A special mention to those who make the chaos happen on stage

My partner and I were lucky enough to secure tickets for the Semi Final 1 - Evening Preview (I'd never heard of it either), which is essentially an exact copy of the actual Semi Final the following day. The same performances, and the same poorly delivered jokes, just without the serious bit where you find out which country has made it through to the Final on Saturday.

For years I have considered myself a bit of a skeptic - not least due to the fact that the United Kingdom seemed to be a sucker for nul points year after year in the 2000s, up until Sam Ryder did alright last time out, (not forgetting a surprise 5th place in 2009 of course).

That disconnect previously felt has firmly faded by seeing the production and what takes place in the arena and around Liverpool, which plays host to this year's competition, on behalf of Ukraine.

The lighting, staging and set design is next level with a fantastic atmosphere to boot.

Even at the very start of the show (you know that bit when the title sequence begins), the stage manager tells everyone to be dead silent and then indicates when to break out into rapturous applause. A small detail, but one that gives an idea of the work that goes into the TV production.

Often I've found that watching Eurovision has been a bit of a slog where you're somewhat glued to your sofa in front of the TV for hours. I've no doubt that this is still the case, but seeing it from another angle has given me a whole new appreciation. Liverpool was chosen under difficult circumstances, but the musical history within the city mixed with the best of Ukrainian culture on display, it really is the perfect cocktail.

© John King

For those who are unfamiliar with the Semi Finals at Eurovision, they were first introduced in 2004 as a way of giving more nations the opportunity to take part. Each Semi Final has 15 participants, with 10 going through to join the Big Five (UK, Germany, France, Italy & Spain), and last year's winners Ukraine in the Final. With 15 performances to fit in a little over one hour, it was quite the task.

No sooner had each act belted out their highly emotive last note, they were whisked away off stage so the set could be transformed. We went from Loreen of 2012 Eurovision fame in-between a giant LED box and a load of smoke, to 2 curly haired twins from Azerbaijan on a platform holding guitars within 40 seconds.

Minutes later with a glance to the left you see 4 poor sods awkwardly carrying a large Post Box into the artist's lounge area (positioned in the middle of the arena), wondering what on earth it could be for. Upon realising that it's the punchline for a 10 second sketch with Bucks Fizz, you can't help but feel a bit sorry for the people navigating it back downstairs immediately after. I've also seen what Dustin the Turkey (Ireland's 2008 entry) looks like from behind…that secret is better left untold.

The presenters are fantastic, but it's comforting to see in a world being taken over by AI that the person who follows behind with a fan to cool them down, and the dress holder upper are jobs which won't be replaced just yet.

We were also treated to a preview of France's entry for 2023, giving the opportunity for the techies to test out the stage construction. Poor old La Zarra was shot up 10 feet in the air and made to hang around for a couple of minutes before kicking off her song.

As mentioned, the Preview show doesn't include the bit where each country finds out if they've made it to the Final - what we saw is even better. We were treated to casually dressed crew members with name badges on being filmed giving their reaction to their fake qualification. You can't quite compete with Finnish singer Käärijä's reversible green gilet, but they did look happier than the artists themselves to be there.

It was a strange experience getting back to Luxembourg the following day and tuning-in to the live Semi Final proper being able to recite the script - it did feel a bit Back to the Future. Saying that, 2 of my personal favourites got voted out at the first stage which shows how much I really know.

For me, it's always funny to see when live TV goes wrong and you'd assume that with the ridiculousness of Eurovision, there's every chance. If it happens on Saturday though, I might actually think twice about laughing.

Enjoy the Final, but please don't ask me who'll win.