Eurovision semi-finals kick off with Cyprus opening show

The Eurovision semi-finals will begin on Tuesday night, with Cyprus set to light up the stage with Silia Kapsis opening the show with her upbeat jam ‘Liar’.

Kapsis, a 17-year-old Australian-Cypriot, will head the line-up of performers in the first semi-final, which is due to start at 10pm.

The 68^th competition taking place in Malmo, Sweden, will also feature a performance by Greek popstar Eleni Foureira, who will perform her song ‘Fuego’, which brought Cyprus second place in the competition in 2018.

The first semi-final will be shown live on CyBC.

As announced by the organisers, Foureira will perform alongside Channel Terrero who represented Spain with ‘SloMo’ in 2022, Eric Saade, who competed with ‘Popular’ for Sweden in 2011, and 24 dancers.

Immediately afterwards, the baton will be passed to the 15 countries, who will attempt to qualify for Saturday’s final.

Cyprus will be the first to perform. Kapsis said in an interview with HELLO! Cy that she considers her appearance order “a great advantage”, as she will be the one to open this year’s Eurovision.

According to predictions, she is pegged to secure a spot in the final.

The countries that will follow her act are Serbia, Lithuania, Ireland, Ukraine, Poland, Croatia, Iceland, Slovenia, Finland, Finland, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Australia, Portugal and Luxembourg.

In addition to the 15 countries that will compete in Tuesday’s first semi-final, two countries from the ‘Big 5’, namely the United Kingdom and Germany, will present their songs. Sweden, which won last year with Loreen, is also automatically qualified for the final.

The UK will be represented by 33-year-old Olly Alexander with the song ‘Dizzy’, while Isaak will represent Germany with the song ‘Always On The Run’. Marcus and Martinus will represent Sweden with their song ‘Unforgettable’.

As announced on February 5, the event’s presenter will be Swedish comedian and TV presenter Petra Mede and Swedish-American actress Malin Akerman.

The semi-finals will be decided by the public vote, which will start after the songs are presented and will last 15 minutes.  The top ten songs will proceed to the final.

Anyone watching Eurovision will be able to vote through the event’s mobile phone app for the country of their choice, bar the country they live in.