The Eurovision Song Contest – coming to a city near you!
Eurovision Live Tour schedule (EBU)
That’s the promise and prospect in store from the Eurovision Song Contest Live Tour, which has been announced this morning. 10 artists from this year’s upcoming Contest, 10 cities around the continent, and 10 massive arenas full of fans, families and folks who may have never dreamed of getting a taste of the show in person.
You might think: this sounds like a victory lap. And, to some extent, it is. According to its organisers, this is a one-off tour, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Song Contest. A big birthday party for a beloved entertainment property, enjoying its moment in the sun.
But the context surrounding the Contest is anything but sunny. Eurovision is heading into its anniversary year amidst intense scrutiny from its fanbase.
Many fans have felt they can no longer support the show they love because of its stance on Israel’s participation – and five broadcasters have withdrawn because of it. Rather than heading into its birthday on a high, Eurovision goes into its 70th edition with only 35 countries, a Big Four, and several questions to answer.
Fortunately, we had an opportunity to ask them. ESC Insight, along with several other Eurovision community media outlets, was invited to a Q&A session with the Director of the Eurovision Song Contest, Martin Green, CBE. It was an opportunity to hear more about the upcoming Live Tour, to learn key details about the production and logistics, and ask about the motivation to make it today – while some debate the Contest’s future direction.
Eurovision Director Martin Green (EBU)
The Travelling Circus
Eurovision has, in essence, always been a touring production. It pitches up in a new city, a new venue, every year. But the Eurovision Song Contest Live Tour takes the Contest out of the TV and into the concert arena. So what’s changing?
In a press release from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) this morning, Green says he wants the tour to be “truly unique and special”:
“For the very first time we are bringing the magic of the Eurovision Song Contest live experience directly to fans and their friends and families all over Europe. This is our chance to celebrate the music, the artists, and the community that have made the Eurovision Song Contest what it is for seven remarkable decades.”
To create it, Eurovision has assembled a starry creative team. During our conversation, Green confirmed to us that Progress Productions, with former Head of Delegation for the United Kingdom at the Contest Lee Smithurst taking the role of Executive Producer, would be running the show.
Joining them are several notable Eurovision alumni from the 2023 Contest in Liverpool. Dan Shipton, Tim Routledge and Julio Himede all played integral roles in that year’s edition, and they each reprise their positions of Creative Director, Lighting Designer and Stage Designer on the Live Tour.
The Eurovision 2023 Stage (Wikimedia Commons / Michael Doherty)
The desire is clear – to create as authentic an experience as possible.
But what will that look like? Packing up and moving the show from London to Stockholm – via eight other stops – adds huge complexity. Green told the community media journalists he spoke to yesterday that he understands the challenge:
“At some point I’m sure we’ll tell everyone how many trucks and how many this and that – it’s a big operation to move around!”
The other challenge is cost. Touring is not only challenging, but expensive – especially with the level of ambition Eurovision is showing here. The production isn’t stopping off in small venues, but is planting a heart-shaped flag in the biggest venues in Europe. Arenas like London’s O2, Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome and Stockholm’s Avicii Arena have capacities of 20,000 people or more. That’s a lot of seats – and floorspace – to fill.
For his part, when asked about the financial side of the Live Tour, Green said that creating it wasn’t driven by making money:
“I didn’t approach this from a money point of view. I approached it because I wanted to do something special for 70 because you’re right, it is difficult to make money from touring unless you’re doing 153 stadiums!
But that wasn’t the impetus to do this. It was more to mark our 70th and to get out there and give more people the opportunity to experience what we all love.”
Some may question whether this tour is financially sustainable. But when you go to a friend’s party, do you spend it worrying how much the decorations set them back?
The Tour begins at London’s O2 Arena (Geograph Britain & Ireland)
The Travelling Players
The Eurovision Song Contest Live Tour is planned to be a celebration – and it will highlight this year more than any of the 69 that came before. That’s because it’ll be headlined by ten of Eurovision 2026’s artists, joined by a group of ‘Icon’ artists from the Contest’s past (to be announced) and guest performers at each stop on the tour.
In our conversation, Martin Green confirmed that every artist competing at Eurovision 2026 will be obliged to take part in the tour, if chosen, as part of their contract. From there, Green will be part of the group that decides which artists get the gig:
“So it’s going to be a conversation between the producers of the tour and myself. We have the final say and it’s about curating together a soundtrack for a great night out. So as we start to see the songs come through, we’ll start to piece together a great playlist for the night.”
With the tour a condition of competition, some may be concerned that it might clash with some artists’ own touring plans. After doing well at the Contest, would going on a group tour be the best thing for them while their stock is potentially at its highest? Green tackled this question head on:
“We got the conversation in very, very early to the members [broadcasters] that we wanted to do this and flagged it. And I think what we’re finding is that if they’ve got the opportunity to do a ten city arena tour, they’re really willing to do that.”
The tour’s scheduling is also designed to finish before July and August. This should give the competing artists the chance to shift from the Eurovision circuit to their own concerts, right in time for the peak summer season and prime festival spots:
“It’s all over by the end of June, essentially, so they can go into the July, August, September festival season. But I think all of them see the value – it’s not very often you get to do a ten city arena tour.”
The 70th Anniversary Tour (EBU)
One Night Only – Or Here to Stay?
Rather than being not very often, this tour might be a one-time opportunity. Eurovision’s current plan is that the Live Tour will be a one-off – a special event not to be missed, or it’ll be missed forever.
When ESC Insight asked Martin Green to confirm whether this tour would definitely run once, though, the Eurovision Director did admit that it had the potential to become a more permanent fixture in the Contest calendar should it be successful:
“I’m a big fan of trying things out and seeing what works, what doesn’t work and what the fans like and what they tell us they like after the tour, et cetera, et cetera. So, you know, let’s see.
