Tomorrow morning, tickets will be released for Eurovision’s Greatest Hits – a concert event marking the 60th Eurovision Song Contest, to be organised by the BBC and held at London’s Hammersmith Apollo on Tuesday 31 March.

The event will be hosted by the BBC’s Eurovision commentator Graham Norton and Petra Mede, who hosted the 2013 contest in Malmö, Sweden. While the BBC was originally touted as a potential host of the 50th anniversary celebrations in 2005, Danish broadcaster DR got the nod in the end. However, the BBC has since proved its worth by hosting EBU events such as the short-lived Eurovision Dance Contest, and with recent results suggesting that it may be some time before ESC itself is hosted in the United Kingdom again, the British broadcaster has been chosen as a safe pair of hands for this year’s commemoration of ESC history.

image © BBC

In a fundamental change compared with the EBU’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2005, the one-off concert will not be transmitted live, but instead will be recorded and made available for participating broadcasters to show at their leisure – with most apparently planning to do so around the Easter period.

Almost ten years ago, the Forum in Copenhagen played host to Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest. A long and rambling show with charmingly under-rehearsed presentation by Katrina Leskanich (UK 1997) and Renārs Kaupers (Latvia 2000), the main aim of the event was ostensibly to crown the greatest ever ESC entry in a two-phase telephone vote, although there was never a realistic possibility of the winner being anything other than ABBA’s “Waterloo”. The show was accompanied by a double CD and DVD release of favourites from the history of the contest.

While the Congratulations show suffered from some unusual choices – including “interpretive” dance routines, giving stage time to relatively unsuccessful artists like Fabrizio Faniello and Thomas Thordarson, filling the voting break with non-Eurovision performances by the likes of Ronan Keating, and a persistent fixation with the cult Belgian duo Nicole & Hugo – it also featured some genuinely touching moments, such as when Spain’s 1973 entrants Mocedades came together again to take the applause of the crowd for their classic “Eres tú”:

This time, perhaps reflecting the fact that 60 is far less of a landmark anniversary than 50, there will be no CD or DVD release and the show itself seems to be a more stripped down, song-focused affair (although, with the BBC being involved, one assumes there’ll also be the obligatory montage of “comedy” moments from ESC history). We can perhaps expect something closer to the gala concert held by NRK in 1981 to mark the 25th anniversary of the contest – and it can only be hoped that the grandmother of Eurovision, Lys Assia, will make an appearance just like she did then.

Friday 24 April will also see a conference in London with keynote speeches and panel discussions on the Eurovision Song Contest. Meanwhile, a dedicated microsite has been launched by the EBU to accompany the 60th anniversary.

Confirmed performers at the concert event so far include Conchita Wurst (Austria 2014), Natasha St-Pier (France 2001), the Herreys (Sweden 1984), Emmelie de Forest (Denmark 2013), Lordi (Finland 2006), Nicole (Germany 1982), Rosa (Spain 2002), Johnny Logan (Ireland 1980, 1987), the Olsen Brothers (Denmark 2000) and Anne-Marie David (Luxembourg 1973, France 1979).

The BBC’s Eurovision Twitter account appears to be the best place to look for the latest updates to the line-up.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning (Friday 6 February) at 11:15 CET. International visitors can buy tickets via eurovision.tv, while fans in the United Kingdom are advised to use the BBC Eurovision website.