Officials from Liverpool’s city centre arena had the unenviable job of explaining to Elton John why his shows had to be moved for Eurovision.
This time last year, it had been expected that Elton John would play the M&S Bank Arena for two nights in April 2023. However, as Liverpool landed the international song contest, it fell to officials from the city council-owned venue and conference centre to inform Rocket Man he would have to move dates.
As a condition of acting as the host city, Liverpool had to ensure the BBC - as lead national broadcaster - could access the arena for up to seven weeks.
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Elton had been scheduled to perform two nights on April 22 and 23 but was forced to move the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour to a month earlier - March 23 and 24. He would go on to tell the crowd how his performance at Anfield last year had been “one of my top five shows ever.”
The task of informing Elton was left to ACC Liverpool according to Bill Addy, chief executive of Liverpool BID, who discussed how Eurovision had impacted the city’s visitor economy. He told an assembled audience at the conference centre how the nine days of events had been a “beautiful but bonkers experience” and described it as a time to show how Liverpool is a “safe, inclusive and bonkers city.”
Mr Addy said having to liaise with Elton John was “part of the complex mix that was Eurovision.”
Hundreds of people gathered at the dockside conference centre as Liverpool Council and partners explored the key facts and figures behind delivering the huge continental song contest earlier this year. A multi-agency steering group identified £55m was driven to Liverpool City Region’s economy with hundreds of thousands of visitors descending on the area.
Susan Finnegan of Culture Liverpool, said the city aimed to attract both inward investment and a leisure audience. She added: “We’ve found a way to unlock the true power of major events.
“We’ve unlocked the power for social, economic and sustainable components.”
Among the key figures include how in total, 473,000 people attended Eurovision events in the city, with 306,000 additional visitors heading to Liverpool to be part of the celebrations. The city also recorded its best month on record for hotel room sales for five years, with 175,000 snapped up in May.
Much consternation was felt regarding the initial booking of hotel rooms before Eurovision began, with rooms being blocked out prompting some venues to charge astronomical rates. Howard Lewis, board member of Liverpool Hospitality Association, explained why.
He said: “We had to secure the rooms to show whether we could actually stage the event. A very small amount of people did bad things, a minimal amount.
“The majority played the game the right way.” Mr Lewis admitted hotel prices “weren’t cheap” but said this was no different to prices during political conference season or when either of the city’s football clubs are at home.
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