Douze points for Irish fans taking Eurovision by storm, despite absence of Wild Youth from final
Irish fans gathered in Liverpool for Eurovision 2023 fly the flag.
Tricolours wave proudly at Chavasse Park in Liverpool early on Saturday morning, just mere hours before the Grand Final of the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Ireland may not be competing in Saturday’s Grand Final but we’re still here. The Irish fans are proudly taking Liverpool by storm.
Irish Eurovision podcasters Louise and Conor Devin, who host ÉireVision, are among many fans who arrived to the madness last weekend and have been taking in all things Eurovision since, from the Eurovision Village, located in Albert Dock, a few metres away from Liverpool’s M&S Arena.
‘Proud to Welcome Eurovision’ signs cover every inch of the city; choirs and bands play on every corner; and fans young and old roam from event to event decked out in flags, glitter, and Eurovision merchandise. It's not every day people regularly pass you in the street dressed as Jedward.
“It’s been crazy but we’re loving every minute of it,” Conor said before heading off to the afternoon preview show, more commonly known as the family show.
Viewers sitting at home may watch the two semi-finals and the grand finale on television but the contest is made up of nine shows: Semi-final one evening preview show, semi-final one afternoon preview show, and the semi-final one live TV show. This also happens for semi-final two and the grand finale. And superfans flock to every single one.
“Liverpool have set the bar high,” Mark Kilduff from Dublin tells me, having been to the 66th edition in Turin in 2022.
It was also the spot where he proposed to his girlfriend, Ciara Treacy from Galway. “We said we’d have to come back for our anniversary and now, we might make it our honeymoon too."
It’s been 26 years since Ireland last tasted success in the competition and that wait will continue after Wild Youth sadly crashed out of the semi-final stage on Tuesday night.
Asking around the group of fans, it was obvious that our failure did not deter them from celebrating and spirits were high. “It’s not about winning, it’s about showcasing our culture,” Louise said.
Talk quickly turned to the question on everyone’s lips: Is Ireland’s status as the single most successful country in Eurovision under threat? And according to these fans, the answer is a unanimous ‘Yes’.
If Sweden takes the crown as Eurovision 2023 champs, the Nordic country can equal Ireland’s record seven Eurovision victories and Loreen will equal Johnny Logan’s record of two wins as a performer.
Funnily enough, the ÉireVision hosts would welcome Ireland losing its status as the sole most successful country.
“I’d welcome the pressure. It might make Ireland rethink their Eurovision process and send an act that reflects a more modern Eurovision,” Conor says. “A Eurovision that we haven't been performing at."
Sweden, Finland, France, and Czechia are all said to be in the running but as to who will take the crown, we’ll have to wait and see.
Tonight, we’ll see last year’s winner Ukraine open the show before handing it over to hosts Alesha Dixon, Hannah Waddingham, Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina, and for the grand final only, our very own Graham Norton.
