We are LIVE from Vienna and the Stadthalle for the first dress rehearsal of the second semi-final, which is only open to the press.
Once the rehearsal start, we will be updating this page with our first reactions to the FULL performances of the following entries:
- 🇩🇰 Denmark – Søren Torpegaard Lund – “Før vi går hjem”
- 🇩🇪 Germany – Sarah Engels – “Fire”
- 🇮🇱 Israel – Noam Bettan – “Michelle”
- 🇧🇪 Belgium – Essyla – “Dancing on the Ice”
- 🇦🇱 Albania – Alis – “Nân”
- 🇬🇷 Greece – Akylas – “Ferto”
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine – LELÉKA – “Ridnym”
- 🇦🇺 Australia – Delta Goodrem – “Eclipse”
- 🇷🇸 Serbia – Lavina – “Kraj Mene”
- 🇲🇹 Malta – AIDAN – “Bella”
- 🇨🇿 Czechia – Daniel Zizka – “Crossroads”
- 🇧🇬 Bulgaria – Dara – “Bangaranga”
- 🇭🇷 Croatia – LELEK – “Andromeda”
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom – LOOK MOM NO COMPUTER – “Eins, Zwei, Drei”
- 🇫🇷 France – Monroe – “Regarde”
- 🇲🇩 Moldova – Satoshi – “Viva Moldova!”
- 🇫🇮 Finland – Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen – “Liekinheitin”
- 🇵🇱 Poland – ALICJA – “Pray”
- 🇱🇹 Lithuania – Lion Ceccah – “Sólo quiero más”
- 🇸🇪 Sweden – Felicia – “My System”
- 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Antigoni – “Jalla”
- 🇮🇹 Italy – Sal da Vinci – “Per Sempre Si”
- 🇳🇴 Norway – JONAS LOVV – “Ya Ya Ya”
- 🇷🇴 Romania – Alexandra Căpitănescu – “Choke Me”
- 🇦🇹 Austria – COSMÓ – “Tanzschein”
Opening and introduction act – The Way Home
As you can see from our featured image, the stage is surrounded by a giant red curtain thats’s following the curve of the satellite stage (it’s actually going on it at regular intervals, like a rounded zig-zag line).
In the middle of the Green room sits an orchestra, who we’ve heard tuning up. We’re fully expecting them to play live.
We assume this opening act will be called “The Way Home” as we’ve seen a sort of intro card with this title on the Main Screen, used by the production crew, with a timestamp clearly putting it on the first second of the show.
Finally, the Te Deum rings and is followed by the flashback of JJ winning, and a small video of him almost breaking his trophy, and forgetting his paper boat next to the bus that brought him back to Austria.
We then see the paper boat “making its way home” tro Austria, through water streams, sewers, on cars, etc. It stops at an old person’s place in Tyrol, stays there for a few days or months, but is finally dropped in the Danube by a bird, that brings it back to Vienna and the Stadthalle.
Introduction act – Mozart
As we reach the Stadthalle, the orchestra in the Green Room starts playing, as the Night’s Queen sings her famous song (it seems to be JJ singing). JJ appears on the catwalk as the orchestra plays, and starts performing “Unknown”, his newest single.
Flag parade
The flag parade now begins. The names of the countries are announced and a giant flag appears on the main screen, with the name appearing on the catwalk. The acts are actually hidden behind the zig-zag of the curtain on the satellite stage, and walk out from it as it opens on both side.
We get a break after Malta, for JJ to perform “Wasted Love” with dancers dressed in red and white, as the atmosphere of the room turns to red. Dancers even slowly fall down from the ceiling, grabbing poles. As the poles rise up again (with the dancers still dancing around them, several meters up in the air), we get a party variation of “Wasted Love”‘s second chorus.
The parade then starts again with Czechia, and the artists now walk from the main stage, down the catwalk, to the Green Room, as the speakers play a mashup of “Wasted Love” and the music theme of Vienna 2026. This is the last part of the parade proper, as Austria closes it with COSMÓ and Sandro holding the host’s flag, and dancers keep performing on the main stage. JJ then retakes the mic to conclude his winning song on a risen platform, just in front of the main screen.
UPDATE: We are now waiting and the stage has been put back in its early stage: we assume the introduction act or at least the flag parade will take place again.
It’s 14:06 CEST and we can confirm that the Te Deum rang again and that we are getting the introduction show for a second time. If anything, this is the best moment to do it again if they want it to be right for tonight’s jury show, as there will be little time to do it again, especially with all the artists in the same place for the parade’s timing to be right.
