(courtesy Eurovision.tv / Corinne Cumming / EBU)
What another amazing year of musical togetherness!
With the Eurovision Song Contest have run its unifying course for another year, and Sweden having been crowned the winner with Loreen becoming the first woman with her atmospheric song “Tattoo” to win the contest in its long and storied history, it’s time sit back and reflect on what was, like always, a big, epic event with a lot going on.
37 countries put up their hands to take part in the contest this year, with 26 of those entrants making their way to the grand final which was held on Saturday 13 May at Liverpool Arena – twenty of them via the semi-finals which, in a change to voting regulations, were decided by popular televote only (no juries), and six by virtue of either being the reigning champion (Ukraine) and one of the Big Five that funds most of the event.
The United Kingdom, courtesy of Sam Ryder’s second placing last year in Turin, Italy, hosted the 2023 Contest on behalf of Ukraine, with the theme “United by Music” emphasising how important a role music plays in bringing people together.
Heartwarmingly time and time again we saw how much effort went into placing Ukraine, which obviously couldn’t host because of the murderously disruptive effects of Russia’s unprovoked invasion which is sadly ongoing, front and centre of proceedings.
While there were British hosts in place – Ted Lasso‘s Hannah Waddingham, chat show icon Graham Norton (grand final only) and singer-rapper-dance Alesha Dixon – the focus was also squarely on Julia Sanina, a Ukrainian rock singer who is a dancer, member of a band, The HARDKISS, and an elected judge, courtesy of the Ukrainian people, on Vidbir, the show Ukraine uses to select its Eurovision representative.
Entertainment-wise, the event also featured a great many instances of Ukrainian and British artists joining forces though again, primacy was given for the most part to the former who were given significant moments to shine throughout.
Happily too, as well as giving Sam Ryder a chance to strut his unaffected and undeniably brilliant musical stuff, the grand final also showcased past Eurovision entrants and winners such as Israel’s Netta, Iceland’s Daði Freyr and Netherlands’ Duncan Lawrence who came together to sing the “Liverpool Songbook”, all songs made famous by much-loved artists who hailed from the host city.
These three wonderful performances and a number of others made for a truly moving spectacle, a reminder that in the last two years, Eurovision hasn’t just been a warm-and-fuzzy declaration of the power of music to break down barriers and bring people together, but also a powerful necessary one, with circumstances meaning that it had to play a practical role in uniting people at a time of deep division in Europe.
It was impossible not to be moved by all these performances, but in amongst all the deservedly moving moments, there were times of pure joy, many of them courtesy of Hannah Waddingham who was an unalloyed joy, her sheer thrill at being a part of Eurovision an absolute treat to see.
The wondrous loveliness of the event also got a huge glittery shot in the arm by the postcards that preceded each act which showcased Ukraine, then the UK and finally the contestant’s home country, and the spectacular moment when the Hannah Waddingham, Alesha Dixon and Julia Sanina were transformed by the power of television into fabulously flamboyant drag queen equivalents.
Even the Flag Parade at the grand final was a feast for the eyes and the soul, giving you goosebumps at how so much joy and spectacle can make an arena as big as the one in Liverpool feel so emotionally intimate and special …
While there was an all-but-inevitable bout of argy-bargy when Finland lost to Sweden, despite the former handily winning the televote 376 to 243, in the end Eurovision triumphed because it remembered at every stage of the game that the music and people are everything, its heart-on-the-sleeve emotionalism no better on evidence than when Slovenia’s Joker Out embraced Finland’s musically hard-hitting but goofy entrant Käärijä with Estonia’s Alika lending some moral support too.
This, maybe even more than the music, though the music was near-universally very good this year is what we LOVE about Eurovision – well and that and bonkers bat-shit crazy artists like Croatia’s Let 3 who were absolute gems, working their way into the hearts of many fans – and why we tune in every year.
We want to be reminded that life can be beautiful, wonderful and good, especially when war is raging and last year’s winner, Ukraine, is forced to host in another country (though that was a thoughtful and sensitive success too) and we want to feel like all the terrible things of the everyday can find a place where they are overshadowed by love, acceptance, joy and delight.
They were all on bounteous display at every stage of this glittering event where casual Friday suits, platform shoes and performing lying on the stage were all most definitely IN, where Australia’s superlative Voyager made the top 10 (!!!) and where we saw again and again just how good people can be to each other and for others, uniting a fractured world in some very fine music indeed.
It augurs well for next year in Sweden which already has some confirmed entrants for what is sure to be another wonderful year of music, the best of humanity and some of the best heartwarming moments musical diversity can offer.