On Friday evening (March 3rd), the German ESC decision “Our Song for Liverpool” (Das Erste) took place. Presenter Barbara Schöneberger (48) presented the live show from Cologne, in which only eight instead of nine acts performed. Frida Gold had to cancel her performance, front woman Alina Süggeler (37) was out due to illness. The previous voting for Frida Gold was therefore not counted.
TRONG (30) made the start. The musician from Bad Kissingen in Bavaria has Vietnamese roots and successfully took part in the “Vietnam Idol” talent show in 2015. He performed his nu disco song “Dare To Be Different” in a glittery look and a group of dancers. Singer René Miller (28), who has made a name for himself as a songwriter, competed with the song “Concrete Heart” about a toxic relationship.
Anica Russo (22), singer-songwriter from Berlin, presented her powerful-voiced song “Once Upon A Dream” in a sparkling robe and in a reed grass ambience. Lonely Spring, the band around the twin brothers Jules and Simon as well as Manu and Matthias from Passau , rocked with their pop-punk contribution “Misfit” about supposed outsiders on stage before singer-songwriter Will Church (28) from Berlin struck calmer tones again with “Hold On”. The ex-“The Voice” contestant’s music is placed “between Ed Sheeran and Coldplay”.
Patty Gurdy came up with a hurdy-gurdy and her Celtic folk-pop song called “Melodies Of Hope”. In stark contrast, Ikke Hipgold (46), real name Matthias Distel, followed. The party singer, who came with a whole fan community in red Ikke suits and said in advance that only he could save the ESC, qualified through a TikTok vote. He performed his party hit “Song with Good Text” with numerous Lalala choirs in a golden suit.
The dark rock band Lord Of The Lost comes from Hamburg and was founded in 2009, has already been on tour with Iron Maiden at 18 shows in 16 countries and will be performing again with the metal legends this year. The musicians, who move between industrial rock and gothic metal and want to be a total work of art with their red and gold outfits, caused a stir with their song “Blood
ESC fans Florian Silbereisen (41), Riccardo Simonetti (30) and Ilse DeLange (45), who also performed the joint single “You” with The BossHoss, sat on Schöneberger’s sofa and rated the various performances. Silbereisen, for whom, according to his own statement, “the right song or the right duet partner” was missing for his own ESC participation, at least sang an ESC medley with Schöneberger and all acts.
Multiple ESC participant Katja Ebstein (77) hid in the audience and sang together with the audience “There are always miracles”, with the song she once took third place. She was enthusiastic about the acts, as was the winner of last year’s preliminary round, Malik Harris (25), who took a seat on the sofa and brought the decisive envelope.
How was the winner determined in the end? 50 percent of the points were awarded by eight juries in eight different countries. Points from 1 to 12 were from Switzerland (12 for Will Church), Netherlands (12 for TRONG), Finland (12 for Lord Of The Lost), Spain (12 for Will Church), Lithuania (12 for Will Church) , Ukraine (12 for Will Church), Austria (12 for Will Church) and Great Britain (12 for Will Church).
The jury’s favorite Will Church, Anica Russo and René Miller initially took the top spots. Another 50 percent of the points came from the German audience. They are made up of votes during the show by phone call and SMS and online voting in the week before the preliminary decision on ARD radio pop waves. The audience turned the decision. Lord Of The Lost received a proud 146 audience points, Ikkehiippgold took second place with 101 points, Will Church saved himself in third place with only 21 audience points.
The dark rock band Lord Of The Lost, consisting of singer and guitarist Chris Harms, guitarist Pi Stoffers, bassist Klaas Helmecke, multi-instrumentalist Gared Dirge and drummer Niklas Kahl, is driving to the ESC for Germany.
The final of the ESC 2023 will take place in Liverpool on May 13th. The semi-finals will take place on May 9th and May 11th. The event will be held this year under the slogan “United by Music”. The Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won last year, but the event was moved to the UK due to security concerns and planning uncertainties due to the war in Ukraine. The Brit Sam Ryder (33) took second place in 2022.
