After years of blogging about Eurovision and even longer of actually following the contest, I finally attended Eurovision live for the very first time in May 2023, in my home country of the UK (hosting on behalf of Ukraine, obviously). It was amazing.
And so to help out other first-timers, I wanted to put together a bit of a quick list of useful tips that I wish I had known ahead of arriving in Liverpool for Eurovision week. Don’t get me wrong: I had an incredible time regardless, but the below are things that I learned over the course of the week and as the charitable blogger I am, I wanted to share this knowledge with other curious fans. But first things first: let’s take a look at what we did during our time in Liverpool.
Eurovision 2024 in Malmö, Sweden: this post was originally written about my experience at Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool, but I have added some thoughts from my experience in Malmö the following year. For a summary of my experience in Sweden in 2024, scroll to the bottom.
Attending Eurovision 2023: timetable of my experience
The below is based on my experience of attending Eurovision live in Liverpool in May 2023.
- Monday: arrived late Monday evening, attended the Euro Fans Club where the acts performing were James Newman (UK 2020 + 2021), The Roop (Lithuania 2020 + 2021) and Zoe (Austria 2016).
- Tuesday: explored Liverpool during the day – including the stadium and Albert Docks, did lots and lots of merch shopping, then attended Semi-Final 1 live Tuesday evening
- Wednesday: went to a Eurovision-themed pub quiz and karaoke at Bierkeller, saw the Semi-Final 2 rehearsal Wednesday night, went to a gay bar after
- Thursday: explored the Eurovision village during the day, went back to the village in the evening to watch Semi-Final 2 on the big screens
- On Friday morning we left Liverpool and then on Saturday watched the Grand Final on TV with friends
Top tips for attending Eurovision live
1. Buying Eurovision tickets: is seated better than standing?
We had standing tickets for the live Semi-Final 1 and seated tickets for the Semi-Final 2 rehearsal. My preference was definitely the seated tickets, as we got to see a lot more of the staging. We were also located directly behind the green room area, which was cool for seeing a bit more ‘behind the scenes.’
Standing was great for being able to dance and go crazy for Cha Cha Cha, however I am 6’1 / 185 cm and even I struggled to see much of the stage, even standing towards the back. In Liverpool, the full stage was also shown on two big screens, but you still felt like you missed a lot. (Although that was just a good excuse to watch the whole thing on BBC iPlayer the moment we got home…)
Eurovision 2024 in Malmö: in Sweden, we stuck to seated and I do not regret it – we had a great view of the stage both times and were even able to see a bit of the BTS logistics, which we wouldn’t have seen from the standing section.
For content on this year’s contest in Malmö, check out: National Languages at Eurovision 2024
2. Buying tickets for Eurovision: is the rehearsal just as good as the live show?
There is very little difference between the live show and the rehearsal. During the songs and the presenter’s moderation, there is absolutely no difference at all. The main difference during rehearsals is that the voting is random and stand-ins are used – even for some celebrity guests. But in my mind, this just added to the fun; we watched some random students pretend to be Eurovision acts and the audience got pretty into it too, with big cheers when “Lithuania” qualified.
The real benefit to seeing the rehearsal on the Wednesday night for us was that we could then go and watch the live show from the Eurovision village the next night, which was a fantastic atmosphere (highly recommended).
Eurovision 2024 in Malmö: we got tickets for rehearsals for both semis and I really do no regret it. The live shows we watched from a bar in Malmö (one of only two in the whole city which was showing it, evidently – more on that later) and the atmosphere was fantastic.
3. Book tickets for local events…
My third tip for visiting a Eurovision host city during Eurovision week is to check out local events, both official and unofficial. The fan club night we attended was really, really fun, but one of the highlights for me was the Eurovision pub quiz and Karaoke at a local bar on Wednesday afternoon. It was a great, family-friendly event and got us perfectly in the mood for heading to the semi-final rehearsal straight after.
4. …but leave room for spontaneity
But definitely don’t book up all of your time. There was just so much happening in Liverpool, both planned and spontaneous that I was glad we had some time to just explore; even just spending the afternoon in the Eurovision village was fantastic. Additionally, keep your eyes peeled for any spontaneous pop-up gigs – which brings me to my next point…
5. Follow everyone on Instagram
Follow everyone on Instagram. Everyone! Both current artists and previous artists – you’ll be surprised how many activities you hear about simply from artists’ Instagram stories. During our time in Liverpool, we met Dadi Freyr (Iceland 2020 and 2021) at his pop-up ice-cream van, my friends met Voyager (Australia 2023) and got a signed copy of their album on vinyl, and we caught an impromptu gig from Sam Ryder (UK 2022) at Albert Docks.
