Today the Big Five countries, but also last year’s winner, Ukraine, have had their first rehearsal on the grand Eurovision stage. The Big Five countries are: France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom; last year’s winner is of course, Ukraine. On behalf of Ukraine the UK organizes the 67th Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, because of the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia.
A small explanation about why the Big Five countries do not have to compete in the annual Semi-finals of the contest: This is because the Big Five countries finance most of the contest; this rule exists since 1999. Some rule against, others do not. The thing is that it is not necessarily an advantage or disadvantage as Germany (2011) and Italy (2022) have won in quite recent years, and there were many instances in which one or two countries of the Big Five were in either the top 5 or top 10 of the contest.
Biggest surprise for me personally was the staging of the UK’s Mae Muller and her entry “I wrote a song”. The staging looks quite impressive, very retro, but also modern, and most of all very colourful. From the pictures that have been released by the EBU one could also tell that the Ukrainian entry, “Heart of steel”, has had a great update stage-wise, since there seems to be more use of LED, we are sure we are going to be impressed by the war-stricken country.
We were at the Euroclub today, which is located somewhere outside of the city-centre of Liverpool in a place called “Camp and Furnace”. It normally is a club, but since yesterday (May 3rd 2023) it is the place for meet ‘n greets, between the press and the competing contestants of this year’s contest. There is no press room until upcoming week, so that is why press events need to be organized in other places, which is both a gift and a curse.
EUROVISION 2023
The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will take place on May 9th, 11th, and 13th 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. 37 countries will compete for the crown. This year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be a joint venture, since last year’s winner Ukraine cannot organize the contest on home soil because of the ongoing war with Russia.
