• Access to at least 1,000 vehicles at the Stanley Park car park
• Drivers will need to show their concert ticket to gain access
• Service is in additional to extra late-night bus, rail and ferry services in the city region

Music fans attending The National Lottery’s Big Eurovision Welcome concert on Sunday, May 7 are being offered a free park-and-ride service.

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Liverpool City Council have joined forces to give free access to a minimum of 1,000 vehicles at the Stanley Park car park, next to Liverpool FC’s Anfield stadium.

The surface-level car park, which will be accessed from Priory Road, opposite Anfield cemetery, will open at 12 noon with buses taking concert goers on a 15-minute journey from Arkles Lane to Queen Square bus station.

Drivers will need to show their concert ticket to gain access.

Gates open at 5:45pm for the spectacular live show outside St George’s Hall, which features a historic reunion performance by ‘80s legends Frankie Goes to Hollywood, as well as The Real Thing, The Lightning Seeds and many other stars, to an audience of 30,000 people.

Queens Square Bus Station

Once the 90-minute outdoor spectacle ends at 10pm, buses will begin departing from Queen Square bus station. The Anfield car park will remain open and accessible until midnight.

The park-and-ride service is one of a number of special public transport arrangements in place for Eurovision. This week Mayor Steve Rotheram announced extra late-night bus and rail services in the city region to help people get home. Event goers are urged to plan their journeys to help make their night a success. Information and advice is available on the Merseytravel website (www.merseytravel.gov.uk) and direct from transport operators.

Read more: Mayor announces late-night city region trains and buses for Eurovision

The outdoor concert, which mirrors Liverpool’s opening ceremony of the European Capital of Culture in 2008 and is the single biggest event for Eurovision 2023, includes spectacular aerial and dance performances from some of the UK’s finest National Lottery-funded dance groups including: House of Suarez, Zoo Nation and Motionhouse.

Liverpool’s iconic Cream will present a unique collaboration with 2023 Brit Award Winner Becky Hill, as well as a performance from Ukrainian music legend and Eurovision winner Jamala, and Eurovision superstar Conchita Wurst. In addition, cameos and contributions from Liverpool royalty Ricky Tomlinson and Shirley Ballas are amongst those contributing on the night.

A proportion of tickets have been reserved for Ukrainian residents in the UK, including refugees supported by National Lottery-funded organisations, as well as community groups from Liverpool.

Highlights of The National Lottery’s ‘Big Eurovision Welcome’ will be shown as part of ‘Eurovision Welcomes The World’ programme on BBC One at 6:30pm on Monday, 8 May. Will also be available on BBC iPlayer.

ROAD CLOSURES FOR THE BIG EUROVISION WELCOME CONCERT:

Between 00.01hrs, Sunday, 7 May to 06.00hrs on Monday, 8 May there will be no access to Lime Street via Islington, London Road, Lord Nelson Street, Skelhorne Street, St Johns Lane and Elliot Street.

There will be no access to William Brown Street during these times too.

CAR PARKING IN LIVERPOOL CITY CENTRE UPDATE:

During the EuroFestival, Liverpool City Council has also moved to make all of its city centre car parks operational 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

Liverpool city centre has provision for more than 15,000 car parking spaces across council and private car parks and on-street car parking. Cars can currently park for free after 6pm in Liverpool city centre.

Richard McGuckin, Executive Director for Place at the Combined Authority, said:

“We want everyone to enjoy this fantastic occasion and enabling people to travel around is part of the success story. As the excitement builds in the run up to this global event, we’re asking people to think ahead and plan their journeys, with park and ride being one of a number of options that are in place to help people get from A to B with ease.”

Ken Prior, Head of Parking Services at Liverpool City Council, said:

“It’s absolutely vital we provide as many travel options as possible for those attending The National Lottery’s Big Eurovision Welcome concert on Sunday.

“The free park-and-ride service in Anfield aims to minimise congestion in the city centre on the day and reduce the stress for those attending the event and complements the wider public transport offer, which will be providing additional services.

“It’s a small gesture to concert goers to make the park-and-ride free and fits the overall aim of the warm welcome we want to give people arriving in Liverpool for Eurovision.

“We’re also making all of our city centre car parks 24/7 in line with the private sector operators to ensure ease of access for people throughout the EuroFestival.”

Claire McColgan CBE, Director of Culture Liverpool, said:

“We want to make the journey to Liverpool as easy and accessible as possible, whichever way people decide to travel. And given how much is going on, with the EuroFestival and at the Eurovision Village fan zone, once people arrive, we can guarantee that they are going to have an amazing time in Liverpool.”