The curtains seem to open faster this time, so acts are revealed a bit early to our view, before their names are announced. This will probably need better camerawork to fully function but it remains a good flag parade.
When the atmosphere turns to the party variation, most of the pole dancers have either deserted the stage or are dancing on it, with only two of them up in the air on their pole.
The parade then continues, but there remains the strage issue that when they leave from the main stage, the artists basically walk over the name of the country following them (the name appears on the catwalk, and takes half of its length). Not sure how good of a look that is.
Hosts introduction
After a few minutes of nothing happening, the hosts finally appear on stage, with Victoria wearing a green dress and Michael a purple outfit. They welcome us all, talking much more in German than they have for the rest of the week. Will this become a trilingual show, Munich 1983-style? I don’t think so, or I hope not.
They also introduce Emily Busvine in the Green Room, which is empty of artists, but she does introduce us to the Vienna orchestra that played at the beginning.
The hosts mention the trophy but we don’t see it. They then introduce the voting rules and once again encourage viewers to “spread the love” and vote for several countries, especially since the voting begins at the beginning of the show: “You like the song you hear? Vote for it. You like the next one? Vote for it too.”
🇩🇰 Denmark – Søren Torpegaard Lund – “Før vi går hjem”
We finally have the first entry performing, and starting in time as the postcard ends.
The bass here is out of this world and aggressively wakes us up from our Euroclub slumber. This is an efficient opener, and you feel that with such a position, knowing that victory will be difficult, he may just enjoy himself there.
Despite this, Søren saves his vocals for tonight and does not attempt his high notes at all, turning them into very low ones instead. This will happen a lot today, especially from second semi-finalists, who are performing eight shows in a row in the matter of four days.
🇩🇪 Germany – Sarah Engels – “Fire”
There is a little delay for everything to be put in place (we do have three entries with big props in a row to open the show).
Unlike Søren, Sarah does not particularly tries to save her vocals, and does hit her big note towards the end of the song. Nothing much to add though.
🇮🇱 Israel – Noam Bettan – “Michelle”
We get a small break with Emily chatting about café culture from the Green Room, and explaining how sacred it is, and then uttering a bunch of nonsense: “This is not Paris, where they take your espresso away before you’ve finished it.” As a Parisian, I think she’s confused and meant London.
The German props were not taken off stage during the break though, and we now once again have a moment of nothing happening: the Israeli crew is wairing next to the stage, ready to come in.
They end up launching the Israeli postcard but the stage hands only appear at the halfway point, and the countdown on the screen actually starts with a delay. We assume they are simulating what a delay would be on the actual show?
🇧🇪 Belgium – Essyla – “Dancing on the Ice”
Back in the final for the first time since 2023, and to the surprise of most people, Belgium has a good performance now, and does not particularly under-performs to save her vocals or energy: that’s the perks of being a first semi-finalist, Essyla had the opportunity to rest for two days. And she actually gave us her best vocals of the week thus far!
🇦🇱 Albania – Alis – “Nân”
Just like in the second semi-final, the stage hands prepare Ukraine’s drapes during an earlier postcard, in this case, Albania. So that you understand, the drapes are attached to bars on the ceilings but are not put in at the beginning: they need to be lowered for the drapes to be attached during the show.
This time, it takes quite a delay and only the drapes on the front bars are attached, with the crew giving up on the other one, allowing Albania to not wait too much for reasons which are ultimately not linked to the delegation’s choices. But you can understand why Albania is set there: with no props of their own, they give the crew an extra 40 seconds of preparation for Ukraine.
The performance is, as always, superb. Alis does nor particularly tries to save his vocals despite performing less than 24 hours ago.
🇬🇷 Greece – Akylas – “Ferto”
The crew adds Ukraine’s last drapes on the bars closest to the screen, but this does mean a slight delay for Greece too. This needs to be done faster in the coming press rehearsals, because it breaks the rythm of the show, and is quite unfair to the acts performing before Ukraine.
It feels like Akylas is slightly resting his body, as he feels less energic physically, but the vocals still have the needed energy and he does not underplay the emotional moments either. Despite being early in the running order, it may do very well indeed!
🇺🇦 Ukraine – LELÉKA – “Ridnym”
Ironically, “Ridnym” starts on time since there is nothing less to install save for a seat for her bandura player.
There is a nice moment when spotlights aimed down light up the desks on which we are working, like a divine light from the skies. We had not noticed it before, but it adds something quite special to the experience.
