The rehearsals for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest kick off today in Liverpool with the first set of countries from the First Semifinal gracing the stage for the first time.

The first and second rehearsals will be held behind closed doors and will not be open to the press. These rehearsals will be running from 30 April- 6 May.

Today the following countries will have their first rehearsal in Liverpool:

  • Norway
  • Malta
  • Serbia
  • Latvia
  • Portugal
  • Ireland
  • Croatia
  • Switzerland
  • Moldova
  • Sweden

The EBU will be releasing a short clip from today’s rehearsals on the Official Eurovision Song Contest’s TikTok  channel. Whilst footage from the second rehearsals will be published on the official Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel.

Photo credit: BBC/ EBU


Sanjay (Sergio) joined esctoday.com in December 2006 as an editor. He was appointed as the Head of Press of ESCToday.com in 2011. Hereafter in 2016 he was promoted as the Head of International Relations & Communications at ESCToday. Sergio has covered the Eurovision Song Contest live 22 times since 2000, having worked for several international magazines and media outlets.