Eurovision 2024 semifinal highlights: Ten countries move on to Saturday's finals (2024)

10 countries move on to Saturday's final

Kaetlyn Liddy

Benjamin Ingrosso, known as Benjy to his fans, just performed.

The artist represented Sweden in 2018 with “Dance You Off.”His 7th place finish was seen as a disappointment for Sweden.

He’s also got music in his blood. He’s the son of Pernilla Wahlgren, a popular Swedish singer in the 80s who took part in Melodifestivalen, Sweden’s national selection for Eurovision in 1985, but came up short.

Two time Irish winner Johnny Logan performedLoreen’s2012 winning song “Euphoria,” a tribute to the Swedish singer who tied his record when she triumphed last year with “Tattoo.”

The performances are complete and voting is now open on the Eurovision website.

Luxembourg made their return to Eurovision for the first time in 31 years tonight with "Fighter" by TALI.

The artist has never been alive to see her country perform in the contest. "Fighter" blended French and English lyrics to create a universally catchy pop song.

Dressed in all white, iolanda took the stage to perfrom "Grito." She was the penultimate act to perform.

Electric Fields, the first duo to represent Australia at Eurovision, synthesized modern pop music with the nation's indigenous history.

Their song, "One Milkali (One Blood)" incorporated the Aboriginal language of Yankunytjatjara, spoken by the Anangu people.

Azerbaijan won Eurovision in 2011 – their only victory to date.

This year, FAHREE feat. Ilkin Dovlatov performed "Özünlə Apar." The immersive use of screens in the arena compensated for a stripped down approach onstage.

As this year’s host country, Sweden is one of the countries that automatically qualifies for the final, but along with the UK and Germany, they’re performing their song “Unforgettable” tonight so that fans can see their performance before the final.

Marcus and Martinus Gunnarsen are twins from Norway–there’s no rule that you have to be from the country you represent–who were child stars in Scandinavia.

Now 22, Martinus told NBC News in a Zoom interview that the brothers wanted a spectacular production for their staging, working with choreographers Sacha Jean-Baptiste and Keisha Von Arnold to create a dizzying club-inspired performance.

“I remember the first word we said when they asked us how do you want the show to be and we said ‘Super Bowl’. Think big, you know?”

Natalia Barbu of Moldova is back on the Eurovision stage after representing the country previously in 2007. Her performance of "In The Middle" might be the most impressive belting we've seen all night.

Did you hear those whistle tones?

Fun fact: While lead vocals must be live, youcan’tplay instruments live.

Many Eurovision attendees who are supporting Finland's Windows95man wore T-shirts with the Windows95 logo on them.Some blurred the logo, but most didn't.

The artist performed "No Rules!" wearing denim on stage. A ball that was covered in jeans also lit up as the group danced.

This year's hosts said the Eurovision stage has more than 2,000 moving lights and took 16 days to build.

About 230 people are working to make the event come to life.

Raiven of Slovenia performed "Veronika," a moody pop ballad. She was accompanied by five backup dancers in nude costumes and an abundance of strobe lights.

Fires burned on stage as Isaak sang "Always On The Run," making the performance even more lit.

Germany is among the "big five" countries that have already qualified for the final.

Iceland may only be 20-25% habitable, but the country has produced its fair share of international artists.

Laufey, Björk and Of Monsters and Men all hail from the country. Tonight, Hera Björk returned to Eurovision for a second time after 14 years, performing "Scared of Heights."

Baby Lasagna's humorous techno-rock song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” is among the most unusual of this year’s entries.

It's also a betting favorite.

The high-energy song about leaving the countryside for city life is a buzzy way of putting a spotlight on the issue of Croatia’s brain drain.

LUNA of Poland gave a catchy performance of her song, "The Tower." Her act was a maximalist production, featuring chess pieces and masks.

Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil of Ukraine capitalized on this international stage to make a statement on the resilience of Ukrainian women.

“Our song has a mission," the duo told Billboard ahead of the competition. "We want you to feel something for us because our culture goes so deep in history."

They ended their Tuesday performance by thanking viewers for supporting Ukraine.

In a recent interview with the Guardian, Ukraine’s formerEurovisionwinner Jamala said the country “cannot afford” to boycott the song contest "in a time of war."

Olly Alexander, representing the U.K., performed "Dizzy" onstage. The U.K. has already qualified for the final, so viewers can’t vote for the country tonight.

