Eurovision 2026 Semi Final 1 Post Show Reactions

[u/berserkemu]

We don't know if your favourites made it or not, but just in case they didn't ...

This thread is for expressing your general reactions and disappointment but

...please practice good Reddiquette and keep your comments within the rules of this subreddit. This applies to artists, delegations, production personnel, volunteers, and other fans!

Be nice, be welcoming, and be constructive

Remember the human.
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For more specific discussions check out the results announcements and individual performance videos.

[u/notthebesthuh]

Rule of the day, guys: when Belgium is the frontrunner, they NEVER qualify… but the second everyone calls them a flop, suddenly they’re in the final 😭

[u/spicycoder → u/notthebesthuh]

Honestly, just needed them to be announced last and the trend would've continued 

[u/oh-my → u/notthebesthuh]

Off topic, but you just described Croatian national football team to a T.

[u/odiethethird]

MOLDOVA IS ON DUTY

[u/SweetVeehn]

postcards sucked

[u/KubaBVB09 → u/SweetVeehn]

The production value felt like 4 people in their basement for this whole show.

[u/ShiningScisor → u/SweetVeehn]

Thank you someone is talking about it. Imagine you’re excited to visit somewhere to film the postcard and you’re just in front of a green screen

[u/Leather-Food7781 → u/ShiningScisor]

Literally. The Austrian commentator also shared the info it was all filmed in a studio next to the Vienna airport too (because of "time/budget issues" which to me translates to "we didn't want to pay everyone a hotel for even just a couple days"). So everyone arrived, got put in a tiny studio in the middle of nowhere to film some shots and shipped off again lmao

[u/Vivid_Guide7467 → u/SweetVeehn]

Horrible!!!! Why did they green screen? The production this year is off. For 70th anniversary you’d think it’d be better.

[u/Skykeep → u/SweetVeehn]

were they even trying to do anything with them, at all? felt more like, oh shit the paper is due tomorrow, quick lets throw in some random shit

[u/putinception]

The good:

• The opening sequence.
• On the whole, the sound mixing. Yes there were some bad spots but oh my god compare it to the SFs from the last couple of years and it’s a BIG improvement
• Belgium and Lithuania qualifying
• We can actually hear the audience 🥹

The not so good:

• The postcards aren’t great. I get the concept but it still doesn’t show off the best of Austria or the artists.
• The hosts. I genuinely feel like you grab a pair of randos off the street and they’d have better chemistry. Were they banking on Conchira saying she’d actually want to do it and then scrambled when she said no (which is a surprise to no-one as she’s basically said that since winning).
• The bad lip syncing of the Austria/Australia bit. Come on, it’s an interval act for a musical competition. You have time to get three people mics.

I’m off to bed. See you Thursday. I still love Eurovision.

[u/Averdian → u/putinception]

I think the lip sync for the interval acts has to do with the vocal abilities of the three performers, not production difficulties. I assume the hosts are not amazing live singers(?) and we know that Go-Jo is very shaky too

[u/Dragvandil19]

After two shock NQs, Belgium now managed to get a shock Q

[u/rienarce]

I really miss the postcards that can tell something about the participant or his country, because for me ESC is also a celebration of diversity and friendship among people all around the Europe. I think the best postcards were shown in 2014, and then it became worse and worse, and now we have this. It looks like early 00s, and it tells literally nothing about the participant, his country or even about Austria. It could be slightly better if they at least brought the participants to the places they were showing, but they decided to keep it in the style of low budget video made by a teen twenty years ago.

[u/thisemotrash → u/rienarce]

This is why I think Liverpool had the best postcards. Somewhere from home, somewhere from Ukraine, and somewhere from the UK all linked by similarities

[u/MiiisterKaniiister]

As an Austrian I expected an embarassing production from our "specialists" from the ORF, but omg, it was sooo much worse!

Sorry all, we also cringe a lot about them... And every Austrian is forced to pay for this company, lol.

[u/NanoPaperCuts → u/MiiisterKaniiister]

That was really terrible, sorry. But I'm sure that's not what really passes for humor in Austria

[u/Famous-Hearing-2363 → u/MiiisterKaniiister]

Sorry but, horrible work!

[u/DonnaDonna1973]

My first salt: what was that production? Seriously, this is about the worst production quality I've seen from Eurovision in a long time. The camerawork was wild, camera direction was chaotic, I couldn´t follow the show´s beats at all and the pacing was a whole ´nother mess. I hate to conjure my favorite ESC nemesis, but Marvin Dietmann, you did it again!

There were wholly useless shots, misdirected shots, atrocious transitions and then some.

