#ESC2026: Live Blog of Semi-final 1 Jury Show from 21.00CEY/20.00BST

It’s starting! Semi-final 1 of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest is nearly upon us. We at Eurovision Ireland have access to the Jury Show, which may give us an idea of who will qualify for the Grand Final on 16 May.

As you know with our blogs, just click ‘Refresh’ on your browser for our latest thoughts. All times are CET

21.00 – And we’re off, with an opening you may have already seen. It chronicles a fan from the 1956 from childhood through life. It’s quite moving.

21.03 – Our time traveller is on stage now, singing L’amour est blue (LU67).

21.04 – It’s only Vicky Leandros, picking up the song now! She’s in gold. What a legend!

21.05 – Now it’s time to meet our hosts Victoria and Michael. She’s in red, and he’s in red and silver with a massive medallion. Vicky gets thanked.

21.08 – Michael gives us some rundown in French. Victoria tells us the juries are back in the semi-finals.

21.09 – We get the numbers . People can vote by phone, SMS or online. It may vary from country to country.

21.10 – Song one from Moldova. His postcard has him falling through air. On wires, naturally

21.14 – This is immediately an assault of bright colours, unsteady-cam footage, and lots of busy busy busy. Satoshi is in blue and silver. There’s much movement and lots of smoke machinage. Aliona Moon does her bit, recreating her act from 2013. A cracking cracking start which really gets the crowd going.

21.15 – Sweden next. Felicia still has her sparkly mask. Will it come off during the performance.

21.18 – The staging starts dark with red and white smoke. Then the red fills the stage and lasers appear. Her dancers also appear beside her and there’s a lot of filling before the second verse. Her voice isn’t that clear and it relies a lot, and I mean a lot, on staging to do the really heavy lifting. We get a shot from above during the song’s bridge, before she momentarily disappears and swaps her mask for big sunglasses. It will have it’s fans but I’m not one of them

21.19 – Croatia next, and their postcard features mountains. We are in Austria after all.

21.23 – Close-ups of the girls in their trademark tattoo make-up start. They’re in red, save for one in white. The white-dressed girl is floating, or at least appears to be. The staging is phenomenal, and Lelek’s harmonising is excellent. Then we get pyros. Lots of pyros. Thank you Croatia for something authentic. I love it, and I have goosebumps.

21.24 – Greece next. A slightly trippy postcard.

21.27 – Akylas is dressed as a tiger. His backdrop is early 2000s computer graphics. We see a shot of him through a kaleidoscope which is different. Then he recreates part of GR05. He even has a scooter on stage to take him to the end of the catwalk. The staging then goes up another gear with him walking through doors past a mother figure, an Greek statue and a man in a gold suit. They join him for the last chorus. It’s busy. And fun.

21.28 – Portugal now and they chase a helium balloon through their postcard.

21.31 – Voices and a tad of a capella are the motif here for a song that we’re told is not fado. The quintet are on variations of beige, grey and cream. They do harmonise well and it’s an interesting contrast to the busy busy Greek song. They make good use of the catwalk and there’s an effective angle of them with a white rose on the backdrop. It also will have its fans and may spring a surprise and qualify.

21.32 – We go to a short break. Michael takes the lead.

21.33 – And onto Bzikebi from Georgia. They’re on rooftops.

21.36 – They’re in black and yellow, of course. The staging is simple – just them dancing a well-choreographed routine. There are cyborg versions of them on the backdrop. It’s good, but could probably do with a dancer or two on stage to assist. It’s got potential, but at the same time might struggle.

21.37 – Another break now. Victoria tells us about times past when she watched the contest. Sissal (DK25), Miriana (MT25), JJ (AT25) each say a few words.

21.39 – We speak to some fans, the sound crew and Eleni (CY18), Victoria (BG21). All very nice.

21.40 – Victoria then reminds us that five countries are straight through to the final. And she introduces finalist Italy.

21.41 – We see landscapes for Sal’s postcard.

21.44 – Sal is in white. He has three dancers, one of whom is a groom getting dressed. He’s a very good singer. His dancers make great used of the stage, which resembles are wedding venue. Then on walks the bride who sheds part of her dress to reveal an Italian flag. I love it

21.45 – Linda and Pete are next. Quite a random postcard. And we get a momentary delay.

21.48 – Pete starts singing and smoulders away. There’s lots of red light and close-ups of him sat in a confessional booth. Linda meanwhile is in silver and is all windblown. The lighting is getting more flame-orange during the second verse. Then the fire starts, following Linda as she heads towards Pete. Brilliant. It could be your winner.

21.49 – Tamara from Montenegro is next. Another random postcard.

