Get the full coverage from the third dress rehearsal of the first semi-final, currently taking place on the Eurovision 2026 stage in Vienna. One by one, Moldova, Sweden, Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Georgia, Finland, Montenegro, Estonia, Israel, Belgium, Lithuania, San Marino, Poland and Serbia. We will be providing updates throughout the rehearsal with all the details received by our editorial team.
Photo: EBU
Today at 15:00 CET, the third dress rehearsal began ahead of the first semi-final broadcast, which will take place today at 21:00 CET (Thursday, May 15). Just before another dress rehearsal takes place tonight at 21:00 CET, we’re here to report everything happening on stage in real time from Vienna.
As a reminder, this year the countries that automatically qualify for the Grand Final will also perform during the semi-finals, but their songs will not be eligible for voting at this stage. In the second semi-final, Italy and Germany will take the stage.
Make sure to click the refresh button so you can continue following along during the rehearsals!
First Semi-Final – Initial Overview:
At the beginning of the show, a male couple who have been watching the Eurovision Song Contest since its inaugural year are projected onto the screen, alongside a variety of Eurovision hits from throughout the years. Among the hits is the Israeli entry – “Diva” by Dana International. At a certain point, one of the men in the couple passes away. On stage, Austrian dancers and actors are dressed in light blue and white.
The performers on stage sing “L’amour Est Bleu” by Vicki Leandros from the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest. The singer then joins them for the performance, which concludes with a waterfall of fireworks.
Following this, the hosts of Eurovision 2026, Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski, take the stage.
The postcards before each song are a sort of combination of the 2019 and 2022 postcards. The artist appears semi-transparent, wandering through the streets of Austria.
1. Moldova – Satoshi, “Viva, Moldova!”:
From the very beginning of Satoshi’s performance, the stage is filled with the colors of the Moldovan flag as Satoshi starts off-stage and then joins his companions on it. The primary camera angle is from within the stage itself, with the camera shaking and “dancing” along with Satoshi and his friends.
Two backing singers join him, one of whom is Aliona Moon, Moldova’s representative from Eurovision 2013. Also on stage are two electric guitarists and a drummer. The group members spread out across the stage as the camera moves between them, while Japanese-style figures appear on the LED screens.
The camera shakes during parts of the performance to simulate the audience dancing along with Satoshi and the group. Aliona Moon performs an incredible tribute to her 2013 self; during her vocal part, she is positioned inside a massive red dress, just like thirteen years ago.
She then returns to the main stage as fire and smoke accompany the end of the performance. This was an amazing opening to the show and a simply excellent vocal performance.
2. Sweden – FELICIA, “My System“:
Felicia begins the performance entirely alone with a glittering black mask on her face, with the floor shrouded in red and white smoke. Four dancers join the performance and perform synchronized movements.
Red lasers are projected from the stage ceiling and floor as she “fights them,” and white lasers draw a square around her on the floor. A shot of a passing camera is seen on the screen in the background; this is a malfunction.
The entire stage is in red and black colors. During the C-part, the camera films her from above. “Hey!” vocalizations were added to the performance, which were not in the original version.
Felicia switches from the mask to glasses, just like in the Swedish national selection, and looks as if she is emerging from the LED screens. The vocal performance is not precise.
3. Croatia – LELEK, “Andromeda”:
LELEK takes to a smoke-filled stage, starting with a close-up on the face of one of the members. This time, the ancient symbols are not painted on the members’ faces, as the makeup is not necessary for the family rehearsal. One member is dressed in white and sits on an exceptionally high chair, creating an effect that looks just like floating. The other members stand on stage dressed in red outfits.
On the LED screens, a “magic” occurs that is difficult to explain in words, and the performance looks particularly impressive on screen. Three members of the group march to the catwalk and back; upon their return, they perform the “The Creation of Adam” pose (by Michelangelo) with one another.
The “magic” from the beginning of the performance later opens its gates on the LED screens and breaks apart. A massive amount of fire shoots from the arena floor at the end of the act. As the performance concludes, everything is sucked into a sort of “wormhole” on the LED screens. One of the members runs away from the others at the end of the performance toward the center of the catwalk, stopping for a particularly dramatic finish. The stage performance looks and sounds amazing.
