Liverpool to host Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Liverpool has been announced as the host city for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest.

Graham Norton revealed the news that Liverpool will be hosting the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest during BBC’s The One Show on Friday, October 7.

It is expected that the M&S Bank Arena, on the world-famous waterfront, will be the venue that Eurovision will be broadcasted live from in May 2023.

The decision took the city’s architecture, history, art and musical heritage into consideration, weighing it up against its losing competitor, Glasgow.

This will be the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest has been held in the North West, despite the UK hosting the competition a record eight times.

In previous years the contest has taken place in Edinburgh, Brighton, Harrogate, Birmingham and four times in London.

The UK has also stepped in and hosted for the Netherlands, France, Monaco and Luxembourg in the 60s and 70s due to the winning countries’ financial and capacity issues.

This year, however, will see the competition hosted in Liverpool, famed for its diverse musical heritage with the likes of the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Speaking about Liverpool having been shortlisted, Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson shared that ‘behind the scenes’ work was already taking place in August.

Mayor Anderson spoke to Granada in August, she said: “Eurovision is made for this city.

“When we heard the sad announcement that Ukraine would be unable to host, Liverpool stepped forward and offered to stage the event in solidarity with, and in tribute to, this amazing country and its people.

“A huge amount of work is already going on behind the scenes to make Liverpool’s vision and ambition a reality. There are a number of complexities in staging a show of this scale, but we have one of the best event teams in the world, and one of the best cities in the world to act as a backdrop to Eurovision 2023 – let’s do this Liverpool!

Seven cities were in the running to host the much-anticipated music competition including Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester and Sheffield.

Claire McColgan CBE, Director of Culture Liverpool, also joined the bid earlier this year to promote Liverpool as the host, she said: “We are so excited to be shortlisted and now we have the chance to fully demonstrate this city’s culture credentials, our enviable creativity and our passion and expertise in staging large-scale, major events.

“As a city our award-winning events team opened up the nation’s first music events as we emerged out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is our moment to show everyone what we can deliver. We are a city of music and a champion for social justice, so in this unique situation for Eurovision we feel like there is nowhere better than Liverpool to host Eurovision 2023.”

Due to the on-going war in Ukraine, the country was unable to host in 2023, so the responsibility fell to the United Kingdom, which claimed second place in the competition.

Several big names called for Eurovision to be held in the North West, which boasts an endless list of iconic singers, bands and composers who were born in the region.

Several Scousers have also graced the Eurovision stage in previous years, including the Liverpool group Jemini.

Prima Donna were also chosen to represent Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest, in the Netherlands in 1980, with their song “Love Enough for Two”.

Two of their band members – Kate and Jane Robbins – were from the Wirral.

It is expected that the venue will be the M&S Bank Arena, where Beyonce, Paul McCartney and Elton John have also performed.

It has the capacity for 11,000 people and has the latest technology that Eurovision would require.