From the first semi-final, 15 participants from Serbia, Portugal, Slovenia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Finland, Cyprus, Croatia, Ireland and Luxembourg entered the final. Australia, Azerbaijan, Iceland, Poland and Moldova did not reach the final.
The Australian duo “Electric Fields” had hoped to enter the final with the song “One Milkali”, the lyrics of which are partially written in one of the Aboriginal languages, but they were disappointed.
Irish goth-electropop singer Bambie Thug was due to perform “Doomsday Blue” in the final, but was forced to change her stage make-up, which was deemed pro-Palestinian.
The first semi-final also featured two countries from the so-called “Big Five”, which provide most of the contest’s funding – Great Britain and Germany, as well as Sweden, which, as last year’s Eurovision winner, is the organizer of this year’s contest and an automatic finalist.
The second semi-final will take place on Thursday evening, when 10 more finalists will be selected from 16 countries. In the second semi-final, along with Israel, Latvia’s song – “Hollow” performed by Don will be performed. Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Georgia, Estonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, San Marino and Switzerland will also participate in it.
Three “Big Five” countries – France, Spain and Italy – will also perform in the second semi-final.
The Eurovision final will take place in Malmö on Saturday evening.
Tags: finalists selected Eurovision including Lithuania Diena