21.53 – This is serious. Tamara is in black with a massive ruff. Her dancers are in black and white, and look angry. No-one will mess with them. We get close-up camera work for the rap, and Tamara gets pored towards the end of the song. It’s a great stage show and she’s note-perfect. Let’s hope this gets through on Tuesday.

21.54 – Veterans Vanilla Ninja from Estonia next, this time representing their home country. Water is their postcard theme

21.57 – The girls are in white and cream. It’s a darn good rock song, sung honestly – almost a gig song and not an over-the-top stage show. The camera work is very sympathetic too. In fact, it’s a bit more rocky than the Eesti Laul performance. And not a single bad note.

21.58 – Israel’s Noam Bettan is next. He gets a frosty postcard.

22.01 – A close-up of Noam starts this, and he’s in a giant diamond that opens slowly. He also has dancers in the diamond construction with him. It fully opens and he steps out. The dancers are well-choreographed, as you would expect. He ends up along the catwalk for the slow bridge. It gets a polite reception. Curiously, there are shots of Israeli fans in the audience with flags that don’t conform to the guidelines. Hmmm

22.02 – Back to Michael, to introduce a Finalist song. It’s from Germany.

22.03 – Sarah Engels gets buildings for her postcard.

22.06 – Sarah starts off lying on the stage. Or more to the point on a box on the stage. There is lots going off here. Flames – of course – a costume change from white to gold, lots of red lighting. And much choreography. Especially during the middle-eight. It’s a bit Fuego, and we all know how that did.

22.08 – It’s the Professor Eurovision slot – whoopee. Facts about the Makemakes scoring no points. And more besides.

22.10 – Essyla from Belgium to come next. Mountains is the postcard theme.

22.14 – There is ‘snow’ here and it’s going everywhere. Essyla is in white with a very long train behind her. Then that goes when her dancers appear. They have high collars which look highly uncomfortable. The choreography – there’s choreography, naturally – is slick, but also looks a bit laboured. There are a few similar songs and I fear for it.

22.15 – Lion Ceccah time – Lithuania – gets ice and mountains.

22.18 – More close-up shots to open. He’s painted silver and in his massive habit. Very much performance art. Then the chorus starts and he leaves his substantial habit behind to sing and move alone. No dancers here. He has a great voice that has a slightly mournful quality. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it might be just a tad too odd to get many votes.

22.19 – San Marino anyone? Well, their next. Senhit gets kingfishers, and water.

22.22 – Another assault on the senses. Oodles of silver start us off. The chorus shows us her dancers and there is much pointing. Senhot seems to be struggling with the vocal, as I think she can sing better than she is doing. Then Boy George appears. We finish pyros and a slightly messy duet-style thing. That wasn’t good.

22.23 – Poland gets bright sparkly lights for a postcard.

22.27 – Alicja is in silver. We start slowly, with that Hammond organ motif in the background. The rap kicks in and dancers appear. They’re on a cheese-wedge of a prop that has a very steep angle. They seem to be coping though. It goes well with Alicja’s warbling. She then ascends the wedge and the camera angles play tricks with us. Is she on the level or not? You decide. It bounces along but to be fair she gets that killer note at the end.

22.28 – The last competing song is Serbia. More lakes and mountains.

22.31 – Close-ups again. Who knew? The Lavina lead singer has pointy bat-wing shoulder metal. And dark make-up and much angst. The rest of the band are dressed similarly. For verse two there is some interesting camera work. The vocals seem odd. A bit shouty and yet subtle. Until the flames kick in to make you sit up. It’s very un-Eurovision and strangely enthralling.

22.34 – Michael and Victoria appear now. That’s all the songs. They remind us there are three golden rules. And we see the numbers and the lines open. At least, they will in about 24 hours time. And then the customary recap.

22.38 – Back to our hosts. In a Viennese café in the Green Room. It’s actually red and gold.

22.41 – Michael disappeared and comes back in Styrian Green, to speak to the performers. What larks.

22.43 – Interval time now, and it’s an Austrian dance company. All the fun of the (Prater) fair by the looks of things.

22.48 – That’s done and another recap of the songs.

22.52 – The lines are closed. At least they will be tomorrow.

22.52 – We now get a Eurovision quiz. The contestants and commentators. It’s getting a bit laboured.

23.00 – Quiz over. One team won and one team didn’t

23.01 – Remember Australia’s Go-Jo? He’s in the audience. His outfit leaves little to the imagination.

23.04 – As you can guess, we get a song about the differences between Austria and Australia.

23.07 – It’s over now. So there should be some results.

23.08 – We’re finishing the blog now. You can tune in to the real First Semi-final tomorrow – Tuesday – at 21.00CET/20.00BST. Goodnight from Vienna.

Authors: John Stanton, Richard Taylor

Source: Eurovision Ireland