Perth quintet voyager have been announced as Australia’s first-ever band entrant to Eurovision, ahead of the song contest’s 2023 edition this May.
Australia’s entrant for the 2023 Eurovision has been revealed, marking the first time the country has tapped a band for the international song contest. Voyager, the synth-metal band from Perth, was announced as Australia’s representative last night (February 21), and are set to bring their song Promise to Eurovision’s host country of England this May.
“As a long-time Eurovision fan, this is the pinnacle — Voyager gets to play the greatest show on earth,” Voyager lead vocalist Danny Estrin said in a statement. “Our song Promise is made for the Eurovision stage and collectively we feel it’s one of our best yet.” The band has joined the ballot to attend Eurovision every year since Australia first joined the contest in 2015.
Last year, Voyager placed as runners up to Sheldon Riley, who would go on to represent Australia at Eurovision 2022 and place 15th for his song Not The Same. Dami Im remains Australia’s nearest victor, having placed second in 2016 for her song Sound of Silence. Additional Australian entrants have included Jessica Mauboy, Guy Sebastian and Montaigne, the last of whom performed her track Technicolour.
View this post on Instagram
Voyager will perform on the international stage this May in Liverpool, given that Ukraine — last year’s winning country — cannot host the 2023 edition due to the ongoing war with Russia. It marks the first time Australia has submitted a group act for the contest, although other countries (like Ukraine) have seen victory for their band entrants.
Earlier this year, John Lydon was announced as one of six entries to potentially represent Ireland, despite the former Sex Pistols frontman’s critical statements about Eurovision in the past. It could mark Australia’s last showing at the contest, as the country’s contract with the European Broadcast Union expires this year. Voyagers’ last album, Colours in the Sun, arrived in 2019.
Speaking of their European tour and appearance at Euroblast in a 2015 interview with Happy Mag, Estrin said: “We just did Europe. We played some shows in the UK and headlined a festival in the Netherlands and did Euroblast in Germany. They were some pretty sweet places…They’re all good places to jam out.”
