Liverpool is in fibrillation: great anticipation for the final evening of the Eurovision Song Contest, the annual competition that England hosts for the first time in a quarter of a century. Singers and groups representing 26 countries will take to the stage in the hope of winning, winning the vote of the judges and that of the public who can vote from home. The event is expected to have a global audience of 160 million people.
Paul McCartney e Ringo Starr
The evening will be opened by the Kalush Orchestra, which had triumphed at last year’s edition in Turin with the song “Stefania”. According to the rules, it would have fallen to Ukraine to host the singing festival, but due to the war the honor and burden passed to Great Britain, which had placed second. Liverpool was chosen as the venue for its rich musical tradition and tour rumors that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the two surviving members of the legendary Beatles who have remained attached to their city, will be surprise guests of honor on stage tonight.
The organizers stressed that the venue is England, but the heart and soul of the event is in Ukraine. The yellow and blue flag is everywhere in Liverpool, eleven different Ukrainian artists will participate in the evening and three thousand of the much sought-after tickets have been donated to Ukrainian refugees who have emigrated to Britain because of the war. Ukraine is represented this year by the electronic music duet Tvorchi, while Mae Muller hopes to take the trophy for Great Britain, which she hasn’t won since 1997. Marco Mengoni represents Italy with the song “Due vite”, but according to the British bookmakers the favorite is Sweden, represented by the singer Loreen who had already won Eurovision in 2012. Finland is second in the standings according to forecasts, but Israel and Spain are also well placed. The beauty of the competition, however, is that it always reserves surprises, given the weight of the vote of spectators in the participating countries and this year, for the first time, also in non-European countries.
Liverpool’s day of celebration was partly marred for two reasons. The first is yet another train strike which today paralyzed rail transport in England, making travel to the Eurovision venue very difficult for thousands of spectators. The second is the statement by the Ukrainian president that he would have preferred the Eurovision, not being able to take place in Ukraine, had been hosted by a neighboring country, “like Poland or Slovakia, easy to reach for our citizens”, instead of the United Kingdom. It was not the only controversy related to Zelensky: the Ukrainian president, through the Ukrainian ambassador in London, had expressed the desire to intervene via video to give a speech at the final night of Eurovision tonight, but the organizers did not allow it in order not to “violate the political impartiality” of the singing competition.
The decision was not appreciated by the British Government. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his “deep disappointment” and said it would have been right and appropriate to let Zelensky speak, given “that the values he represents are not political but fundamental”. London also noted that last year the organizers decided to ban Russia from Eurovision due to its invasion of Ukraine.