As for the performance itself, the vocals are perfect, and LELÉKA hits the high note without any struggle. It may be the cleanest one she’s given us so far. The drapes work well too.
Commercial break: Professor Eurovision on the most successful entries
Professor Eurovision is back and answers the question: “What is the most succesful song at Eurovision?”. It is once again a balanced answer: who has the most points? who has the bigger lead? who sold the most records? who got the most streams?
It seems she said that “Snap” was a Romanian entry, but we may have misheard that.
🇦🇺 Australia – Delta Goodrem – “Eclipse”
Did someone say diva? Delta was spectacular as always, but did save her vocals at the very end, not going too high on the “when we eclipse” part when she’s on the platform.
A jury win seems very much in the books, but could such an early position kill its televote chances?
🇷🇸 Serbia – Lavina – “Kraj Mene”
Another first semi-finalists going all out, Serbia has just performed with no vocal restriction at all. It’s quite a change of atmosphere after Australia, and Malta will be another contrast.
We actually get a small speech from the host to make sure the props can be put in place even before the postcard starts: they quickly talk about the history of the Contest and encourage people to vote.
🇲🇹 Malta – AIDAN – “Bella”
It’s nice to see Aidan, a huge Eurovision fan (and Melodifestivalen enthusiast), living the dream and performing not only at Eurovision, but in a Eurovision final. The performance is good, nothing much more to say about it to be honest.
🇨🇿 Czechia – Daniel Zizka – “Crossroads”
What could be another jury winner is now performing, and Daniel serves us perfect vocals as usual, with no hint of difficulties and no hint of playing it down for this rehearsal. He is clearly a winner of the running order and the press here is very happy to see him in such a position.
🇧🇬 Bulgaria – Dara – “Bangaranga”
If you thought Serbia following Australia was a shock, wait until you hear “Bangaranga” right after “Crossroads”.
Dara and her crew bring the same energy they have as openers of the semi-final to close the first half of the final. Huge cheers here, and some questions about how high this can go in the televote.
🇭🇷 Croatia – LELEK – “Andromeda”
We once again have a perfectly good performance for the rehearsal, with nothing more to add. One wonders if this is not buried into a slow middle part of the evening though, with little chance of performing well on the scoreboard despite a very good performance on stage.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom – LOOK MOM NO COMPUTER – “Eins, Zwei, Drei”
LOOK MOM NO COMPUTER does not take any risk for this rehearsal. He’s basically talking (in very low tones) instead of singing and wears jeans and a black t-shirt instead of the pink outfit. His movements are still quite on the right energy, but this is almost painful to watch.
But we have to remember this is technically a second semi-finalist, and Sam has to perform this song eight times in four days. He does need to save himself for the jury show tonight.
🇫🇷 France – Monroe – “Regarde”
Monroe does not seem to understand the expressions “no risk” or “low effort” and does not change anything to her performance. The vocals are here all the way through, and are perfect.
Is there any chance that she goes the Amaury Vassili way and finds her vocal strength lacking on the actual night? I personally think she’s well trained and will perform just as well tonight and tomorrow.
Commercial break – Junior Eurovision and Eurovision Song Contest Asia
There is a commercial break before Moldova, but broadcasters without ads will have a small message about Junior Eurovision (including a small extract of Lou Deleuze’s winning song “Ce Monde”) and announcing that the next one will take place this autumn (we know it’s in Malta but the hosts have not actually stated it there: the script may not have been finalised in time for today’s rehearsal but we expect them to give the information on the actual show).
We then have a little introduction to ESC Asia, with a small video of the artists of this year’s Eurovision teasing “something new” and the hosts joking that Austria will host it.
🇲🇩 Moldova – Satoshi – “Viva Moldova!”
Coming after a commercial break, Moldova once again acts as a sort of opener. And what an opener it is! Satoshi is technically the act who had the most time off since his last performance (so far): he already was a ball of energy during the flag parade earlier, running on the catwalk instead of walking, and he’s just waking us up again!
🇫🇮 Finland – Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen – “Liekinheitin”
And now come those who are still the favourites, and shortening, Finland, with a little delay.
They are, once again, spectacular, and Pete’s vocals are flawless this time. If they can peform like that tonight and tomorrow, they should remain the clear favourites.
There is then a small break with the hosts in order to prepare Poland before the postcard even begins.
🇵🇱 Poland – ALICJA – “Pray”
In her era, no more errors, so stay out of her way: ALICJA also had time to rest, and is bringing the energy and vocals needed for “Pray”. She’s not holding anything for her last note, and she also performs the choreography with precision.