4. Greece – Akylas, “Ferto”:
Akylas begins the performance to loud cheers from the journalists in the complex (our Greek friends, but certainly not only them). He is dressed in tiger-patterned clothing, and a computer game featuring his character appears on the LED screens. The game on the screens progresses as the song continues.
Akylas removes his tiger jacket, passes through a tunnel of mirrors, and emerges to perform a tribute to Helena Paparizou, the 2005 Greek Eurovision winner, by playing “violin” strings that emerge from threads on a dancer’s outfit. He rides a scooter forward to the catwalk while fireworks on the catwalk shoot from the stage floor, as various candies surround him in the video art.
Meanwhile, sets representing different rooms have been prepared on stage. A grandmother is knitting in one, a Greek statue in another, and a golden figure in the third. At one point, a body double replaces Akylas during a side-to-side head movement, while the original singer ascends above the four rooms to sing the emotional part of his song.
Akylas slides down a pole to the main stage toward the end of the song, and the characters from the rooms join him on the catwalk for the finale. It looks extremely impressive, and the vocal performance is excellent as well. This is a classic televote-winning performance.
5. Portugal – Bandidos Do Cante, “Rosa”:
Bandidos do Cante begin the performance singing in a-cappella, dressed in very simple clothing relative to the extravagant Eurovision stage. The five members are positioned on the arch surrounding the stage, rather than on the main stage itself. They perform impressive vocal harmonies.
Four band members continue to the other side of the arch while one remains to sing. Afterward, three members are on the catwalk while the remaining two walk toward each other on the arch. On the stage floor and LED screens, white flowers are displayed.
A violinist dressed in white joins at the end of the performance; her playing sounds completely recorded even though there is a microphone attached to her violin. The band moves to the main stage for the conclusion of the act, with flowers blooming on the LED screens.
The performance is not particularly captivating in terms of staging, but the vocal harmonies are hypnotic, and fans of the genre – much like fans of Portugal in any other year – are likely to enjoy it. The song may stand out precisely due to its simplicity all the way to the final.
A break following the Portuguese song, as host Michael introduces the Georgian entry while stagehands prepare for the next performance.
6. Georgia – Bzikebi, “On Replay”:
The group Bzikebi takes the stage with its members dressed in yellow-and-black outfits, as a tribute to their winning song from Junior Eurovision 2008, “Bzzz…”. The band is positioned inside a sort of Matrix, with computer chips visible on the LED screens and blue lighting emanating from the stage floor. During the chorus, three “cyborgs”/holograms of the band members appear behind them.
The band members are not vocally precise at all. They perform the familiar choreography from the music video during the chorus. Toward the end of the performance, they advance to the catwalk and dance there as well before the bridge (C-part). The singer does not perform the high note before the final chorus, relying instead on a faint recorded backing vocal.
At the conclusion of the performance, there is a firework from the stage floor. This was a better performance than the one in the jury rehearsal, but it is not captivating enough.
A break follows the Georgian performance. Host Victoria is in the Green Room, presenting a video of Eurovision fans, past artists from the contest, and even staff members sharing their experiences from the competition. Will Ferrell, who starred in the Eurovision movie, also participates in the video.
As a transition, the Eurovision heart turns golden, and flowers emerge from it. Host Victoria introduces the Italian performance, which is not competing in the semi-final but is performing during it.
* Italy – Sal Da Vinci, “Per Sempre Si”:
Sal Da Vinci is dressed in a white suit, with a clothes rack behind him. The groom (played by an actor) is dressed only in underwear, accompanied by two assistants who help him while performing joint acrobatic movements, while classical buildings are shown on the LED screens.
The groom gets dressed during the performance, which looks exactly like something out of a musical. The two assistants dance with each other. The assistants and the groom perform a sort of ballroom dance behind Sal during the chorus.
The groom is almost ready, with a mirror positioned at the side of the stage. The wedding floor changes to black and white checkered cubes as the three perform impressive acrobatic movements.
The bride arrives at Sal and continues toward the groom, who removes her veil, and they kiss. The bride spins as part of her dress is removed, revealing that the Italian flag was inside her dress. At the end of the performance, Sal’s iconic movement and the ring are, of course, performed. There isn’t a winning song atmosphere, but the staging is very entertaining. The vocal performance is much better than in previous rehearsals.
7. Finland – Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen, “Liekinheitin”:
The Finnish stage is not ready on time, and there are several shots of the audience.
