To be a hardcore Eurovision Song Contest fan you have to get up at 5am to watch the live broadcast on SBS – or you could hop on a plane to Austria (not Australia), like Kambah residents Sarah Polhill and Matt Bullen.
Sarah is a serious fan, tuning in to Eurovision and hosting watch parties for the past 20 years but this year, the 70th Eurovision, she and Matt travelled 16,900km to be a part of it (and vote).
“We bought the tickets to Eurovision and then we planned the European holiday,” Sarah said from their hotel room in Vienna.
“Matt’s never watched Eurovision before, this is his first time watching. Everyone was in sequins and velvet and feathers and lights – I should have packed more sequins, I under-packed.”
As any good tourist knows, you have to buy a souvenir t-shirt (plus tote bag and fridge magnet) from the gift shop.
“I didn’t realise though it’s the same shirt as security so we got a few strange looks,” Sarah laughed.
If anyone doubts the validity of the Eurovision Song Contest, you should know that it attracts a global audience of more than 150 million viewers (and it gave rise to ABBA).
Our Canberra correspondents Sarah and Matt can attest to Eurovision’s global significance.
“We were near the Belgium support group and they just lost their minds when they won the semi-finals and it’s like a football team winning,” Sarah said. “It’s that level of passion.”
After his first Eurovision viewing, Matt’s been converted.
“Look, it was a heap of fun and I didn’t really go in with too much in the way of expectation, so I was pleasantly surprised,” Matt said. “It was really, really good. I really didn’t know what to expect.”
Snagging the elusive ticket was no easy task – Sarah and Matt met an Austrian lady at the stadium who’d waited 11 years to get seats.
Matt had to register on two websites before 16 December 2025 at precisely 23:00hrs, then waited in a queue before finally securing two tickets for 190 euros after several unsuccessful attempts.
Their seats gave a birds-eye view inside the Wiener Stadthalle (stadium), where they watched 15 countries battle it out onstage (their votes were for Greece and Moldova).
“It was really high energy and the music, the bass, was just unbelievable and the quality of the lighting was fantastic,” Sarah reported. “All the crowd is cheering and everybody’s happy. You just can’t stop smiling. It’s just about the absolute joy and love of music.”
Sarah and Matt spotted one solitary Australian flag in the crowd, so they may well be the only Aussie or Canberra representatives at Eurovision 2026.
Nobody’s really sure why Australia is a part of Eurovision because geographically, we’re not even in the ballpark, but Australian entrant Delta Goodrem will perform in the grand final. We are classified as a “Eurovision-friendly nation” and we’ve broadcast Eurovision every year since 1983.
If you’re new to the Eurovision fan club, there’s no rhyme or reason why the world’s longest running televised song contest is so popular, with past songs titles like: Boom Bang-a-bang (UK, 1969), A-Ba-Ni-Ba (Israel, 1978), Bana Bana (Turkey, 1989) and Boum-badaboum (Monaco, 1967).
Just go with it.
After returning from the first round of semi-finals well past midnight, Matt gave his first Eurovision experience a great wrap.
“I’ve seen a few bits and pieces of some performances before but never sat down and watched one,” he said. “I know people do parties all the time for Eurovision but I’ve never been in the right place at the right time, but here we are tonight and I was definitely in the right place at the right time. “
After three weeks in Europe, Sarah said she was feeling a little homesick and was “ready to come home”.
Matt’s already thinking of Eurovision 2027.
“It’ll be interesting to see where it’s held next year and see who wins because we might have to do this again.”
Eurovision is broadcast live on SBS at 5am from 13–17 May, with prime-time replays at 7:30pm. The grand final airs live on Sunday, 17 May at 5am.