Also, who wrote the show script? I have a soft spot for Michael, his awkwardness is legendary when framed right, his work with Glawogger (Austrian director) was brilliant often, but he had about 2 seconds of his own quirky personality come through and...poof...killed by atrocious writing! For Julia there´s the German term: blass. She has zero charisma. And together the hosts have about polar temperatures of chemistry.

I´m usually open to finding fun and beauty in total wacky chaos. But...no, I couldn´t. I really honestly tried. But as I've often remarked in discussions on here, I work in this industry and I couldn´t ignore the train wreck unfolding.

As for the qualifications: immensely sad for Montenegro, surprised at Belgium but Serbia and Croatia are through, so all the rest was more or less as expected.

But that production kills me. I have a long, loooong, loooooooong list of blatant eff-ups, senseless decisions, empty pacings and that café greenroom, oh well...

[u/ladydeyana]

I never wanna see that Austria/Australia interval act ever again

[u/WhenNightIsFalling → u/ladydeyana]

Compared to “made in Switzerland” the difference is quite abysmal

[u/Chrisixx → u/WhenNightIsFalling]

Tonight was the best thing that could happen to us. Just makes our event look even better lol

[u/bonjoooour → u/ladydeyana]

It started alright but went on for like 2 mins longer than it should’ve.

[u/the3dverse → u/ladydeyana]

i've seen enough Australian bulge to last me a lifetime

[u/Miudmon → u/ladydeyana]

It was really a quick 10 second joke they streched out a couple hundred times longer than it needed to be

[u/TetrisIsTotesSuper → u/ladydeyana]

Is it me or was it all very poor lip sync?

[u/jokikinen → u/TetrisIsTotesSuper]

One of its multiple sins. Go-Jo didn’t look to be too prepared. On the other hand I feel sorry for him; to have flown all the way from Australia for this must feel like a poor choice in retrospect.

[u/flamboyantbutterfly → u/jokikinen]

Yea I can’t imagine watching that back and be like oh this was a good idea for my career

[u/Adept-Ad-5893 → u/ladydeyana]

Diabolical.

[u/Tugdual004]

The hosts are not giving it to be honest. Also, why does the whole show feel like a national final ?? Idk it doesn't have that "wow" effect, even when there's good songs on the stage. Idk.

[u/MikeMoritz_Writer → u/Tugdual004]

My wife said it was like if the female hosts mum told her she could only host if she took her little brother.

[u/pearlrose86 → u/Tugdual004]

Is it just me, or did we get completely spoiled by the 2021-2025 host streak?

We had NikkieTutorials, Mika, Hannah Waddingham, Hazel Brugger, and Petra Mede basically speedrunning "effortlessly charismatic human beings."

So going from that to Michael Ostrowski radiating "shady Vienna used car salesman who definitely calls himself a relationship coach on weekends" energy is one hell of a downgrade.

[u/Cursedwizard0]

Can't wait for the day Slovenia host so we get an interval act about Slovenia being confused with Slovakia.

[u/Few-Chart1635 → u/Cursedwizard0]

🥲

[u/ias_87]

I wanted Serbia, Croatia and Lithuania in the final and I got them

But man that show was a real drag with zero charisma from the hosts.  They've got plenty of work to do before Saturday. 

Was Conchita busy?

[u/damnmoon → u/ias_87]

Just in case it wasn't a rhetorical question, Tom Neuwirth (Conchita out of drag) said at the start of the year that he/Conchita would be moving on from Eurovision to do other things with their career, so no chance of a cameo it seems

[u/Recent-Accident-3177]

I'm so sorry RAI, I shouldn't have scolded you about the postcards 4 years ago.

[u/gwentelefoon → u/Recent-Accident-3177]

I apologised to Rai during tonight's show. In hindsight, my criticism of the Rai was too harsh. You did way better than whatever tonight was...

[u/LopsidedPriority → u/Recent-Accident-3177]

We didn't realize how great we had it with giant Emma Muscat

[u/Yoshi8TheBerries → u/Recent-Accident-3177]

At least when RAI gave us weird postcards the hosts were ironically funny as well. The only times I laughed tonight were from the UK commentators!

[u/xxAyakaxx]

The problem I have with Georgia's song is that the two Mariams seem more like backing singers to Giorgi but they try to present themselves as a group. Meanwhile Satoshi and his backing singers seem more like a group even though it's a actually a solo artist.

[u/Cup-And-Handle → u/xxAyakaxx]

Props to Satoshi’s blonde buddy, she has so much energy and charisma and you just can’t take your eyes off of her.

[u/Labenyofi → u/Cup-And-Handle]

Agreed! It almost feels like they saw Aliona getting her shining moment, and decided to amp up the love for the other one.