I can’t helpt but feel like this will be very undervalued on the scoreboard, though.
🇱🇹 Lithuania – Lion Ceccah – “Sólo quiero más”
The saga of Lithuania’s outfit not being ready on time continues, but the delay is only minimal this time, only about 10 seconds betweent he postcard and the stage-ready.
Just like in some of his other relearsals, Lion Ceccah is not in full makeup, with only the front and sides of his face fully silver. But he still delivers a good performance, which I fear may still end up with a fate similar to Poland.
🇸🇪 Sweden – Felicia – “My System”
Felicia does perform live today, and does so with quite the energy, after a few days of resting her voice.
This is quite an interesting position for Sweden: we keep the dark atmosphere of Lithuania but trade the musical dimension for something much more uptempo and party-like, entering the final act of the Final which lacks any ballad.
🇨🇾 Cyprus – Antigoni – “Jalla”
Cyprus once again needs more time to be fully ready, but after 15 seconds, we’re all set.
Antigoni actually sounds better than yesterday, and possibly her best vocals of the week so far, although there are some moments where she goes very low-volume and lets the backing vocals take over. But this comes at the cost of a slightly more stilted physical performance.
Still, if she can perform like this tonight, she may get more jury points than what we were expecting coming into this rehearsal.
🇮🇹 Italy – Sal da Vinci – “Per Sempre Si”
We have a bit of delay for Italy, so Emily gets us some quick Eurovision trivia on Italy.
Sometimes I feel like Sal does not put too much effort into dress rehearsals. But there’s always a moment when I realise he just needs a bit of time to get his vocals completely in place, and his energy is there from the beginning.
Huge cheers here! This is, as always, a crowd pleaser.
Commercial break – Eurovision in Vienna: 2026 and previous editions
Michael introduces a video that will likely be a commercial break for some channels. It shows how Eurovision is not just the Grand Final liveshow, by showing volunteers in the city, side events in Vienna, the Turquoise Carpet, etc. The soundtrack for this video is quite a 2025 tribute:
- “Unknown” by JJ
- “Espresso Macchiato” in karaoke version, by Tommy Cash
- “Serving (Kant)” in karaoke version, by Miriana Conte
Vicoria then speaks from the Green Room, and survives an issue with her prompter to introduce another video tribute to the last two Eurovision in Vienna, 1967 and 2015 (don’t forget to check our article on 1967 by the way!).
Expect some Vicky Leandros, Fredi, Raphael, Loïc Nottet, Electro Velvet, Il Volo, Eduardo Nascimento, Guy Sebastian, and others, including the winners of both editions: Sandie Shaw and Måns Zelmerlöw, as well as some voting moments (including a magnificent “I’m with about 25 fans here at the Eurovillage” from 2015).
🇳🇴 Norway – JONAS LOVV – “Ya Ya Ya”
We’re now set for the last three performances, which should fire up the crowd. And Jonas, as always, hypes it up before the start of his performance, which will work wonder on the actual show.
He’s actually being very responsible with this performance, and only really sings half of it, letting the backing vocals do most of the work during the chorus. Hearing them without his voice, you realise that the song heavily relies on him and his vocals, with little “male voice” input from the backing actually! We’ll look upon his next performances with even more enthusiasm now.
🇷🇴 Romania – Alexandra Căpitănescu – “Choke Me”
A little delay too for Romania to be fully set. Michael actually takes over for a bit and praises the crew as “the best in the world”, but says that “sometimes, the clock runs out”. We end up getting a fake Satoshi interview, and finally the song can start.
Like Monroe, Alexandra does not seem to care for the idea of not performing to the fullest for this dress rehearsal, and delivers studio-version-worthy vocals in the Stadthalle, although she does shorten her high note.
Huge cheers here!
🇦🇹 Austria – COSMÓ – “Tanzschein”
As is often the case, Austria takes more time than the postcard to be ready, as the giant grids need to be attached to the lowering bars, just like Ukraine’s drapes (but unlike the drapes, which are folded until they are activated, they cannot be installed in advance).
We finally start after a fake interview with Aidan in the Green Room.
We’re doing the Tanzchein dance at our desks and we see some other journalists doing it on their seats, confirming that this should work wonders on a home crowd who would possibly already know about the choreography!
COSMÓ does not push his voice too much, but he does not need too. And so, the Grand Final ends.
We shall now leave the arena but stay tuned for our running order analysis, the press poll later this evening, as well as our live-tweeting of the Jury show and the audience poll after it!
