Eurovision nominates Liverpool as host city for its 2023 song contest in honor of Ukraine





CNN

The Beatles’ hometown of Liverpool in the UK will step up to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 festivities next May, on competition announced Friday.

Liverpool have beaten close rival Glasgow, Scotland, for hosting the 67th edition of the popular music competition, in which various countries in Europe and the Mediterranean region send a singer or group of performers to perform a song national which is then voted.

While Eurovision is usually hosted in a city in the previous year’s winning country, this year’s winner, Ukraine, cannot host the upcoming show due to the ongoing conflict with Russia.

Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 last May amid an outpouring of goodwill towards the country in light of the war.

The show’s announcer and host, Graham Norton, also announced the news on Twitter, writing“Congrats Liverpool!!! @Eurovision @bbceurovision See you in May!!!”

The competition website said the “grand final” of the competition will take place in the Liverpool Arena next to the River Mersey on Saturday May 13, with semi-finals in the week leading up to that date.

“Liverpool is the perfect location to host the 67th Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine,” Martin Österdahl, executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, said in a statement. “The city is synonymous with music and Liverpool Arena exceeds all requirements necessary to stage a global event of this scale. We were very impressed with the passion the city has shown in embracing the competition and their inclusive ideas to put last year’s winners, Ukraine, front and center when thousands of fans turn out next May.

The last time the UK hosted Eurovision was 25 years ago in 1998 when the show took place in Birmingham.