The reigning champions of the Eurovision stage touched down in Liverpool yesterday to the delight of many eager fans.
Kalush Orchestra stormed the Eurovision 2022 competition with Sefania, forever changing the landscape of what a winning track should look, sound and feel like. The folk-rap anthem smashed the voting system all over Europe and ushered in one of the most united contests we've ever seen.
Due to the ongoing Russian invasion, Ukraine was not able to hold the contest, which is why Liverpool is currently doing so. During the bidding process, the city promised to push Ukrainian culture, heritage, music, art and history to the forefront of every Eurovision celebration, birthing the world's first EuroFestival.
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The EuroFestival is a two-week programme of unprecedented scale that has seen every street, school, community and venue in Liverpool touched by the Ukrainian soul. As reigning champions, Kalush Orchestra took to the big stage last night to perform.
Lead singer Tymofii Muzychuk told The ECHO: "We are quite sad that Eurovision is not happening in Ukraine, but we're very happy the UK is hosting this year, particularly Liverpool where The Beatles originated from and performed. We saw the coloured and tributes around the city, and the Ukrainian art, so it's good to see Liverpool is appreciating all this Ukrainian culture, for which we are grateful and thankful.
"When the UK wins (Eurovision), we really urge you to come to Ukraine instead. Once we bring a victory home, we'd be happy to host it there as well. In terms of which city is good for hosting, anywhere in Ukraine is good, and we would love the chance to have the world in our country."
After winning Eurovision in 2022, Tymofi and his bandmates embarked on tours of Europe, America and Canada, raising around 60,000,000 Ukrainian hryvnia (£1,285,277) for charities in their home country, which remains under threat from Russian troops.
He said: "On the evening we won, everything happened so quickly... we came back to the hotel and everybody was so excited. I met with my fellow mates from the band and we went outside, sat down and went 'wow, we really did it, we won Eurovision', but we couldn't really speak about it as a whole. Afterwards we went back to Ukraine for a week or two. It was all chaotic."
He said the band - which includes Vitalii Duzhyk, Andrii Handziuk, Sasha Tab and Sasha Kondratiuk - has become friendly with each other since they formed in 2019, and enjoyed "roasting" each other and making inside jokes.
However, he added: "At the end of the tour we don't really want to see each other, you know when you spend a year together, we need a break. I want to see my girlfriend and go back to Ukraine, because when you're away from home that's what you want to do."
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