Moving on to the second semi-final of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with the first 50% of the semi-final vote set to be determined during tonight’s show. Jury members from across 21 nations will vote in tonight’s show, but who will qualify to Saturday’s final?

As with the first semi-final, tonight sees the final 18 semi-finalists competing in tonight’s show which is set to be judged by this year’s jury members.

Jury members from across the 18 semi-final 2 participating nations together with juries from Germany, France and Ukraine will cast their votes during tonight’s show, going on to make up 50% of the vote.

Tomorrow evening will see the remaining 50% of the vote being determined via the public televote which will be added together with the votes from the jury; the top 10 will be presented tomorrow evening and all 26 finalists will be known!

Opening act

Before tonight’s opening act begins, the video clip which was previously featured in the first semi-final with the traditionally dress Ukrainian woman is played once again before panning back to the inside view of the arena.

Opening tonight’s show is a performance from our hosts of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest together with a traditional Ukrainian band, both of whom perform a medley of past Eurovision hits including songs such as My number one (Greece 2005), Fairytale (Norway 2009), Euphoria (Sweden 2012) and Rise like a phoenix (Austria 2014).

The 3 Eurovision 2017 hosts – Oleksandr Skichko, Volodymyr Ostapchuk and Timur Miroshnychenko – conclude with the performance and go on to explain the voting system of this year’s competition.

A three minute break takes place following the performance due to technical difficulties, before the show begins with the opening country for the second semi-final, this year coming from Serbia.

01 Serbia: Tijana Bogićević – In too deep

Improvements can be heard in tonight’s jury show with Serbia and Tijana, with tonight being one of her strongest performances since arriving in Kyiv. Tijana wears her white outfit seen in previous rehearsals, however this time her backing dancer appears onstage shirtless. However with this performance opening the show, it may get lost among the 17 acts to follow.

02 Austria: Nathan Trent – Running on air

Nathan Trent is next to take to the stage today, seemingly very excited to perform in tonight’s show. Despite this, Nathan delivers yet another strong vocal performance and is a sweet performance to feature near the start of the show. The juries may well like this performance from Austria.

03 FYR Macedonia: Jana Burčeska – Dance alone

Best run to date from Jana this evening and her song Dance alone. Jana performs this evening wearing her glittery black jumpsuit from the second rehearsals last week. Vocally one of her strongest performances since arriving in Kyiv, the backing vocalists also help with the performance as a whole. However once again, performing near the start of the show might see Dance alone become lost with several more entries to be performed.

04 Malta: Claudia Faniello – Breathlessly

Claudia performs next this evening and, as expected, provides some of the most powerful vocals of the show so far. No special effects feature during the performance with fairly simplistic staging, however Claudia’s performance as a whole remains strong. Malta is likely to appeal more to the juries this evening, however it’s not sure whether the televote will agree tomorrow night.

05 Romania: Ilinca feat. Alex Florea – Yodel it!

Fun and energy hits the arena with Romania’s rehearsal this evening with one of the most stand-out performances from this semi-final in terms of backdrop and staging. With a different genre of music coming to Eurovision through Romania’s song, Yodel it is sure to make its mark in the show, perhaps gaining further popularity from the televote.

06 Netherlands: OG3NE – Lights and shadows

A sweet run from OG3NE this evening from the Netherlands, with yet another strong performance in terms on vocal ability. In tonight’s show, the performance itself seemed slightly more “technical”, with more focus being on the vocals this evening which may fare better with the juries in the long run.

A break follows with the hosts introducing the seventh night of a evening as Hungary. Small mistake from the host – “Eleven songs down and only seven to go”. Close…

07 Hungary: Joci Papai – Origo

A strong performance today with Hungary’s Joci who really pushes the emotion of the song in tonight’s show. Despite performing in Hungarian, the performance provided by Joci is likely to go in Hungary’s favour this evening, together with the stand-out style of the entry itself.

08 Denmark: Anja Nissen – Where I am

Anja really pushes the emotion during tonight’s performance with the singer aiming to hit the big notes of the evening. At parts, there seems to be a struggle vocally with hitting some of the bigger notes, however it’s yet another solid performance from Denmark as a whole. Whether that’ll be enough to see Anja in the final will be seen tomorrow.

09 Ireland: Brendan Murray – Dying to try

Brendan takes to the stage next this evening; yet another artist clearly excited to be on the Eurovision stage this evening. The staging itself is pleasant enough with the hot air balloon perhaps being a stand-out prop in the semi-final. Vocally not one of Brendan’s strongest performances, with excitement taking over the singer. Ireland’s placing in the semi-final running order may also go against the entry in the long run.

10 San Marino: Valentina Monetta & Jimmie Wilson – Spirit of the night

It’s time to dance with the returning Eurovision entrant Valentina alongside Jimmie Wilson. A fun performance from the duo which works well with the entry, generally a performance which was expected. The danceability factor of the song could see San Marino rank better in tomorrow’s televote.

