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12 August 2022 9:35 AM

Eurovision 2023: UK host city shortlist gets mixed reaction after London is snubbed

A final decision should be announced in the autumn.

By Alastair James

Words: Alastair James; pictures: Eurovison.tv/EBU

The shortlist for the cities up for hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 has been revealed and London is not among them. 

Announcing the shortlist on the Radio 2 Breakfast show with Zoe Ball on Friday (12 August) Scott Mills indicated that the final decision would be announced in the autumn.

The shortlist is comprised of: Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, and Sheffield.

London was, surprisingly left off the list unsurprisingly leading some to question, “where is london”

One person tweeted that it was “very disappointing” for London to not be among the shortlist adding that the capital has “a fantastic cultural scene that has proudly stepped up and provided safe refuge for thousands of our Ukrainian friends.”

Some celebrated that London wasn’t on the list. One person wrote, “We love to see it”.

And people in the shortlisted cities began celebrating the news and looking forward to hopefully hosting the actual gig. One of those was the Glasgow-based Eurovision superfan Adam Robinson, who told BBC Breakfast upon hearing his city was in the shortlist that it was “so incredible”. 

Clearly excited at the prospect of Glasgow hosting Eurovision he promised “we’ll do so well. It’ll be such an amazing Eurovision”. 

Among the criteria used to assess a city’s eligibility to host are having a venue with a 10,000 capacity as well as proximity to an international airport. The shortlisted cities will now be assessed again to look at what resources they have to host and experience with large-scale events. 

It was announced in July that the UK would be hosting after Eurovision organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), concluded that Ukraine, which won the 2022 Contest, could not host given the ongoing war. 

In a statement, the European Broadcasting Union said it had confirmed with the BBC that the UK would host the 2023 competition “on behalf of this year’s winning broadcaster, Ukraine’s UA:PBC.”

The 2023 contest will feature “Ukrainian elements” with members of UA: PBC working with the BBC on these and the logo for the 2023 event will reflect the cicrumstances and the cooperation between the UK and Ukraine.

Ukraine, as is tradition for the winning country, will automatically qualify for next year’s grand final, alongside the ‘Big 5’, which includes the UK. 

As reported by Sky News, the charity British Future has suggested that Ukrainian refugees and their UK host families should be prioritised for attending. 

The UK came second in this year’s contest with Sam Ryder’s out-of-this-world tune ‘Space Man’ to Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra and their song ‘Stefania’.

The 2023 contest will be the ninth time the UK has hosted the event.

The Attitude September/October issue is out now.

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