Eurovision 2023: When is it, how to watch, who's performing and ...

The world's biggest and longest-running music competition is back for its 67th year. With the first semi-final now out of the way, the 2023 contest is already proving to live up to its bonkers reputation. More than 160 million viewers are expected to tune in to this week's final where the UK's hopeful Mae Muller will battle against 25 other acts for the glass microphone trophy.

But how does it all work? Here's everything you need to know about the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. 

The first semi-final, which aired on May 9, saw Norway, Serbia, Portugal, Croatia, Switzerland, Israel, Moldova, Sweden, Czechia and Finland make it through to the final. Although Ireland have a record seven wins, they haven't qualified since 2018 and this year's entrant Wild Youth was also eliminated along with acts from Azerbaijan, Latvia, Malta and the Netherlands.

The second semi-final will air on Thursday 11 May and the competition will culminate with the Grand Final on Saturday 13 May at the Liverpool Arena. Both shows are kicking off at 8pm BST.

Liverpool is hosting Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine, which by convention should be staging the competition having won it last year. However the country is unable to put on the event due to the Russian invasion. Liverpool, which is twinned with the Ukrainian city of Odesa, beat Glasgow in the final run-off to host this year’s contest in Kyiv’s place. Ukraine’s national broadcaster UA:PBC will be showing the event, organisers have said.

Thousands of passengers travelling to Liverpool for the Eurovision final over the weekend will be impacted by upcoming train strikes. Aslef drivers will be staging a walk-out on Friday May 12 while RMT members will be striking on the day of the final (Saturday May 13).

Those travelling should plan their journeys in advance and check with their train operator on how to get around the strike. Network Rail has provided advice which can be found here and has warned that its services will be busy throughout the week.

There are 37 countries participating this year, and the competition in Liverpool comprises two semi-finals and a Grand Final. Six countries automatically go through the final: last year’s winner Ukraine and the so-called Big Five countries who fund Eurovision more than the others (UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain). A draw was made in January to determine which of the two semi-finals the other countries would compete it. Ten from each semi will join the other six in the Grand Final.

For the first time in the competition's history, the BBC is broadcasting both semi-finals as well as the Grand Final live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The first semi-final is available on iPlayer now.

The upcoming shows will also be available to watch on the Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel.

For those watching from the US, Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir will be providing commentary on Peacock for all three shows from 3pm ET/ 12pm PT.

After her successful stint hosting the Olivier Awards in April, Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham is back to present Eurovision. The actress, who also recently starred in ITV's Tom Jones, impressed again at Tuesday's semi-final by speaking in French and showcasing her singing voice. Waddingham and co-presenters Alesha Dixon, and Julia Sanina – the frontwoman of Ukrainian rock band The HARDKISS – will return for Thursday's show. Eurovision veteran Graham Norton will join the hosting line-up for the Grand Final.

The comedian and chat show host, who took over from Terry Wogan as the UK's commentator in 2008, will combine his usual duties with his new role as co-host. Norton will take turns in the commentary box with former Great British Bake-Off host Mel Giedroyc for the final.

Radio DJs Rylan and Scott Mills, who also have their fair share of experience covering Eurovision, will be bringing audiences analysis for the semi-finals.

The 25-year-old English singer-songwriter from London will represent the UK on Saturday with her entry I Wrote a Song which she co-wrote with the Brit-nominated songwriter Lewis Thompson.

Muller first burst onto the music scene with her appearance in Mika's music video for Grace Kelly aged nine. Since then, she has released three EPs and an album, supported best-selling girl group Little Mix on tour in 2019 and performed on Jimmy Fallon and The Voice US. 

Muller is best known for her single Better Days with Neiked and Polo G which became a top 10 US hit and went viral on TikTok. 

It’s complicated. Until recently, voting comprised a mixture of tallies from the juries of individual countries with an element of public voting. However there has been a big shake-up to the voting system this year after irregular voting patterns were discovered among the juries of six countries during a semi-final last year. Essentially Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and San Marino were all suspected of voting for each other.

So this year, for the first time, juries from individual countries are banned from deciding which nations progress from the semis to the Grand Final. Rather, this is now be determined solely by a public vote, as happened last night (favourites Sweden and Finland got through, Ireland was knocked out). And for the first time too, viewers from countries not taking part (so-called Rest of World countries) are able to vote for their favourite songs (they’ll have to pay €0.99 per vote for the privilege). Readers may have noticed that UK audiences weren’t able to vote in last night’s semi. Why was this? It’s because the six countries with a bye to the final are only allowed to vote in one semi each. This was randomly allotted earlier this year – and the UK got Thursday’s semi-final.

