The Netherlands has made a triumphant return to the Eurovision Song Contest, following last year’s disqualification as the first semi-final acts finished performing on Tuesday night in Switzerland.
Claude Kiambe, 21, surrounded by violinists, sang out his track C’est La Vie, a blend of English and French that promotes a message of dealing with life as it is, at the Basel arena St Jakobshalle.
The UK cannot vote in the first semi-final as only countries performing in each of the semi-finals can. So British fans need to wait until Thursday – when Remember Monday perform What The Hell Just Happened? – to support their favourites.
The voting on Tuesday evening will reveal which 10 acts are through to the final.
The contest is taking place in Switzerland, where the competition began in Lugano in 1956, and following Malmo 2024 when Dutch singer Joost Klein was kicked out by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) over alleged verbal threats to a female production worker, which he denied.
Also attracting attention was Estonia’s Tommy Cash, who flicked his feet around the stage while singing the silly Espresso Macchiato, which referenced typical Italian phrases, and a screen behind him on stage said “winner’s cafe”.
The performance also featured a fake fan, appearing to leap out at him before being caught by on-stage security guards and dancing with him as the screen changed to a “Tommywood sign”, referencing Hollywood.
Earlier, Icelandic electronic musician brothers Matthias Davio Matthiasson and Halfdan Helgi Matthiasson, known as Vaeb, started the event with their energetic Roa – complete with matching silvery outfits, ending with a group hug.
Opting for a quieter and simpler staging surrounded by lights, Slovenia’s Klemen belted out his entry How Much Time Do We Have Left, and ended saying “thank you everybody, we love you” to the crowd.
Favourites, Sweden’s act Kaj had a co-ordinated dance for their song Bara Bada Bastu (Just Sauna).
It saw dancers acting as lumberjacks, and in a fake sauna stage wearing towels – while the Swedish-speaking singers, from Finland, were dressed in dark green suits.
A translation of Italian glam rocker Lucio Corsi’s Volevo Essere Un Duro (I Wanted To Be A Tough Guy), was displayed in the broadcast, after Eurovision confirmed there were artists singing in 20 different languages this year, the most since national language requirements were eased in the 1990s.
Italy along with Switzerland’s Zoe Me are already through, with the Basel-born singer opting to go for simple staging on Tuesday for French language song Voyage, as camera tricks were used to emphasise the dramatic beats, similar to Olly Alexander’s Dizzy in 2024, who used the same stage director.
Last to take to the stage was Cyprus’s Theo Evan’s with Shh.
On Tuesday, Basel’s local government released figures saying that more than 38,000 people have visited its European Village since the free event began on Saturday until Monday.
Basel police confirmed that a protest against antisemitism will take place in Basel, Switzerland, on Thursday, before Israeli singer Yuval Raphael performs in the second Eurovision semi-final that same day.
A pro-Palestinian group is planning a large demonstration on both Wednesday and Saturday.
Wednesday’s action will be a “silent march”, the group Basel for Palestine has said.
During a demonstration at the opening ceremony on Sunday, the police received a report of “threatening gestures”, that appeared to be directed at Raphael while she took part in the opening ceremony.
Israel’s government shared a clip on X from the protest on Sunday, and said: “Israel’s Eurovision representative Yuval Raphael, a Nova massacre survivor, was ‘welcomed’ in Basel by a hostile crowd of pro-Hamas protesters.
“Yet she stands tall, singing for her country. Her love will always outshine their hate.”
