Qualifying from tonight’s Semi Final and through to the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 are Australia, Belarus, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Serbia, Slovenia, and San Marino.
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In addition to qualifying, the countries drew which half of the running order they would perform in.
- First Half
Greece, Cyprus, Czech, San Marino, and Slovenia (joining Germany).
- Second Half
Australia, Belarus, Estonia, Serbia, and Iceland (joining France, Israel, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom).
Reactions, in-depth analysis and more to follow.
British Academy (BAFTA) nominated broadcaster and writer Ewan Spence is the voice behind The Unofficial Eurovision Song Contest Podcast and one of the driving forces behind ESC Insight. Having had an online presence since 1994, he is a noted commentator around the intersection of the media, internet, technology, mobility and how it affects us all. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, his work has appeared on the BBC, The Stage, STV, and The Times.
You can follow Ewan on Twitter (@ewan) and Facebook (facebook.com/ewanspence).
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5 songs from each half of the semi have qualified.
5 of the last 6 songs have qualified.
After seeing the show, I do wonder why Björkman placed Iceland and Australia back to back.
2 entries that are an asault on the senses and visually are too much to have in one go.
Now they are both in the 2nd half of the final, I expect him to separate them even more.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he placed Hatari at number 15, right after Israel and Australia at 24 or 25.
I think San Marino will open the final. It makes sense and fit a patron from previous years
and have Spain close the show? But major headache looming if Russia, Sweden and Netherlands all draw 1st half after tomorrow…..
The chances for Russia, Sweden and Netherlands drawing 1st half are around 29 % if I’m correct. But even then, 3 of the last 5 winners came from the 1st half. It’s far more likely to win from the 1st half now, because Björkman will never ever give the Semi favourites a very low starting number.
Point taken. But of Netherlands, Sweden and Russia all finish high in SF2, the previous convention is to reward them with draws in the 9th to 13th positions. But if they all draw 1st half (and it’s one in three chance as you say) he is not going to pack them all into those positions…so something would have to give.