The boppy performance featured a group of men in red boxing shorts doing choreography alongside Alexander.

Alexander's performance comes after he was called out for choosing to remain in Eurovision amid boycott calls over Israel's participation in the competition.

Alexander was among the artists who issued a statement in March after a group called group,Queers for Palestine signed an open letter asking the pop singer to withdraw.

“We firmly believe in the unifying power of music, enabling people to transcend differences and foster meaningful conversations and connections," Alexander and other participating artist said in response.

2018 was the last time Ireland made it to the Grand Final, and it has been 28 years since they last won Eurovision.

Their hopes lie with 31 year-old, Bambie Thug, who received roaring applause during the performance.

Attendees were given bracelets that light up at certain points during the show.Right after the postcard introducing the artist, the colors change to represent the national flag of the next performer.

With Lithuania's performance, in which Silvester Belt performed "Luktelk," the colors flashed yellow, green and red.

Known for its glitz, glamor and eccentricity, the Eurovision Song Contest will attract millions of viewers from across the globe when the grand final begins Saturday in Malmö, Sweden.

But a show that has become compulsory annual viewing for many has more humble beginnings as an attempt to heal the wounds of post-World War II Europe, while also achieving the technological marvel of beaming live television pictures into countries across the Continent.

“This was really an experiment in the nascent technology of television,” historian Dean Vuletic told NBC News last month about the competition, which was first held in the picturesque Swiss city of Lugano in 1956 — as TV sets first became a fixture in people’s homes.

Read the full story here.

Teya Dora performed "RAMONDA," marking the second performance of the evening.

The first competitor of Eurovision 2024 was Silia Kapsis of Cyprus, who performed "Liar." Her song is reminiscent of a Shakira anthem and her dancing isn't far off either.

Kapsis, who is 17, is of Cypriot and Greek descent, and was born and raised in Sydney, Australia.

Previous Eurovision all-stars, Eleni Foureira (2018), Eric Saade (2011) and Chanel (2022) kicked off today's performances.

Saade, who is Swedish, criticized Eurovision for their ban on Palestinian symbols. He appeared to be wearing a keffiyeh on his wrist.

Hosts Malin Åkerman and Petra Mede welcomed Eurofans back to Sweden.

"Mamma Mia, here we go again!" Åkerman joked, a nod to the Swedish group ABBA (who won the competition 50 years ago).

Fun fact: It's Mede's third time hosting Eurovision.

MALMÖ,Sweden — At several points throughout the evening, hosts Petra Mede and Malin Åkerman will switch from English to French. It will mainly be to explain the voting rules or to read out the votes.

Viewers in French-speaking countries will have their own commentators speaking over some of the event, but since French is one of the official languages of the European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision, this tradition has stuck around.

The use of French in the voting portion of the final has also given fans the phrase “douze points,” the most a country can receive.

Eurovision Semifinals have begun in Malmö. It kicked off with a montage featuring snippets of last year's competition, which was held in Liverpool.

MALMÖ,Sweden — Amid the controversy over Israel’s participation in Eurovision, organizers are taking steps to minimize the chance of political statements from making it on TV, saying they reserve the right to remove Palestinian flags.

“As in Liverpool last year, ticket buyers are only allowed to bring and display flags representing the participating countries and the rainbow/Pride flags," a spokesperson for European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the competition, said in a statement. "We reserve the right to remove any other flags or symbols, clothing, items and banners being used for the likely purpose of instrumentalizing the TV shows.”

In the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Icelandic band Hatari held up a Palestinian flag in the green room, and interval act Madonna had two of her dancers appear with Israeli and Palestinian flags on their backs in a move the EBU later said was unauthorized.

Upon entering the arena, I only spotted one Palestinian flag near security. The person didn't appear to be entering the venue.

Eurovision 2024 officially kicks off in five minutes.

Performances at Eurovision must obey a strict set of rules: Their songs must be originals unreleased prior to the contest, at most three minutes long, artists must be 16 or over, and a maximum of six performers are permitted on stage.

While the Eurovision stage has seen unusual sights from giant hamster wheels to bread-baking ovens over the years, there are limits to what performances may include: no live animals, adult content or commercial messages.

