Tonight, 15 countries have become ten, and these are now guaranteed a place in the grand final of Eurovision on Saturday.
Reporting from Malmö and Oslo on Wednesday 8 May at 02:02
These countries have advanced after the first semi-final:
- Poland
- Island
- Moldova
- Azerbaijan
- Australia
The Norwegian duo Marcus and Martinus could have low shoulders during Tuesday’s performance. As the host country, Sweden is automatically qualified for the final. Photo: JESSICA GOW/TT / AFP / NTB
It was Croatia, which is also the odds favourite, and Ukraine which struck a chord with VG’s reviewer Tor Martin Bøe: Both got five dice for tonight’s performance.
– Rammstein meets Per Spellemann, Bøe writes about Croatia’s Baby Lasagna, and calls the contribution “almost as catchy as it is smart”.
Ireland did not hit as well, but still progressed. The contribution received a dice roll of one from Bøe.
– Screaming and rather sad, was the verdict.
The votes in the dolphin final were read out in random order, so this has nothing to do with who is “favorite”.
ADVANCE FAVORITE: Marko Purisi, or Baby Lasagna as he calls himself, is the odds favourite. They advanced to the finals. Photo: JESSICA GOW/TT / AFP / NTB
Norway on fire on Thursday
Norwegians could not vote on Tuesday evening, because we are not in the first semi-final. On Thursday, when Gåte will represent Norway with “Ulveham”, we can, however, vote – but not for Norway.
VG’s readers could express their opinion about the artists via the voting form – which can also be shared with friends. There, Croatia was most popular, followed by Ukraine and Luxembourg.
Six countries pre-qualified
Six countries have already pre-qualified for the final on Saturday. There are Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Great Britain, in addition to the host nation Sweden.
New this year is that these will still perform during the semi-finals. On Tuesday, it was Great Britain, Germany and Sweden that were shown.
Today’s “Norwegian contribution”, the Trofors twins Marcus and Martinus, have secured a direct final place with their Swedish participation. The reason for that is that Loreen won last year’s Eurovision, which leads to direct qualification the following year.
MORE: The most lightly dressed contribution, and presumably the cheapest, represented by Finland, we will see again on Saturday. They are through to the final! Photo: JESSICA GOW/TT / AFP / NTB
– They are super satisfied with their performance tonight and look forward to doing it again in the final, writes the twins’ manager in a message to VG on Tuesday evening.
According to the Eurovision Charts, the duo’s “Unforgettable” is the third most played ESC 2024 song on Spotify in recent weeks. However, it is not as high on the conditions – where on Monday it was calculated for 15th place.
Themselves the final is Saturday 11 May, and is broadcast live from Malmö at 21:00.
VG met Kristian Sognli, reporter at ESC Norway, before the broadcast. He was then clear about who the favorites were:
Artists of the year
- Besa – Titan (Albania)
- Ladaniva – Jako (Armenia)
- FAHREE feat. Ilkin Dovlatov – Take Yourself (Azerbaijan)
- Electric Fields – One Milkakli (One Blood) (Australia)
- Mustii – Before the Party´s Over (Belgia)
- SABA – Sand (Denmark)
- 5MINUS x Puuluup – We don’t (yet) know anything about (these) drugs (Estonia)
- Windows95man – No Rules! (Finland)
- Slimane – My love (Frankrike)
- Nutsa Buzaladze – Firefigter (George)
- Marina Satti – ZARI (Greece)
- Hera Björk – Scared of Heights (Island)
- Bambie Thug – Doomsday Blue (Irland)
- Eden Golan – Hurricane (Israel)
- Angelina Mango – Boredom (Italy)
- Baby Lasagna – Rim Tim Tagi Dim (Croatia)
- Silia Kapsis – Liar (Cyprus)
- Dons – Hollow (Latvia)
- Silvester Belt – Luktelk (Lithuania)
- TALI – Fighter (Luxembourg)
- Sara Bonnici – Loop (Malta)
- Natalia Barbu – In The Middle (Moldova)
- Joost Klein – Europe (Netherlands)
- Riddle – Ulveham (Norway)
- LUNA – The Tower (Polen)
- iolanda – Grito (Portugal)
- MEGARA – 11.11am (San Marino)
- TEYA DORA – RAMONDA (Serbia)
- Raiven – Veronika (Slovenia)
- In Nebula – ZORRA (Spain)
- Olly Alexander – Dizzy (UK)
- Marcus & Martinus – Unforgettable (Sweden)
- Nemo – The Code (Switzerland)
- Aiko – Pedestal (Czech Republic)
- ISAAK – Always On The Run (Tyskland)
- Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil – Teresa & Maria (Ukraine)
- Kaleen – We Will Rave (Austria)
Sea view