But that’s just the semis. The rankings in the all-important Grand Final will still be decided by a combination of the points from countries’ individual juries (“douze points from Sarajevo” etc.) and votes from viewers. Each person can vote up to 20 times but will be unable to select their own country’s entry. However there is a tweak this year (are you keeping up?). Until now, votes in the final have been weighted 50-50 between juries and the public vote. But votes from new Rest of World countries will now be combined to have the equivalent weight of one participating country. This will alter the 50-50 ratio to give the general public a 50.6 per cent say in the winner, versus a 49.4 per cent say for the juries. Which means that Eurovision has basically become a People’s Competition. Knotty isn’t it? And you thought it was just a cheesy singing competition. Of course, the new rules still won’t wipe out political voting: the juries from Greece and Cyprus will still probably give each other maximum points.

Comedian and Doctor Who actress Catherine Tate will be this year's Eurovision spokesperson, meaning she will announce the results of the UK's national jury live from the Liverpool Arena at the final on Saturday. “It’s very exciting to be announcing the iconic ‘douze points’ at Eurovision,” she said and joked: “It’s just a foot in the door really as next year I hope to be the UK entrant.” Other 

Yes, all lead vocals must be live. This includes any over-dubs by the singer that follow the song’s melody. Performers can choose between pre-recorded backing vocals, live backing singers (either on or off stage) or a combination of live and recorded backing vocals. Songs must be original compositions and no longer than three minutes long. No more than six performers are allowed on stage during any one song. 

Pre-recorded backing tracks were first allowed in 1973 so long as all the instruments that were pre-recorded were also seen being “performed” – or mimed – on stage. This rule was made redundant by the dawn of electronic music and scrapped in 1997, the year after Gina G’s band had to cart massive computers onto the stage to perform Ooh Aah… Just A Little Bit because those were the instruments on which the song was partially created.

It’s an exercise in soft kitsch power, really. Although 160 million viewers around the world can’t be bad for Europe’s various tourist boards. The host cities benefit too. An estimated 100,000 extra people will visit Liverpool over this year’s Eurovision bringing in an estimated £250 million to the local economy. They’ve still had to pay for staging the event, mind (the Government has also chipped in £10 million and the BBC are expected to spend between £8 million and £17 million on broadcasting the event, a bit of which will come from that Government contribution).

Australians have always loved Eurovision. Despite being 7,000-odd miles away from Europe, the country was invited to perform during the interval of the competition’s semi-finals in 2014. The following year Australia was given a one-off chance to compete in the actual finals due to it being Eurovision’s fiftieth anniversary. Singer Guy Sebastian came fifth and so impressed the Eurovision hierarchy that Australia was allowed to return annually as a full-time competitor. If Australia wins the contest then it doesn’t mean that participants would jet off to Sydney for the following year’s bash. A special rule means that a victorious Australia would have to pick a European co-host to lay on the competition on its behalf.

And Azerbaijan? Well, the “Euro” in Eurovision isn’t really geographical. Rather it stems from the fact that the contest is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which comprises broadcasters from counties in Europe and beyond. According to the EBU’s website, it has 112 member organisations from 56 countries with an additional 30 associate members in Asia, Africa and elsewhere. Full-time members also include broadcasters from Jordan and Tunisia.

Americans have historically viewed Eurovision as a quaint and eccentric curio. Things started to change in 2016 when some 50 million US households were able to watch it for the first time thanks to a deal between the EBU and Viacom. Then in 2020 the contest got the Will Ferrell treatment in the comedy film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga in which it was, largely, portrayed as a quaint and eccentric curio (although the film did receive an Oscar nomination for best original song). Last year, broadcaster NBC launched its own US-only version. The American Song Contest pitted 56 performers against each other: one from each of the US’s 50 states, one from the capital Washington DC, plus one from each of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, US Virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands. Oklahoma won. The contest was not repeated in 2023.  Still, at least Americans can vote in the actual Eurovision now - through the official app or by visiting here.

Russia was banned from Eurovision following its invasion of Ukraine last year. Organisers explained the expulsion by saying that the event should stand for “the basic and ultimate values of democracy”. Following the ban, Russia’s state broadcasters suspended their membership of the EBU, preventing them from taking part in future competitions too.

They’re not banned, but Montenegro, North Macedonia and Bulgaria won’t be appearing at this year’s contest as they’ve said they can’t afford the registration fees. This fee was pushed up by Russia’s exit, meaning that other countries had to pay more.

It can be. ABBA (1974), Celine Dion (1988) and Olivia Newton-John (1974) went on to become global superstars after Eurovision. The contest has also helped sustain the careers of artists who’ve already made it, such as Michael Ball (1992), Cliff Richard (1968) and Lulu (1969). And it has given boosts to performers in the later stages of their careers (Katrina and the Waves, Engelbert Humperdinck and Bonnie Tyler). 

Måneskin, the Italian winners from 2021, are now huge mainstream stars: they played London’s O2 this week, have supported the Rolling Stones and will play Glastonbury next month. Last year’s UK entrant Sam Ryder has done pretty well for himself too. But for every artist who makes it, dozens don’t. Four words: Scooch, Jemini, James Newman.