For about one week in May, the city of Basel will take center stage in the European music world as it hosts the 69th edition of the world’s largest live music event—the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). The ESC is an internationally televised songwriting competition reaching around 160 million viewers worldwide. All countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) can participate in the competition, which is why participants come from across Europe, as well as a few non-European EBU-member countries like Israel and Australia. The competition takes place in the country that won the previous year’s contest, and since Switzerland’s NEMO won the competition in Malmö, Sweden, last year, the ESC will be held in Switzerland this year. Several Swiss cities, including Zürich, Geneva, Bern/Biel, and Basel put in a bid to be the host city, and Basel won the prestigious honor based on many criteria, including its venue facilities, security, public transport links, sustainability, event experience, as well as its ability to accommodate thousands of visiting delegations, crew, fans, and journalists from around the world.

This song contest itself will consist of three live main televised shows in which artists from 37 countries will be competing for the coveted title. Hundreds of thousands of fans will descend on the city to attend the competition in person, or at one of the many public viewing areas. In addition, Basel will offer an unprecedented supporting program throughout the city with over 50 well-known national and international acts who will perform on stages in the ESC Village at the Messe and on the ESC Square at Barfüsserplatz.

With a plethora of side events—concerts, public viewing, parties, parades, museum exhibits, and so much more—Basel residents can expect an extraordinary energy in our charming city on the Rhein. Read on for a brief history of this important annual event, as well as for a summay all of the side events that will take place from May 10-17 in association with the ESC. Check out the individual entries on the calendar for more information about each of the ESC-related daily events; they are specially color-coded in red. To learn more about this year’s ESC, visit the official website at https://eurovision.tv/event/basel-2025.

Brief History of the ESC

As television services were introduced in most European countries in the mid 20th century, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) created the Eurovision Network in 1954 for the exchange and production of common television programs, in order to cost-effectively increase the programming material for national broadcasting organizations. The idea for the Eurovision Network came from the director general of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, whereas the idea for the Eurovision Song Contest would come from RAI, the Italian national broadcasting organization.

The ESC would become the most popular and successful program that the Eurovision Network would produce. It began as a technical experiment in television broadcasting—the live broadcasting of a show in several nations simultaneously. The first ESC was held on May 24, 1956, with seven nations competing: the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, and Italy. However, for technical reasons, the first ESC was not held in Italy but in Switzerland—in addition to the headquarters of EBU being in Switzerland, its central geographical location in Europe made it a natural node for the terrestrial transmitters required for this experiment in live, simultaneous, transnational broadcasting. To reflect the international fashion for Italian popular culture, it was staged in the Swiss-Italian city of Lugano and was hosted in Italian.

Switzerland’s Lys Assia went on to win the first ESC that year, the first of three times that Switzerland took the title in its 68 years! The third time was of course last year, when non-binary Swiss artist NEMO took the title in Malmö with their song, “The Code.” In between, Switzerland won the contest in 1988, when Céline Dion took the title with her song “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi.” The Canadian, who was living in Crans-Montana at the time, was able to participate in the contest as there is no restrictions on the nationalities of the performers or songwriters put forth. And while for the first few contests, each country had to sign in their national language, the rule on performing in your country’s native language changed over the years, alongside rules regarding the number of performers on stage, the inclusion of dance moves, and more recently, the use of backing track vocals (adopted to reduce the number of members needed to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic).

In addition to Céline Dion, some of the best-known ESC winners or participants include Spain’s Julio Iglesias (participant, 1970), Sweden’s ABBA (winner, 1974), Australia’s Olivia Newton-John (participant, 1974), UK’s Brotherhood of Man (winner, 1976), UK’s Katrina and The Waves (winner, 1997), Italy’s Måneskin (winner, 2021), and UK’s Sam Ryder (runner-up, 2022), among others. There is no rule against returning artists, so some artists, like Johnny Logan of Ireland, have even won multiple times. Ireland and Sweden tie as the most successful countries at the ESC (with seven wins each), and Luxembourg, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have each won five times.

The Main ESC Shows

The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 will take place at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel and will consist of three televised live shows: two semi-finals—one on Tuesday, May 13, and one on Thursday, May 15—and the Grand Final on Saturday, May 17. Thirty-one of the 37 participating broadcasters will compete in the semi-finals on May 13 and 15, with the top 10 from each qualifying for the Grand Final on Saturday May 17, based on public votes. The five countries who via their broadcasters make the biggest financial contribution towards the organization of the contest—the “Big Five” France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK—are pre-qualified for the Grand Final, as is the host country, this year Switzerland, who was drawn to perform 19^th in the running order.