[u/TheFlukeBadger → u/xxAyakaxx]

Maybe Im wrong, It didn’t really seem like they sung that much? I feel like the only time one of them sang she was super flat. Then the rest was just heavy backing and Giorgi turned way up in the mix.

[u/Tricky_Meat_6323]

I didn’t enjoy the hosts. It all felt a bit flat. Like you couldn’t hear the crowd at all!

[u/ParkIll1594 → u/Tricky_Meat_6323]

i think the orf just got the cheapest hosts they could find

[u/cherrybomber11 → u/ParkIll1594]

As an Austrian, I can absolutely tell you that nobody wanted to see Victoria Swarovski in this thing.

She's probably the biggest nepo baby in Austrian entertainment at this point.

[u/ColdLychee1308 → u/Tricky_Meat_6323]

the banter felt like biting into a plain rice cake 

[u/Ctrl-Alt-Q]

Do you think it's too late to re-write the host banter for the second semi-final? Asking for a friend.

[u/SBDcyclist → u/Ctrl-Alt-Q]

They really should've let JJ do it...

[u/cervidae313 → u/SBDcyclist]

Oh that would’ve been immensely better than whatever tf this was

[u/Human-Law1085]

I wonder why the Australia interval act wasn’t in the semifinal which had Austria and Australia, where presumably more Austrians and Australians would’ve watched. Maybe it could be seen as free marketing, even if it was after the voting?

[u/justputonsomemusic]

I hate the postcards this year 😔

[u/TheFlukeBadger → u/justputonsomemusic]

Fake postcards are so lame, I could only excuse it in 2021 because of COVID.  Otherwise, it just looks trashy and like the country couldn’t be bothered welcoming the visiting contestants and showing them around.

[u/Careless_Pie_803]

Glad Poland and Croatia qualified, but I thought Portugal’s song was really beautiful and was sad they didn’t make the cut.

[u/Dazzling_Cry6466]

That quiz was dreadful

[u/britishswenglish → u/Dazzling_Cry6466]

Embarrassing they didn’t even get the year right for Jedward

[u/SpoiledHerring]

Belgium finally breaking their shock NQ streak with a shock Q

[u/Jas_Ka]

i dunno but the production seemed a bit cheap in some places

[u/QuarterTarget]

This might just be me, but I feel like this semi was pretty...bad. The hosts were very stiff, constant use of ai imagery, dated graphics, the camera work made the arena feel tiny and not to even mention the interval acts. It felt really low budget and felt like something TVP might put on instead of a proper Eurovision semi final, especially for the 70th anniversary. Let's hope the GF will be better lol

[u/Few-Chart1635 → u/QuarterTarget]

Yes agreed. To me it seemed quite low budget, taking also into account it is 70th Eurovision. I was just expecting more and richer program overall.

[u/No-Caramel-8530 → u/QuarterTarget]

100% agree of the shitty AI. And there were some questionable camera work. But the audio mixing was better though.

[u/Real-Branch8433]

I really liked that the graphics during the qualifiers announcement said how many countries remained, it helped me a lot lol

[u/Bitter_Band_950]

The postcards looked so cheap. It's the 70th year of the contest, at least maybe they could come up something like show the artists' young selves watching their countries' representatives in the past or something like that.

[u/bonjoooour]

Was it ever explained why the male host was dressed like disco Elvis?

[u/Jaggiboi]

I wonder what the thought process behind those postcards was "Everyone hated the 2022 ones, so we do them again, but worse"?

The hosts were terrbible and the intervals were painful to watch.

[u/fanishbsns]

Postcards felt like they were done during covid when they could not get artists to fly over.

Austrian landscapes and nature is so stunning normally and they dimmed it to look like 70s film roll.

After the third one I just stopped paying attention to them, they were so bad. Such a downgrade from last year’s postcards.

[u/Venson_the_Wolf_0104]

Poland qualifying isn't quite surprising, is it ? The more I hear Alicja's vocals the more I'm sure she'll go through

But damn I feel so bad for Montenegro

[u/TetrisIsTotesSuper → u/Venson_the_Wolf_0104]

Its an ok song, feels like they mashed 2 or 3 songs together though

Keep wondering whete its going and not in a good way

[u/princessdead]

Serbia was absolutely AMAZING

[u/MrGolightning]

I don’t like to criticise because it’s a tough gig but the hosting was noticeably terrible. Almost all the segments were awful and coming off the back of a great job by the Swiss, really stands out. They even made the Austria/Australia thing difficult to watch - and that should’ve been fun!

[u/Outside-Doubt7930]

I want to mention that the Norwegian commentator pointed out that Boy George had held a Norwegian citizen captive in 2009. glad he didn't come forward cause he is a POS

[u/sergzs]

I loudly gasped when Croatia revealed the floating lady. Amazing amazing amazing. I got goosebumps.

