Frankie Goes To Hollywood perform during The National Lottery’s Big Eurovision Welcome event on May 07, 2023 in Liverpool, England.
Photo: Getty Images for The National Lo, Stuart C. Wilson. All rights reserved.
On Sunday evening (May 07, 2023) Frankie Goes To Hollywood performed at an opening event of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest – and thus had their first live performance with the original line-up in 36 years. The British pop band, featuring Holly Johnson, Brian Nash, Paul Rutherford, Mark O’Toole and Peter Gill, performed their song ‘Welcome To The Pleasuredome’ at St George’s Hall in their hometown of Liverpool.
The opening event was entitled “The National Lottery’s Big Eurovision Welcome” and was moderated by Joel Dommett and AJ Ododu. At the event, which attracted 25,000 spectators, in addition to the performance by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, there were also other sets by Conchita Wurst, Zara Larsson, The Lightning Seeds, Atomic Kitten and many other artists. In addition, aerial performances, projection mapping, drone flights and fireworks took place.
The Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Liverpool this year for security reasons, as last year’s winners – the Kalush Orchestra – are from Ukraine. It’s actually a tradition at the ESC that last year’s Siegerland hosts the event the following year.
Check out the live version of “Welcome To The Pleasuredome” here:
Frankie Goes To Hollywood had a number of international hits between 1983 and 1987, including the songs “Relax”, “Two Tribes” and “The Power Of Love”. The pop band broke up in 1987 due to infighting within the group. In 2003, the members reunited for an appearance on VH1’s Bands Reunited. After performing at a charity concert the following year with a new singer named Ryan Molloy and naming lawsuits shortly thereafter, they continued to perform under the moniker Forbidden Hollywood until 2007.