United By Music,’ Second Set of Winners Advance to Eurovision Final
Australia, Austria and Belgium among countries with popular acts joining favorites Sweden and Finland on Saturday night at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena.
LIVERPOOL, U.K. — The Eurovision Song Contet 2023, with the tagline “United By Music” on behalf of war-torn Ukraine, ushered in a second set of finalists on Thursday (May 11), with Australia, Austria and Belgium among the acts progressing to join favorites Sweden and Finland in Saturday’s Grand Final.
Sixteen acts performed at the contest’s second semifinal, held at Liverpool’s 11,000-capacity M&S Bank Arena. Also progressing to the final were Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and Armenia. The six acts eliminated were Denmark, San Marino, Iceland, Romania, Georgia and Greece.
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Tuesday’s earlier qualifying round saw Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Israel, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Norway move on.
In total, 26 acts will perform at Saturday’s final, including the so-called “big five,” made up of host country United Kingdom, plus France, Germany, Italy and Spain. They all get a free pass to the main show because of their broadcaster’s financial contributions to the event.
Ukraine also automatically qualifies because rap-folk band Kalush Orchestra won last year’s competition, held in Turin, Italy, with their song “Stefania.” The U.K., which finished second with Sam Ryder’s “Space Man,” stepped in to host this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in place of Ukraine because of its ongoing war with Russia. (The previous year’s winner gets the honor of hosting the following year.)
As with the first semifinal, Thursday’s show was hosted by British TV personality and singer Alesha Dixon, Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina.