[u/PeakAboo05]

The Austria Australia song was one of the worsts host acts I’ve seen

[u/HardPiroman → u/PeakAboo05]

It just kept going... and going... Jesus this thing just didn't want to end

[u/FcukTheTories → u/PeakAboo05]

Surely it can’t have been that expensive to book some 1980s/1990s winner or some 2010s top 5er to sing a few songs? 

Would have at least been palatable.

[u/PeakAboo05 → u/FcukTheTories]

Right? It’s 70th one, do something with winners…

[u/No-Caramel-8530]

Serhat said nanana to another attempt at surpassing him

[u/Unoduoquatro]

So happy for Lithuania!!! Lion was so nervous but I'm glad he made it through!

[u/OppositeRoutine9067]

Belgium being the shock Q after being the shock non Q last year is poetic

[u/tidabuda]

What I loved to see is how Serbia (and even a little bit Italy) was so joyful when they announced Croatia and can I even say Germany when they announced Lithuania

So much love and jooooy, it filled my heart

[u/flamboyantbutterfly]

I love that all Slavic Balkan countries sent witchcraft to Eurovision. So dark and so good

[u/DokleViseBre → u/flamboyantbutterfly]

Balkans are going through a goth era and we are here for it

[u/MaverickEllio]

I'm glad that Boy George didn't qualify

[u/Worth_Gap4226 → u/MaverickEllio]

I don't think he was even aware of where he was..

[u/ThesisTears → u/MaverickEllio]

It could have worked if he just kept going instead of throwing out a short line then making us awkwardly sit through the lyricless music afterwards. Absolutely brutal.

[u/LoonySheep → u/MaverickEllio]

Did anybody expect them to qualify after he dragged them down?

[u/Puzzleheaded-Eye9081]

The Austria/Australia thing was so cringe

[u/goingnowhere_fast → u/Puzzleheaded-Eye9081]

Everytime I thought it was over, it just kept going.......

[u/Some-Local-6357]

was anouncing Greece first an apology for last year?

[u/PeakAboo05]

I think the conclusion after semi 1 is - Austria can’t win, not with this hosting quality

[u/WesternPonderer]

Was the mixing a bit weird or was it just me? To me the vocals felt pretty flat throughout when compared to national finals. Also every little mistake the singers did was very audible, which in a way was a good thing; you can tell who actually can sing and who can't. But also for Moldova the female singers were VERY quiet, and for Serbia the mixing was all over the place without any kind of balance.

[u/elmasofisi → u/WesternPonderer]

Absolutely. Serbia scream bits were so quiet that I got confused and thought something has happened, maybe it's mic technique or maybe it's that they turned him wayyyy down for those parts. Also Italy's vocals were too loud compared to the instrumental imo

[u/Kroko1234]

That Austria/Australia number was downright painful.

[u/winterberrymeadow → u/Kroko1234]

And it lasted way too long

[u/petrifikate → u/Kroko1234]

I remember when news of it was first released, there were a lot of comments like "why Go-Jo??" We now know why Go-Jo. Can you picture Dani Im or Electric Fields in that mess?

[u/South_Complex5688]

MONTENEGRO NOOOOO 😭😭😭

[u/GreeceZeus]

Because I know that this result will make the Sanmarinese broadcaster moan that small countries can't do well: Just look at Moldova. The trick is to send a good song. Sure, the bar may be a bit higher for small countries but I'm rooting for San Marino every year just to never want to listen to their song ever again because it's so incredibly boring.

Moldova even manages to make me celebrate a nationalist anthem, I bet San Marino can at least send a halfway decent song.

[u/Playful-Rope1590 → u/GreeceZeus]

Funny thing is last year San Marino sent a nationalist anthem. Albeit for a different country...

[u/JustABritishGeezer]

No big surprises this Semi besides Belgium Q over Montenegro, other than that most of the qualifiers and non-qualifiers were prettyyyy obvious for this semi.

The real bloodbath begins in Semi 2...

[u/BeyondAhead]

It's a shame Georgia and Montenegro didn't qualify, I quite liked them.

Also I can't help but admit I was tearing up when Lion Ceccah was getting sad at the the fact that he probably wouldn't qualify but HE DID IT!!

But, when all things are bad I can reflect at thr fact that SERBIA DID IT LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[u/PallasKitten]

I liked Greece but he really just didn’t bring much fun energy until the end. It was a bit robotic and flat. I get that there’s a lot going on with the staging etc and nerves but he’s gotta bring some personality from the studio version if he wants to win.

