The Eurovision Song Contest starts tonight. It involves three non-consecutive evenings: the first semi-final today, the second semi-final on Thursday 9 May, the final on Saturday 11 May. The semi-finals will be broadcast by Rai 2 live from Malmö, Sweden, at 9pm. The final on Saturday will instead be broadcast on Rai 1, starting at 8.35pm. In Italy the commentary is entrusted to Gabriele Corsi and Mara Maionchi. Italy, as is known, is represented by Angelina Mango, winner of the last Sanremo with Boredom. We will see her both on Thursday (not in competition) and on Saturday.
In tonight's first semi-final, presented like the others at the Malmö Arena by Petra Mede and Malin Åkerman, 15 songs representing as many countries will be heard. Ten will advance to Saturday's final. There will also be performances by competitors from the United Kingdom (Olly Alexander) and Germany (Isaak), i.e. two of the so-called Big 5 who have access to the final without going through the semi-final selection, and from Sweden (Marcus & Martinus) who organizes this Eurovision this year.
Even though they have not been voted on, these three countries will vote together with the other 15. On all three evenings, in addition to the cross-votes of the national representatives, that of the public will also count. It will be expressed via the official Eurovision Song Contest app and via telephone and/or text message. But be careful: you can only vote in the semi-final in which your country participates. Italian viewers will therefore not be able to vote tonight, but on Thursday and of course Saturday. You can cast up to 20 votes each. At this link are detailed instructions on how to vote from home.
Tonight's evening will be open from United by Music with three former ESCs namely Eleni Foureira, Eric Saade and Chanel. Two extra-competition numbers are planned, one by the Swede Benjamin Ingrosso and the other by the Irishman Johnny Logan.
Here is the order of appearance for tonight (yes, there is a competitor with the pseudonym Baby Lasagna who has a good chance of winning and another who calls himself Windows95man): Cyprus (Silia Kapsis, Liars), Serbia (Teya Dora, Ramonda), Lithuania (Silvester Belt, Luktelk), Ireland (Bambie Thug, Doomsday Blue), United Kingdom (Olly Alexander, Dizzy), Ukraine (Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil, Teresa & Maria), Poland (Moon, The Tower), Croatia (Baby Lasagna, Rim Tim Tagi Dim), Iceland (Hera Björk, Scared of Heights), Germany (Isaak, Always On The Run), Slovenia (Raiven, Veronica), Finland (Windows95man, No Rules!), Moldova (Natalia Barbu, In The Middle), Sweden (Marcus & Martinus, Unforgettable), Azerbaijan (Fahree feat. Ilkin Dovlatov, Özünlə Apar), Australia (Electric Fields, One Milkali), Portugal (Iolanda, Grito), Luxembourg (Tali, Fighter).
After Wednesday's break, the second semi-final will be held on Thursday 9th in which 16 other competitors will participate, of which 10 will advance to the final. We will also listen to the songs of the other three Big 5, namely France (Slimane), Spain (Nebulossa) and Angelina Mango for Italy, countries which, despite going directly to the final, will vote for the semi-final performances. Immediately afterwards Mango will sing Eden Golan, the Israeli competitor at the center of the pre-contest political controversies. The numbers out of competition: The World's Biggest Sing-Along with Helena Paparizou, Sertab Erener and Charlotte Perrell, e We Just Love Eurovision Too Much by Petra Mede.
Thursday's release order: Malta (Sarah Bonnici, Loops), Albania (Best, Titan), Greece (Matina Satti, Zari), Switzerland (Nemo, The Code), Czech Republic (Aiko, Pedestal), France (Slimane, My love), Austria (Kaleen, We Will Rave), Denmark (Saba, Sand), Armenia (Ladaniva, Jacob), Latvia (Dons, Hollow), Spain (Nebula, Zorra), San Marino (Megara, 11:11), Georgia (Nutsa Buzaladze, Firefighter), Belgium (Mustii, Before The Party's Over), Estonia (5Miinust x Puuluup, (Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi), Italy (Angelina Mango, Boredom), Israel (Eden Golan, Hurricane), Norway (Gåte, Ulveham), Netherlands (Joost Klein, Europe).
In Saturday's final, the 20 countries that qualified in the semi-final will face each other, plus the Big 5 and Sweden, which is hosting the event. For now, the non-competition performers have not been disclosed, nor the order of appearance.
Who will win? At the moment, according to bookmakers, the country that has the best chance of winning is Croatia represented by Baby Lasagna. Followed in order by Nemo for Switzerland and Mango for Italy which is attributed, by putting together various quotes, approximately 12% chance. Followed by Ukraine, Ireland, the Netherlands and France. These odds are naturally destined to change after the semi-finals.
According to Spotify, which is based on listening data on the platforms, Angelina Mango is well positioned to win second place. With Italy removed, Boredom collects the highest number of listeners in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. The song has over 11.5 million global streams on the platform, a good sign. After Eurovision, in May Mango will hold six dates in Europe, in clubs in Munich, Cologne, London, Brussels, Paris, Barcelona, as well as dates at summer festivals in Italy and abroad, including the one on the Isle of Wight .
If you want to get an idea of the pieces in competition and their performance on stage, extracts from the rehearsals of all 37 performances have been officially released, summarized in 18 minutes of video. Angelina Mango is at 16:24.