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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
William Mata

When is Eurovision 2024? Israel's entry to perform in Sweden in semi-final 2 tonight

Entrants from 16 countries will sing for their place in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest final in the second semi-final on Thursday (May 9) evening. 

The first semi-final on Tuesday saw Finland’s Windows95Man and Ireland’s Bambie Thug catch the eye on their way to reaching the final. 

The two preliminary rounds decide most of the 26 countries competing in the final on Saturday (May 11) evening.

The BBC will once again broadcast the second semi-final live in the UK.

Swedish singer Loreen won the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest (PA Archive)

Of the 16 countries performing, 10 will advance to the final to join the 10 who qualified on Tuesday. 

The UK is one of six nations automatically in the final thanks to competition rules.

Israel will controversially compete in the second semi with its singer Eden Golan.

The country has faced calls to be excluded from the contest amid the war in the Gaza Strip.

Despite this, Golan will perform Hurricane — a track reworked from her previous song October Rain. This was thought to reference the attacks on Israel by the proscribed terrorist organisation, Hamas, on October 7, 2023.

Windows95man of Finland performs the song No Rules! in the first Eurovision 2024 semi-final (AP)

Who qualified from the first Eurovision 2024 semi-final? 

Serbia / TEYA DORA - RAMONDA

Portugal / iolanda - Grito

Slovenia / Raiven - Veronika

Ukraine / alyona alyona & Jerry Heil - Teresa & Maria

Lithuania / Silvester Belt - Luktelk

Finland / Windows95man - No Rules!

Cyprus / Silia Kapsis - Liar

Croatia / Baby Lasagna - Rim Tim Tagi Dim

Ireland / Bambie Thug - Doomsday Blue

Luxembourg / TALI - Fighter

Bambie Thug of Ireland in the first Eurovision 2024 semi-final (AP)

Who failed to qualify from the first Eurovision 2024 semi-final? 

Poland / Luna - The Tower

Iceland / Hera Bjork - Scared of Heights

Moldova / Natalia Barbu - In the Middle 

Azerbaijan / Fahree and Ilkin Dovlatov - Ozunle Apar

Australia / Electric Fields - One Milkali (One Blood)

Who is in the second Eurovision 2024 semi-final? 

Malta / Sarah Bonnici - Loop

Albania / BESA - TITAN

Greece / Marina Satti - ZARI

Switzerland / Nemo - The Code

Czechia / Aiko - Pedestal

Austria / Kaleen - We Will Rave

Denmark / SABA - SAND

Armenia / LADANIVA - Jako

Latvia / Dons - Hollow

San Marino / MEGARA - 11:11

Georgia / Nutsa Buzaladze - Firefighter

Belgium / Mustii - Before The Party's Over

Estonia / 5MIINUST x Puuluup - (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi

Israel / Eden Golan - Hurricane

Norway / Gåte - Ulveham

Netherlands / Joost Klein - Europapa

Spain, France, and Italy — who are automatically in the final — will also perform.

Malmo Arena in Sweden is hosting Eurovision 2024 (AP)

Where is Eurovision 2024 taking place?

This year’s contest is being held in Sweden after Swedish singer Loreen won the 2023 event with her song Tattoo.

Sweden's third-largest city Malmo is hosting the event at Malmo Arena. It is the third time the coastal city in the south of Sweden has hosted the competition.

Organisers selected it after evaluating its venue facilities and accommodation availability. This was due to the influx of thousands of visitors who flock to Eurovision's host city.

Sweden has won the song contest an impressive seven times, with the pop supergroup Abba being the country's most notable entry. It previously hosted the contest in Stockholm (1975, 2000, 2016), in Malmo (1992, 2013, and once in Gothenburg (1985).

The executive supervisor of Eurovision, Martin Osterdahl, said of the decision to hold the event in Malmo again: “Malmo holds a special place in the history of the contest, having successfully hosted it firstly in 1992 and then in 2013 — following Loreen’s last win.

“We’re excited to be returning to this vibrant and dynamic city, which has demonstrated it has the venues and infrastructure that are perfect for staging the world’s largest live music event.”

How to watch Eurovision 2024 live

All three live programmes — both semi-finals and the grand final — will be broadcast live on BBC1 and BBC iPlayer in 2024. The second semi-final will be broadcast from 8pm to 10.10pm, with the final being shown between 8pm and 11.55pm.

The BBC said its coverage of Eurovision 2023 across TV, radio and online increased by 55 per cent since 2022, reaching 29.8 million people. 

Graham Norton will once again commentate live on the event on BBC One (PA Archive)

What rules are changing for Eurovision 2024?

The first Eurovision Song Contest Workshop was held at the Meistersaal in Berlin, Germany, on September 12, 2023. Organisers discussed potential rule changes such as a new draw and voting system.

They finally revealed the changes for this year in March.

Extra performances 

The five countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK) that contribute the most financially to the show and host Sweden will perform their entries during the semi-finals.

These countries automatically qualify for the final and did not perform in the semi-finals in previous years.

However, they will play to semi-final audiences for the first time in 2024.

Voting extensions 

Organisers have revealed an extension to the voting window in the grand final. 

Voting will open before the first song is performed this year, so audiences can vote throughout the show instead of waiting for all the performances to conclude. 

“The Eurovision Song Contest is always evolving and with more performances and chances to vote it promises to be the most exciting edition yet,” a spokesperson said. 

People from non-participating countries have 24 hours to vote for their favourite songs before the live shows.

Information about how to vote is available here.

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