Benidorm gives all its support to Chanel and Eurovision contest

Benidorm vibrated again last night with Eurovision and with Chanel, and to have an international presence thanks to the musical contest that millions of people followed on television, not only in Europe. While the final of the festival was taking place in Turin, in Benidorm the euro fans had their particular Eurovision afternoon-night thanks to the Pre Party organized by the City Council, with the collaboration of RTVE, to animate the final of the contest, in which Chanel and her SloMo got the third position, the best result of Spain in almost three decades.

From 6:00 p.m., not only the followers of the festival but also a large public that in recent months and weeks has been infected by the 'Chanel phenomenon', approached the Plaza de la Hispanidad.

From the first hour, the public turned to a 100% Eurovision day, in which the songs that competed in the Benidorm Fest were played, interspersed with some of the songs with which Spain has participated Eurovision throughout its history.

And to spread the spirit of the event even more to the public and to whet the appetite for the big night in Turin, throughout the afternoon performances by some of the semifinalists and finalists of the past Benidorm Fest took place in the Plaza de la Hispanidad, such as Javiera Mena, Marta Sango, Unique and Gonzalo Hermida. Also passing through the stage was Levi Diaz, the last representative of Spain in the Junior Eurovision.

A stage that was set up at the foot of the tecnohito, the cylindrical technological infrastructure that presides over the start of the renovated Avenida del Mediterráneo and that has been a new icon of the city since its premiere. With its around 20 meters high and 264 square meters of 'led' screens, in its coming-out during the event, the 'tecnohito' became one more element at the service of the show that was lived in Benidorm.

After the live performances, it was time for the Eurovision final. At 9:00 p.m., the three giant screens arranged in the Plaza de la Hispanidad connected with the RTVE signal to follow live the final that would lift Spain to the third position. Throughout the broadcast, the RTVE cameras made several connections with Benidorm to show the viewers of the public channel how the big night of this 66th edition of Eurovision was being experienced in the city. An edition that in the case of Spain started last January with the Benidorm Fest, from which Chanel and her SloMo left for Turin.

Around 10:00 p.m. one of the most intense moments of the night was experienced, coinciding with the performance of the Spanish representative. The intensity would give way two hours later to the expectation with which the public followed the verdict of the national juries of each of the participating countries, especially the vote of the Spanish jury from Poniente Beach by the presenter and model Nieves Álvarez, which took the image of Benidorm to all of Europe and the rest of the continents.

As the voting progressed, nervousness increased at Plaza de la Hispanidad, where, with flags in the air, the public cheered and celebrated each of the 12 points that Spain received from the technical jury of several of the participating countries. Finally, the European public vote confirmed the third position for Spain, only behind Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

After celebrating the good result and with this edition of Eurovision already over, the city is already thinking about the second edition of the Benidorm Fest, which will be held at the beginning of next year and from which the name of the artist or group that will represent Spain in the European contest of 2023.