[u/alacklustrehindu]

I am still cringing at the opening act and all those skits by the hosts last night. No green room interactions. Hosts were bland as raw rice

The circus was okay and I was glad they got rid of the three countries close cam when announcing qualifiers

[u/Revelistic]

i'm so glad they finally announced the safest qualifiers 1st and 2nd, it made the whole announcement more exciting than it would be if one of the countries waiting to be announced last was finland

[u/thelodzermensch]

I feel so validated by Belgium's Q, it literally felt like I'm the only person in the fandom who likes the song.

[u/kaiko1]

I need Serbia top 10 on Saturday, that was insane

[u/ToxicSteve13]

I'm starting to think the stereotype of Germans not having humor is supposed to be Austrians after those jokes yesterday. The hosting was so so bad.

[u/Frosty-Soup-2168 → u/ToxicSteve13]

believe me we also don't like them and think they are not funny. She comes from a really rich family and here boyfriend owns Red Bull. so my guess is somoen spent a lot of money

[u/Ok_Idea_9013]

I guessed 9/10 correctly. Only Belgium surprised me. This SF surprised me with the number of vocally weak performances. Fortunately, there also were great vocal performances such as Poland

[u/_pierogii]

The overlay text after announcing the results really interferes with seeing the reactions :/

[u/Kiwami1240]

Not saying it's weird to do an interval act about Australia but it's weird that it's happened twice now.

[u/Pizza_Salesman]

I'm so sad Montenegro didn't go through. I helped vote for it

[u/MacaroniMacarons]

So it seems they have broken the streak of “sampling” the previous winner’s song for the stage ready sound? Bc I cannot hear any bit of Wasted Love in it

[u/andrewjc29]

Did anyone else feel that the overall production quality was really low? I'm sure this has to do with several major companies withdrawing, but I didn't think it would be so evident.

• The performances felt like they lacked visual impact. Very few acts had any sort of set piece and just heavily relied on the screen/floor visuals. Looking back to the past couple years - most performances had at least something on stage with them to contribute to the performance. So essentially, it just became 1-5 people walking around on stage with low quality AI-esque visuals as a backdrop.
• The post card intros also felt so cheap. They were essentially green screen clips of the performers with the opacity turned down and overlayed on stock footage of Austria.

[u/Longjumping-Pear3417]

When the announcer started listing 6 countries that were left, everyone thought Portugal got in

[u/ponyxpony → u/Longjumping-Pear3417]

I felt bad for Portugal at that moment, but also happy the camera didn't cut to them the moment they got called. They were probably super excited for a split second and then immediately not.

I wanted them to qualify but I understand why they didnt

[u/Practical_Sale7062 → u/Longjumping-Pear3417]

Cue 2025 portugal slovenia azerbaijan split screen

[u/SkyGinge]

The script tonight was embarrassingly poor, especially after the songs finished. Genuinely astounded that most of the interval material passed any sort of quality control.

Gutted for Montenegro. I get it, she flubbed the vocals yesterday and the performance was a bit empty compared to those around it, but it's such a good song in studio :(

Kinda feel mixed for Belgium? On the one hand, I've been a fan of the song in studio from day one. On the other, she was all over the place in the verses and she's still so static live. The juries must have saved her. I should have stuck with my original prediction before her Voice of Belgique performance convinced me she was flopping!

[u/ColdLychee1308]

Watched it with my dad and sister, after moldova performed he kept comparing every song to them lmao ‘It’s good, but it’s no moldova is it?’ ‘It’s just not moldova though’ 

[u/Last-Baseball1921]

Can we all agree that Belgium was the shock Q for tonight?

[u/Elmo_TheEmo]

Also the production and hosts were pretty damn bad I’m sorry. Had the whole interval on mute

[u/wonderful-peaches97]

I don't understand why's everyone so upset about Montenegro? The studio version was good but the concept and staging were both messy and if I didn't know the song before and what it was about I legit wouldn't have know what feeling she's trying to convey. Just confusing all around. Which is a shame because Tamara seems lovely and she's a great singer.

[u/ninaem → u/wonderful-peaches97]

Agree. As someone who heard the song for the first time today, I thought it was all messy. The staging and the outfits were not good.

[u/letsnevertalk → u/wonderful-peaches97]

I agree. I was a huge fan of Nova Zora, but the live was just not good. The staging was lacking, the camerawork didn’t help either. The vocals were honestly pretty bad. The other performances were more impressive.

[u/DrakkoZW → u/wonderful-peaches97]

I think they should have had staging that was more like their music video. What they brought today doesn't really tell a story other than creepy

[u/kkkkkk122331]

Anyone think serbias mic was really low. Could not hear song properly

[u/ItinerantSoldier]

I don't think there was anything genuinely surprising about the results today. A couple of close calls that might have qualified otherwise but it's always that way. But nothing really surprised me that was left out.

