Make sure you mark off the 8th, 10th and 12th of May 2018 in your calendar, and make sure you book hotel and flights for Lisbon, Portugal if you want to experience the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest live. If you haven’t done so, it is time to start planning next year’s contest.
In May, Portugal won the Eurovision Song Contest for the very first time in its history. Keeping up the tradition of the winning country hosting the following year, we are heading to South West Europe for May 2018.
Today date and arena was finally confirmed and it is therefore time to look at the facts as we know them so far.
We are very pleased to announce that RTP will be hosting the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon. Both the City and the venue have presented exemplary proposals, and we look forward to working together to make Portugal’s first ever Eurovision the most exciting one yet. We would like to congratulate RTP on their professional and detailed assessments of all the bids.
– Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest
Dates
The two semi-finals for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest will take place on the 8th and 10th of May 2018, with the Grand Final being held two days later, on Saturday the 12th of May.
If you want to experience the entire Eurovision Song Contest, you should be prepared for rehearsals probably starting the 29th of April.
Location
Just as expected, the MEO Arena (Originally Pavilhão Atlântico) in the capital, Lisbon will host the event. MEO is the largest arena in the country with a capacity of up to 20,000 people.
The arena is designed by Portuguese architect Regino Cruz, which was built for the Expo’ 98 exhibition. The multi purpose arena has been used for things like football, Web Summit and also big international concerts with artists like Madonna, Justin Bieber and One Direction.
Tickets
If you want tickets for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, it is not yet time to purchase them. Usually tickets goes on sale in December or January, so you have a little time left to save up.
Commonly, OGAE fan clubs receive an amount of tickets for their members, while the rest goes on public sale. Usually tickets for the final are sold out pretty quickly, often within about half an hour. It is unfortunately not uncommon either that the online system goes down leaving many throughout Europe quite frustrated.
Tickets for the semi-finals usually take a little longer to sell out, just as it is not a problem to get tickets for the dress rehearsals. Usually tickets are sold for second and third dress rehearsal for each for the three live shows, meaning the jury (semi)final the evening before, and the family shows in the afternoon on each live broadcast day.
Theme and Slogan
No official announcement has been made as of yet regarding theme artwork or slogan. However, the backdrop of the press conference featured what looks to be central elements of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest theme art. From that, we now know that “water” will be a central theme for the first ever Eurovision in Portugal.
All things flow. And through them we too are connected. That has been the main key in Portugal’s history, bridging not only with the rest of Europe, but also with Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania. By sea.
– RTP
One you might meet, if you go to Portugal for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest is the Portuguese fan who in Kyiv gave us his very own version of the previous Eurovision winners from Wild Dances to 1944. You don’t want to miss this opportunity for an extra smile today.
