Liverpool is seeking to deliver “the best Eurovision ever” which could define the city for the next decade as the major music event moves closer.
In two months time, representatives from 37 countries across Europe will descend on the Liverpool to compete for the title, won by Ukraine last year. Liverpool has stepped in to host on its behalf and further details were released as part of a stakeholder event held at the ACC Liverpool earlier today.
Opening the session, Mayor Joanne Anderson said she had been “truly blown away” by how many businesses wanted to get involved with the continental song contest and said a “collaborative effort” is going towards bringing Eurovision to Liverpool. Mayor Anderson said May’s event was a “huge opportunity” and a “once in a lifetime opportunity” for the city.
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Like Mayor Anderson, Theresa Grant, interim chief executive of Liverpool Council, said she didn’t realise how much input the host city had in putting the Eurovision show on. Ms Grant, who will step down from her role in May, said she hoped it would deliver a lasting legacy for Liverpool beyond the two weeks of music events and the challenge was to bring the benefits of Eurovision to people across the city.
She said Liverpool was “working to present itself to the world in the best possible light” and the whole city wants to deliver the best Eurovision ever seen. Ms Grant said the show had the potential to define Liverpool for the next decade.
It was confirmed shows will begin on Monday May 8, with nine to be staged in total that members of the public can buy tickets for. Around 160m people are expected to watch the grand final live on May 13 while a wide series of cultural events, including EuroFest are to take place across Liverpool throughout the first two weeks in May.
Martin Green, managing director of Eurovision for the BBC, said as the wider rollout of the competition’s insignia begins across Liverpool from next month, it will become “Eurovisiontastic.” Speaking to the ECHO, he said: “This is why we’re in awe of our colleagues in Liverpool because they’ve just grabbed this and run with it.
“At the core of it, you’ve got the broadcast of the television show from the arena going to the world but Liverpool has created this extraordinary two-week culture festival that will be free, the Eurovillage, we’ve had 500 businesses here today that are going to make sure they’re doing special things around it. It’s basically just one big group effort to make sure that the global visitors that come in during that period can say to everyone ‘get to Liverpool, it’s amazing.’”
Mr Green said the broadcaster was “a matter of weeks away” from moving into the M&S Bank Arena to begin building the stage for May’s show and rehearsals were about to begin to make sure the show was “absolutely world class.” He said: “There’s no arena in the world that could fit the 160m people in the world that love Eurovision so we’re making sure the venue is the best television studio in the world and the best place to watch Eurovision will be on the BBC.
“You only have to see the last few years of Eurovision on the BBC, our viewing figures have being going upwards and the reaction has been brilliant. Eurovision has become this monster of a show that has world-class production values and if you haven’t watched it for a few years, try it this year, you’ll be really surprised at how well produced it is.
“We’ll do a great job for everyone watching around the world.” Claire McColgan, director of Culture Liverpool, said the whole city “is pushing us forward” with Eurovision as Liverpool looks to deliver an event in two months that it would usually take two years to organise.
Susan Finnegan, commercial director and lead for Eurovision Host City visitor experience, said the vision for this year’s event will be to leave the nation asking ‘where were you for Eurovision Liverpool 2023?’ She added: “We need to dress up to the nines because we’ve already told the world we’re going out out.”
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