Eurovision fans crashed Ticketmaster’s dedicated website page for the event shortly before tickets went on sale.
Tickets for the 2023 live shows in Liverpool were set to become available at midday on Tuesday - but scores of customers were met with a “500 – Internal Server Error” message just before tickets went live.
Several furious customers took to Twitter to complain about the site crashing.
One person wrote: “Ticketmaster website keeps crashing and kicking me out of the ticket queue. Trying to refresh website without success.”
Why use Ticketmaster the worst website to buy tickets and it crash’s #Eurovision
— Josh 🇬🇧🏳️🌈 (@JoshSpears007) March 7, 2023
Another said: “Let’s be real @Eurovision have messed up horribly here. Firstly putting the contest in a venue with not even 20k for something that is viewed the most in the UK every year. And then using Ticketmaster and servers that crash beyond belief.”
Supermarket Aldi poked fun at Ticketmaster, writing: “Our checkout staff could help you out with those queues.”
This year’s Eurovision is being hosted in Liverpool after the UK was chosen to host the competition on behalf of last year’s winner, war-torn Ukraine.
Tickets will range from £30 to £290 for the semi-final shows and from £80 to £380 for the grand final shows.
Eurovision fans will need a Ticketmaster account before they can buy tickets online – for one show at a time.
They will be able to buy up to four tickets per purchase for the live shows and six for the preview performances.
Eurovision will air on the BBC and be hosted by singer Alesha Dixon, Ted Lasso actress Hannah Waddingham and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina alongside returning favourite Graham Norton, the comedian and talk show host.
Outside the official Eurovision shows, there is a two-week cultural festival in Liverpool called EuroFest, which will include free events and see collaborations between artists in the UK and Ukraine.
Liverpool 2023 will mark the ninth time the UK has hosted the event, with the last occasion taking place in Birmingham in 1998.
Last year’s contest in Turin, Italy, saw the UK’s Sam Ryder scoop second place, beaten only by Ukrainian entry Kalush Orchestra.
For more information about Eurovision 2023, click here.
