ESC 2023: Liverpool organizes music competition

The host city of ESC 2023 was unveiled by British ESC commentator Graham Norton on Friday evening on the BBC program “The One Show”. The final of the Eurovision Song Contest will take place on May 13, 2023, the two semi-finals on May 9 and 11. Around 11,000 spectators fit into the M&S Bank Arena, where various concerts and sporting events have already taken place. ESC 2023 will be held in Great Britain (UK) as this year’s winning country Ukraine is unable to host the competition due to the Russian war of aggression. Already in the application, Liverpool focused on Ukraine. The official ESC logo also shows the flag of Ukraine in the “Eurovision” lettering, the addition “United Kingdom” was added underneath. The last ESC to be held on British soil was in Birmingham in 1998.

“Liverpool is the ideal place to host the 67th Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine. The city is synonymous with music and the Liverpool Arena exceeds all the requirements required to host a global event of this scale. We were very Impressed by the passion the city has shown to embrace the competition and by their inclusive ideas of putting last year’s winners, Ukraine, front and center when thousands of fans come to visit next May.”
Martin Österdahl, ESC Executive Supervisor

Liverpool: Cradle of the Beatles

Even 60 years after the release of the first Beatles single, Liverpool still has a lot to offer musically. The northern English port city also bears the seal as a UNESCO City of Music and was European Capital of Culture in 2008. Besides the Beatles, the city also has stars like Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Lightning Seeds, Orchestral Maneuvers in The Dark, Echo & The Bunnymen, Dead or Alive, The Wombats, Atomic Kitten and of course Sonia, the runner-up at the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest in Millstreet, spawned. Liverpool also has one of the best orchestras in Europe, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The place where the ESC is happening is the M&S Bank Arena on the waterfront. Liverpool is twinned with the Ukrainian city of Odessa.

In addition to Glasgow and Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield were also in the running recently. Since the original seven applicant cities were announced, Glasgow had Betting the bookmaker always one step ahead.

BBC fills in for Ukraine

As soon as it became known that Ukraine would not be able to host ESC 2023 due to the war, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced talks with the British BBC. In the coming year, the Big Five, i.e. the countries with the largest audience markets (Germany, Spain, Italy, Great Britain (UK) and France), as well as Ukraine as the current winner, are automatically set for the final. So there are 26 starters in the final again, like last time in Rotterdam 2021.

ESC 2023 aims to showcase Ukrainian culture

The BBC has hosted four other winning countries: in London in place of the Netherlands in 1960, in London in place of France in 1963, in Edinburgh in place of Monaco in 1972 and in Brighton in place of Luxembourg in 1974. The condition for the shows in the coming year is the integration of cultural elements from Ukraine. To this end, the BBC is working with representatives of the Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne. The EBU had previously announced that Ukraine would be celebrated and represented throughout the event.

“The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will not be held in Ukraine, but in support of Ukraine. We are grateful to our BBC partners for showing their solidarity with us. I am confident that together we will be able to celebrate this event to infuse the Ukrainian spirit and reunite all of Europe around our common values ​​of peace, support, and a celebration of diversity and talent.”
Mykola Chernotytskyi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ukrainian Radio

Further information

In an exciting final, Ukraine won the 66th Eurovision Song Contest in Turin. Germany ended up in last place. more