The stage for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest has been officially unveiled.
Housed at the Liverpool Arena, King Charles and Queen Camilla visited the venue to reveal the stunning set and stage for the event.
Following a countdown, the set was revealed to a soundtrack of the Eurovision theme by Ukrainian composer Michael Nekrasov.
They were joined by Tim Davie, BBC Director-General, who says:“It is an honour that His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort have come here today to reveal the fantastic staging for our Eurovision Song Contest programming.
“This set will be the focal point for all of the celebrations and we cannot wait to see it lighting up Liverpool and TV screens across the world.”
Martin Green CBE, Managing Director of Eurovision, adds: “We are thrilled His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort have unveiled this landmark moment for 2023 Eurovision.
“It has been a fantastic collaboration between all of our partners and the BBC to get to this point and now the stage is officially set to capture everyone’s imaginations and bring together audiences from across the world.”
The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Liverpool with last year’s runners up, the United Kingdom, hosting on behalf of Ukraine. The Grand Final takes place on May 13, following a pair of Semi-Finals on May 9 and 11, with preparations well underway at the Liverpool Arena.
Production design is being helmed by Australian-born, New York creative Julio Himede, who opened up on the undertaking in an exclusive interview with RETROPOP’s May 2023 issue, admitting that Eurovision is “more unique than any other show that I can think of around the world”.
“We very carefully spent a lot of time looking at camera angles and floor plans to make everything feel united,” he said of the show, which has the slogan ‘United By Music’. “The arena’s quite big, so how do we make it feel like it’s all part of this ‘hug’, this welcoming message that we want to portray. So there’s a lot of production values that we bring into it.”
Referring to the set as “an immersive environment and a landscape that includes the audience and the artists performing on stage as one,” there are more than 450 square metres of staging, bringing together another 220 square metres of independently moving and turning video screens, as well as over 700 video tiles integrated into the floor and more than 1500 metres of LED lights.
“Lighting plays a major factor in how the viewers at home experience the set design, as well as other effects like pyro, smoke,” he added, revealing there are elements of automation and lighting in this year’s show that have never been seen at Eurovision before. “There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors that we bring to make it feel immersive.”
A big part of that, he reveals, are expansive video screens. “Eighty per cent of the architecture of the set is made out of video panels and video surfaces – not only on the back walls, but also on the floor, the ceiling, and the side sections – so that allows us to transform the stage design in a matter of seconds, whoever is performing,” Julio shared.
“We are having conversations with each country, showing them this design, what it has to offer, and the different areas within the stage. We’ll show them some of the tricks that the stage can do, because there are a few areas that automate and we want to give them access to that element.”
He added: “Then they bring their own creative which we help them elevate, so it’s a back and forth and we’re in the middle of that right now. What you have seen in some of the performances from the countries so far, some of them are sticking to what they have and some of them are bringing in other elements that extend the creative even further.”