How it Works

There is a comprehensive set of rules concerning participation that has evolved over the decades, but the main ones relating to competing songs and artists are:

• Songs must be original and no more than 3 minutes in length.
• Lead vocals must be performed live.
• No more than six performers can take to the stage during any one performance.

In each show, after all songs have been performed, each country will give two sets of points (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12) to their favorite songs; one set is given by a jury of five music industry professionals from that country, and one set is given by viewers watching the show in that country. Viewers can vote by telephone, SMS, and through the official app (“Basel – Welcome Home”); each viewer can vote up to 20 times. Note that out of fairness, you cannot vote for your own country!

In the semi-finals, only those countries who took part in that specific show, and those in non-participating countries—the “Rest of the World”—can vote (along with two or three of the “Big Five” who are already in the Grand Final). In the Grand Final, all competing countries and the “Rest of the World” can vote. Also, in the semi-finals only the audience televote points are awarded and count towards qualification—the jury scores are retained for back-up purposes. 

At the end of the Grand Final, the song that has received the most points wins the iconic trophy, and is performed once more. If two or more countries tie in points, the winner is determined based on which received the most points from the public televote.

Tickets: The tickets for all nine shows, which include the dress rehearsals and afternoon preview shows, sold out in minutes back in January, and a second round of ticket sales in March met the same fate. To accommodate the huge ticket demand, the neighboring large St. Jakob-Park Stadium will be converted to a large public viewing area, “Arena plus,” for 36,000 fans on the day of the Grand Final, May 17. A spectacular pre-show with Swiss and international artists and Eurovision stars will be followed by the projection of the Grand Final on gigantic mega screens; tickets for the Arena plus were also sold out in less than a day.

There is, however, an official re-sale platform, TicketCorner fanSALE, where ticket holders for the shows or the Arena plus can resell their tickets in the event that they are not able to make it. Tickets on this site can only be offered at face-value (excluding applicable fees); visit https://www.fansale.ch/tickets/all/eurovision-song-contest/425082. Refrain from purchasing tickets on any third-party platforms such as Viagogo, as the organizers can’t guarantee their validity.

Transportation: Public transport is a must! To accommodate the large crowds, there will be extended public transport services during the Eurovision week, especially at night. Holders of tickets for one of the ESC-shows, the Arena plus, and the EuroClub can travel for free on the TNW network, Regio Verkehrsverbund Lörrach (RVL), as well as the Distribus lines in second class, on the day of the event and until 05:00 on the following day.

Official ESC-Related Events

In addition to the ESC shows and the Arena plus viewing Arena at St. Jakobs-Park Stadium, there are a number of free and ticketed official ESC-related events planned around the city to make for an 8-day-long fun spectacle for guests and locals alike—check our calendar for details.

• Opening Ceremony (May 11): This year’s ESC Opening Ceremony will include a parade from Marktplatz to Messeplatz from 14:00-16:00. Also, stores in town will be open from 13:00-18:00.
• Eurovision Village (May 10-17): The Eurovision Village, which will take place indoors in Hall 1 of the Basel Messe (capacity of 12,000), invites visitors to a free and varied daily program with live concerts, public viewings, culinary offerings, and other exciting activities.
• Eurovision Square (May 10-17): The open-air stage at Barfüsserplatz present a free daily program of orchestral, jazz, funk, and pop. Each day has a different musical theme.
• EuroClub & Café (May 10-17): The EuroClub & Café will be held in the Event Hall at Messe Basel, right across from Eurovision Village. It offers a meeting place in a relaxed atmosphere in the afternoon and club atmosphere at night.
• Eurovision Street and Boulevard (May 10-17): There will be two party-spirit promenades that will connect the Eurovision-themed venues in Basel and serve as the ideal meeting places for Eurovision fans—the “Eurovision Street” in Steinenvorstadt and “Eurovision Boulevard” between Basel SBB railway station and Badischer Bahnhof.

Other ESC-Related Events

In addition to the official events listed above, many Basel venues will be organizing their own ESC-related events throughout the week (see our calendar for details); those listed below are among some of the larger events and public viewing.

• Public Viewing at Markthalle Basel on May 13, 15, and 17.
• Public Viewing at the Sommercasino on May 13, 15, and 17.
• Public Viewing at the Kulturkirche Paulus on May 13, 15, and 17 with pre-viewing concerts
• ESC celebrations in the Offenen Kirche Elisabethen from May 10-18 with an open-air “Swiss Square” daily starting at 11:00 and a “Disco in the Church” starting at 18:00 daily.
• ESC celebrations at the Helvetia Campus from May 11-17, including a party mile on the campus grounds with live music, food trucks, viewing area, and other attractions.

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