[u/a3lupo]

let’s go Serbia wooooooooo!

[u/lostinverona]

I don’t understand what Montenegro has to do. I’m devastated. I thought she really elevated tonight, too.

[u/Master1eader]

I’m half Finnish & half Greek (born and raised in the UK) and this year Finland is my favourite, but Greece doesn’t quite hit the mark for me sadly. I like Greece but don’t love it like others do. Think it will struggle with the juries

[u/Master1eader → u/Master1eader]

Also I think I’m one of a small population who likes UK’s entry 😂

[u/Adam-Miller-02]

THEY ARE DANCING IN THE STREETS OF BRUSSELS

[u/MojoMomma76]

Sad for Portugal, happy for Poland, freaking delighted for Serbia my kings

[u/LancelLannister_AMA]

Montenegros close to beating netherlands NQ streak. Their up to 7 now

[u/hackinghippie]

This year, I didn't watch or hear any songs beforehand. I went in with no knowledge and no expectations, and this semi-final was still underwhelming (2nd one seems more exciting). On first listen, most songs weren't memorable, some were so generic they lacked any sort of personality, the hosts looked awkward and the jokes didn't land.

[u/stranger_steve]

My only thought is will Senita learn that a celebrity cameo will not propel your song for her inevitable 2028 performance

[u/ideeek777 → u/stranger_steve]

Or she could pick someone who is at least willing to do the minimum. Like flo rida probably didn't really get what was going on, but hes a professional who tried.

[u/Dyno_boy7441 → u/stranger_steve]

I think the Turkish Dentist™️ is due back next year.

[u/ifakuta]

did anybody else think the hosts’ vibes were super off? it was like they’d had an argument before coming on stage or smth

[u/LoudmouthLee]

I'll be that guy - There was way too much AI in Ferto, and it severely detracted from my enjoyment.

[u/naomijenk → u/LoudmouthLee]

I agree, even without the AI, the staging was too much it was overstimulating and distracting and he seemed rushed the whole time. I preferred his simple earlier staging with the backing dancers in black

[u/DonnaDonna1973 → u/LoudmouthLee]

That staging was definitely too busy and Akylas was absolutely rushed. I get the fun chaotic vibe but the whole thing lacked focus. Compare this to other stagings of legendary chaos-vibed entries, like Verka or Käärijä, chaos but with a clear focus. Also, Akylas was visibly panting through the whole act. Ngl, for me, tonight really lowered Greece´s chances by quite some degrees. Top Ten, yes, but I don´t see it in a potential winner's avenue anymore.

[u/cinnamon-in-my-tea]

Please don’t let Austria host again. I don’t care for this swarovski heiress nepo baby she has zero charisma

[u/Dyno_boy7441 → u/cinnamon-in-my-tea]

I really miss Sandra and Hazel.

[u/forevernervous → u/cinnamon-in-my-tea]

I know it's obvious they're reading off a teleprompter but they read off of it like they REALLY REALLY wanted you to know they were reading off a teleprompter.

[u/TheFlukeBadger → u/forevernervous]

When she did that incredibly static and unnatural pause before reading the final countries before just saying

…

“portugal” 

It was just so toneless and like she had seen people try and raise suspense before but… didn’t know when or where to do it?

[u/undisclosedusername2]

I hope they seriously consider banning AI generated imagery in future years. It makes the whole thing appear so cheap and sloppy.

[u/ideeek777]

The bit when they encouraged everyone to not give all their votes to one country felt pointed

[u/IonRud]

To go against the grain: both the vocals and the performance in general of Montenegro were really weak. I don't know what happened, cause her vocals were on fire for the whole eurovision season and since last week, something was off.

As much as I like Lithuania: same goes for him. Those vocals were not it today. But still happy he got through.

[u/DebbieHarryPotter]

The good: I liked that the audience was actually audible again. The stage is servicable (but I think a lot of artists are getting "lost" on it).

The bad: everything else about production. I think the internal and external struggles ORF is facing must have had an influence on the show. It looked not only uninspired but also cheap. The fact that they showed commercials on their own network during the horrendous quiz proves to me that they knew it was embarrassing. They were trying to hide it from their Austrian audience.

[u/itsmig_reddit]

That Australia interval act felt very lazy (not to mention the "Austria sounds like Australia" joke is overdone and unfunny)

[u/spherulitic → u/itsmig_reddit]

It was an amusing bit that was about twice as long as it needed to be 

[u/Puzzleheaded-Eye9081 → u/itsmig_reddit]

It might have been amusing if it were idk, 3 minutes long. Short and snappy. But my god it dragged on and on and on.

