20 Became 7

I could not come up with a better title for this post, but it’ll do.

Earlier this week, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) announced the names of 7 cities in the United Kingdom that have been shortlisted to host next year’s contest. They are:

• Glasgow
• Manchester
• Liverpool
• Birmingham
• Newcastle
• Leeds
• Sheffield

From what I have gathered, Birmingham and Glasgow are front-runners to host the 67th contest. Personally, I would want Glasgow to host the contest, but before I tell you why, I’ll tell you how we got here

2023 will mark the 9th time the United Kingdom hosts the Eurovision Song Contest. The only reason why they are chosen to host is because the 2022 winners, Ukraine, could not host due to the Russian invasion, and also the UK came second and therefore, was second in line to step into the hosting duties. The country has hosted 8 times before:

• London: 1960 (Royal Festival Hall), 1963 (BBC Television Centre), 1968 (Royal Albert Hall), 1977 (Wembley Conference Centre)
• Edinburgh: 1972 (Usher Hall)
• Brighton: 1974 (Brighton Dome)
• Harrowgate: 1982 (Harrowgate International Centre)
• Birmingham: 1998 (National Indoor Arena)

4 of the hosting gigs came from their victories in 1967, 1976, 1981, and 1997 (they also won in 1969, but it was a 4-way tie with France, Netherlands, and Spain). 2023 will mark the 5th time the UK gets hosting duties via appointment, for a better word.

Here’s more info about the next steps in the bidding process

Okay, so among the 7 shortlisted cities, my personal choice is Glasgow. For starters, Scotland has hosted Eurovision once (Edinburgh in 1972). Second, the venue, OVO Hydro Arena, has ties to the Netflix movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. It had recently hosted COP26, which the meeting itself is an issue for another time. If not Glasgow, I would be down for Birmingham, which has hosted 25 years ago as of next year. They are using another venue tho, so it won’t be the National Indoor Arena, it will be the Resorts World Arena. Liverpool’s Sefton Park would be my third choice as a lot of musical stars got their beginnings in the city.

Full breakdown of each city’s bid

Eurovision fans, where do you stand on this? Let me know in the comments below