Liverpool live: Sweaty sweaters, video games and red feathers

Every participant has it’s second rehearsal today. That means we already know a lot and we can just say whether there are (major) changes or not. Different from other years, no independent journalists or fan media can join the rehearsals. What you read is what Eurovision.tv wants us to know.

photo credits: EBU/Sarah Louise Bennett/Corinne Cummings/Chloe Hashemi

Norway

The Norwegian act is the same as in the first rehearsal. According to the reporters of eurovision.tv she hit the high notes. Alessandra is currently 6th at the bookmakers, which means she might do well for Norway this year.

Malta

The Maltese act is one were a lot happens. And singer Dav jr. even wears two sweaters. He takes one off during the show. According to him that is quite…. sweaty. Dav already took part in the national final in 2020. However, he says it is now the right time to go to Eurovision. The day after he was eliminated from the X-Factor 2020, his father passed away, so that was not a good moment for Eurovision.
Unfortunately the bookmakers are not happy about Malta yet. Hopefully they are wrong this time!

Serbia

Sometimes it is difficult to know what will happen on tv when you are in the hall. That is why only now a lot of on-screen video game references came up in the reports. It fits in the act: somebody who just wants to sleep as there are so many bad things going on in the world. The song is written during the COVID19 lockdowns. Currently, Serbia is no. 17 in the betting odds.

Latvia

At least they have their outfits now, so it seems the luggage problem is solved. The band members are all wearing jackets and blouses with long, thin ties over it. Lead singer Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis wears a beige jacket, the others have darker cloths. Currently Latvia does not do well in the betting odds with a 35th place. However, we can not exclude a place in the final.

Portugal

Enthusiasm for the uptempo song Portugal brings on stage. There have not been many changes at all in the Portuguese entry. Mimicat still wears the feather dress that impressed in the first rehearsal. Portugal is currently 26th in the betting odds, which makes it likely that Mimicat will go through to the final.

Ireland

About Ireland, the same information is given by eurovision.tv as they did Monday: the members of Wild Youth are having fun on stage. Ireland is currently 24th at the betting odds. However, if you look at the qualifiers of semifinal one, they are 14th. A strange contradiction, and it makes the line on the official website quite cynical: “…and they look like they’re having the best time ever – the Irish delegation should be really happy”.

Croatia

Croatia’s Let 3 is having their second rehearsal, and their performance looks just as impressive on the big screen as it did in the hall, says eurovision.tv. However, the visual spectacle appears even more impressive and vibrant than before. The colors are now more intense and psychedelic, and the removal of clothing is now even more detailed and noticeable due to the high definition visuals. Judge for yourself if you should be happy with that. The betting ods give Croatia a 15th place.

in collaboration with Eurovision Artists

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related news

Eurovision 2026

Eurovision, the grand final: what to expect

📷 EBU/Sarah Louise Bennett Tonight is the night: the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. By the end of the evening, we will know which country has won. The show The show will, of course, be opened by JJ, last year’s winner. He will perform the “Queen of the Night” aria together with his winning song “Wasted Love”. After that, the party gets started with Denmark. The line-up of 25 songs ends with Austria. That is not a case of the host country pulling strings: Austria drew that position fair and square. Once all the songs have been performed, the voting can begin. To bridge the gap, there will be an interval act. There has been plenty of grumbling about the quality of this year’s broadcasts, but this interval act looks genuinely fun. Big Eurovision names will take viewers on a journey through the contest’s entire history. Expect not only Verka Serduchka and Alexander Rybak, but also Max Mutzke, Ruslana, Lordi, Kristian Kostov, Erika Vikman and Miriana Conte. For every Eurovision fan, it should be a real treat. Cesár Sampson will then perform Billy Joel’s hit “Vienna”, while Joel himself will deliver a recorded message. Finland is the Eurovision 2026 winner favourite So, who is going to win? On paper, one entry stands head and shoulders above the rest: Finland’s Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen with “Liekinheitin”. Bookmakers have made Finland the clear favourite. EurovisionWorld currently lists “Liekinheitin” at 42% to win, ahead of Australia’s Delta Goodrem with “Eclipse” on 19% and Greece’s Akylas with “Ferto” on 8%. The fan polls tell a similar story. Finland won the OGAE Poll with 459 points, followed by Denmark and Australia. It also won the INFE Poll with 172 points, ahead of Greece and Sweden. On My Eurovision Scoreboard, Finland was also ranked first, with more than 56,000 app users included in the rankings. That matters because Finland looks like a rare jury-televote hybrid. ESC Insight’s model placed “Liekinheitin” almost evenly between jury and public support. The running order also helps: Finland performs 17th, in the second half of the show. Why Australia can still win Australia is the big late challenger. After Delta Goodrem’s semi-final performance, The Guardian reported that Australia jumped from fourth to second in the odds, behind only Finland. There is also rehearsal momentum. Eurovoix reported that Australia topped the final press poll. It also won the Grand Final audience poll after Dress Rehearsal Two, with 562 votes, or 15.5%, from 3,620 participants. Streaming, YouTube and iTunes clues Spotify and YouTube do not decide Eurovision, but they do show reach. Aussievision’s latest Spotify ranking, dated 10 May, has Italy first with 25.4 million streams, Sweden second with 18.6 million and Finland third with 12.3 million. On YouTube, Malta leads with 7.2 million views, followed by Greece and Cyprus, while Finland sits fifth with 3.58 million. The iTunes picture is more scattered. ESC Tracker shows “Liekinheitin” at number one in Finland, but Italy’s “Per sempre sì” is also charting well across several countries. Prediction: Finland, with Australia close behind So, who is gonna win Eurovision tonight? The safest prediction is Finland. The odds, fan polls and running order all point in the same direction. However, Australia is the danger. If juries reward Delta Goodrem’s vocals and the public connects with the performance, “Eclipse” could still overturn the favourite. Israel Still, last year showed us that Israel can score extremely well with the televote. Later research suggested that, partly because of calls from the government to vote for Israel twenty times, the country received far more votes than expected. The rules have since been tightened. Even so, something similar could happen again. Israel has already received a warning over this kind of behaviour this year. That makes Israel a possible winner too, whether we like it or not. Our prediction: Finland wins Eurovision 2026, Australia finishes close behind, and Greece, Denmark and Israel fight for the rest of the top five. Let’s hope people vote for the music and the show.