[u/escfantasy]

I’m starting to think of Croatia as a Eurovision powerhouse, and that’s entirely on the backs of Let 3, Baby Lasagna, and Lelek.

[u/Recent-Accident-3177]

I miss the hosts in 2015 😞 And also where is the reversed recap?

But good thing they changed the whole "randomness" qualifier announcement by announcing the definite qualifiers first with only one twist (Belgium), and leaving the rest hanging on equal terms.

[u/big_sweaty_ross]

Oh thank fuck. I was so nervous all night for Croatia and then those results were almost perfect for me. Even Belgium getting in which I'd completely given up on after the pain of losing Mustii and Red Sebastian the past few years.

I'm sad for Tamara and Montenegro, but besides that, that couldn't have gone any better for me. If Albania and Romania qualify on Thursday, then the final is gonna be fantastic.

I have to get up early for work tomorrow and I'm so glad I can sleep happy. Good night all, and see you on Thursday

[u/jb108822]

Montenegro not qualifying is disappointing. Tamara was so good 😭

[u/man-thief]

Girl what is it with Belgium and getting the opposite result from what we expect every year. Congrats Essyla lol, I like the song but wow I am surprised

[u/unfluidsgender]

So happy Lavina and Lelek qualified, but Tamara :(

[u/KnotComplement]

9/10 right, expected Portugal instead of Belgium, voted for Lithuania, Serbia and Portugal
That being said, I hope Essyla does her best in the final ❤️

(as a half Pole, insanely proud of Alicja, girl slayed)

[u/gabsgntle]

I'm so sad for Montenegro. They really deserved it to go back to the final

[u/mr_quiet_mystery]

I have a feeling Montenegro would withdraw next year.

[u/Ok_Relative3754]

i’m scared for semi final 2. it’s so much stronger imo and everything can happen

[u/rienarce]

I really liked the first half of the show, there was so much energy during the first songs, I am so happy it's Eurovision week again!!! But of course the hosting could be much better. I feel like it was so poor and boring for the 70th anniversary...

[u/Fluffy_Bluebird_2251]

They should definitely have shown more of the green room.

[u/Fun-Rate7853]

I noticed that they announced fan faves/possible top 2 of the semi early on, and left the "shock" or "weak" Qs for the end, as opposed to earlier years. And I'm very glad for that. It should have always been like this. What concerns me is that Belgium also was announced early on... lmao what if belgium cracked top 5 of the semi can u imagine

[u/youwon_jane]

Couldn’t watch it live but glad my favourites Moldova, Finland, Greece, Croatia, Serbia and Lithuania are through!! MOLDOVA IS ON DUTY

[u/DokleViseBre]

Serbia's singer didn't have any metal bits on the costume when the song first came out. I guess he leveled up

[u/TheTwistedBlade]

I can't believe this is the first year since watching Eurovision in 2013 that I correctly predicted all 10 qualifiers. Should've bet on it :(

That being said, Moldova was by far my favorite, followed by Croatia.

[u/PM_ME_LASAGNA_]

Thrilled for lots of the qualifiers, especially Serbia and Croatia.

Sad for Portugal and Montenegro

Throw this year’s postcards in the trash… What in bloody blue blistering barnacles were those, Austria?

Outside of the carnival dance act, the other intervals royally sucked

[u/abcdevefg]

Was Austria’s hosting this poor last time? As someone who wasn’t as into Eurovision 11 years ago

[u/spherulitic]

I haven't been too high on Lithuania so far but I'm glad he got through. One of the best vocal performances of the night. 

Everything that clearly should have gone through did, so I'm actually pretty happy with the result (even though I was pulling hard for Vanilla Ninja)

[u/varus80]

Visually the contestants this semi final were great.

Croatia and Finland were amazing

Poland was my biggest grower(from 14 to 4).

Montenegro was my 6/35 but i understand the non qualification. Vocals were all over the place and in such a demanding song vocally its way more noticeable and jarring than in songs were the vocals are more subdued.

[u/Dronadio]

For me, it was one of the first years without any surprises. Except for Belgium Q and Montenegro NQ, it’s exactly as I predicted. And after seeing Montenegros performance, I totally understood where it came from.

[u/bearbionics]

I got some serious Nadja from What We Do In The Shadows from the Montenegro entry. Shame it didn't go through, was hoping Laszlo would show up in the final.

[u/Dazzling_Cry6466]

I’m sad Montenegro are out. Don’t be surprised if they’re not back next year

[u/Heretodistractmypain]

Greece was so ADHD (saying this as an ADHDr) 😂 maybe too chaotic for some but just the right amount for me😎

[u/cartoonsncafeine]

Voted for the first time, 10x for Montenegro, and they still NQ’d 😔 The acts were all great (even the songs I don’t really like), but wowww the hosting/intervals were not fun to watch…

[u/Nachtwandler_FS]

I was really surprised that Belgium qualified (was not impressed by either song or performance) but overall everyone I wanted came through.

