Tickets for sold-out Eurovision grand final in Red Nose Day prize draw

Tickets for the Eurovision Grand Final sold out in under 40 minutes following high demand upon their release last week.

For use in UK, Ireland or Benelux countries only BBC handout of a computer generated image of how the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest stage will look. The international music show will take place at the 11,000-capacity Liverpool Arena in May, culminating in the grand final on Saturday 13, after the city was chosen to host the competition on behalf of 2022 winners Ukraine. Issue date: Thursday February 2, 2023.

By Harry Stedman, PA

March 13 2023 01:50 PM

Two tickets to the sold-out Eurovision Song Contest grand final will be given away as part of a prize draw for Red Nose Day.

The week-long Liverpool Calling prize draw was announced by Zoe Ball on her BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Monday.

One winner will also enjoy a meet-and-greet with Eurovision presenters Rylan and Scott Mills alongside their tickets, as well as travel expenses and a one-night stay at a top hotel in the host city of Liverpool.

Money raised from the draw will go towards helping those struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and tackling others issues such as homelessness, mental health, and food poverty, as part of Red Nose Day on Friday March 17.

BBC Radio 2 DJ Mills, who has previously commentated on Eurovision semi-finals, said: “Eurovision is one of my favourite events of the year and it’s brilliant that Comic Relief is going to make dreams come true for one lucky Eurovision fan. Head over to Comic Relief’s website and get your entries in. Good luck everyone!”

Samir Patel, chief executive of Comic Relief, which runs Red Nose Day, said: “We are absolutely delighted to offer our supporters the chance to win tickets to the highly anticipated sold-out Eurovision Song Contest grand final, which will no doubt be a truly memorable evening full of surprises.”

Kalush Orchestra, Eurovision winners from Ukraine, performing their first UK gig at Shangri-La’s Truth Stage, during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset last year (PA)

Tickets for the grand final of the international singing competition at the 11,000-capacity Liverpool Arena on May 13 sold out in under 40 minutes after being released last week.

But fans faced technical issues as the Ticketmaster website struggled with the number of people trying to secure tickets to the nine different live shows during the Eurovision week.

The dedicated website page appeared to crash shortly before tickets were due to become available, with issues continuing throughout the sale.

Ukrainian folk-rap group Kalush Orchestra was crowned winner at last year’s competition in Turin, Italy, but the UK was asked to host this year’s event due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. UK entry Sam Ryder came second in 2022.

Red Nose Day, organised by British charity Comic Relief, has been held since 1988 and raised more than £42 million last year.

Entries for the prize draw can be made at comicrelief.com/win.