looks like a pineapple. The slogan of this edition is "Juice Up" ("Animer", "Energiser" in French), which refers both to the juice of the pineapple and to the will of Mexico to host a very lively and energic show for America to enjoy at a time of late Spring/early Summer. The stage design is composed of a very wide trapezoidal-shaped background screen with is surrounded by three different neon counterparts made out of neons. Around this structure, a total set of 27 thinner neon bars which fit the shape of the screen are installed. Over the main podium, three different trapezoidal-shaped screen blocs are installed, which are hold by a system of iron wires. These scrren blocs can go up & down in order to form one entity, rotate on a given angle, or be taken away from the stage if needed. This whole structure goes along with a long quadrilateral podium made out of screens and neons with, instead of going through the audience, is placed in a 60° angle lateral way, as well as a massive set of projectors to finish it off. The Mexican broadcaster SPR justifies this stage design as *"the pinnacle of Mexican audiovisual enterntainment production, with a stage which will allow for some flamboyant performances and which firmly establishes Mexico at the forground of musical modernism"*.

    Moreover, it was also officialized that the hosts for this edition would be singer and dancer María José, singer and composer Marco Antonio Solís & actor and stand-up comedian Gabriel Iglesias.

## Contest

### Returning Artists

Four artists were confirmed to take part again to an AstroVision contest.

### Semifinal

The AVBU announced that 32 countries would participate in the first edition of the AstroVision America Song Festival. **Algeria**  was announced as this edition's Guest Country by broadcaster SPR.
On June, 16 2023, the AVBU revealed the running orders for the single semifinal of the AVASF #1. which is a grand premiere in AstroVision history, due to the rather low number of participating countries. They have been decided through three randomizations : 6 pots, 4 quarters and 1 official running order. The semifinal took place on June, 18 2023.

The semifinal opens on a postcard of Mexican wildlands and historic places. Then, the hosts introduce the show and the system of points, along with the comedian Gabriel Iglesias recording humoristic sequences at well-known places in the country of Mexico. During the semifinal show, he was at the beaches of Cancun and at the archeological site of Chichen Itza. During the final, he would be seen at the Cuauhtémoc district of Mexico City.

Results for the semifinal were revealed on June, 25th 2023. 14 countries qualified from the semifinal. Qualifiers were announced in a random order :  Falkland Islands,  Venezuela,  Suriname,  Aruba,  Bermuda,  French Guiana,  Peru,  Cuba,  U.S. Virgin Islands,  Bonaire,  Algeria,  Cayman Islands,  Honduras

 Qualified for the Grand Final

 Not qualified for the Grand Final

 Countries which are tied in points

 Last place in the Semifinal

### Grand Final

On May, 20 2023, the AVBU revealed the running order for the Grand Final of the AVSF #1. It has been decided through two randomizations : two halves with a perfect balance of 7 qualifiers from the semifinal and 3 big 6 countries each & 1 official running order.

The voting scores were revealed in two times : first, the points from the Jury Voting were revealed, followed by the Televoting scores afterwards.

After the two sets of points, it was announced that the **United States**  was the winner of the first edition of the AstroVision America Song Festival, with a global score of 163 points. **Honduras**  finished in second place with 162 points. **French Guiana**  finished in third place with 155 points, followed by **Peru** , **Bermuda**  and **Venezuela**  to complete the top 6, which will be prequalified for the upcoming AVASF #2 Grand Final.

 Country which finished in first place

 Country which finished in second place

 Country which finished in third place

 Country which is prequalified for the next edition

 Countries which are tied in points

 Country which finished in last place