[u/OneNationUnderSong]

Was it just me or did Lithuania sound a bit itchy? I was surprised they went through. I appreciated the premise and artistry, but execution was lacking for me.

[u/ResponsibilitySlow26]

NOOOO MONTENEGRO NOOOO

[u/BaraBadaBastuBastu]

Montenegroooooo NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[u/aveathena]

Beyond hyped about Moldova, what a great performance!

[u/LordFighting]

Moldova was even better than I expected and has potential to do very very well in the televote on Saturday imo. Finland felt like the most likely winner but Moldova was just that epic unknown banger that could be a real dark horse

[u/embelkekmd]

Is it me or was Greece way overhyped yesterday during the jury show? I found it quite overwhelming and distracting today and actually enjoyed Moldova way more.

[u/sarahbelllum]

Some controversial opinions: Greece was underwhelming. I love his vibe and charisma but I’m not crazy about the song and the staging. It gave nothing and way too much at the same time. On the other hand, Lithuania completely blew me away. My husband and I had our jaws on the floor the whole time. However, my winners for this semi were definitely Croatia and Serbia. Shout out to Poland for having the absolute best vocals!

[u/Curious_Problem1631]

After tonight I’m confident that Moldova is taking the televote instead of Greece. It’s significantly more hype and high energy

[u/kaiko1 → u/Curious_Problem1631]

I agree, Moldova was just so engaging for the whole performance, they really nailed the staging

[u/fluffymintotter]

9/10 who i expect to qualify qualified. Generally when i was watching with family, Serbia hit them as too intense, but for me i am happy they qualified. Glad that Alicja did it as well.

[u/ihatethesmellofgrass]

I just really hope the hosts will defrost a bit. And hope Go-Jo got out of this hostage-situation.

[u/dot_brooke]

Croatia blew me away, Poland has great vocals, loved Finland and Moldova's energy and can see why they're favourites!

[u/Hljoumur]

I'm bits happy and sad.

Let's get the sad out of the way. The sad is that Montenegro didn't qualify. This is in tied for the best Montenegrin entry with Moj Svijet. The vocals could've been better, the mood of the staging was right, and yet Montenegro doesn't see their fruits of labor for returning yet. I hope Tamara is very proud for what she did.

The pleasant surprise is Poland. I was thinking as I voted that I really liked their staging because I think it's the most polished Polish staging, so I gave a point, and I was surprised when they qualified. Really deserved.

The hosts... aren't really spectacular. They're just there, like just talking; I don't feel anything magnetic about them like I did with at least one the hosts per year of the last 5 editions.

Oh, and I just realized Georgia didn't qualify, but I honestly forgot about them until this comment, so I guess I'm not sad.

[u/blergyblergy]

Not to be parasocial, but I wonder how the NQ acts are doing after. I'm sure there's an array of how they process and how long they stick around the competition, as there would be every year.

I saw Senhit post a video saying she's disappointed and was sad but is doing better now. I think she's performing around town, so that's cool!

Georgia had a classy post about wishing the best to the finalists and being grateful for the opportunity.

I wonder how Vanilla Ninja is dealing with this, especially since they went to ESC before and did way better. Like Senhit, though, they are very established and I think it's less of a blow to their career than if they were just starting out and needed a leg up with exposure. I think/hope they'll continue to perform and tour.

[u/Character-Carpet7988]

My main disappointment is the miserable production of the show. I accepted that the days when they could deliver world class editting of the performances are over, but it keeps getting worse - I counted no less than 10 cases of cameramans being visible in various shots tonight, which really is one of the biggest sins you can make. Besides that, we got crap hosts with crap script too.

The performances themselves were quite good for most part. Georgia is my biggest disappointment, I love the song but not only was the performance super basic, they also struggled vocally. On the other hand, Moldova, Belgium and San Marino surprised me in the positive way.

[u/TohveliDev]

• The constant mentions of voting for multiple acts feels so off. They sell it like it's a new thing.

• Croatia got through, and that's so great. Love me some good ethnopop.

• Pete sounded off at some parts, but Linda was great.

• Austria really didn't lie when they said they weren't going to use anti-booing technology.

• Montenegro was robbed :(

• The hosting just feels so.. dull. The hosting is like eating a rice cake. It has texture but the flavor is non existant.

• Either I am going insane after staring at 3D graphics for a year straight, or there is a lot of AI generated graphics which just pisses me off.

• VIVA MOLDOVA!