6. Leave plenty of time for the Eurovision village
If there’s one thing I wish we’d done in Liverpool, it’s spend more time in the Eurovision village. The stage there had a daily programme of events, as well as bars, food trucks, some promo stands and games and a Ukrainian cultural market.
Eurovision 2024 in Malmö: the Eurovision village was a huge let down in Malmö, as was the “Eurovision street” which had been so heavily promoted. THe Eurovision village didn’t even show the semi-finals, which was so fantastic to watch in Liverpool. A real shame.
7. Get there early in the week
One piece of advice I would give based on our experience is to arrive early in the week. Not only will the hotel prices be significantly cheaper than the weekend, you’ll have more merch options and smaller queues. The city became noticeably busier with Eurovision fans as the week went on.
Eurovision 2024: Again, we were in Malmö for the first part of the week. I spent Monday night in Copenhagen and Tues, Wed and Thurs nights in Malmö, before flying home on Friday.
8. Pace yourself
Another piece of advice is: pace yourself! There are big parties happening every evening and plenty of events happening throughout the day too – you don’t want to miss anything because you’re too hungover. Enjoy yourself, but pace yourself!
9. Go big or go home
Specifically when it comes to what to wear: go big or go home. I remember packing for Liverpool and actively wondering whether my clothing was too over-the-top. It turns out – unsurprisingly – it was massively under-the-top (…not a phrase, but you know what I mean.) There were rainbows and glitter everywhere, group costumes, flag costumes… whatever you can imagine, it was there. Apart from the Finnish lime green boleros and the Israeli unicorn horns, my favourite was a group of Norwegian fans dressed as Vikings with crowns. Eurovision is an excuse to go all out.
10. Attending Eurovision is for everyone
One of my favourite things about being in Liverpool in May is that my 69-year-old Dad was able to join us. He’s the reason that I became such a big Eurovision fan – and I still have vivid memories of me and my sister being able to vote for exactly one act in the late 90s and my Dad calling up his best friend to discuss their bets. The point being: Eurovision is also for families and I was so happy I could enjoy this with my Dad.
11. And finally… prepare for FOMO
Here’s the thing: I was at Eurovision. I had tickets for events every evening. I was busy doing Eurovision activities literally day and night – I couldn’t possibly have squeezed more Eurovision into my time there… and yet I still felt a huge pang of FOMO when I saw a friend was in Liverpool doing completely other things I didn’t realise were even happening. Lesson learned: you cannot possibly do everything. You cannot possibly know of and hear about everything that is happening. You will miss things. And that is fiiiiiiiiiine.
Attending Eurovision 2024 in Malmö
I was lucky enough to get tickets to both rehearsals for both semi-finals in Malmö and so packed my bags to visit both Copenhagen and Malmö for Eurovision week.
How was Eurovision 2024 in Malmö?
Before even getting into the hosting / host cities, I think we can all recognise that Eurovision 2024 was very different to the previous year. Even before taking into account the disqualification of the Netherlands (which happened after we had left Sweden), there were major concerns about Israel’s participation, with plenty of fans boycotting the event and Sweden being on high alert for any security issues. I will say that I didn’t feel unsafe at all and it actually felt like Malmö did a good job of letting people air their dissatisfaction – there were Palestine flags everywhere and there was even a huge pro-Palestine demo in Malmö during Eurovision week.
But the celebration felt… muted in comparison to Liverpool. But I think there were a lot of reasons behind this.
Liverpool vs Malmö
The overwhelming feeling we had in Liverpool was this was a once-in-a-lifetime event. It truly felt like the whole city was celebrating hosting Eurovision – every single pub you walked past had flags, special events or live viewings – it really did feel like a mini world cup in that sense. Every shop we visited was playing a Eurovision soundtrack and had special souvenirs or pop ups on display. Liverpool had never hosted before and the city was clearly trying to make the most of it.
