What it's really like behind-the-scenes of the 'world's largest' live music event

More than half a million people stepped out in the idyllic town of Basel, Switzerland, to celebrate and attend the 69th Eurovision Song Contest this month and its various festivities – while millions watched at home across the globe.

A total of over 2.21 million viewers tuned in from Australia over the course of the week to watch the annual music competition unfold.

Some Eurovision fans were even lucky enough to watch Semi Final Two and the highly-anticipated Grand Final at Basel's indoor arena St. Jakobshalle, and I was one of them.

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So, what was it actually like being there in the host city of Basel to attend the world's largest live music event, you might ask? What do you see behind-the-scenes and not on TV?

Well, it was an incredible experience to say the least. Eurovision itself felt like a big celebration of music; a big party, almost.

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I flew to the world's chocolate capital of Switzerland with Eurovision's Official Travel Partner Booking.com and was even treated to a backstage tour of the arena, and a Legend's Dinner celebrating the event in Basel.

The dinner included an intimate and electrifying performance by Eurovision legends – and the seriously talented – Conchita and the Irish duo, Jedward.

It's fair to say the competition is both weird and wonderful; delightfully quirky in fact.

And I mean that in the best way possible; Think Finnish-Swedish band KAJ singing the hit song Bara Bada Bastu about a sauna in the ESC 2025, or Estonia's Tommy Cash singing and dancing about his love for coffee with his catchy hit song, Espresso Macchiato.

There are all these fun memes going viral about how to even try explaining what Eurovision is to a foreigner outside of Europe.

There were of course, some emotive, intense and powerful performances too.

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Basel comes to life

As an Aussie, who has never been to Eurovision before and for years just watched it on TV, I can't tell you how electrifying it was to actually see it all happen in real life and play out in real time.

Throughout the week I was there, the city was buzzing in anticipation and excitement for what was to come (in the end, Austria's JJ winning the competition with the song Wasted Love on May 17).

The streets were packed and bustling. The city became one big, welcome party. A lot of locals happily spoke English to help out the tourists (me!), in navigating the city or ordering food.

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The historic part of the city, which is so rich in art and culture, even created a "Eurovision Street" for tourists and fans.

I stayed in the ultra-modern Nomad Design and Lifestyle Hotel with Booking.com, which was right in the heart of Basel (making things so much easier).

It was close to the historic old town, the Rhine river, the Eurovision arena, and the football stadium, St. Jakob Park, which thousands flocked to for viewings for various shows.

Inside the arena

But when I walked into the main arena for the very first time, (where 6500 people reportedly entered for the big Grand Final), the sheer scale and magnitude of this event was evident and the feeling of what it actually means to so many people is overwhelming. It just hits you.

It's harder to get that feeling when watching on the small screen, all the way back home in Australia, in the early hours of the morning.

The stage set itself was impressive. According to the Eurovision website, the stage was "inspired by Switzerland's mountains and diversity" in a nice and memorable touch. It's also flooded with colour.

Inside the venue, the buzzing atmosphere was next level for both the semi final show I watched and the big Grand Final.

It was great to see people of different backgrounds and nationalities cheering on each other for a few nights of fun. The ESC's slogan is "united by music," and boy did it feel that way.

Even when the votes from the jury and around the world came through during the Grand Final, everyone in the crowd was holding their breath and anxiously glancing at the screens.

I was left shocked at the results, and on the edge of my seat as they came through, with my jaw hitting the floor when UK act Remember Monday scored zero in the public vote! But I'll leave the results up to you to read about.

But it was amazing to see how incredibly talented every single act was who were taking part in the iconic event.

The performances were flawless and executed to perfection (no doubt thanks to hours and hours of rehearsals and practice), the crew behind-the-scenes did an incredible job setting up the stage within minutes for each live act. And hats off to the camera crew.

You truly don't realise just how much work and organisation goes into it until you're there.

Between each performance, you see the crew dressed in all-black, running around on stage quickly and efficiently organising things for the next performer and the camera crew getting the good shots for audiences at home.

The hosts were brilliantly funny, jokes perfectly-timed, cameras were zooming overhead of the crowd, and the performances were a visual spectacle to take in thanks to elaborate costumes and imagery, pyrotechnics and dancing.

The crowd would cheer so loud for some acts, it was remarkable to witness.

Not to mention the amount of confetti seen at the Grand Final and a sea of sequins in the crowd.

What it was like backstage at Eurovision

As mentioned above, before the Grand Final I got to explore the arena and Eurovision complex with a tour. It included a welcome hut – which paid homage to the host country of Switzerland with cow bells and cow statues on display.

In a rather cool moment, I even glimpsed the iconic glass microphone trophy that all the acts had their eye on.

I was told that there are in fact, replicas of the accolade.

Eurovision says that "song writers and composers of the winning entry receive smaller versions of the trophy".

During the tour, I learned that a swimming pool had been drained and converted to a costume studio, hair and makeup centre and a staff viewing room.

There were 26 styling stations on the ground, 27 stylists and a whopping 140 cans of hairspray and 110 bottles of treatment were used, presenting partner Moroccanoil shared.

A smaller arena was transformed into a centre for journalists and media with rows and rows of desks, big screens all around, and a place set up where press conferences were held.

Throughout the tour, our group bumped into Tony Armstrong and Courtney Act, who were in the commentary booth for viewers back home and it was a nice - Aussie touch - being so far away from home.

We even got to glimpse some of the rehearsals for some of the competition's most popular acts and wave at Finland's Erika Vikman, who performed ICH KOMME.

During her thrilling performance, she was lifted into the air while singing on a giant gold microphone with fireworks – and it was epic.

A fan for life

All in all, I can't tell you how much fun was had in the stands at the ESC 2025 as the group I was with, soaked up the atmosphere at world's largest live music event.

And seeing it just like that, live, was an unforgettable and truly pinch-me moment.

Even if you're not a fan of Eurovision, the atmosphere alone would persuade you to change your mind.

I'm truly a Eurovision fan for life now.

And I still have some rhinestones that I wore during the Grand Final floating around (and am still dancing to ABBA)!

The writer travelled to the 69th Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland, with Booking.com.