The Eurovision rules also ban political content in songs, though the deployment of this rule has been contentious. While many songs include references to peace, unity or even specific historical events, Georgia’s 2009 entry “We Don’t Wanna Put In” was disqualified over perceived references to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, while Israeli broadcaster KAN this year said it was required to make “necessary adjustments” to its entry “Hurricane” over apparent references to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

MALMÖ,Sweden — Because there’s such a tight turnaround between acts in Eurovision, the contest has traditionally played a little video before each act’s performance. They’re known as “postcards,” and oftentimes highlight locations in the host country.

This year each artists appears in a vertical video — the style popular on social media but normally eschewed by traditional broadcast media — and several do TikTok-style transitions between videos, a sign of the importance the app plays in the modern music industry.

MALMÖ,Sweden — While many of the viewers watching tonight’s semifinal will be seeing the songs performed for the first time, a dedicated fandom will have had the chance to see most of tonight’s artists live over the past several months.

Thousands of fans flocked to parties in Madrid, Barcelona, London, Amsterdam and other cities to get their first glimpse at this year’s songs. And these events are crucial for new artists trying to get early buzz.

Martinus Gunnarsen, who along with his twin brother is competing for Sweden this year, said he noticed the excitement at the pre-parties.

“When we were performing and you could feel like every person in the crowd was such a Eurovision fan," he told NBC News. "And it was crazy. You know? The passion is so strong, but that’s what makes it fun.”

MALMÖ,Sweden — With Israel’s participation in Eurovision the source of boycott calls and protests, security in Malmö is tight. There’s a heavy police presence around the venue and at the hotels that artists are staying in. Last week Israel warned its citizens headed to Malmö to “consider the necessity of the trip.”

“We will have police officers from all over Sweden, coming to Malmö and also our Nordic police colleagues from Norway and Denmark will assist us during this week," police spokesperson Jimmy Modin told NBC News in a phone interview last week.

Malmö has seen several demonstrations against Israel since Oct. 7, but they have been peaceful, Modin said. “Nothing points to the demonstrations during Eurovision week to get violent either," he said.

Today, at the arena, security was not doing flag checks on people as they entered.

You can. Even if your country isn’t participating, you can still vote for your favorite song. Starting from the semifinals, Eurovision allows anyone to vote here, for a small fee of just under 1 Euro ($1.08). In fact you have up to 20 votes you can allocate to whomever you like, and you can allocate multiple votes to a single artist. But each vote costs an additional fee.

For the grand final, you can start voting just before the first song until about 25 to 40 minutes after the last song. For the semifinals, you can vote after the last song for about 15 to 25 minutes, so act fast.

The host city this year is Malmö, Sweden. The winner of the previous year’s contest (normally) gets to host the next one, so it’s Sweden’s turn because it won in 2023 with Tattoo by Loreen.

It’s the seventh time Sweden has hosted Eurovision — the country is tied with Ireland for the most wins — and this is the third time it’s taken place in Malmö.

Malmö, Sweden’s third-largest city after Stockholm and Gothenberg, is on the south-western coast of Sweden. The city is at the eastern end of the famous Øresund Bridge that connects the country with Denmark, which acted as the backdrop to a popular crime drama series, “The Bridge.”

Today’s semifinal kicks off at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT live from Sweden’s Malmö Arena, with the show opening with performances from three past Eurovision stars, before the contest itself kicks off.

Artists representing 15 countries are set to perform during tonight’s first semifinal for a chance to qualify for Saturday’s grand final, with another 16 set to compete in the second semifinal on Thursday.The top 10 acts from each semifinal qualify for the grand final, meaning five countries will be eliminated tonight.

Each of the 15 artists gets a maximum of three minutes to perform under Eurovision’s rules, which also restrict acts to six performers. The staging is entirely down to the competing countries, though — with competitors past using elaborate props, outlandish outfits, pyrotechnics or video graphics to stand apart from the pack.

Fans from over 80 countries will flock to Malmö Arena for Eurovision this year, with locals occupying the most seats. Swedes have purchased a third of available tickets, while British fans accounted for a fifth of total sales. Denmark, Germany, the United States and the Netherlands rounded out the top five.

“Malmö welcoming Eurovision fans and visitors from such large and diverse parts of the world is truly fantastic," said Karin Karlsson, managing director of Eurovision. "It clearly demonstrates the event’s appeal and its ability to unite people through music, culture, and diversity."

MALMÖ,Sweden — Eurovision can be a long and drawn-out event, so having strong hosts is crucial. This year, Swedish broadcaster SVT turned to a familiar face for Eurovision fans: Petra Mede.

