Eurovision Song Contest live tour cancelled because of ‘unforeseen challenges’
The tour was to celebrate the song contest’s 70th anniversary with a series of shows across 10 European cities, including London.
The first official Eurovision Song Contest live tour, which was set to visit London this summer, has been cancelled because of “unforeseen challenges”.
The organisation has apologised to fans in a message posted to the official Eurovision website, where it has announced the event will be rescheduled at a later date.
The Eurovision Song Contest was due to hit the road this summer for a live tour to celebrate its 70th anniversary with a series of shows across 10 European cities, including London.
On Friday night a message from Martin Green, the director of Eurovision Song Contest, was posted to the organisation’s official website.
It said: “We regret to announce that we’ve made the difficult decision to postpone the Eurovision Song Contest Live Tour 2026.
“We have encountered unforeseen challenges that despite the best efforts of our team, the producers, and promoters we have been unable to resolve.
“To the thousands of fans who bought tickets, thank you, we will ensure you will be refunded in full as soon as possible.
“We look forward to relaunching the live tour when we can ensure the world-class experience that our fans expect.
“Our focus remains on delivering an incredible Eurovision Song Contest in May.
“The 70th anniversary shows will be celebrated with 35 amazing artists performing to record sell-out audiences in Vienna and hundreds of millions watching around the world.”
The show was expected to feature acts from the past seven decades of the song contest, as well as 10 competing artists from this year’s competition.
It also promised surprise special guests to perform live on stage in every city.
In January, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs Eurovision, said the tour would include the stars of this year’s final, along with previous entrants.
The EBU said fans could expect Norway’s 2023 entrant Alessandra Mele and Guy Sebastian, who represented Australia in 2015, among the acts performing during the live tour.
It also said Finnish band Lordi, who entered the competition in 2006, Eurovision’s 2005 winner, Greek singer Helena Paparizou and the UK’s 1997 winner Katrina, of Katrina and the Waves, were part of the tour line-up.
Irish singer Johnny Logan, who won the contest three times, once as a composer, and Verka Serduchka, who represented Ukraine in 2007 were also set to join the tour.
The Eurovision Song Contest live tour was expected to kick off in June in London, and was due to visit Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Denmark, before concluding in Stockholm, Sweden in July.
