The engines were started last Tuesday with the first semi-final of the 67th Eurovision Song Contest. The competition is well underway and ready for a second memorable night live from M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool. Sixteen more contestants are eager to present themselves to the audience in Europe, Australia and the rest of the world.
This year’s hosts are ready to lead us through a second sensational show. Julia Sanina, Hannah Waddingham and Alesha Dixon will once again welcome Eurofans from the spectacular stage of the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool. The United Kingdom are hosting the 67th Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of last year’s winner Ukraine and have gone all-in.
Last Tuesday the first semi-final gave us the names of the first ten qualifiers. Tonight the line-up of this Saturday’s Grand Final will be completed with the last ten names to continue their Eurovision 2023 journey.
The show
Big names are ready to enchant the audience in this second semi-final. Welsh actor Luke Evans will open the show to narrate the history of the contest. The interval act will honour this year’s co-host Ukraine with a show called Music Unites Generations. Former Ukrainian representatives Mariya Yaremchuk (2014) and Zlata Dziunka (Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022) will perform a medley of Ukrainian musical works together with Otoy. Furthermore, three drag performers will present Be who you wanna be, a dance sketch ofJason Gilkison. They will be accompanied by the Ukrainian dance ensemble Podilya.
As for the first semi-final, each of tonight’s contestant will be introduced by the traditional postcard of the duration of 40 seconds. This year the BBC went for a 360° drone technology. The introduction will begin each time in a location in Ukraine, then move to another location in the United Kingdom and finally land in the artist’s country. The three locations will be connected by a specific theme linked to the activity of choice of each artist.
Tonight’s contestant
The draw for both semi-finals took place on 31 January at St. George’s Hall in Liverpool. The exact running order was revealed on 22 March on YouTube:
| # | Country | Artist | Song title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denmark | Reiley | Breaking My Heart |
| 2 | Armenia | Brunette | Future Lover |
| 3 | Romania | Theodor Andrei | D.G.T. (Off and On) |
| 4 | Estonia | Alika | Bridges |
| 5 | Belgium | Gustaph | Because of You |
| 6 | Cyprus | Andrew Lambrou | Break a Broken Heart |
| 7 | Iceland | Diljá | Power |
| 8 | Greece | Victor Vernicos | What They Say |
| 9 | Poland | Blanka | Solo |
| 10 | Slovenia | Joker Out | Carpe Diem |
| 11 | Georgia | Iru | Echo |
| 12 | San Marino | Piqued Jacks | Like an Animal |
| 13 | Austria | Teya and Salena | Who the Hell Is Edgar? |
| 14 | Albania | Albina and Familja Kelmendi | Duje |
| 15 | Lithuania | Monika Linkytė | Stay |
| 16 | Australia | Voyager | Promise |
Notable comebacks and anecdotes
Some of tonight’s contestants will have to advantage of having already experienced the joy of the Eurovision. Lithuania’s representative Monika Linkytėhas already represented the Baltic country in 2015 together with countrymanVaidas Baumila. They placed 18th in the Grand Final with their song This time. Furthermore, Belgium’s Gustaph was the backing vocalist for Sennek (Belgium, 2018) and Hooverphonic (Belgium, 2021).
Last but not the least, Iru from Georgia is the latest singer in time to be selected for Eurovision after having competed at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Not only that, she won the Junior Eurovision in 2011 with the band Candy. She follows the path of some other artists who have competed in both “junior” and “senior” Eurovision such as Destiny Chukunyere (Malta, 2021), Stefania (Greece, 2021), Tholmachevy Sisters (Russia, 2014), O’G3NE (The Netherlands, 2017), Nevena Božović (Serbia, 2013 and 2019) as well as Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini (San Marino, 2015).
Finally, Danishrepresentative Riley will make history while opening tonight’s semi-final. He is the first person born in the Faroe Islands to compete in the contest.
The vote
The EBU has decided to bring a substantial change to this year’s structure of the contest. The semi-finals will be decided by the televote only. Viewers from tonight’s participating countries will have all the power to decide of the outcome. In addition, viewers from Spain,the United Kingdom and Ukraine will also be able to cast their vote in the second semi-final.
Viewers from the Rest of the world will be able to vote again. These countries collectively will distribute the same amount of points as one participating country (one set from 1 to 12 points).
The ten countries with the most televote points will advance to the Grand Final, whereas the remaining six will unfortunately abandon this year’s competition. The ten lucky entrants will be announced at the end of the show in random order. Stay tuned on ESCToday.com for the results!
In order to vote, verify the information provided by your national broadcaster if you reside in a participating country or are eligible to vote under the Rest of the world. You may also download the official Eurovision app. Remember, you cannot vote for your own country.
How to watch
The second semi-final of Eurovision 2023 will air live at 21:00 CEST.
You can follow the show through the national broadcasters of the participating nations, with local commentary, or via the live stream oneurovision.tvand theofficialEurovisionYouTube channel. The list of participating national broadcasters is available here.
