The first semi-final night is over and Serbia moves on to the final on Eurovision. In addition to the domestic nu-metal band Lavina, Greece, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Moldova, Israel, Croatia, Lithuania and Poland also placed.
The anniversary, the 70th edition of this competition, is held under tension due to participation Israel. The public services of Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovenia and Iceland are boycotting Eurovision due to the "Israeli genocide against the Palestinians", which leaves it with only 35 participants - the least since 2003.
Who is the politician and bloodshed in Gaza can leave it aside, a glittering spectacle awaits him on Saturday, May 16.
For Israel, both whistles and applause
The Israeli representative Noam Betan also made it to the finals with the song "Michel". During his performance, whistles, anti-Israeli slogans and words of encouragement came from the audience.
The Austrian broadcaster ORF announced that there will be no censorship in the broadcast, and the reactions to Betan's performance were clearly heard on television.
ORF and the European Broadcasting Agency (EBU), which organizes the Eurovision Song Contest, said security removed people who were "disturbing the audience" by shouting slogans too close to the microphone.
Israel's participation in the competition has led to a series of protests in Europe in recent months. In addition to the complete boycott of several public broadcasters, a boycott movement among viewers has emerged on social networks.
Photo: AP Photo/Martin MeissnerFive countries are boycotting Eurovision because of Israel's participation
Even 2024 Eurovision winner Nemo returned the trophy in protest.
In keeping with their self-proclaimed apolitical nature, the Eurovision organizers rejected requests to disqualify Israel, but instead excluded Russia from the 2022 contest the day after the war in Ukraine began.
What were the performances of the first semi-final night
Vienna tried desperately to mask the poorest edition of the competition in the last two decades with the usual dose of colorful chaos. Here is an inventory of this year's madness in which 17 delegations are trying to sell stretched metaphors and recycled trends.
The evening was opened by the patriotic "Viva Moldavija", and the audience was treated to classic Euro pop by Sweden, Finland and Georgia.
Portugal performed a ballad, and Greece seemed to draw inspiration from one of Finland's older performances - an energetic performance reminiscent of "Cha Cha Cha".
San Marino had a gay disco performance, in which Boy George also appeared, but it still wasn't enough to pass.
Photo: AP Photo/Matthias SchraderThe first semi-final night of Eurovision 2026 has ended
Croatian Lelek was somewhat different, singing about the struggle of Croatian Catholic women from the area of Bosnia during the time of the Ottomans. The Montenegrin representative failed to qualify for the final, which Montenegro has not visited since 2015.
Belgium's unusual performance earned them a passage to the finals, just like Poland, Lithuania and our Lavina.
Estonia, with its slightly nostalgic tinge of pop in the nineties, did not manage to go any further.
Germany and Italy also presented their songs, with the fact that they, as the "big five" countries, are guaranteed passage to the final.
How to vote and what awaits us
In the final, each country receives two marks, one from the jury and the other from the audience.
The audience votes by SMS or via the official Eurovision app. Viewers can vote for as many different artists as they want, but they can't vote for their country.
The next semi-final is on Thursday, May 14, when Romania, Switzerland, Albania, Australia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Denmark, Latvia, Malta, Ukraine and Norway compete.
Photo: AP Photo/Martin MeissnerEurovision allowed Israel to participate in this year's contest
In addition to Italy and Germany, passage is secured by host Austria, France and Great Britain.
Spain is missing from the "big five" group, which is boycotting this year's Eurovision.
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