The EBU and BBC are excited to reveal that Liverpool has been chosen as the Host City of the 67th Eurovision Song Contest, following a competitive bidding process.
- Home of The Beatles to host 67th Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine
- 2023 event to take place on Tuesday 9, Thursday 11 and Saturday 13 May
- Special logo created to mark unique event
The 2023 competition will take place in the United Kingdom, following Kalush Orchestra’s victory for Ukraine in Turin in May, after it was concluded that the event could not be held in the winning country for safety and security reasons.
The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will take place at the Liverpool Arena next to the River Mersey on Saturday 13 May with Semi-Finals on 9 and 11 May.
The BBC, together with the EBU, will organize the event next year in consultation with UA:PBC, Ukraine’s public broadcaster.
Liverpool was chosen following a strong city bid process that examined facilities at the venue, the ability to accommodate thousands of visiting delegations, crew, fans and journalists, infrastructure, and the cultural offer of the Host City in reflecting Ukraine’s win in 2022, amongst other criteria.
A shortlist of 7 cities which included Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, and Newcastle, was announced in August before being narrowed down to 2 in September.
Glasgow and Liverpool were then left in the race to host the world’s largest live music event, which reached over 175 million viewers on TV and online in 2022.
"Ideal place"
Eurovision Song Contest Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl welcomed the choice: “Liverpool is the ideal place to host the 67th Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine.”
“The city is synonymous with music and Liverpool Arena exceeds all the requirements needed to stage a global event of this scale. We have been very impressed with the passion the city has shown in embracing the Contest and their inclusive ideas for placing last year’s winners, Ukraine, front and centre when thousands of fans visit next May."
EBU Director General Noel Curran added: “This will be the first Eurovision Song Contest to be held in the UK in 25 years and, as we work with our Host Broadcaster, the BBC to celebrate Ukraine’s victory, this unique production promises to be a very special one indeed.”
The BBC’s Director General, Tim Davie, said: “Congratulations to Liverpool. They will be an amazing host for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. Liverpool is such an exciting, warm and vibrant city. It’s the undisputed capital of pop music and is celebrating the 65th anniversary of its twinning with the Ukrainian city of Odesa. I know the people of Liverpool will welcome Europe – and the rest of the world – with open arms, and in partnership we will create something truly special.”
Unique Logo
To coincide with the announcement of the Host City, the EBU has released the official logo for the 67th Eurovision Song Contest, which contains the Ukrainian flag within the heart. The logo design reflects that although the competition will be held in the UK, it will be done on behalf of Ukraine, the winners of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
"Symbolic choice"
Mykola Chernotytskyi, Head of the Managing Board of UA:PBC said: "It is symbolic that the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Liverpool, a twin city of Odesa. The organization of a contest of this level sets super demanding requirements. I am confident that the city recognized as the capital of pop music will meet them in the best way and will deliver the celebration of music that will amaze both delegations and fans of Eurovision.”
The UK will host the Eurovision Song Contest for a record 9th time having previously stepped in to host the event for other broadcasters in London in 1960 and 1963, in Edinburgh in 1972 and Brighton in 1974. The BBC also staged the Contest following 4 of their 5 wins: in London in 1968 and 1977, Harrogate in 1982 and Birmingham in 1998.
Tickets are expected to go on sale for 9 shows, including dress rehearsals, in due course.
Further details about the shows and accompanying events will be revealed in the coming weeks and months. For more details check out eurovision.tv and follow the official Eurovision Song Contest Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and
Facebook channels.
The popular competition would have been held in Ukraine, which won this year’s event, but safety concerns sent it to Britain instead.
Oct. 7, 2022
Liverpool will host the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023, organizers of the musical competition announced on Friday, choosing the birthplace of the Beatles for one of Europe’s premier cultural events.
The M&S Bank Arena, an 11,000-capacity arena, will stage the competition on May 13, 2023, organizers said.
The announcement capped an unusual selection process, in which Ukraine, which earned the right to host next year’s event after winning this year’s contest, was ruled out by Eurovision organizers, who said the war-torn country could not provide the necessary “security and operational guarantees.”
Instead, Britain, the runner-up in 2022, was named host. Liverpool was selected from a shortlist of seven cities that also included Glasgow, the runner-up, along with Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.
Hosting Eurovision “means everything” for Liverpool, the city’s director of culture, Claire McColgan, told the BBC on Friday.
“We’re doing it for Ukraine first of all, for our brilliant city and for the people who come here,” Ms. McColgan said. “It’s going to be incredible.”
Ukraine had offered three potential locations that it said were safe from the fighting: Lviv, in western Ukraine; the Zakarpattia region, which borders Hungary and Slovakia; and the capital, Kyiv.
But the European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the competition, announced in July that Britain would host instead. At the time, Martin Österdahl, Eurovision’s executive supervisor, pledged that Ukraine would be “celebrated and represented throughout the event,” with representatives from a Ukrainian broadcaster working with the BBC.
Tim Davie, the director general of the BBC, also said the network was “committed to making the event a true reflection of Ukrainian culture alongside showcasing the diversity of British music and creativity.”
Eurovision began in 1956, gathering musical artists from countries across Europe, as well as some farther afield, including Australia and Israel.
Britain has hosted the event eight times, most recently in 1998 in Birmingham.
The selection will bring a major international spotlight to Liverpool. Over 160 million people watched in May as Kalush Orchestra, a Ukrainian rap act, was crowned the winner in Turin, Italy.
Sixty-two years after the Beatles formed, Liverpool remains closely tied to the enormously influential rock band. The band is central to the city’s tourism, with Beatles-themed museums, tours and a statue along the waterfront.
Though Liverpool has produced fewer star international acts recently, the local music scene is small-scale and “healthy,” said Karl Whitney, the author of “Hit Factories: A Journey Through the Industrial Cities of British Pop.” There are “lots of great bands from Liverpool,” he said, “but the Beatles, obviously, sort of overshadow everything.”
The city plans collaborations with Ukrainian street artists, designers and musicians to bring the country’s culture to the city, The Liverpool Echo reported this week. Claire McColgan, the director of Culture Liverpool, told the newspaper that “this is their party, it just happens to be in our house,” referring to the Ukrainians.
“If we are chosen as host city there’s no question Eurovision will take over Liverpool in a way no single event has ever done before,” she said this week.