The UK’s Mae Muller will close this year’s Eurovision grand final
By Daniel Rosney
Eurovision reporter
A final batch of tickets for next month’s Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool will go on sale at 12:00 BST.
The BBC said there is a “limited number” of tickets left for the three live shows, as well as for the six production previews.
In March tickets for all shows sold out in 90 minutes, with thousands left disappointed.
It will be the first time the UK hosts the annual competition in 25 years.
About 6,000 people will be inside the arena for each of the shows, but the vast majority of those tickets have already been sold.
Image source, Corinne Cumming
Finland’s Käärijä is one of this year’s favourites to win the competition with his song Cha Cha Cha
How can I buy tickets for Eurovision?
Tickets will be made available from 12:00 BST.
An account must be registered on Ticketmaster UK – regardless of the country tickets are being purchased in.
Only tickets for one show at a time can be purchased by users.
How much are Eurovision tickets?
Prices range from £90 to £290 for the live semi-finals and from £160 to £380 for the live grand final.
Preview shows range from £30 to £280.
Further information is available on the BBC’s Eurovision website.
A mock-up of how Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena is expected to look hosting the Eurovision Song Contest
A preview show is a full run-through of the TV broadcast that doubles up as a production rehearsal where the acts perform live in the arena.
There are six preview shows and three live shows.
How do the semi-finals work?
There’s a fee for competing broadcasters to take part (more on that later) and a handful of countries, known as the big five (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK), automatically get a place in the final because they pay a higher entry fee.
Ukraine, this year, also qualifies without participating in the knock-out stages because it won in 2022.
The remaining 31 acts will sing in two semi-finals – on Tuesday 9 and Thursday 11 May.
There will be 10 songs from each of the two qualifying rounds go through to the final where 26 artists will perform on Saturday 13 May.
What if I don’t get a ticket?
The city of Liverpool has announced multiple events around this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
There will be a two-week festival taking place, including a submarine parade and a rave which will take place simultaneously in Kyiv as well.
Image source, Liverpool City Council
Liverpool’s Pier Head will host the official Eurovision village
Close to the M&S Bank Arena will be the Eurovision village, the official fan zone of the contest for thousands of people.
During the televised live shows, fans will be able to watch both semi-finals and the final on big screens there.
It’s also where some of the acts will perform on stage across the week.
There will also be extensive coverage across the BBC.
Who pays for Eurovision?
The UK Government has put forward £10m towards the cost of hosting the song contest for things like security and visa arrangements.
It says the vast majority will be spent on “showcasing Ukrainian culture” but wouldn’t give further details. In comparison, the Italian government didn’t pay anything towards the event last year.
Image source, PA Media
The King and Queen Consort will unveil the Eurovision stage for the first time on Wednesday 26 April
Local authorities in Liverpool have also pledged £4m for the event, which is £6m less than officials put forward in Turin in 2022.
The bulk of the cost will fall to the BBC which is expected to put forward between £8m and £17m as host broadcaster.
The 37 broadcasters taking part all pay a fee to enter, which in recent years has totalled a combined sum of about £5m. The BBC does not make its contribution public.
All the build-up, insights and analysis is explored each week on a BBC podcast called Eurovisioncast.
Eurovisioncast is available on BBC Sounds, or search wherever you get your podcasts from.
