Eurovision 2023 pays tribute to Liverpool acts with songs by John Lennon, Mel C, and Dead or Alive

Sweden may have come out victorious at Eurovision 2023 (for the seventh time, at that), but England had the last huzzah with a tribute to some of Liverpool's most famous musical acts.

Before Loreen became only the second artist in Eurovision history to win the title twice, with her song "Tattoo," artists from Italy, Israel, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Sweden regaled audiences with some Liverpudlian hits.

Christopher Furlong/Getty Eurovision 2023

The tribute was performed by the "Eurovision All Stars" — a.k.a., Italy's Mahmood, Israel's Netta, Iceland's Daði Freyr, Sweden's Cornelia Jakobs, the Netherlands' Duncan Laurence, and Liverpool's own Sonia.

Mahmood opened the set with John Lennon's immortal (if overused) "Imagine."

Then Netta, sporting a pair of stage-spanning wings that somehow did not decapitate a single background dancer, performed Dead or Alive's 1984 jam "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)."

Daði Freyr performed millennial girl group Atomic Kitten's 2001 hit "Whole Again."

Then Jakobs got soaking wet for a Flashdance-inspired take on former and forever Spice Girl Mel C's 2000 solo single "I Turn to You."

Later, Liverpool native Sonia performed her 1993 Eurovision song, "Better the Devil You Know," which came in second that year.

Laurence, who won Eurovision in 2019, closed out the set with "You'll Never Walk Alone," the 1963 cover from the second most famous Liverpudlian quartet from the early '60s (after the Beatles, of course): Gerry and the Pacemakers.

He was then joined on stage after a dramatic curtain reveal and slow-walk by Eurovision contestants and hosts including Graham Norton and Ted Lasso's Hannah Waddingham. Because this is Eurovision. Subtlety is not an option.

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