As springtime edges ever closer, it’ll soon be time for one of the biggest musical events of the season.
Yes, you guessed it — Eurovision is nearly here!
The Grand Final of the iconic Song Contest will take place on Saturday 13 May in the city of Liverpool in the UK. Before that, we’ve got televised two semi-finals (as well as offscreen heats) to look forward to. They’ll be held at Liverpool Arena on Tuesday 9 May and Thursday 11 May and will whittle down around 40 entrants to the top 26 seen on the big night.
It’s been announced today that tickets for the nine live shows making up this year’s Eurovision competition will be on sale next week — on Tuesday 7 March.
Europop fans will be setting their alarms for 13:00 CET (12:00 GMT) on Tuesday to secure the hottest ticket in Liverpool, if not the world.
The UK is hosting 2023’s Eurovision on behalf of last year’s winners Ukraine. It’s the first time in 25 years that the spectacular will be held in the UK and organisers have chosen the northern city of Liverpool after a nationwide bidding process. It’s an apt venue as Liverpool is best known as the home of world famous acts including The Beatles.
While it’s unclear whether surviving band members Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr will appear at the event, many European participants have already confirmed their acts. While odds-on favourite Sweden are yet to announce their choice, the countries rounding off the top three bookies’ favourites, Ukraine and Finland have.
Ukraine will put forward Tvorchi with their track ‘Heart of Steel’ and Finland are throwing ‘Cha Cha Cha’ by Käärijä into the ring.
Most nations taking part choose their winners via contests, like Spain’s Benidorm Fest and Georgia’s reality TV show The Voice. Big names at Eurovision — including the UK, France and the Netherlands — don’t let the public make the decision, instead making the choice internally among organisers.
Most songs have been announced and now we’re just waiting on Sweden, Iceland, Portugal, Moldova, Serbia, Azerbaijan and hosts the UK for a full line up.
Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina will host the Grand Final alongside Eurovision favourite Graham Norton, British musician Alesha Dixon and Ted Lasso actress Hannah Waddingham.
There will be six previews and three televised shows — including the final which was watched by 161 million people around the globe last year — and the fight for tickets is likely to be pretty epic.
Here’s how to get your hands on them.
Euronews Culture’s guide to getting Eurovision tickets
Regardless of what country you’re booking from, tickets are available to purchase at www.ticketmaster.co.uk and it’s only possible to buy tickets for one show at a time.
They’ll be pretty limited as the Liverpool Arena has a maximum capacity of 11,000.
For the Semi Final shows, prices range from an affordable £30 (€34) up to £290 (€327) and, for the Grand Final shows, go from £80 to £380 (€90 to €428).
Fans keen to get their hands on tickets are advised to create a Ticketmaster UK account ahead of 7 March to have the best chance of securing them.
You must have a Ticketmaster UK account to purchase tickets and people are being encouraged to create their account in advance of Tuesday 7 March to increase their chances of snapping them up.
If you do miss out on tickets, the two semi finals and the Grand Final will be televised across Europe with major cities putting on screenings of the unmissable event.
If you’re already travelling to Liverpool, you won’t be bored.
Outside of the live shows, there will be lots of free events to help experience the joy of Eurovision. Among numerous other proceedings, EuroFest will be a two week cultural takeover from 1 May and will feature UK and Ukrainian artists collaborating across the city.
For those of you itching to get your hands on arena tickets on 7 March, we wish you the best of luck!