Eurovision 2018 for Dummies – Here’s the running order

Eurovision for dummies
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New readers start here: On Saturday, 26 songs will compete to win the annual Eurovision Song Contest. If you’re already struggling, we’ve put together a handy explanation of the competition.

There have been two semi-finals already, and seventeen potential contenders have been consigned to the loading bay of Lisbon’s Altice Arena. Late last night, the producers huddled to decide who they wanted to win who sings when.

Here is the running order

The commercial breaks will happen after Portugal and Australia to allow set-up of the stage for the UK and Finland.

SongPerformer(s)JuryTelevoteTotalPsn
Scars Are BeautifulValerija Iljinaitė21310
Bad OptionIndrė Juodeikienė12311
Your CureAlen Chicco48126Q
RunawayQueens of Roses74117
Learn from Your LoveŽivilė Gedvilaitė75125Q
Never Enough (Of Your Love)Elizabeth Olshey0668
Lay It DownGabrielė Rybko3039
Laiko mašinaSaulės Kliošas103134Q
Song of My LifeSoliaris78153Q
Light OnMonika Marija1212241Q
NeverpartHenry & Tommy Modric810182Q

The show begins on Saturday at 20:00 UK time (21:00 CET) and you can watch it on your telly box, or here online.

Live blogs

Tonight, Mr Phil will talk you through the jury final. Tomorrow, Mo Fanning will be on hand for those who need emotional support – along with cocktail and snack suggestions – with our last LIVE BLOG of the season.

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Jayuu
Jayuu
5 years ago

Hey all. Been following and enjoying the reports from Lisbon over the last two weeks. Keep up the good work.

Some very interesting choices in that running order.

1- From a look at this it seems that they are setting it up for Cyprus in a big way. They knew they couldn’t put it last again so one from last is as close as they could get. I’m not ruling out Israel either given it’s late draw but I think it coming after Sweden blows Benji’s chances out of the water and I don’t think the EBU would have any problem with that.

2- Even more startling is that in the first half we have all the favourites – Lithuania, Austria, Estonia and Norway – in one super block. That seems a very controversial choice as there’s plenty of songs they could have used to spread them out, To me this is very much an attempt to dilute the effectiveness of those songs in favour of what comes later.
3 – Finally the choice of Ukraine as an opener is a bit strange given the weird nature of the song and the staging. There’s quite a chance of putting casual viewers off right at the start of the show. While I knew they couldn’t have Norway open again they could have opted for Austria or the UK to kick things off as both are good strong upbeat songs with straightforward staging.

Of course you never know how things turn out but the Eastern Med (Cyprus/Israel) next May is looking like a strong possibility.

Mo Fanning
5 years ago
Reply to  Jayuu

Ukraine is an odd opener, especially since he starts entombed in his coffin, but I suppose it is Eurovision …

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