A show given from the impressive stage of the Malmö Arena, topped with LED cubes, LED floor, and 350 m2 LED screen, and presented again by the Swedish comedian and television presenter Petra Mede, who had already presented the competition in 2013 and 2016, and Swedish-Canadian actress Malin Åkerman. Both opened the evening by parodying Loreen’s song “Tattoo”, lying on a solar bench, in the excited atmosphere of the 15,000 to 20,000 people present in the room.
Eurovision: relive Mustii’s performance and his political message (VIDEO)
Sixteen countries competing
First country to pass, Malta with its singer Sarah Bonnici and her song “Loop” reinforced the atmosphere in the arena of this second semi-final with a dance pop, “a positive love song”with glitter and choreographed energy.
The performances then continued until almost 10:30 p.m. in all their musical and scenic diversity (choreography, kitsch costumes, sequins, bright colors, pyrotechnic effects, LED projections, etc.), in an atmosphere which remained very colorful and good-natured despite tensions following Israel’s participation in the context of the war in Gaza. The show, bringing together cultures, did not lack what makes it original and interesting through the incursion of folklore sometimes mixed with modernity (Greece), its pure folklore (Armenia), its reminder of the dance of the years 90 (Austria), kitsch galore (San Marino), or its carefully measured music of bad taste (Estonia)…
A show that made fun of itself, the presenters not hesitating to recall the stereotypes of the competition since its beginnings (cheesy music, vulgarity of costumes, etc.), but also the battles it allows us to wage: diversity of genres and union in music (United by music), competition slogan.
If we could have expected excesses following the performance of the Israeli singer, who was booed during rehearsals, she was instead applauded after a great performance.
Confirmed favorites
Overall, viewers were able to witness a second high-level semi-final due to the quality of the vocal and stage performances, and the songs offered compared to previous editions. Whatever the most skeptical may say, we never get bored watching Eurovision, which remains the show of all possibilities.
Thus the Swiss Nemo, the French Slimane, the young Italian Angelina Mango, and the Dutch Joost Klein confirmed their place among the favorites of the competition.
As on the first evening of the semi-final, it was indeed possible for viewers to discover the performances of the members of the prequalified “Big 5”. After the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden on the first evening, it was France, Italy and the United Kingdom who performed at the Malmö Arena during this second evening. Remember that the “Big 5”, the five main financial contributors to the event, and the host country (Sweden), are already qualified for the final on Saturday.
Eurovision: demonstrators in front of RTBF this Thursday evening, the broadcast disrupted on VRT (PHOTOS)
Mustii in great shape
Twelfth to go, after the reminder of the victories of Sandra Kim (1986) and Loïc Nottet (2015), our representative Mustii (in twelfth place) offered a high-level performance on his title “Before The Party’s Over”, a dark pop epic on a unifying theme.
The artist started gently with precision in his voice, surrounded by standing microphones in an arena only to emerge and explode, carried by the thousands of voices of Eurofans. Mustii’s soul was on fire, he raised the roofs tonight…
Guests
The show also made way at the end of the evening for performances by a few guests like Helena Paparizou, Sertab Erener and Charlotte Perrelli…. as well as a musical number by Petra Mede entitled “We Just Love Eurovision Too Much”. More than a star in her country, Petra has become a star in the Eurovision community.
Public vote
Finally in the evening, the public voted for the ten new Eurovision finalist countries: Latvia, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway, Israel, Greece, Estonia, Switzerland, Georgia , and Armenia.
The ten finalists join the first ten countries selected on Tuesday in the semi-finals, as well as the six prequalified countries.
Eurovision: here are the first ten countries qualified for the grand final
