Tonight: First semi final of Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Tonight, the first semi final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Moscow. 18 countries will compete for ten spots in the grand final this Saturday, 16th May.

The programme

The show will start at 21:00 CET and it will be hosted by Natalia Vodianova and Andrey Malahov at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow. The semi final will be opened by the Tolmachevy twin sisters, who won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for Russia in 2006 with the song Vesenniy jazz. The interval acts will be performed by a traditional Russian choir.

The voting

18 countries will present one song each. Nine countries will be chosen by televoting to move forward to the grand final this Saturday and the tenth spot will go to the country that placed the highest in the voting of the juries but did not qualify through televoting. Only the qualifiers will be announced during the show, thecomplete results will be revealed after the final.

Internet broadcast

If you cannot follow the show on television, you can watch the show through the eurovision.tv internet live stream (without commentary) here. If you have not done so yet, don't forget that you will have to install the Octoshape plugin before the show starts.

The line-up

(Composer/lyricist in brackets)

1. Montenegro – Andrea DemiroviÄ� – Just get out of my life
   (Ralph Siegel/Bernd Meinunger, José Juan Santana Rodriguez)
2. Czech Republic – Gipsy.cz – Aven romale
   (Radoslav Banga)
3. Belgium – Copycat – Copycat
   (Miam Monster Miam/Jacques Duvall)
4. Belarus – PetrElfimov – Eyes that never lie
   (Petr Elfimov/Valeriy Prokhozhy)
5. Sweden – Malena Ernman – La voix
   (Fredrik Kempe/Fredrik Kempe, Malena Ernman)
6. Armenia – Inga & Anush – Nor par
   (Mane Akopyan/Avet Barseghyan, Vardan Zadoyan)
7. Andorra – Susanne Georgi – La teva decisió (Get a life)
   (Pernilla Georgi, Susanne Georgi, Rune Braager,Lene Dissing, Marcus Winther-John/Josep Vila)
8. Switzerland – Lovebugs – The highest heights
   (Adrian Sieber, Thomas Rechberger, Florian Senn)
9. Turkey – Hadise – Düm tek tek
   (Sinan Akçil/Hadise, Sinan Akçil, Stefan Fernande)
10. Israel – Noa & Mira Awad – There must be another way
    (Noa, Mira Awad, Gil Dor)
11. Bulgaria – Krassimir Avramov – Illusion
    (Krassimir Avramov, William Tabanou/Casie Tabanou, Krassimir Avramov, William Tabanou)
12. Iceland – Yohanna – Is it true?
    (Tinatin Japaridze, Óskar Páll Sveinsson, Chris Neil)
13. FYR Macedonia – Next Time- Nešto što kje ostane
    (Damjan Lazarov, Jovan Jovanov/Elvir Meki�)
14. Romania – Elena Georghe – The Balkan girls
    (Daris Mangal, Ovidiu Bistriceanu, Laurenţiu Duţ�/Laurenţiu Duţ�, Alexandru Pelin)
15. Finland – Waldo's People – Lose control
    (Karima, Ari Erik Veikko Lehtonen/Karima,Annie Kratz-Gutå, Ari Erik Veikko Lehtonen, Waldo)
16. Portugal – Flor-de-Lis – Todas as ruas do amor
    (Pedro Marques/Pedro Marques, Paulo Pereira)
17. Malta – Chiara – What if we?
    (Marc Paelinck/Gregory Bilsen)
18. Bosnia & Herzegovina – Regina – Bistra voda
    (Aleksandar �ovi�)

We all hope that you will enjoy the show!