Eurovision Song Contest 2024 final news: start time, odds, running order and Joost news

Without Norton’s biting commentary, Eurovision wouldn’t be the same

The glamor model was seven months pregnant and wearing a pink rubber catsuit when she came second in a public vote for the UK in 2005. She has since said she was “humbled” by the experience, but secretly her performance is kind of brilliant, writes Adam White

Eden Golan, who represents Israel at this year’s event, was voted into the grand final after her dramatic performance of “Hurricane,” a song reworked from original entry “October Rain” after it was widely interpreted as a reference to terrorism Hamas October 7th attacks.

During the demonstrations, smoke canisters in the colors of the Palestinian flag were ignited while protesters carried signs with images of Gazan civilians injured in the Hamas-Israel conflict.

From crazy novelty songs to club bangers and heartfelt ballads – the competition at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is fierce. We take a look at our favorites

Delegates from 10 countries, including Austria, Israel, Estonia, Georgia, Switzerland and the Netherlands, managed to qualify for the second semi-final, joining the 10 who made it through on Tuesday May 7th.

They will join the “big five” who are guaranteed a place in the final, including Britain’s Olly Alexander, who will sing his song “Dizzy”.

Cork-born, London-based singer Bambie Thug, one of the favorites to win, will sing her electro-metal song “Doomsday Blue”. The Ukrainian duo Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil are considered strong competition with their moving anthem “Teresa & Maria”.

Elsewhere, current favorite Baby Lasagna will perform his offbeat “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” on behalf of Croatia, while Finnish entrant Windows95Man will sing his offbeat song “No Rules!”

The full order can be found here:

Good morning, welcome to The Independent’s Eurovision live blog.

We’re just a few hours away from the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 final, but this is undoubtedly a very different Eurovision Song Contest than we’re used to.

More protests will take place around the Malmö Arena in Sweden today over Israel’s involvement in the war on Gaza, after singer Eden Golan was voted into the final.

Meanwhile, we still don’t know what will happen to Dutch contestant Joost, one of the favorites to win this year’s competition. Yesterday, organizers released a statement announcing he would not perform at the final dress rehearsal while they investigated an “incident” that occurred on Thursday.

Although nothing has been confirmed, it seems possible that this is related to tensions between Joost and the Israeli delegation after he pressed Golan to answer a journalist’s question about whether she made other candidates feel “unsafe.”

During the conference, Joost was pictured with his country’s flag over his head, making him completely invisible in some places. It is understood he did not want to be pictured with Golan.

The final begins tonight at 8pm GMT and will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.