All the ways you can follow what’s happening behind the scenes at Wiener Stadthalle
On Friday 1 May the artists of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest will start landing in our Host City. But you don’t have to wait two weeks until the Live Shows to catch a glimpse of what they’re planning to show you.
Ahead of the First Semi-Final on Tuesday 12 May, the Second Semi-Final on Thursday 14 May and the Grand Final on Saturday 16 May, the 35 acts bringing Vienna 2026 to life will be rehearsing on stage, hanging around backstage, and letting us get to know them a little bit better. We’re going to be capturing all of that and sharing it with you.
From our Drop-In Studio backstage, we’ll be meeting the ‘Class of ’26’ and filming some top-secret behind the scenes videos with them – which you won’t want to miss! Follow the Eurovision Song Contest across all our official channels to keep up to date with your new fave famous faces.
But there’s plenty we can tell you about already!
Here’s your guide to all the ways you’ll be able to join us as we prepare to bring you the 70th Eurovision Song Contest from Vienna:
The Eurovision Live Blog of First Rehearsals
On Saturday 2 May, the artists of Vienna 2026 will be stepping out onto the Wiener Stadthalle stage for the very first time. We’ll be seated right there in the arena and ready to share with you everything we see.
You’ll be able to follow the Live Blog of the First Rehearsals from the very start, via our Reddit megathread. The Eurovision Song Contest has its own subreddit and that’s where we’ll be guiding you through what’s happening on stage, for all 35 First Rehearsals. From pyro to props and from choreo to clothes, this is your exclusive insight into how the performances of Vienna 2026 are going to pan out.
Plus, you can join in on the chatter; questions about each artist’s staging are welcome. And we’re going to be asking you some stuff, too!
First Look Photos
If the buzz from the Live Blog gets you all hyped up, here’s the good news: you won’t have long to wait before you can see some of it for yourself. Approximately 24 hours after their First Rehearsal, you’ll be able to catch a sneak peek at how your favourite song is gonna look up there on that Wiener Stadthalle stage.
Over on Instagram and Facebook, we’ll be publishing a selection of gorge pics from their run-throughs, so that viewers can get a little preview of what they’ll be watching on television on 12 | 14 | 16 May.
But if that only ends up whetting your appetite for Vienna 2026 even further, just wait a few more days and then there’ll be the…
First Look Videos
We’ll be sharing ‘as-seen-on-TV’ preview clips of all 35 performances, too. Across the Eurovision Song Contest social channels we’ll be releasing individual videos from the artists’ rehearsals at the Wiener Stadthalle, so you can get truly acquainted with all the LEDs, the lewks and the luscious locks ahead of our three Live Shows the following week.
Not long after their premieres on our socials, the preview clips will also be shared on our YouTube channel as a catch-all compilation show.
The Eurovision Song Contest Podcast
If you want to hear first-hand from the artists on life in the backstage bubble, there’s no better way than via the Eurovision Song Contest podcast. Our host Steve Holden has got an access-all-areas pass like no other, and he’s not afraid to use it!
Steve will be bringing you daily episodes of the podcast for the whole two weeks. On it, he’ll be speaking to our talented tunesters from the heart of the Contest: as they’ve just come off stage from rehearsals; as they hang around backstage waiting to perform for your votes in the Live Shows; and as they react to results, too.
There are also a few extra-special episodes planned while we’re in Vienna, as well as appearances from some true Eurovision icons and legends!
New episodes of the Eurovision Song Contest podcast are made available right here, and there are plenty to catch up on from recent weeks, such as chats with Greece’s Akylas, Moldova’s Satoshi and Bulgaria’s DARA.
The Turquoise Carpet
The Turquoise Carpet event on Sunday 10 May will mark the official starting point of Eurovision week in Vienna and we’ll be streaming the whole experience live on the Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel from 17:00 CEST.
Fashionistas should head to our TikTok channel to catch an extra-special glimpse of all 35 looks. We’ll be showing you the moment the artists transition from laidback leisure to carpet catwalk-ready!
This will be the only time when all 35 delegations appear together in Vienna. In alphabetical order, each will walk from the Burgtheater across the Turquoise Carpet toward City Hall, with Austria emerging last as the Host Country.
Every delegation will be greeted with music that represents their country, while the event is set to culminate with JJ’s winning song for Austria, Wasted Love, performed with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna.
About 30,000 spectators are expected, and you’re invited to watch from home, too.
The new Eurovision Song Contest App
Download the all-new Eurovision Song Contest app to be kept up to date with the latest news, and to enjoy a complete guide to the 70 years of Eurovision history. Available from the App Store and Google Play.
In the app, you’ll be able to access an exclusive behind-the-scenes glimpse while Eurovision is on the ground during Vienna, rank your favourite songs across every Contest, and get instant updates on everything that’s happening.
New features for the 70th Eurovision Song Contest are My Scoreboard and Eurodex.
With My Scoreboard, you can sort more than just the songs of Vienna 2026; app users are now able to explore every Eurovision Song Contest in its 70-year history, thanks to the Eurodex encyclopaedia feature. Rank your favourite entries from each year and share your personal scoreboard with fellow Eurofans around the world.
My Eurovision Party on Roblox
On Tuesday 5 May, we’re launching My Eurovision Party 2026: an official Eurovision experience built inside Roblox. Not only does it serve as a standalone game, users can also enjoy it as a second-screen platform that runs alongside the live broadcast.
This year’s edition of the game is set in a Viennese alpine festival, in tribute to our Austrian hosts! Players choose a country to represent and join a shared festival world populated by fans. Every action — playing songs, reacting, decorating — simultaneously progresses personal rewards, your country’s ranking and goals shared by the world within the game; a world which will react in real time to the live broadcast.
Eurovision Song Contest Non-Stop Hits
A 24/7 stream of new and classic Eurovision performances, all day and all night on our YouTube channel. Eurovision Song Contest: Non-Stop Hits has returned ahead of Vienna 2026.
Streaming all through Eurovision season, Non-Stop Hits is your new go-to as you get hyped up for the Live Shows in May. The 24/7 stream will be pumping out all the top-tier tunes, all the time, serving as the perfect accompaniment to any Eurovision pre-party, every Eurovision post-party, and even those party-for-one moments; you can sit back and put the remote control away, we’ve got you covered!
Fancy ‘A Little Bit More’?…
It’s turned into something of a tradition on our annual journey towards the Live Shows in May, so of course A Little Bit More is back and bigger than ever ahead of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest.
It’s the YouTube series that brings you alternative versions of this year’s Eurovision songs, serves up creative covers of Contest classics, and catches you by surprise with some revved-up remixes.
The 2026 edition of A Little Bit More is already in full swing, and the artists of Vienna have been delivering the goods, the gags and the all-time greats! And with the 70th Eurovision Song Contest coming up on 12 | 14 | 16 May, our ‘Class of 2026’ has been taking a deep dive into our musical history and emerging with some superb new versions of famous Eurovision faves.
You can catch up on all of them via the Eurovision 2026: A Little Bit More playlist on our YouTube channel.
Don’t forget, if you’re going to be heading to Vienna for the 70th Eurovision Song Contest, there’ll be plenty to explore beyond the Live Shows at Wiener Stadhalle.
Check out our Host City Guide for a whole programme of fan events, official meeting points, Eurovision-themed activities and, of course, the dance floors where you’ll be able to hear those Contest classics!
Thank you for joining us for a 70th year.
