5 best Eurovision moments and what’s next for the city’s culture calendar

It’s not every day that 162million people from around the world are tuned in and watching our city, but Eurovision did exactly that back in May.

The contest and everything that came with it gave Liverpool a massive global showcase and we made the most of it all, from drag brunches and Eurovision legend club PAs to Sam Ryder’s incredible impromptu mass singalong at the Albert Dock.

It’s impossible to pick one stand-out moment from the entire contest hosting, but we asked Cllr Harry Doyle, who was involved in the original bid as Cabinet Member for Culture & Visitor Economy, to choose his highlights …

A sign language performance of the Ukrainian national anthem 

We were really keen, even before we found out we were hosting on behalf of Ukraine, that it wasn’t just an Arena show. We wanted the whole city to feel it, so the free-to-see commissions, the community aspect and the education programme which had never been done for Eurovision before were highlights for me.

Two days before the grand final, we took the Ukrainian ambassador around some of the community and school programmes. He came to Knotty Ash Primary School which is a fantastic school that specialises in sign language. The whole school was there in the hall and they signed the Ukrainian national anthem, not in British Sign Language but in Ukrainian sign language. The ambassador and his wife were in floods of tears, it was just so emotional. 

That really stands out for me because it showed what we wanted to achieve.

The Liverpool Songbook during the Grand Final

When we had Netta coming down on the giant Liver Bird singing You Spin Me Round and then towards the end with You’ll Never Walk Alone, that was a real moment in the Arena and in the fanzone as well. Everyone was singing along and it was really moving. The organisers gave everyone in the audience wrist bands that lit up so there was a big audience participation element for that one song and the feeling was quite overwhelming. 

The 100 Voices United children’s choir at the Eurovision Village

There was a whole programme around the village at the Pier Head and a lot of  performances but one of my favourite days was when we had Resonate and the 100 Voices United children’s choir on stage. It was phenomenal, because a lot of those kids had never had that kind of platform or performed in front of such a big crowd before and they did an amazing job. 

The whole incredible atmosphere

Particularly on the day of the grand final, I’ve never seen the waterfront like that before, there were people everywhere and it was like being in the Mediterranean because the weather really came out for us. I was wearing a full head to toe purple sequined suit and I was boiling! The atmosphere was incredible, it was so inclusive and there wasn’t a hint of trouble, everyone was just smiling. One of the nicest things was there were lots of Scousers getting involved and just wanting to lap up the experience so there was a real sense of pride.

Hannah Waddingham!

I love her, the way she bilingual hosted and the relationship she had with the crowd in the Arena, she really stole the show. I remember years ago she was in Wicked on Broadway and she was absolutely fantastic even then. The rise she’s had this year is crazy and it’s so well deserved. 

Eurovision’s going to be a hard act to follow, so what next?

We always think about what’s next, and now we’re working on the programme for the next five years. We know we’ve secured the Euros in 2028 and we’re on the lookout for some more major events for the city. As a council we struggle financially, we’ve been hit by cuts, but we’ve really tried to keep a focus on still being bold and ambitious. We’ve invested in culture and we’re proud to have done that. When we put the bid in and we had all these ambitious ideas, we knew what we wanted to do and the Culture team are fantastic so we knew they could do it. They managed to pull off what seemed impossible to some and that’s given us even more confidence to keep going big and bold. 

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