LONDON —
Liverpool will host the
Eurovision Song Contest in 2023, organizers of the
musical competition announced Friday, choosing the birthplace of the Beatles for
one of Europe’s premier cultural events.
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The M&S Bank
Arena, an 11,000-capacity arena, will stage the competition 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, Scotland, 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,” 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,
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, 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.
McColgan 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.
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