Eurovision 2023: everything you need to know about the Liverpool extravaganza

“Traditionally,” the site writes, “it can be easier to secure tickets for the Jury and Family Shows”. Both portions encompass a full run through of the show but are not televised.   

Ticket prices are yet to be confirmed, but last year they ranged from £132 to £308 for the final round, £35 to £132 for the family show, and £18 to £220 for the jury shows and semi-finals, according to the Evening Standard. 

The Eurovision site recommends that “you sign up to the official Eurovision Song Contest newsletter and subscribe to [their] social media channels (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook) to be the first to find out how to secure tickets”. 

Who’s hosting the show? 

Hannah Waddingham, the Ted Lasso and Sex Education star, is joining the hosting team for this year’s contest. Joining her will be singer and Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina. The three will be joined by Graham Norton on 13 May for the grand final, which more than 160 million people are expected to watch globally. 

Norton has hosted Eurovision since 2009, but “this year is even more special”, he told the BBC News saying, “and I personally feel a big responsibility to make our Ukrainian colleagues proud”. 

Joining him as co-commentator for the final will be actress and comedian, Mel Giedroyc. Scott Mills and Rylan Clark, the BBC Radio 2 presenters, will commentate on the semi-final round, while Ukrainian broadcaster Timur Miroshnychenko hosts the opening ceremony from BBC One’s Morning Live with presenter Sam Quek, said BBC.

Who’s projected to win? 

EurovisionWorld has Ukraine as favourites, with their electronic duo Tvorchi having a 22% chance of winning. In second place is Sweden on 13% followed by Norway on 9%. The UK, whose entry will be decided in early March, comes fifth in this ranking with a 5% chance of winning. 

Eurovisionfun has similar projections, but a slightly different top-five ranking, with theirs reading: Ukraine, Italy, Sweden, Spain and UK.  

However, changes by the EBU to this year’s voting could make it a hard one to predict. The changes are: 

• Only viewer votes will decide countries qualifying from semi-finals.
• Viewers in non-participating countries will be able to vote online. 
• Jury votes will, as before, be combined with viewer votes to decide the final result.
• The two semi-finals, 10 from each, will now be decided solely based on the votes cast by viewers of the competition, rather than a combination of a jury and public vote as has been the case since 2009. 

“These changes,” said Martin Österdahl, the Eurovision Song Contest’s executive supervisor, “acknowledge the immense popularity of the show by giving more power to the audience of the world’s largest live music event.”

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/arts-life/culture/music/959788/eurovision-2023-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-liverpool