Linda and Pete take the stage, with Pete appearing terrified in a confessional booth on the catwalk, and Linda standing on a raised platform with upside-down chairs on it. Linda plays live during parts of the performance.
Pete’s vocal performance sounds good. It’s almost exactly the same performance, one-for-one, from the national selection.
The raised platform Linda stood on bursts into flames, and there are sort of napkins on the stage ceiling that catch fire, as does the confessional booth. Linda joins Pete on the other side of the booth as all the chairs burn behind her, and she runs back to the stage to finish the song together with Pete.
It is very possible we have just watched the winners, but it is clear they are saving their best for the live broadcast.
8. Montenegro – Tamara Živković, “Nova Zora”:
Tamara Živković begins the performance as the dancers lift her, after which she falls to the floor. At the start of the performance, she is off-beat. Four dancers accompany her, and they make excellent use of the catwalk.
The stage switches to orange colors, and there is great use of stage lighting and camera angles. Tamara is much better vocally than in previous rehearsals. In the third part of the performance, the stage changes to blue colors with lightning and thunder.
The dancers and Tamara are crouched on the floor, and the shots in the performance are very good. During the act, the dancers surround Tamara while making slightly scary faces (intentionally). A sunrise appears behind her on the LED screens at the end of the performance, followed by a black hole in the background. One can only hope the performance captivates enough people to qualify for the Grand Final.
9. Estonia – Vanilla Ninja, “Too Epic To Be True”:
Vanilla Ninja begin the performance with the lead singer’s back to the audience. Two other members play electric guitars, and the stage is lit in white and black colors. One of the members is wearing sunglasses, which we haven’t seen in previous rehearsals.
The lighting switches to red, black, and white. A drummer also accompanies the band. The three members interact with one another; the lead singer moves to the catwalk while the words “Too Epic” appear on the LED screens, then returns as the stage is lit in gold.
It is a very sweet performance, and the members may have sung with greater precision because there is less pressure in this rehearsal than in the live broadcast or the jury rehearsal. For those interested, there is no Kiss-cam during the performance.
10. Israel – Noam Bettan, “Michelle”:
The bottom line – no Palestinian flags were spotted, no boos were heard (at least not from the screens), and Noam Bettan was vocally excellent. Noam takes the stage with accompaniment.
He begins inside a diamond that rotates around him, with a close-up on Noam as the background sparkles intensely. The diamond starts to open, and dancer Lihi Freud joins him. The cameraman is frequently visible in the reflection of the diamond during the start of the performance.
The rest of the dancers join the stage as Noam and Lihi emerge from the diamond. The diamond rotates constantly and is illuminated. Behind Noam, the dancers stand in a column, and then everyone advances to the catwalk while the stage floor is scorched and lit in a gold color.
At the end of the performance, during the Hebrew part of the song, many diamonds appear on the LED screens as Lihi joins Noam and then leaves him. This is an excellent vocal performance that is very different from the other songs and may therefore stand out in a good way. During the performance, many shots of Israeli flags are seen.
A break following the Israeli song to introduce the second country performing without competing tonight, Germany.
* Germany – Sarah Engels, “Fire”:
Sarah Engels lies on the raised Eurovision stage in a white dress with a sparkling gold bodysuit underneath. The beginning of the song is completely different from the original version and sounds exactly like a ballad.
Four dancers join Sarah on stage; they shed the dress from her and then leave the stage. The vocal performance is not precise.
A massive amount of fire shoots from the stage floor. At one point, Sarah falls backward from the high stage, and the dancers catch her. Fire is on stage at the end of the performance, while Sarah and the dancers perform a dance break that is filmed beautifully.
At the conclusion, Sarah returns to the high stage. She is an excellent performer and looks amazing (for those interested, her hair became quite messy during the performance, but she fixed it several times). The vocal performance is not perfect.
A break follows the German performance, during which a video is screened featuring Victoria (presented as “Professor Eurovision”) giving a sort of futuristic lecture to a class on several important historical Eurovision facts, accompanied by orange television screens and robots lifting them.
A number of songs that received zero points in the contest’s history were shown. This time, Israel was not present in the video – for all the right reasons, as they say.
11. Belgium – Essyla, “Dancing On The Ice”:
Essyla is with her back to the audience in the center of the catwalk at the beginning of the performance.