11 Croatia: Jacques Houdek – My friend

Croatia brings a memorable performance in tonight’s jury show with staging playing a huge factor throughout Jacques’s performance. The cameras work to give the effect of Jacques playing 2 characters in the performance, trying to work with the 2 vocal productions in the song. That together with the backdrop and the general feel of the performance should fare well for Croatia tonight.

12 Norway: JOWST – Grab the moment

Effects play a big part in Norway’s performance this evening, with both vocal and visual effects being heard and seen throughout the whole show from JOWST. The performance as a whole generally may appeal more to a younger audience and whether it will grab the jury remains uncertain, however the staging works well for Norway this year together with the song.

13 Switzerland: Timebelle – Apollo

A classy performance from the Swiss act this year is seen at the IEC this evening, with bright colours featuring highly throughout the performance. Generally a solid performance from Switzerland this year, however tonight saw a slight struggle with the higher notes in the final half of the song. Whether this will have a huge impact on tonight’s voting will be seen.

14 Belarus: NAVIBAND – Story of my life

NAVIBAND is next onstage tonight for their jury show performance, with high energy seen and felt from start to finish. The camera work seen in Belarus’s performance really adds a lot together with the backdrop. The connection between the duo can be seen onstage, with stunning harmony being heard across the arena. Should fare well both tonight and tomorrow evening.

15 Bulgaria: Kristian Kostov – Beautiful mess

A stunningly beautiful performance from Kristian tonight, providing some of the most powerful and emotional performances of this semi-final. Special effects are seen onscreen with the performance, similar to those seen last year with Italy such as scribbles of white writing and drawings. The staging works well for the Bulgarian singer and taking all aspects into consideration, Bulgaria should end strongly in tomorrow’s semi-final.

16 Lithuania: Fusedmarc – Rain of revolution

Probably one of the strongest vocal performances heard from Fusedmarc this evening since arriving in Kyiv, adding her own little alternative spim to certain aspects of tonight’s performance. It’s uncertain if Lithuania will stand out enough on the night to have a huge impact, however the improvements from the first rehearsals are certainly noticeable.

17 Estonia: Koit Toome & Laura – Verona

Big improvements can be seen in Estonia’s jury performance this evening with a lively and theatrical performance being seen from the Estonian duo. Facial expressions help with the general performance of the song and with improvements both vocally and staging-wise, Estonia manages to portray the story of the song well onstage. Could do well both with the juries and televote.

18 Israel: IMRI – I feel alive

Finishing tonight’s performances with a catchy dance song from Israel, ready to get the audience up and dancing before the lines open for voting. A solid run for IMRI tonight which saw the singer performing at some of his best since arriving in Kyiv. Plenty of confidence is seen onstage with the Israeli singer, with pyrotechnics taking over the latter part of the performance. IMRI misses one small part of the song but continues with the performance, the mistake being barely noticeable. A good closing performance for tonight.

Remaining Big 5 & host country performs

The remaining Big 5 members, France and Germany, together with the host nation Ukraine takes to the stage for their performance of the evening, with around 1 minute of each performance being shown tomorrow evening during the second semi-final live broadcast.

France takes to the stage first with Requiem with a solid vocal performance being heard this evening. The backdrop plays a big part in France’s staging and takes over the arena, becoming the focal point of the performance itself.

Germany’s performance remains very much unchanged from the previous rehearsals, with influence from the official music video being seen. A nice performance from Levina as a whole.

The biggest reaction of the night, unsurprisingly, goes to Ukraine with O.Torvald. A huge statue of a human head takes to the stage with lights shining out of its eyes, adding plenty to the rock-sounds of the entry.

‘Voting’ opens!

A bit of a mistake during the recap of tonight’s performances, playing Malta in place of FYR Macedonia and Romania instead of Malta.

Interval act

Semi-final 2’s interval act features a big interpretive dance number by Apache Crew, running for around 6 minutes. The dancers wear black onstage with red belts, with a large backdrop image featuring a children’s playground appearing highly throughout.

‘Voting’ closes

Followed by a recap of the entries from the 3 automatic qualifiers set to vote in semi-final 2. Jon Ola Sand asks for more time to ‘calculate the votes’, in which Timur goes and speaks to the acts from Hungary and Serbia.

Dummy results are in!

Tonight’s dummy results are now in, the results of which being determined via a completely random draw and have no impact on the actual result:

• Israel
• FYR Macedonia
• Serbia
• Austria
• Norway
• Switzerland
• Bulgaria
• Estonia
• Hungary
• San Marino

A bit of a mistake with the voting results tonight, saying San Marino whilst Hungary was being shown on screen. Mass confusion from the hosts in the result reveal tonight.