Skip to content
19 times Liverpool shone on the world stage
Last week Liverpool was buzzing as it transformed into a sea of blue, yellow and glitter for Eurovision 2023 – hosted on behalf of Ukraine.
In the build up, we saw installations and decorations placed all around the city and everything from the two week EuroFestival programme to the Blue and Yellow Submarine Parade, the EuroVillage opening its gates, the Eurovision 2023 Welcome Party and more incredible performances.
We know Liverpool is renowned across the globe for its music, famous exports, architecture, culture, local businesses and more – but following our Eurovision success, we’ve decided to take a look at a number of huge events and other moments that have helped put Liverpool on the map.
Read More:
From past events still fondly remembered to recent moments that continue to make the city proud, here are just 19 times Liverpool earned its place on the map
This list isn’t intended to be comprehensive, we’ve included a number of events and big moments from over the years – mostly more recently. But if you feel there are some we should have included, let us know in the comments section below.
For beautiful, historic images from the past have a look at memorylane.co.uk/ and see what you can discover
Join our Liverpool memories and history Facebook group here.
For more nostalgia stories, sign up to our Liverpool Echo newsletter here.
Do these awaken any memories for you? Let us know in the comments section below.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what’s on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
This month, Liverpool hosted the The Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of 2022 champions Ukraine. Arguably the biggest event the city has hosted in its history, we saw installations and decorations start to take place and everything from the two week EuroFestival programme to the Blue and Yellow Submarine Parade, the EuroVillage opening its gates, the Eurovision 2023 Welcome Party and more incredible performances
(Image: Photo by Andrew Teebay)It’s now 15 years since Liverpool was European Capital of Culture – a moment that would change the city forever. On June 4 2003, the then Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell announced Liverpool would be the UK’s European Capital of Culture title holder for 2008 and with that came a year of celebrations, from the opening of Liverpool ONE and the ECHO Arena to a sea of superlambananas taking over the city and more
(Image: Photo by Colin Lane)Between May 24 and 26, 2015, Cunard’s Three Queens – the Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2 – visited Liverpool for the 175th anniversary of the famous cruise line. The River Mersey hosted a fantastic water ballet by the famous cruise ships with thousands of people lining the coastline for the historic event honouring the birth of Cunard in Liverpool
(Image: Cunard’s three Queens – Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth – on the river Mersey on May 26, 2015)What started as a series of small gigs in Liverpool city centre in 1992, Africa Oye proved so popular it moved to its now established home in Sefton Park in 2002. Last year, Africa Oye celebrated its 30 year anniversary and in that time the event has grown to become the biggest celebration of African music and culture in the UK – now attracting over 50,000 people over the weekend
(Image: Photo by Colin Lane)With the oldest Chinese community in Europe, Liverpool has a long tradition of celebrating Chinese New Year, annually boasting spectacular performances and a riot of colour through the city centre. Dating back to the mid-19th century when the first Chinese seamen made the city their home, Chinatown continues to thrive around Nelson Street, Duke Street and Berry Street
(Image: Mirrorpix)The Mathew Street festival started as a stage outside the Cavern in 1993, when the company behind the annual Beatles Convention held an August Bank Holiday party in Mathew Street. An instant hit, the festival as we knew it ended in 2013 – but it’s also important to give a big shout out to Liverpool International Music Festival (LIMF) still held in Sefton Park annually
(Image: Mirrorpix)Liverpool is the first city in the UK to recognise its Pride quarter – holding its first official pride in 2010. Pride has grown in strength with support from residents and the LGBT community and now attracts thousands to the city to celebrate every year
(Image: Photo by Colin Lane)A parting of the Red Sea , this photo shows thousands of jubilant supporters line The Strand in celebration as Liverpool FC players parade the Champions League Trophy – the club’s sixth – through the streets of Liverpool in June 2019. We’ve had another parade since in 2022 – but for years, our local football clubs successes have helped put the city on the map
(Image: Mirrorpix)Although not technically in Liverpool, we couldn’t miss Aintree’s Randox Grand National from our list. Down the decades the racing has attracted as many celebrities as it has punters from around the country on the course and the National simply wouldn’t be what it is without its characters
(Image: Photo by Colin Lane)The Giants spectacular visits to Liverpool have become some the city’s most memorable cultural events of the past decade and also saw creator Jean-Luc Courcoult awarded the city’s highest civic honour, the Freedom of the City. At their first appearance in 2012, we were introduced to the Little Girl Giant, her Uncle, and Xolo her trusty dog and it was just two years later the Giants returned to the city, again attracting thousands of spectators
(Image: Photo by Gavin Trafford)It’s been over a decade now since La Princess Spider arrived in the city. La Machine, the art group based in Nantes, France, initially installed the 50ft high, 37 tonne mechanical spider on the side of the Concourse House near Lime Street station before she awoke to explore the city over five days in 2008
(Image: Photo by Colin Lane)Back in 2018, China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors Exhibition arrived at Liverpool’s World Museum. For more than 2,000 years, an underground army of life-sized terracotta warriors secretly guarded the tomb of China’s First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, until a chance discovery in 1974 unlocked the mysteries of a vanished empire and decades later some of that tomb came to Liverpool attracting tonnes of visitors
(Image: Photo by Colin Lane)When the team behind Liverpool super club Cream decided to hold a music festival in the late 1990s, they couldn’t have foreseen the behemoth that Creamfields would become. It started in Winchester, Hampshire and is now in Daresbury, Cheshire – but it’s important to remember the idea came from the club’s success in Liverpool and for a time was held in the Old Liverpool Airfield in Speke before being known around the world
(Image: Mirrorpix)In more recent years, Liverpool’s Comic Con has grown massively, attracting crowds from across the UK and beyond and stars from around the globe. With queues regularly forming, attendees go all out and bring so much imagination to Liverpool with their brilliant costumes
(Image: Photo by Colin Lane)It’s been almost 15 years since the opening day of Liverpool ONE. For the launch excited shoppers packed into Liverpool One after a red carpet ceremony and hundreds gathered to pile into the stores as part of the £1bn development – and the rest is history
(Image: Photo by Colin Lane)In 2021, Liverpool was chosen as the city to host the UK’s first post-lockdown gig in Sefton Park. A massive moment in the pandemic, it was an emotional night for many as 5,000 people who turned up to see indie pop band Blossoms
(Image: Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)All eyes were on Liverpool when scenes for ‘The Batman’ movie were filmed at the Pier Head. Over the years, we’ve had everything from Peaky Blinders to Captain America and Fantastic Beasts filmed in the city -and it’s always nice to spot a bit of home on the big screen
(Image: Julian Hamilton/Daily Miiror)Football fans from across the globe visit Anfield and Goodison regularly – and soon will head to Bramley Moore. But in 2019, the first music gig in Anfield in a decade took place and saw Take That and the late Gerry Marsden to the stage – and since big acts like The Rolling Stones and Elton John have performed there
(Image: Dave J Hogan for Take That)One of the best things about living in Liverpool in the nineties and noughties was the Summer Pops festival. The festival was set up in 1993 by Royal Liverpool Philharmonic conductor Carl Davis as a way to give the orchestra somewhere to play while the Philharmonic Hall was being refurbished between 1993 and 1995 – but it was so popular it carried on until the early 2010s, with other artists coming on board
(Image: Trinity Mirror Copyright)
