On the eve of the Eurovision song contest finals, Hannah Moore travels to Liverpool to watch the rehearsals and hear from Ukrainians running stalls in ‘Eurovision Village’.
Chris West, the author of Eurovision! A History of Modern Europe Through the World’s Greatest Song Contest explains politics always plays a big part in the event but this year is particularly poignant.
After Ukraine’s victory in 2022, it is hosting the event by proxy in the UK. But Britain has a patchy history in the contest: it is a permanent member of finals night and yet so often an also-ran in the competition. The Guardian music critic Alexis Petridis tells Hannah that Britain has not usually put forwards its best artists.
Photograph: Andy Von Pip/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
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