They came, they saw and they conquered. Ten more entrants have qualified for Saturday's Grand Final at the Eurovision Song Contest.
But five other acts are preparing to go home after failing to make it out of Thursday night's second semi-final. Performers from Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Armenia, Switzerland and Latvia were eliminated.
After voting by national juries and people around the world, those completing the 25 spots for the finale include Denmark’s Søren Torpegaard Lund with the sultry “Før Vi Går Hjem” (“Before We Go Home”), Australian star Delta Goodrem with power ballad “Eclipse” and Bulgarian singer Dara with the catchy “Bangaranga.”
Singers Daniel Žižka from Czechia, Leléka from Ukraine, Alis from Albania, Aidan from Malta, Antigoni from Cyprus, Alexandra Căpitănescu from Romania and Jonas Lovv from Norway also qualified.
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Ten other acts secured a place through a semifinal on Tuesday, including Finland’s Pete Parkkonen and Linda Lampenius, Greek rapper Akylas, Serbian goth metal band Lavina, Moldovan folk-rapper Satoshi and Israeli singer Noam Bettan.
The United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy automatically qualify for the final because they are among the contest’s biggest funders.
Austria, last year’s winner, gets a place in the final as host country.
Five countries — Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland — are boycotting the 70th edition of Eurovision this year because of Israel’s inclusion.
The Israeli performer Bettan was greeted by some protests when he sang in Tuesday’s semifinal. Unlike in previous years, Palestinian flags are being allowed in the arena and Austrian broadcaster ORF says it will not mute any booing.
The five-country boycott is a revenue and viewership blow to one of the world's biggest cultural events. Organisers say last year's contest was watched by a global audience of around 166 million people.
Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania have returned to the contest after failing to attend for for artistic or financial reasons in recent years, but the number of participants is still the lowest since 2003.
Still, Eurovision is hoping the fervour spreads having revealed plans for an Asian spinoff with the inaugural competition due to be held in Bangkok in November.