She hosted in 2013 by herself, and co-hosted in 2016 with the previous year’s winning Swedish contestant Måns Zelmerlöw. Joining her this year is Malin Åkerman, a Swedish-American actress, who has appeared in “The Comeback” and “Entourage.”

“There is no scene that I love more than the Eurovision because, you know, everyone has already decided that this is going to be a good night," Mede told NBC News in a Zoom interview. "You don’t have to convince anyone. There are no snobs in there. And so therefore, you know, once you get out on stage, my experience is that you’re just filled with love from the beginning.”

The full list of performers tonight are:

1. Cyprus — Silia Kapsis — “Liar”
2. Serbia — Teya Dora — “Ramonda”
3. Lithuania — Silvester Belt — “Luktelk”
4. Ireland — Bambie Thug — “Doomsday Blue”
5. Ukraine — Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil — “Teresa & Maria”
6. Poland — Luna — “The Tower”
7. Croatia — Baby Lasagna — “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”
8. Iceland — Hera Björk — “Scared of Heights”
9. Slovenia — Raiven — “Veronika”
10. Finland — Windows95man — “No Rules!”
11. Moldova — Natalia Barbu — “In the Middle”
12. Azerbaijan — Fahree feat. Ilkin Dovlatov — “Özünlə apar”
13. Australia — Electric Fields — “One Milkali (One Blood)”
14. Portugal — Iolanda — “Grito”
15. Luxembourg — Tali — “Fighter”

Also, for the first time, Eurovision said this year the artists from the "big 5" countries — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — and host nation Sweden will each perform their entries in full live during the semifinals. But you can’t vote for them during semifinals.

Read the full set list here.

The grand final is on Saturday, May 11, in Malmö, Sweden, and it starts at 9 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET). This is the big event where the eventual winner will be crowned and it traditionally generates one of the biggest TV audiences in the world.

Get comfortable: The final will last four hours, as long as the Super Bowl.

But before that, there are two semifinals: the first today and the second on Thursday, both starting at 9 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET).

Each semifinal will feature 16 countries hoping to make their way to the final, as well as the “big 5” nations of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, who have already qualified for the final but will perform at the semis anyway.

The best place to watch in the U.S. is Peaco*ck, which is streaming the semifinals and the final itself. Each event will be available to replay afterward, too. (Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of both NBC News and NBCUniversal, which runs Peaco*ck.)

Eurovision is shown across Europe and beyond on an array of publicly owned broadcasters who are members of the European Broadcasting Union, including the BBC in Britain.

Eurovision is one of the world’s biggest annual televised events, with an estimated 160 million people tuning in across Europe to cheer on their country in a contest of music, performance and pure spectacle. Thirty-seven countries are taking part in this year’s contest, with one artist for each country — put forward by the national broadcaster in each competing nation — having just three minutes to showcase an original song.

Across two live semifinals, taking place tonight and Thursday, the number of competitors is whittled down to 26, with those remaining going forward to compete in Saturday’s grand final. The qualifiers from each semifinal, and the ultimate winner on Saturday, are decided by combining the results of a public vote with points given out by international juries in each country.

While most commonly associated with power ballads and “schlager” pop music, Eurovision has seen a diverse range of entrants try everything from rap and heavy metal to opera and yodeling in a bid to stand out, while the event has also become associated with the often elaborate staging and costumes picked by the artists.

Even if you haven't heard of Eurovision, chances are you've heard of ABBA.

The iconic group, whose music inspired the stage musical "Mamma Mia!" and film franchise starring Meryl Streep, skyrocketed to fame after their Eurovision Song Contest win in 1974 with their song "Waterloo."

The Swedish foursome had previously vied for a win at Eurovision 1973 in Luxembourg, but their song "Ring Ring" ended up finishing third at Sweden’s pre-selectionMelodifestivalen.

The reigning champion of Eurovision is Sweden’s Loreen, who took home her second trophy in 2023 for the song “Tattoo," more than a decade after she won the 2012 contest with “Euphoria."

Some of the biggest names in music are among Eurovision’s pantheon of past winners, with this year’s contest also marking 50 years since ABBA won the contest with “Waterloo.” Céline Dion claimed a Eurovision trophy for Switzerland in 1988 with her song “Ne partez pas sans moi," while Ireland’s Johnny Logan and the U.K.’s Lulu are among the celebrated artists in their home countries to have brought home trophies.