But, very much at the moment, this is a one off for 70 years.”
It’s easy to understand why Eurovision’s organisers are approaching this with some caution. After all, many independent organisers and promoters have created their own Eurovision tours, with varying results.
In 2024, the much-vaunted Eurovision on Tour promised a similar show to fans, but struggled to sell venues around a tenth of the size of the arenas the EBU has booked for 2026. The financial issues that followed meant the tour didn’t finish its full schedule. But Eurovision’s organisers will hope that this tour, fully backed by the contest’s official branding and marketing machine, will fare differently.
What also makes the Live Tour a risk is that it represents a radical shift in how Eurovision approaches its audience. Rather than ask its fans to travel to it, the Song Contest is now making the journey to them. Green told us during our conversation that trying to reach people who wouldn’t otherwise come to the Contest was a crucial goal:
“There’s an enormous amount of people who wouldn’t dream of taking a flight and [book] a hotel to come to the show wherever it is. And hopefully this will give them an opportunity to experience that.”
Fans enjoy Eurovision live in Basel (EBU / Sarah Louise Bennett)
If You Build It, Will They Come?
Instead of being a week-long European escape, the Eurovision Song Contest Live Tour is aiming to be something Green said repeatedly in our chat: “a great night out.”
It’s a chance for people to access the Contest on a new level, one that requires less of the obsessive passion and willingness to travel thousands of miles to watch what is effectively a TV production on set. Now, in theory, the Tour is the perfect taster for the main course that is the Contest itself.
That naturally creates a shift in focus – away from the core fanbase that supports Eurovision year-round, to attracting new ones. ESC Insight asked Martin Green whether the Tour was part of a conscious shift to bring new eyes to the Contest, and he stated it would be a strong indicator of what Eurovision’s strategy will be moving forward:
“We’re interested to see how it goes and what that tells us about what we do in the future. There’s other projects we’re working on to, you know, extend the engagement, do more things.”
Anything that has the potential to share the Contest with somebody new has to be worth trying, and worth believing in. It’s much easier to drag along a friend, or a family member, to an arena on the other side of town than the other side of the Continent.
But this Tour is being announced during a tumultuous time for the Contest. Many fans feel alienated by the show’s direction, including many who the tour’s organisers would have seen as reliable ticket buyers not so long ago. Today, that’s not as certain – and with so many tickets to sell, that’s a concern. While you can imagine many will hear about Eurovision artists performing on their doorstep through marketing and brand awareness, will fans give it the positive word-of-mouth it may need to succeed?
Viewing figures were lower for the Eurovision 2026 draw (EBU)
Data across social media and digital channels shows fan engagement with Eurovision is weakening. Figures for Monday’s Allocation Draw stand at 93,000 views on YouTube, Compare that to last year’s draw, which (albeit with more time to gather viewers) is more than double that total with 242,000 YouTube views.
Following publication, an EBU spokesperson confirmed that “Concurrent views for this year’s Draw were up year on year and after 48 hours last year’s draw had 53k views so this year’s figures are higher when you compare like with like.”
ESC Insight asked Green for his feelings on how engaged Eurovision fans are with the Contest:
“I think you’re absolutely right, some of the conversations are more muted at the moment – because I think people are concerned about the reaction they get sometimes when they say they’re a Eurovision fan.”
If being a Eurovision fan is seen as less socially acceptable by others, is a big live tour that relies on pulling in new audiences to be successful the right move?
“The main reasons why I want to do it haven’t changed, regardless of conversation, which is…we know the desire and the demand is out there. Fans talk to us about it and ask us why we never do a tour. And because it’s our 70th, it was a great opportunity to do something very special this year.”
When we asked Green about whether the Tour could help re-engage alienated fans, he told us that fan demand is remaining at similar levels compared to previous years:
“In terms of we’re seeing in activity on demand and sign[ing] up to Eurofan and things like that, we’re pretty much tracking where we’ve been in previous years. Digital numbers are holding up too, so it looks like the desire to be part of the Eurovision community is still as strong as ever.”
Green, and the rest of the Eurovision team, will hope that data translates to sellout dates around Europe this summer.
Martin Green on the Eurovision Live Tour (EBU)
Love On Tour
Eurovision’s big Tour swing comes at a critical time for the Contest.
It’s organisers are clear that this is a chance for fans new and old to celebrate what makes the show great. For them, though, it’s a trial run – a first big step forward into expanding the Contest beyond the fourth wall and into people’s lives more than ever before.
The concerts are not the only project in the works, either. Martin Green was clear during our conversation that the tour is just one part of the 70th anniversary project. More is to come.
“Obviously, with it being our 70th anniversary this year, it’s a great excuse to do some stuff, try some stuff, do more stuff. And there is more to come that we’re working on behind the scenes. So I’m really excited about the future of getting more and more people involved in this, getting exposure for more and more artists and bringing more music into the realm.”
What this means for Eurovision’s future will become clear when the tour has packed up the vans for the final time in Sweden on July 2. This tour could be a one-off experiment, or it could be the beginning of a new brand strategy for the Contest, moving Eurovision into a new era. A contest that comes to us where we’re at if we can’t come to it where we are.
It’s a time of change. Sometimes, change means taking a leap off the ledge into the unknown. If Martin Green is right about the Tour’s prospects, though, then in his words: “The sky’s the limit”.
“We’ve got a fantastic thing, right? This amazing thing that brings a lot of new artists to the floor, different broadcasters from all over the world. And I just, honestly, I just want more people to be able to experience it, right? You know what a great night out it is.
I just think I want to get it out there and share the love.”
This summer, we’ll find out if fans want to share it back.