Eurovision announce UK host city for 2023 contest
The Beatles’ hometown Liverpool has been revealed as the host city for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The confirmation was revealed live on The One Show, with BBC Eurovision commentator Graham Norton making the announcement.
“It means everything,” Liverpool’s director of culture, Claire McColgan, said of the news. “We’re doing it for Ukraine first of all, for our brilliant city and for the people who come here. It’s going to be incredible.”
Lord Mayor of Liverpool Roy Gladden added: “We’ve wanted it, we expected it, but you’re always on edge. We’ll have a party that’s never been done before.”
The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 is scheduled to take place at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool on May 13th.
Last month, it was confirmed that either Glasgow or Liverpool would be staging next year’s event on behalf of the war-torn winners of Eurovision 2022, Ukraine. A shortlist of seven potential cities was announced in August before organisers filed it down to just two.
Earlier this week, Norton excitedly told Chris Evans on Virgin Radio that he would be “discussing where Eurovision is going to be” on TV alongside this year’s runner-up, Sam Ryder. It was soon confirmed that the big reveal would take place on the BBC’s The One Show.
The United Kingdom’s entry, Ryder, came in at second place to Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra at Eurovision 2022, scoring an impressive 466 points overall with his song ‘Space Man’. With the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine following the Russian invasion, the hosting duties fell to the runner-up nation.
Several large UK cities made bids to stage the contest after the BBC confirmed it would be hosting, with the initial shortlist including Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.
Phil Harrold, the chair of the BBC’s Host City Selection Committee, last month said that Glasgow and Liverpool had put forward the “strongest overall offer[s]” in a “highly competitive field”.
The UK has staged the Eurovision Song Contest on eight previous occasions: London (1960, 1963, 1968 and 1977), Edinburgh (1972), Brighton (1974), Harrogate (1982) and Birmingham (1998).
Further details regarding the 2023 contest will be announced in the coming weeks, but the BBC has confirmed that as well as the final, it will host the semi-finals on May 9th and 11th.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.