Summary

  • Relive coverage of the first 2017 Eurovision semi-final from Kyiv

  • Ten out of 18 nations qualified for the Grand Final on Saturday 13 May...

  • Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Moldova, Poland, Portugal & Sweden

  • The second semi-final will take place on Thursday night

  1. Надобраніч!published at 23:03 BST 9 May 2017

    That's all for now! Time to take off that horse's head, wipe the glitter off your face and get your furiously-annotated score card ready for the rest of the week. 

    Thanks for tuning in to tonight's semi-final. We'll be back on Thursday for the next round of the competition with singers from The Netherlands, Norway, Ireland, Denmark, Bulgaria and many many more.

    We, just like Salvador Sobral, cannot WAIT to see you there.

    Goodnight!

    Sobral
  2. Who is going home?published at 22:36 BST 9 May 2017

    Sadly, the following 8 nations will not be making it through. Time for Svala to fold up her white cloak and for Slavko to start shoving that enormous hair braid into his suitcase and face Willow Smith's lawyers.

    1. Georgia

    Tamara Gachechiladze - 'Keep the Faith'

    2. Albania

    Lindita - 'World'

    3. Montenegro

    Slavko Kalezic - 'Space'

    4. Finland

    Norma John - 'Blackbird'

    5. Iceland

    Svala - 'Paper'

    6. Czech Republic

    Martina Bárta - 'My Turn'

    7. Slovenia

    Omar Naber - 'On My Way'

    8. Latvia

    Triana Park - 'Line'

  3. THE FINALISTSpublished at 22:26 BST 9 May 2017

    Well, Eurovision fans, it's been emotional. We now have 13 countries confirmed for the final...

    1. Moldova

    SunStroke Project - 'Hey Mamma!'

    2. Azerbaijan

    Dihaj - 'Skeletons'

    3. Greece

    Demy 'This Is Love'

    4. Sweden

    Robin Bengtsson - 'I Can't Go On'

    5. Portugal

    Salvador Sobral - 'Amar Pelos Dios'

    6. Poland

    Kasia Mos - 'Flashlight'

    7. Armenia

    Artsvik - 'Fly With Me'

    8. Australia

    Isaiah - 'Don't Come Easy'

    9. Cyprus

    Hovig - 'Gravity'

    10. Belgium

    Blanche - 'City Lights'

    And then the three members of the BIG FIVE who automatically go through...

    11. Italy

    Francesco Gabbani - 'Occidentali's Karma'

    12. Spain

    Manel Navarro - 'Do It For Your Lover'

    13. UK

    Lucie Jones - 'Never Give Up On You' 

    What a final it's going to be! Quite the fruit salad. 

  4. The next 5 finalists...published at 22:09 BST 9 May 2017

    Poland (all her dogs at home barking at the TV like mad right now)

    Armenia 

    Australia (hurray for the Lazy Susan!)

    Cyprus (no more busking on the London Underground Hovig!)

    and BELGIUM!

  5. Your first five finalists are...published at 22:06 BST 9 May 2017

    Moldova (EPIC SAX GUY!)

    Azerbaijain

    Greece

    Sweden (obvs - they've got through 9 times in the last ten years)

    Portugal

  6. GET READY!published at 22:04 BST 9 May 2017

    Take a deep breath everyone....it's time to find out who is being sent home on a Ryanair flight tomorrow. 

  7. Hair-ographypublished at 22:03 BST 9 May 2017

    Clearly Jamala has been watching Slavko's hair-whipping very closely indeed. 

    Jamala
  8. A quick summary of this evening's performancespublished at 21:55 BST 9 May 2017

    You've got to feel sorry for the person whose job it was to put together the best of the semi-final montage, haven't you?

    All that hard work that went in to setting up vision mixers (presuming that's how it all works - I've heard people in the office talking about them often enough) and, in no time at all, Katrina has come up with this.

    Tremendous effort!

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  9. Portugalpublished at 21:51 BST 9 May 2017

    The Sobral siblings are having QUITE a night. 

    Portugal
  10. Put a ring on itpublished at 21:47 BST 9 May 2017

    Jamala

    Jamala channelling her inner Beyoncé here. (Bey's lawyers will be in touch).

