The first semi-final of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest will take place tonight in the Malmö Arena. The show starts at 21:00 CET and will feature 16 countries fighting for 10 places in the final.

The show

There will be 16 songs performed tonight. After the songs have been performed the viewers can vote for their favourite by telephone, SMS (not available in all countries) and the new Eurovision Song Contest mobile app.

The televotes will be all added together and ranked from 1 to 16 by the organisers of the televote in for each country. There is a limit of 20 votes by phone number.

There are also professional juries in each of the countries voting in the first semi-final. They will also rank all the songs from 1 to 16, based on the dress rehearsal they watched last night.

The rankings from the jury and public votes will then be combined, 50% each, and the top ten countries will be converted into points from 1 to 12 points, omitting 9 and 11 like Eurovision tradition demands.

Apart from the participating countries also direct qualifiers Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom will vote in this semi-final.

The show will be hosted by Petra Mede.

Participants

1. Austria: Natália Kelly – Shine
2. Estonia: Birgit – Et uus saaks alguse
3. Slovenia: Hannah – Straight into love
4. Croatia: Klapa s Mora – Mižerja
5. Denmark: Emmelie de Forest – Only teardrops
6. Russia: Dina Garipova – What if
7. Ukraine: Zlata Ognevich – Gravity
8. The Netherlands: Anouk – Birds
9. Montenegro: Who See – Igranka 
10. Lithuania: Andrius Pojavis – Something
11. Belarus: Alyona Lanskaya – Solayoh
12. Moldova: Aliona Moon – O mie
13. Ireland: Ryan Dolan – Only love survives
14. Cyprus: Despina Olympiou – An me thymase
15. Belgium: Roberto Bellarosa – Love kills
16. Serbia: Moje 3 – Ljubav je svuda

The opening and the interval acts

The first semi-final will be opened by last year’s Eurovision Song Contest winner Loreen with a special version of Euphoria, performed with children from Malmö schools.

The interval act is a homage to Aurora Borealis, or the Northern lights. The number Norrsken is choreographed by Fredrik “Benke” Rydman and Jennie Widegren and features some of the best dancers in Europe. The music is written by Andreas Kleerup.

There is also a comedy insert with the fictional EBU (European Broadcasting Union) official Lynda Woodruff, played by Sarah Dawn Finer.

How to watch

The first semi-final will be broadcast live by all participating and voting broadcasters, check local details for channels.

It will also be broadcast in Portugal, Bosnia & Herzegovina and delayed in Australia and China.

There will be an international webcast on the official EBU Eurovision website here