We did it. An undoubted douze points. We staged the biggest and best Eurovision Song Contest ever. And never once did we forget we were doing it on behalf of the people of Ukraine.
OK. We might be a little bit biased but the past few weeks have shown Liverpool at its brilliant best and, glowing in Saturday’s sunshine, our fabulous city looked staggeringly beautiful.
I bet Eurovision boss Martin Österdahl was only half joking when he said he wanted Liverpool to host every year. Because we didn’t just host Eurovision we embraced it in all its sequinned and glittering glory and welcomed thousands of visitors to our city with open arms.
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Hopefully they had a great time, and have fond and happy memories, because the atmosphere in Liverpool city centre has been electric this week and the sight of so many people living their best lives, in their best outfits, was a joy to behold.
So many of the events have been free, giving everyone the opportunity to be caught up in the Eurovision fever which has swept the city off its feet. Even Eurovision sceptics were tempted down to the Pier Head for a quick bop thanks to the amazing atmosphere at the EuroVillage.
But it was always about Ukraine. From Protect the Beats which has seen the Nelson Monument in Exchange Flags surrounded by sandbags to reflect the statues being protected from bombardment in Ukraine to Ukrainian refugees celebrating their culture in Bootle and much, much more, we never forgot we were hosting Eurovision because you couldn’t.
We always said Liverpool knows how to throw a party and Eurovision fans certainly joined in. Together we were United by Music - the theme of the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.
Thank you to the EBU and to the BBC for staging such a spectacular show. And thank you Culture Liverpool for making this possible and bringing Eurovision to our city and into our lives. We’ll be sorry to see the Soloveiko Songbirds fly away. Solidarity with Ukraine. I hope we made you proud.
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