Read More »
Eurovision 2026
Martijn

Eurovision, the grand final: what to expect

📷 EBU/Sarah Louise Bennett Tonight is the night: the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. By the end of the evening, we will know which country has won. The show The show will, of course, be opened by JJ, last year’s winner. He will perform the “Queen of the Night” aria together with his winning song “Wasted Love”. After that, the party gets started with Denmark. The line-up of 25 songs ends with Austria. That is not a case of the host country pulling strings: Austria drew that position fair and square. Once all the songs have been performed, the voting can begin. To bridge the gap, there will be an interval act. There has been plenty of grumbling about the quality of this year’s broadcasts, but this interval act looks genuinely fun. Big Eurovision names will take viewers on a journey through the contest’s entire history. Expect not only Verka Serduchka and Alexander Rybak, but also Max Mutzke, Ruslana, Lordi, Kristian Kostov, Erika Vikman and Miriana Conte. For every Eurovision fan, it should be a real treat. Cesár Sampson will then perform Billy Joel’s hit “Vienna”, while Joel himself will deliver a recorded message. Finland is the Eurovision 2026 winner favourite So, who is going to win? On paper, one entry stands head and shoulders above the rest: Finland’s Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen with “Liekinheitin”. Bookmakers have made Finland the clear favourite. EurovisionWorld currently lists “Liekinheitin” at 42% to win, ahead of Australia’s Delta Goodrem with “Eclipse” on 19% and Greece’s Akylas with “Ferto” on 8%. The fan polls tell a similar story. Finland won the OGAE Poll with 459 points, followed by Denmark and Australia. It also won the INFE Poll with 172 points, ahead of Greece and Sweden. On My Eurovision Scoreboard, Finland was also ranked first, with more than 56,000 app users included in the rankings. That matters because Finland looks like a rare jury-televote hybrid. ESC Insight’s model placed “Liekinheitin” almost evenly between jury and public support. The running order also helps: Finland performs 17th, in the second half of the show. Why Australia can still win Australia is the big late challenger. After Delta Goodrem’s semi-final performance, The Guardian reported that Australia jumped from fourth to second in the odds, behind only Finland. There is also rehearsal momentum. Eurovoix reported that Australia topped the final press poll. It also won the Grand Final audience poll after Dress Rehearsal Two, with 562 votes, or 15.5%, from 3,620 participants. Streaming, YouTube and iTunes clues Spotify and YouTube do not decide Eurovision, but they do show reach. Aussievision’s latest Spotify ranking, dated 10 May, has Italy first with 25.4 million streams, Sweden second with 18.6 million and Finland third with 12.3 million. On YouTube, Malta leads with 7.2 million views, followed by Greece and Cyprus, while Finland sits fifth with 3.58 million. The iTunes picture is more scattered. ESC Tracker shows “Liekinheitin” at number one in Finland, but Italy’s “Per sempre sì” is also charting well across several countries. Prediction: Finland, with Australia close behind So, who is gonna win Eurovision tonight? The safest prediction is Finland. The odds, fan polls and running order all point in the same direction. However, Australia is the danger. If juries reward Delta Goodrem’s vocals and the public connects with the performance, “Eclipse” could still overturn the favourite. Israel Still, last year showed us that Israel can score extremely well with the televote. Later research suggested that, partly because of calls from the government to vote for Israel twenty times, the country received far more votes than expected. The rules have since been tightened. Even so, something similar could happen again. Israel has already received a warning over this kind of behaviour this year. That makes Israel a possible winner too, whether we like it or not. Our prediction: Finland wins Eurovision 2026, Australia finishes close behind, and Greece, Denmark and Israel fight for the rest of the top five. Let’s hope people vote for the music and the show.

Read More »
Follow Us: