Top tips for attending the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time

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.

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
  

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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…)

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).

One of my highlights of the week: a special Eurovision brunch and Karaoke at Bierkeller

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…

Meeting Dadi Freyr in Liverpool!

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.

Sam Ryder’s spontaneous performance at the 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.

Watching the second semi final in the Eurovision village

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.

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!

Butchering Think About Things at Eurovision Karaoke

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.

I was so happy to find this cut-out photo op

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.

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. I had the most amazing time, I will definitely be trying to get some tickets for Finland Sweden 2024. (SPOILER ALERT: I did indeed get tickets.)

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!