Malmö, on the other hand, hosted the contest 11 years earlier. It simply didn’t feel like such a big deal for the city. Sure, there were posters and some bunting, but we only found one pub which was showing the semi-finals (shout out to Malmö Brewing for a great atmosphere) and apparently the volunteers at Malmö Central were informing people there were only two bars in the city showing the semi finals.
Another key difference was: Copenhagen. The Danish capital is a much bigger city, just across the bridge and so it felt like maybe the Eurovision celebrations were split between the two places. We stayed in Malmö (most motivated by the fact I’d never been), so I can’t say for sure that there was more going on for Eurovision in Copenhagen, but for sure there were plenty of fans staying there. I can’t imagine fewer than two bars were showing it in Denmark… even if they did fail to quality with that rubbish song.
Eurovision 2025
In summary, I think the two years show just how different the experience can be depending on the host city. I had an amazing time both years and would absolutely consider visiting again in the future.
In fact, I am quite optimistic about 2025; the Swiss broadcaster has already made clear that they are using Liverpool in 2023 as a blueprint for how to engage the whole city in hosting the event. Switzerland hasn’t hosted since 1989 and Basel is a first-time host, so there’s every chance that the atmosphere will be just as good as Liverpool. However, considering Basel’s location and the cost of Switzerland, I imagine that a lot of fans will be staying across the borders in France and Germany and commuting in.
But first things first: I need to cross my fingers for some tickets. Good luck everyone!
So, I hope this post has left you feeling a bit more prepared about what to expect from attending your first live (or rehearsal) Eurovision and I hope it goes to show how different the experience can be depending on the host city.
However for me, the Grand Final is always something that I will want to watch on TV. I like the tradition of having a small flat party and watching the final in a big group.
Until next year!
It’s super cool hearing your perspective as I was there too! I’m having that FOMO right now as we travelled over from Australia and did more of the Liverpool & surrounds touristy stuff than Eurovision stuff. We sneakily caught a bit of the Sam Ryder gig down in the Cavern Club but later heard of people meeting the contestants who were visiting the Eurovision village such as Kaarija. Great tip about following them on Instagram though! For future Eurovisions join your local OGAE branch (basically the official Eurovision fan club) as the club members usually can access ticket packages.
Actually I was thinking the Malmö might be a bit more like that for me – I’d been to Liverpool a lot of times already but I’ve never been to that part of Sweden so will need to perhaps balance Eurovision with some tourism. Great tip about the OGAEs too! (Although I’ve heard the distribution of the ticket allowance from these groups is a bit chaotic…) Are you planning to visit Sweden in 2024?
I read this post in advance for my trip to Malmö for Eurovision 2024 (which unfortunately turned out to be a shitstorm of a contest), and it helped me out a ton! However, there is one thing I disagree with you on: I think the live shows are so much more exciting than the rehearsals. I say this as someone who went to the afternoon rehearsal for semifinal 1, and the live show for semifinal 2. In the live show, the audience is way bigger and more excited, and personally I think the most nerve-wracking part of Eurovision is finding out who will and won’t qualify to the finals. And plus, after seeing a rehearsal in the arena, I wasn’t too enthused to watch the whole thing a second time later that day. I ended up missing the SF1 live show anyway because I thought it would be broadcast in Eurovision Village and I was wrong, so I had to scamper back to the place I was staying and made it in time only for the qualifier reveals.
In short, if you can afford it, by all means get tickets to the live show! This ties into a phrase you yourself wrote in the post, “go big or go home”. I plan to go even bigger for Basel 2025 and even see if I can get my hands on grand final tickets! And I’m praying we will have a normal contest in 2025, not the trainwreck of drama we had last time. It especially hurts for me because “Europapa” is my number one favorite of the year, and we all know what happened to that.
Thanks for commenting – great to hear another perspective. While I for sure agree that Malmö was very much a let down compared to Liverpool, I really really liked attending the afternoon rehearsal to re-watch in the evening – it felt like the best of both worlds some how – seeing “behind the scenes” and then seeing the TV angles etc later. But can totally emphathise with your points too. Good luck for tickets in Basel!
Thank you, let’s hope I can snag some tickets! And despite everything, I did love going to Eurovision in Malmö, that’s why I’m doing it again. Plus, I’m very proud to have attended the live semifinal performance of “Europapa”, my winner of the year.