There is a sort of snow machine operated on her by a person (just like a leaf blower) as she walks toward the main stage wearing a very long white cloak.
Four dancers join her, all dressed in white. The dancers also wear masks.
At the start of the performance, the stage is in white-light blue colors like ice, and then transitions to orange like fire. Toward the end of the performance, the stage is divided 50/50 between these two colors, just like heat and cold.
At the end of the performance, Essyla and the dancers move to the catwalk, and a smoke machine is activated on her again. This is the best vocal performance we have known from Essyla.
12. Lithuania – Lion Ceccah, “Sólo quiero más”:
The Lithuanian stage is not ready on time. After the postcard, host Michael breaks out from the Green Room and presents several facts about Lithuania in Eurovision.
The hosts, with helpless looks and phrases, move to interview the contestants in the Green Room, who are played by production staff. Victoria even declares: “The stage is not ready, are you ready?”
Lion Ceccah takes the competition stage dressed inside a sort of doll wearing an enormous black cloak. There is an extremely haunting zoom-in on his silver face, with one blue eye and one brown eye (which might contribute to nightmares at night). It looks exactly like a horror movie.
Lion emerges from behind the cloak and performs robotic movements. Subtitles appear on the screen during certain parts of the performance, and the stage is occasionally in black and white. The cloak doll collapsed (intentionally) during the act.
A hologram of Lion appears on the LED screens. The singer walks toward the catwalk at the end of the performance. The vocal performance is very disappointing, as in previous rehearsals. Lion’s hands are not painted silver.
13. San Marino – Senhit feat. Boy George, “Superstar”:
The mirror tunnel appears for the third time tonight! Senhit begins the performance inside a mirror/diamond tunnel, which definitely reminds us of several songs from this semi-final. She sheds a shimmering silver coat. The diamond opens, and four dancers join her.
The stage sparkles, as do the outfits of Senhit and the dancers. The dancers lift Senhit, and she is filmed from above. The camera angles are excellent, as is the exaggerated colorfulness (in a good way) on stage.
Boy George suddenly appears from within the doors, and even Senhit seems surprised by his presence, shouting “Boy George!”. They advance toward the catwalk, and the performance truly lifts the crowd and the press room. Fireworks mark the end of the act – mark my words, this is a song for the final.
14. Poland – Alicja, “Pray”:
Alicja takes the stage starting on the catwalk, dressed in a metallic silver top. There is a camera angle from above showing her praying.
As Alicja returns to the main stage, the dancers emerge from behind a raised diagonal platform, climb onto it, and perform a synchronized modern dance. A silver hand is displayed on the LED screens.
Alicja joins them toward the end of the performance. The dancers fall onto the main stage as the singer performs the high note at the end of her song with impressive precision. A vocally surprising performance in a good way, with a decent chance of qualifying for the Grand Final.
15. Serbia – Lavina, “Kraj Mene”:
Lavina begin the performance with a faint recorded female backing vocal, while the lead singer stands on the catwalk with his back to the stage, wearing a black cloak with giant silver shoulder spikes. He returns to the main stage, using his microphone stand to mimic a sword.
Up to this point, the shots are tightly focused on the singer’s face, after which he removes the cloak. The other band members are also present on the main stage. Lighting descends from the stage ceiling. During the lead singer’s screamo, massive flames erupt from the stage floor, the lighting shifts from blue to orange, and the camera shakes violently.
The performance concludes with the lead singer hunched on the floor. An excellent vocal performance, though the ending feels somewhat strange and chaotic.
The contest hosts take the stage at the conclusion of all the songs to remind the audience of the voting rules. A recap of all the competing songs is broadcast immediately afterward.
The hosts then move to the Green Room to chat with some of the delegations. In the next interval act, a highly impressive acrobatic performance takes place on stage with numerous participants. This is followed by another recap of all the participating songs projected on the screen.
Thank you for staying with us!
Join us at 21:00 CET for the live first semi-final!
Eurovision 2026: the 70th edition of the contest will take place in Vienna, Austria, on May 12th, 14th, and 16th, 2026. The Wiener Stadthalle arena, which will host the event, is expected to accommodate around 16,000 spectators per show. The contest returns to Austria following the nation’s third historic win with the song “Wasted Love”, performed by JJ. It will be Austria’s third time hosting Eurovision, after previous editions held in the country in 1967 and 2015.
