[2026] Nieuwtjes en geruchten voor het ESF in Wenen #9

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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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

”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.”

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?

Data across social media and digital channels shows fan engagement with Eurovision is weakening. Most dramatically, viewing figures for Monday’s Allocation Draw saw the number of YouTube viewers drop from around 242,000 last year to just 93,000 this year (at the time of writing this report), a drop of over 60% year-on-year. 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.

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.”

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.

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Op donderdag 15 januari 2026 15:29 schreef blackswangreen het volgende:

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Ik begrijp niet precies wat Green hiermee bedoelt. Nou heeft hij nog nooit in z'n leven een interessant antwoord gegeven, maar heeft hij het nou over een bepaald stigma dat rust op het zijn van Eurovisiefan? Dat stigma was juist vrijwel weg, zeker onder jongeren, met dank aan acts als Maneskin. De EBU heeft dit zelf om zeep geholpen. Jongeren willen nu niks met Eurovisie te maken hebben om een andere reden.

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Op donderdag 15 januari 2026 17:17 schreef Cee het volgende:
Fun fact wie heeft er op 25 juni ook een concert in Kopenhagen?

SPOILER

Om spoilers te kunnen lezen moet je zijn ingelogd. Je moet je daarvoor eerst gratis Registreren. Ook kun je spoilers niet lezen als je een ban hebt.

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Op donderdag 15 januari 2026 17:44 schreef BillDauterive het volgende:
Maar het is dan dus 10 performances van dat jaar + een aantal oude songfestivalgasten?
Nou, van vorig jaar vind ik de helft van de top 10 al vreselijk Wie gaat daar nou kaartjes voor kopen? Dat gaat toch floppen...

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Op vrijdag 16 januari 2026 09:20 schreef TheVulture het volgende:

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Ik ben bang dat die man gewoon oprecht denkt dat hij aan de goede kant staat, terwijl ze het hele proces aan alle kanten zodanig hebben gemanipuleerd dat een evenwichte discussie nooit plaats kon vinden.

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Waar bevindt het ESF zich na 70 jaar?

Ik denk dat na 70 jaar het ESF zich op een punt bevindt, niet in staat zich af te wenden van de gebeurtenissen in de wereld. Dat is logisch met iets zo groot, en zo veel mensen die het komen bezoeken. Niemand moet daar naïef over zijn.

Maar aan de andere kant heeft de show 35 deelnemers. De tickets waren in recordtijd uitverkocht. We hebben een tour aangekondigd. Het is onze 70e verjaardag. De context is belangrijk. En iedereen weet dat. Je hoort nooit de zwijgende meerderheid. Maar er zijn een heleboel fans die vinden dat we het juiste hebben gedaan. Dat het ESF niet politiek gemaakt moet worden door externe krachten, en een plaats moet blijven die toont dat een betere wereld mogelijk is. En dat is wat grote culturele en sportevenementen doen. Ze bieden tegenwicht aan mensen die ons willen verdelen. Er zijn plekken waar we op een betere manier willen leven, en het ESF doet dat op een krachtige manier.

Je kan beredeneren dat als de wereld harder wordt, het doel van het ESF belangrijker wordt. Ons grootste wapen tegen degenen die ons willen verdelen, zijn massademonstraties van eenheid, plezier, diversiteit en daarmee hebben we deze keer een krachtigere stem dan ooit.

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Op dinsdag 20 januari 2026 21:08 schreef Greys het volgende:
Ik dacht ook dat ze juist méér zouden gaan letten op het welzijn en voldoende rust van deelnemers. Dat rijmt voor mij niet echt met 'oh ja en jullie moeten dit ook nog doen naast alle reeds bestaande verplichtingen om onze socials te vullen enzo'.

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Tonight I was supposed to give out Norway’s points during the Eurovision final, even though I am thankful that I was given the opportunity to do so, I’ve taken the decision to withdraw. United by music, Eurovision’s motto is the reason why I do music, unite people bring them together, but right now those words are just empty words there is a genocide going on and I am asking you all to please open up your eyes, open up your heart and let love lead you to the truth it’s right in front of you. Free Palestine!