OFFICIAL: Lisbon’s MEO Arena to host next year’s Eurovision on 8th, 10th, and 12th May!

In 2014, Denmark took us to a former industrial site on Refshaleøen. 2015 found us in the Wiener Stadthalle in Austria. In 2016, we partied in the largest hemispherical building on Earth, the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm. This year, Ukraine gave us a spectacular show in the International Exhibition Centre. Next year, Lisbon will have a tough act to follow, as they will host the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in the MEO Arena!
The Portuguese broadcaster, RTP, have just confirmed in a press conference that next year’s Eurovision will take place in Lisbon on the 8th, 10th, and 12th of May. They have also revealed on RTP1, their TV channel, that the contest will take place in the MEO Arena. This is after, a few months ago, the news was seemingly confirmed by RTP that Eurovision 2018 would take place in Lisbon. However, they later retracted their statements. Portuguese media outlet, Observador, also published the news last night.
Lisbon beats several other Portuguese cities in the race to host Eurovision. Braga, Gondomar, and Santa Maria de Feira all put forward bids to host the contest next year. Despite potentially being fantastic hosts, Lisbon is the best option out of all these cities for Portugal!

The MEO Arena

The MEO Arena is Portugal’s largest indoor arena, and also one of the largest in the European Union; it can hold up to 20,000 people! This is almost twice the capacity of last year’s host, the International Exhibition Centre, and is the largest Eurovision venue since 2011!

The arena was originally, and is still popularly referred to by locals as Pavilhão Atlântico (Atlantic Pavilion). It has been host to concerts from countless worldwide stars, such as: Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber, One Direction, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, Shakira, Adele, and many, many more!
The MEO Arena is clearly very prestigious. So, we can’t wait to see it in action next May!

Eurovision Song Contest 2018

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 will take place on the 8th, 10th, and 12th May, in Lisbon, Portugal. So far, 20 countries have expressed provisional interest in participating, with Russia returning to the contest.
Have RTP made the best decision? Are you excited to see the MEO Arena host next year’s Eurovision? Will you be there to see the show live? Tell us in the comments below!