  11. You really can't take voting in Eurovision seriously enough, can you?published at 21:42 BST 9 May 2017

    Once upon a time, we decided who we wanted to win Eurovision by trying to remember which act we enjoyed the best and picking up the phone (/app or whatever).

    No longer.

    Justina Marcellina has turned Eurovision voting into an exact science. She won't be voting for her favourite, but the act that she knows is scientifically proven to be the best.

    You know things are getting serious when there's a whiteboard involved.

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  12. Against all odds?published at 21:36 BST 9 May 2017

    In amongst all the goings on of the semi final, a quick thought on the UK's Eurovision hopes for you:

    As Thomas has correctly identified, the odds of Lucie Jones winning Saturday's final are actually reasonably good.

    Last year, Leicester City were 5,000:1 to win the Premier League, and they did it.

    The odds of winning the lottery are 1:45 million, but who can forget when Jackie King scooped the jackpot prize in 1998? (I'll be honest - I did just look that up).

    Basically what we're saying is that the bookies think we're in with a great shout this year - even if Italy are the favourites.

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  13. GET VOTING!published at 21:29 BST 9 May 2017

    Arguably the most important vote you will have to cast this year. (Wait there's a WHAT happening in June?!) 

    Remember, tonight is the *only semi final* you are allowed to vote in as a UK citizen. The winners will be announced in a totally random order at the end of the show. 

    Here's how things went down last year to get you in the mood to grab your phone and dial like your life depends on it. 

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  14. Latviapublished at 21:26 BST 9 May 2017

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    Triana Park are nothing if not persistent; they tried every single year from 2008-2012 to get into the competition but failed. This year they beat off 22 other hopefuls in the selction competition 'Supernova' to snatch the Latvian Eurovision crown. Here they are just moments after they found out they had won. 

  15. Latviapublished at 21:25 BST 9 May 2017

    Triana Park are up next from Latvia. In case you were wondering what's going on with the stage set here, the band's name is actually a 'fictional place' where you can 'go to be creative and invite friends and have fun.' This UV spattered den of vice is their glorious 'if Laser Quest did Churches' club house. 

  16. Sloveniapublished at 21:21 BST 9 May 2017

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    Lovely Omar Naber actually represented Slovenia in 2005 with the song 'Stop.' Unfortunately, his Eurovision trajectory did exactly that and he crashed out in 12th place in the semi-final. He's back this year with a song he's written himself called 'On My Way.' 

    For Londoners reading this you might have heard this whilst battling your way through the Tube; Omar is actually a licensed busker on the London Underground. 

  17. Armeniapublished at 21:20 BST 9 May 2017

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    Artsvik also proved you don't have to scratch out your competitors' eyes to win. Here she is having a good 'spontaneous knee-clutching' session with Cyprus entrant, Hovig.

  18. Armeniapublished at 21:19 BST 9 May 2017

    Artsvik trained as a music therapist in Moscow so listen carefully for her very meticulously pronounced lyrics and lovely open vowel sounds. 

    She actually spent a looooong time choosing her song - after she was selected as her country's musical-Hunger-Games competitor she was offered 45 songs by various song writers. 

    She whittled it down to 8 and tonight's song 'Fly With Me' (pipe down, Frank Sinatra) was the choice. She is helped along by some spectacular pyrotechnics and some excellent hand-modelling/flailing/vogue-ing from the backing dancers. 

  19. Cypruspublished at 21:17 BST 9 May 2017

    In fact, strap in numbers fans. Before tonight, G:Son had actually pumped out 69 songs which he had written for the national finals of twelve different countries for the Eurovision Song Contest...

    • thirty-nine for Sweden
    • eleven for Spain
    • six for Norway
    • five for Denmark
    • four for Finland
    • three for Georgia
    • two for Poland

    ...and one each for Cyprus, Latvia, Romania, Belgium, and Malta. He had also reached the Eurovision Song Contest twelve times, three times each for Sweden, Spain, and Georgia, and once each for Norway, Denmark, and Cyprus. 

    No pressure Hovig!