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The hero's welcomes of our time

18 May 2023 at 17:12 CEST
Loreen from Sweden attending the Turquoise Carpet event at St. George’s Hall, Liverpool. Corinne Cumming / EBU
The stars of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 have been welcomed home by the immensely proud nations that they represented in Liverpool.

Post Eurovision-glory, our participants have arrived back to their respective countries, and been awarded the hero's welcomes that they each deserve. 

Between rapturous applause, red carpets, and receptions normally reserved for royal visits, our artists' journeys home have ended in thousands of people showing out; ensuring the warmest of welcomes for our acts. 

Loreen from Sweden, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Corinne Cumming / EBU

Some have performed again, others have meeted-and-greeted, but hopefully all of them have now been afforded at least a few days of well-earned rest. 

We round-up just some of the celebrations that our Class of 23 have got to enjoy over the past few days, since the curtain closed on the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.

Eurovision Song Contest 2023 winner Loreen didn't head straight home to Sweden the day after her historic Contest win in Liverpool. Instead, she stayed behind in the United Kingdom just a couple more days for some promotional work across the country's media. 

On Tuesday 16 May, however, she finally got to fly back home to Sweden. Swedish broadcaster SVT organised a public homecoming gig at Kungsträdgården in the country's capital. Hosted by Per Sinding-Larsen, the event saw thousands flock to the park in the centre of Stockholm, to greet Loreen and applaud her on the win that saw Sweden equal Ireland's tally for most Eurovision Song Contest wins; that's a whopping 7, fact fans!

There, she performed her winning song Tattoo, and also answered some questions. Her plan for the coming week?... 

"I'll probably work a few more days. But then I'm going out into the forest." 

Deserved, Loreen. Thoroughly deserved. Swedish viewers can watch the full event right here, but for everyone else, SVT has uploaded some heart-warming footage from the afternoon to Instagram: 

Helsinki Airport was awash with bright hues of toxic green on the afternoon of Sunday 14 May, as Käärijä landed in Finland's capital. A huge crowd came out to meet the much-loved star, after he gave Finland its second-best result in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, with a second-place finish in Liverpool.

Finnish broadcaster YLE have got something even bigger planned, however. On Saturday 20 May, they'll be live-streaming his homecoming concert from Helsinki Ice Hall. The stream will be made available worldwide at YLE Areena, starting at 19:00 CEST. 

Alessandra, meanwhile, got to tie-in her return home with Norway's Constitution Day on Wednesday 17 May - a national holiday which saw her placed among the celebrations broadcast on NRK throughout the day. Her appearance culminated in Kampen Janitsjarorkester performing the brass-band version of Queen of Kings that we never knew we needed in our lives.

They may have left Liverpool, but of course Croatia's Let 3 remain committed to the art of Mama ŠČ!. Arriving at Zagreb Airport on a golden tractor, the chaps were showered with rose petals by the assembled fans. And when asked by the press how their experience of Liverpool was, they claimed not to have actually gone there - they apparently sent their avatars to the United Kingdom instead. Fooled us!

In Spain, Blanca Paloma was welcomed back via a huge homecoming gig at la Plaza Mayor de Madrid, hosted by RTVE. There, she performed her song Eaea, and answered questions from the host, to an enthusiastic crowd of well-wishers. 

Ever the young role model, Switzerland's Remo Forrer headed straight to his old school in St. Gallen, for a more subdued but no less inspiring celebration of his time in Liverpool. There, he led students in a community rendition of his Contest favourite Watergun.