LAST UPDATE | 11 May 2023

Daragh Brophy reports from Liverpool:

ANOTHER TEN ACTS have been added to the lineup for Saturday night’s Eurovision grand final.

The second semi-final of the song contest took place in the Liverpool Arena tonight in front of around 6,000 fans and a global TV audience, with 16 countries competing for the remaining spots in the decider.

Tuesday’s first semi-final – in which Ireland’s Wild Youth were eliminated – was regarded as the more difficult draw due to the presence of favourites like Sweden, Finland and Norway.

Making it through from tonight’s show are: Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, Belgium, Lithuania, Poland, Armenia and Slovenia.

Austria – whose entry ‘Who the Hell is Edgar?’ from the duo of Teya & Salena has been a fan favourite here in Liverpool this week – also got a nod through to the final, as did Australian prog rockers Voyager.

The UK is hosting the contest this year on behalf of last year’s winners Ukraine and, as on Tuesday, Ukrainian singer Julia Sanini was on hosting duties alongside Alesha Dixon and Hannah Waddingham.

In an interval show replete with a choir, celestial lights and clouds of dry ice, Ukrainian singers performed a series of songs from the country’s musical history.

A second – strikingly different – interval act aimed at celebrating the contest’s values of inclusion and diversity featured a trio of drag performers high-kicking their way through a medley of high tempo numbers accompanied by a dance troupe, pyrotechnics and a vibrant disco-themed light show.

Wild Youth – in spite of putting in a solid performance on the night – bowed out on Tuesday after failing to generate the required support in the public vote for one of the spots in the decider. It’s not yet known where they placed on the leaderboard as organisers don’t release those details until after the grand final has concluded.

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With the exception of one year, Ireland has now failed to qualify from the weekday events in every contest held since 2013.

Responding yesterday to criticism of our continuing dismal spell at the contest, RTE’s head of delegation for the Eurovision, Michael Kealy, blamed “chronic underfunding” of the national broadcaster.

There was no return cameo from Dustin the Turkey in tonight’s contest.

Ireland’s 2008 entrant to the contest made a brief appearance bantering with the hosts on Tuesday night, but did not resurface this evening.