The Vienna-bit of my show-off holiday posts (so far: Zürich, Innsbruck and Salzburg) comes in two parts – the Eurovision bit and all the other Vienna stuff we did. If you have zero interest in Eurovision, stop reading here.
Attending Eurovision was a bucket-list thing for me. Honestly, the effort to make it happen (namely securing accommodation and tickets to the show) was enormous but also absolutely worth it.
There were nine shows (there was a judges show, a dress rehearsal and a live show for each of semi-final one, semi-final two and the grand final). Here’s the thing – you could only buy four tickets in total (effectively that meant between my daughter and I, we could have bought a total of eight tickets).
By some miracle, we managed to get tickets to three shows – seats for the judges Semi Final 1; floor for the live broadcast of Semi Final 1; and floor for the judges Semi Final 2. We were thrilled because it meant that we saw all of the acts.
It was thrilling, and surreal, to hear the Eurovision theme music – truly had to pinch ourselves that we were there.
Pic below is Eva Marija from Luxembourg performing Mother Nature and Austria’s COSMÓ performing Tanzschein.
As it turned out, our ‘restricted view’ seats for the judges show of Semi 1 gave us insight into the mammoth task of the stage crew. I was astounded by the numbers of stage crew – for example if there were five performers on stage, there were also 15 stage crew – filming, moving sets, adjusting props. It was incredible and I think the choreography of the stage crew was often more complex than that of the performers. It was also very much ‘live’ – there were no re-dos for errors.
Pic below is Norway’s Jonas Lovv performing Ya Ya Ya, and Akylas from Greece with Ferto (a crowd favourite).
I had always thought that it was a bit of a furphy when people said ‘it sounded better live’ when comparing to a television performance. Actually, it’s true. There were some performances that lifted the crowd (such as Greece, England and Cyprus) and others that fell flat (including the favourite, Denmark). Naturally we were most excited to see Delta. The show we attended was her first performance – I took a video that ended up going viral (first and last time for everything!). There are dozens of better videos of her performance but mine was the first and shows the pressure on the the ‘seat-belt guy’! (also pictured below is the stunning performance from France’s Monroe).
There were lots of Eurovision-adjacent events happening in Vienna. I pitied the people that were visiting that week and had no interest in Eurovision because it was everywhere – from trams with Eurovision DJs onboard to cafes serving themed cakes, it was inescapable.
- A boat cruise down the Danube River – the playlist was strictly Eurovision and the cocktail list featured a nod to Auri, the 2026 Eurovision mascot.
- Iconic pieces of Austrian Eurovision memorabilia included in the exhibition about the history of Eurovision at the Haus der Geschichte Österreich (that’s JJ’s Wasted Love boat prop and Conchita Wurst’s dress).
- After-parties at the Prater Dome (although my hard-core clubbing days are over, especially on days where I’d already clocked 25,000 steps!)
- Meet-and-greets and interviews with all of the performers (Delta’s was packed!).
- Press opportunities (including being interviewed by the Australian Women’s Weekly!)
Of course, it all culminated in the grand final – we watched at Vienna’s ‘Aussie pub’, Crossfield’s. The winner was a bit of a surprise but the crowd was firmly behind Dara and her very catchy song, Bangaranga. Now, can I get to Bulgaria next year…?
