Ukraine, Switzerland, Australia and Denmark are among 15 countries going head to head in the second Eurovision Song Contest semi-final, while viewers will be able to watch a performance by the UK’s entry Look Mum No Computer.
Israel’s Eurovision entry Noam Bettan was booed by the crowd during his performance during the first semi-final on Tuesday night.
The 28-year-old made it through to Saturday’s final after receiving a mixed reception from the crowd before he performed his song Michelle at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria.
Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia are all boycotting this year’s competition because of Israel’s participation amid its actions in Gaza.
Moldova, Sweden, Croatia, Greece, Finland, Belgium, Lithuania, Poland and Serbia are the other countries which qualified for a place in Saturday’s grand final of the 70th edition of the contest.
The other countries taking part on Thursday night are Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Romania, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Armenia, Cyprus, Latvia, Albania, Malta and Norway.
The UK, France, Germany, Italy and last year’s winner Austria automatically qualify for the final but still perform during the semi-finals, with the UK, Austria and France due to take to the stage on Thursday night.
Look Mum No Computer, whose real name is Sam Battle, will perform his song Eins, Zwei, Drei and previously revealed he has built most of the staging himself for his performance, including “mega synthesiser” panels.
Since beginning his YouTube career in 2013, the Lincolnshire-born musician has amassed more than 85 million views and 1.4 million combined subscribers and followers across his various social accounts.
Among the other acts to perform on Thursday night are former Neighbours actress-turned-pop star Delta Goodrem, who is representing Australia, and Dara from Bulgaria, who will return to the contest after a three-year absence with her song Bangaranga.
The countries eliminated on Tuesday’s show were Portugal, Georgia, Estonia, Montenegro and San Marino, with the latter seeing veteran British pop star Boy George join its entrant Senhit to perform the song Superstar, which he co-wrote.
Before Bettan sang earlier in the night, BBC Eurovision commentator Rylan Clark noted there had been “a lot of controversy” surrounding Israel at this year’s contest.
A number of protests reportedly took place in the Austrian capital this week, while human rights group Amnesty International criticised the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for its failure to suspend Israel from the song contest, as it did with Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, calling it an act of “cowardice” and a “blatant double standard”.
Israel’s 2025 entrant Yuval Raphael received the largest number of votes from the public last May, ultimately finishing runner-up to Austrian winner JJ after the jury votes were taken into account.
Two protesters unsuccessfully attempted to storm the stage and throw paint during her performance.
Those performing in Thursday’s semi-final are:
– Bulgaria: Dara – Bangaranga– Azerbaijan: Jiva – Just Go– Romania: Alexandra Capitanescu – Choke Me– Luxembourg: Eva Marija – Mother Nature– Czech Republic: Daniel Zizka – Crossroads– Armenia: Simon – Paloma Rumba– Switzerland: Veronica Fusaro – Alice– Cyprus: Antigoni – Jalla– Latvia: Atvara – Ena– Denmark: Soren Torpegaard Lund – For Vi Gar Hjem– Australia: Delta Goodrem – Eclipse– Ukraine – Leleka – Ridnym– Albania: Alis – Nan– Malta: Aiden – Bella– Norway: Jonas Lovv – Ya Ya Ya
The show will also see performances from Austria’s Cosmo singing Tanzschein, and France’s Monroe with the song Regarde!
The Eurovision Song Contest final will take place on Saturday at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna.
