The night has finally arrived – tonight marks the official start of the Eurovision Song Contest as the first semi-final takes place at 21:00 CET.

Tonight, the world’s most-watched non-sporting event will begin with the first semi-final, live from. A total of 17 countries will compete for the ten places in Saturday’s grand final. A further ten countries will qualify on Thursday night to join the five automatic qualifiers.

The show will be hosted by Laura Pausini, Alessandro Cattelan and Mika, while the interval acts include Diodato, Dardust, Benny Benassi and Sophie & The Giants.

How to watch

Tonight’s show kicks off from 21:00 CEST and will last for around 2 hours 15 minutes.

• The show can be viewed through the participating national broadcasters
• A live stream will be available via the official Eurovision YouTube channel

Semi-final 1 participants

Seventeen acts are set to compete in the first semi-final, but only 10 will make it to the Grand Final on Saturday night. Who do you want to qualify?

1. Albania Ronela Hajati – Sekret
2. Latvia Citi Zēni – Eat Your Salad
3. Lithuania Monika Liu – Sentimentai
4. Switzerland Marius Bear – Boys Do Cry
5. Slovenia LPS – Disko
6. Ukraine Kalush Orchestra – Stefania
7. Bulgaria Intelligent Music Project – Intention
8. The Netherlands S10 – De Diepte
9. Moldova Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers – Trenulețul
10. Portugal MARO – Saudade, Saudade
11. Croatia Mia Dimšić – Guilty Pleasure
12. Denmark REDDI – The Show
13. Austria LUM!X feat. Pia Maria – Halo
14. Iceland Systur – Með Hækkandi Sól
15. Greece Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord – Die Together
16. Norway Subwoolfer – Give That Wolf A Banana
17. Armenia Rosa Linn – Snap

Each of tonight’s 10 qualifiers will be decided by a combination of a public and national jury vote. Members of the public and the national jury from tonight’s participating countries will vote for their favourite acts, with the votes added together to create the final result. The top 10 will qualify to Saturday’s grand final.

Voting instructions can be found via the official Eurovision website.

 

Photo Cretids: NATHAN REINDS / EBU