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Israel were among the qualifiers from Thursday night’s Eurovision Song Contest semi-final on a night when feared protests inside the Malmö Arena failed to materialise.
Latvia were first to go through, followed by Austria, Netherlands, Norway and Israel. The final five to make Saturday’s final were Greece, Estonia, Switzerland, Georgia and Armenia.
They join Ireland, Serbia, Portugal, Slovenia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Finland, Cyprus, Croatia and Luxembourg, as well as the ‘big five’, Spain, Italy, Germany, the UK and France, and of course last year’s winners Sweden, in the Grand Final on Saturday.
Latvia’s entry, the soulful power ballad Hollow sung by Latvian pop/rock icon Dons, was composed by Irish songwriter and producer Liam Geddes and American songwriter Kate Northrop.
Ahead of the second semi-final, there was a huge focus on Israeli contestant, Eden Golan.
Earlier on Thursday, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters walked across the streets of Malmö from Stortorget to Molleplatsen to show their support for Gaza and condemn Israel taking part in Eurovision amid the war in the Gaza Strip.
Golan took to the stage on Thursday to perform the ballad Hurricane, which was reworked from a previous song called October Rain, believed to reference the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel last year.
She opened with an artistic back bend, before launching into her song and received claps and cheers from the audience while dressed in a flowing cream dress.
No boos or chants from the audience were audible during the performance. The 20-year-old singer had been booed by members of the audience during rehearsals on Wednesday.
Swedish host broadcaster SVT had said it would not “censor” the Eurovision Song Contest audience if there was a repeat of the booing.
“Just like in all major TV productions with an audience, SVT works on the broadcast sound to even out the levels for TV viewers,” a statement from the Eurovision organisers said.
“This is solely to achieve as balanced a sound mix as possible for the audience, and SVT do not censor sound from the arena audience.
“The same principle applies to all competing performances and opening and interval acts.
“The EBU (European Broadcasting Union) and SVT encourage all audiences to attend in the spirit of the contest, embracing its values of inclusivity, celebrating diversity and being United By Music.”
Elsewhere, Greece entrant Marina Satti saw an intense reaction to her semi-final performance in the media room.
As she took to the stage to sing Zari, complete with scenes from the streets of her country, journalists and fan media gathered in a circle with Greek flags and danced around repeating the words of her song and shouting “Marina”.
Malta’s Sarah Bonnici, who opened the contest in a sparkly outfit, jumped around the stage and then her dancers lifted her into contortions while Czech Republic’s Aiko looked very rock in a purple outfit while performing Pedestal.
Slimane, who is already through to the final as France’s representative, one of the “big five” countries that do not compete in the semi-final, used his vocals to great effect for Mon Amour.
His rendition saw him hold a note for a very long time, while he did not rely so heavily on props and instead jokingly pushed the cameras as he moved around the stage.
Switzerland’s Nemo, in a pink skirt and fluffy jumper, balanced on a tipping metal disc as they sang their entry The Code.
The disc also spun around as they balanced on the edge while singing and rapping to the high-tempo, operatic dance track.
Nemo, who uses they/them pronouns and is looked on as one of the favourites to win the contest, said ahead of competing that they “don’t feel that much pressure”.
The final act was the Netherlands singer Joost Klein with his silly Europapa, which was another hit in the press room where there was singing and shouts of the chorus.
The event, hosted by comedian Petra Mede and Hollywood actress Malin Akerman, also saw tributes to previous entrants who scored the dreaded “nul points” including the UK’s Jemini who scored zero for Cry Baby in 2003.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 airs on Saturday 11 May on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player from 8pm.
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