Eurovision Tune Contest 2026: Croatia, Israel and favourites Finland amongst qualifiers for Saturday’s grand closing

Mark Savage
Music correspondent, on the semi-final

Image supply, EBU / Alma Bengtsson

Tonight’s semi-final is jam-packed, with a few of this 12 months’s
most vibrant and thrilling contestants lined as much as carry out.

We will not be offering working commentary till Saturday’s
closing – however listed here are some highlights to look out for tonight.

Opening the present we’ve Satoshi, representing Moldova, with
the rabble-rousing anthem Viva, Moldova! It’s virtually the right Eurovision
tune, with a touch of patriotism combined with an embrace of different cultures –
together with lyrics in Romanian, Italian, Latin, English, Spanish and French.

Finland is the bookies’ favorite, with the
bombastic and passionate Liekinheitin (“flamethrower”). It’s
carried out by live performance violinist Linda Lampenius with singer Pete Parkkonen, who
has all of the clean-cut attractiveness of his near-namesake in Spider-Man.

Dancing to electro-pop like a robotic from 1984, is Lithuania‘s
Lion Ceccah. His tune, Sólo Quiero Más, is all about breaking freed from the
algorithm and reclaiming our humanity. To illustrate the battle, he is painted
head to toe in silver like the man
from Rank, external.

Greece can be a robust contender, with
27-year-old Akylas displaying off centuries of Greek tradition in his innovatively
staged tune, Ferto.

We’ll additionally hear from Israel‘s Noam Bettan. His
nation’s presence
on the contest has proved divisive however his tune, Michelle, is one in all
the 12 months’s higher ballads.

And maintain a watch out for LAVINA, the band representing Serbia.
They’ll spherical out tonight’s present with a guttural scream of their rock anthem,
Kraj Mene.

For
extra particulars on all this 12 months’s entries, here is a information we printed over the
weekend.