Daily Digest: Two Dress Rehearsals of the first Semi-Final

07 May 2018 at 23:36 CEST

Semi-final 1 dressrehearsal 1 Photo: Andres Putting

Today we saw the nineteen countries that will perform in the first Semi-Final tomorrow give it their all during their first and second Dress Rehearsal. During the second Dress Rehearsal this evening, the juries cast their votes ahead of tomorrow's live show. The results will be Europe's well-kept secret for the next 24 hours.

Nineteen countries — Azerbaijan, Iceland, Albania, Belgium, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Israel, Belarus, Estonia, Bulgaria, F.Y.R. Macedonia, Croatia, Austria, Greece, Finland, Armenia, Switzerland, Ireland and Cyprus — took to the stage in Lisbon for the first Dress Rehearsal (open to the press) and the second Dress Rehearsal (the so-called jury show). Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom gave guest performances, as these countries have a guaranteed ticket to the Grand Final. But worry no more — we won't give away all the details about the show, in order to not spoil the fun ahead of tomorrow.

Curious what you missed today? Check out the ninth episode of our Lisbon Today vlog:

Tonight 110 jurors in 22 countries watched the second Dress Rehearsal to decide their ranking of all entries, except their own. The professional jury determines 50% of the result, the other 50% is determined tomorrow by viewers in all nineteen participating countries, as well as viewers in Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

We can't wait!

Tomorrow we will see the same nineteen countries perform for you during the live broadcast of the first Semi-Final of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.