Has anyone been to Eurovision?

[rifling]

And is it suitable for children? Dd12 is a big fan and would like to see it live but is she too young??

I haven't, but a guy I used to work with has. He said it was absolutely brilliant, but it's a very long time stood around with limited access to food & drink. He's made friends from all over the Continent & they meet up regularly at the competition. He's known some of them for 20 odd years.

Apparently, it's all done in stages, & you get your tickets for each stage, so first round, second, third & so on until the final. There's no guarantee you'll get tickets for the final if that's the bit your DS really wants (& who wouldn't 😀).

I've been to several. Unless DD is extremely sheltered, I believe the live concert content is fine. The organisers seem to place emphasis on fairness, inclusivity and music transcending borders, so for that period, everybody is joining in and forgetting about politics. Pre-pandemic, the checks were very strict - thorough bag searches, inspection of everything that might be hurled in a crowd to cause injury. There are seated tickets and standing tickets. Seated sections felt very safe. If you are all going as a big family group it should hopefully feel like one mega song-dance concert. Standing area probably not the best idea for a child. There are actually day time concerts called Family tickets (iirc), and they are essentially the rehearsals for the evening concerts. The performers may not all be in full costumes (some had hair curlers on, but others used it as a serious dress rehearsal). These finish at a very decent hour, and if you're uncertain, id recommend them as an excellent compromise between watching it on the telly and the actual live finals.

Thanks both of you!