In a week that saw Liverpool at the heart of announcements involving Taylor Swift, Andrea Bocelli and George Harrison, Kevin McManus, Head of UNESCO City of Music, explores why Liverpool is in the global music spotlight again.
For me every week in Liverpool is music week, but this week has been stellar even by our incredibly high standards.
Cunard announced that the maiden call of the new Queen Anne ship will be celebrated with an amazing musical line up which will include Andrea Bocelli as well as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. And if that’s not enough, there’s further local involvement with DJ sets from the wonderful Lauren Lo Sung and the scouse king of soul and funk, Craig Charles.
A blue plaque to celebrate the birthplace of one of the most famous musical sons – and in my personal opinion, the best Beatle – George Harrison was unveiled at his birthplace in Wavertree. A real significant moment for music fans across the world.
But the music story that got by far the biggest reaction was the news that Liverpool was going to turn into Taylor Town for a week as a celebration of the fact that the global superstar Taylor Swift is doing three stadium dates in Liverpool.
As we showed the world last year with Eurovision, when there is chance to celebrate a major musical happening we go for it big time, and on this occasion we will be creating a special city experience for the hundreds of thousands of fans who will be travelling to the city from across the world.
I have to come clean here and say I’m not a Taylor Swift fan but I’m delighted that we are lucky enough to be hosting her only shows in England, outside of London, and that we are using the gigs as the basis for a city-wide celebration under the ‘Liverpool Loves’ campaign banner.
Our Taylor Town announcement has attracted media coverage from all over the world, and it is precisely this sort of coverage that continues to build our reputation as the music city. People see us on their TVs, or on social media and want to visit the city where all these amazing music events are happening.
Economically it is incredibly important for the city region too. We don’t have local figures but according to the Barclaycard Swiftonomics report, the UK leg of the Eras tour will provide a boost of £997million to the economies of the cities hosting the shows.
It is all incredibly positive news for the city. A decade ago we struggled to attract major acts, but now we have the likes of Taylor Swift at Anfield, following on from the Rolling Stones last year playing their first gig in Liverpool in over 50 years. Not only that, but we now have Live Nation producing their annual On The Waterfront gigs and their new In the Park festival this year.
The major promoters now understand that Liverpool wants these big shows, the artists love playing here, and we have the infrastructure and venues to make them work. Taylor could have gone to Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, or anywhere in England but she and her team chose Liverpool.
I’d like to think it is more than simply the numbers stacking up for the promoter – Taylor doesn’t really need the money. Maybe it is because Taylor came to Liverpool last year to shoot the I Can See You video and fell in love with the place.
Or, as they were here in the run up to Eurovision, maybe Taylor and her team saw first-hand how Liverpool embraces events and we’re a city that genuinely has music at its heart and knows its power to bring people together and create special moments.
That is why Taylor Town is so important – we aren’t just welcoming Taylor Swift to the city – we are celebrating her and her music in a way that is completely unique to Liverpool, making us the world’s foremost music city.
Find out more about Taylor Town at the Visit Liverpool website.
