2 months ago

Dates: Semi-final 1: 9 May 2023 - Semi-final 2: 11 May 2023 - Final 13 May 2023
Host venue: Liverpool Arena, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Presenters: Alesha Dixon, Hannah Waddingham, Julia Sanina, Graham Norton (final)
Directed by Nikki Parsons, Richard Valentine, Ollie Bartlett
Executive supervisor: Martin Österdahl - Executive producer: Andrew Cartmell
Host broadcaster: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, as Ukraine—the winner of the 2022 contest with the song "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra—was unable to host the event due to the Russian invasion of the country. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) acting as host broadcaster on behalf of the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC). The contest was held at Liverpool Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and a final on 13 May 2023. The three live shows were presented by British singer Alesha Dixon, British actress Hannah Waddingham, and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina, with Irish television presenter Graham Norton joining for the final.

Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest, with Bulgaria, Montenegro, and North Macedonia ceasing their participation, mainly due to the economic impact of the global energy crisis. The winner was Sweden with the song "Tattoo", performed by Loreen and written by her along with Jimmy Thörnfeldt, Jimmy Jansson, Moa Carlebecker, Peter Boström, and Thomas G:son. Finland, Israel, Italy, and Norway rounded out the top five. Sweden won the combined vote and jury vote, and came second to Finland in the televote. Loreen became the second performer to win the contest twice, after Irish singer Johnny Logan; it was also the seventh win for Sweden, tying Ireland's record for the most Eurovision victories.

The EBU announced on 17 June 2022 that the Russian invasion of Ukraine meant that UA:PBC could not give the security and operations guarantees required to host the contest, and that the event could therefore not be held in Ukraine. The EBU then entered discussions with the BBC, the 2022 runner-up, and on 25 July announced that the 2023 contest would be hosted in the United Kingdom. It was the first time since 1980 that the contest was not hosted by the previous year's winning country.

The EBU reported that the contest had a television audience of 162 million viewers in 38 European markets, an increase of a million viewers from the previous edition. A total of 15.6 million viewers watched the contest online on YouTube and TikTok. Making use of 360° drone technology, each postcard began in a selected location in Ukraine, then one in the United Kingdom, before moving to the artist's country of origin, where the artist took part in an activity of their choice.

37 countries participated in the 2023 contest – the lowest number of participating countries in a single edition since 2014 – with Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia, which had participated in the 2022 contest, opting not to participate in 2023 for financial reasons. This was also the first contest where the Czech Republic participated under its shortened English name of Czechia. The budget was contributed to by Liverpool City Council and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (£2 million each), the British government (£10 million), and the BBC (£8 million to £17 million). The overall budget was not made public, but was estimated to be at around £24.7 million (€28.3 million), including expenditures by the host city.

Semi-final 1
Rita Ora performed as an interval act in the first semi-final.

The first semi-final took place on 9 May 2023 at 20:00 BST (21:00 CEST). Fifteen countries participated in this semi-final, with the running order published on 22 March 2023. Finland won the most points, followed by Sweden, Israel, Czechia, Moldova, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, Portugal, and Serbia. The countries that failed to reach the final were Latvia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Azerbaijan, and Malta. All the countries competing in this semi-final were eligible to vote, plus France, Germany and Italy, as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" vote.

This semi-final was opened by a dance sketch set to "Together in Electric Dreams", preceded by a pre-recorded segment featuring Paul Hollywood, King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Sister Sister, Ricky Tomlinson, and Paul O'Grady in a posthumous appearance. This was followed by co-presenter Julia Sanina performing "Mayak" with her husband and fellow The Hardkiss member Valeriy Bebko. The interval acts included Alyosha performing "Ordinary World" with Rebecca Ferguson, and Rita Ora performing a medley of "Ritual", "Anywhere", "I Will Never Let You Down" and "Praising You". The French, German, and Italian artists were then interviewed, and clips of their competing songs were played.

Results of the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

R/O Country Artist Song Points Place

1 Norway Alessandra "Queen of Kings" 102 6
2 Malta The Busker "Dance (Our Own Party)" 3 15
3 Serbia Luke Black "Samo mi se spava" 37 10
4 Latvia Sudden Lights "Aijā" 34 11
5 Portugal Mimicat "Ai coração" 74 9
6 Ireland Wild Youth "We Are One" 10 12
7 Croatia Let 3 "Mama ŠČ!" 76 8
8 Switzerland Remo Forrer "Watergun" 97 7
9 Israel Noa Kirel "Unicorn" 127 3
10 Moldova Pasha Parfeni "Soarele și luna" 109 5
11 Sweden Loreen "Tattoo" 135 2
12 Azerbaijan TuralTuranX "Tell Me More" 4 14
13 Czechia Vesna "My Sister's Crown" 110 4
14 Netherlands Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper "Burning Daylight" 7 13
15 Finland Käärijä "Cha Cha Cha" 177 1