VIENNA & THE BEATLES MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR on Eurovision day

In 2023, Liverpool hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, for the first time. To mark this special moment (when Ukraine should really have staged the event, but could not), we showed the continuing strong relevance and influence of four men from Liverpool, who changed rock&roll. Because the tour was so popular - and featured on Seitenblicke - we will bring it back in 2025. Dominik Nostitz, from Whoosh, is a street musician who has busked all over Europe, including in UK and Vienna. Eugene, from Whoosh, has also been experimenting with the powerful mix of playing music on the streets, combined with storytelling and inspiration. This tour will be loud.

So how did The Beatles' ideas, play and innovation affect the local music scene? We can hear it in the songs of Wolfgang Ambros and Wanda, but also in the way 1960s were looser and more free, more experimental, psychedelic and wild. John & Yoko staged one of their three legendary bed-in peace protests in the Sacher Hotel, Ringo wrote a tune called Goodnight Vienna, Paul McCartney played Stadthalle in 2019, and Beatles made a spontaneous concert in Hotel Marietta in Obertauern in March 1965, while filming the movie Help! up there (the cover of the record was photographed there too).

We will play some of the best-known Beatles anthems, and uncover the context of those moments.

Eurovision Song Contest is a freakshow in many ways - sometimes a car crash - and of little musical value, but it is one of those rare moments when Europe comes together for fun and positive reasons (along with Champions League). For many of the smaller countries of Central and Eastern Europe, it is a chance to be seen in a positive cultural way, and to compare yourself to others. It is also a gay-friendly time, female-focused, a chance to dress up, be silly and also political. We should use these opportunities to be European in a playful way, and see them positively.

Our event serves as a warm-up for the show on TV later on. We have many surprises planned, and will step inside some cool buildings.

#makeEurovisionCoolAgain #leitkultur