Galery

1

Greek singer Maria-Elena Kiriakou’s outstanding performance in the first semi-final last night won her the long awaited participation in the final of this year's 60th edition of Eurovision.

Greece will be on stage along with Estonia, Armenia and Russia, which are the favourites of this year's Eurovision Song Contest, as well as Romania, Hungary, Albania, Georgia, Serbia and Belgium in Vienna on Saturday.

The big surprise last night was the elimination of the Finns of PKN, the first band of people with Down's Syndrome to take part in Eurovision. Apparently, the statements of support for those who are different expressed prior to their performance in the semi-final finished with Conchita’s beard.

Maria Elena Kiriakou impressed and won the hearts of the Εurovision audience with her delicacy and they qualified her after last night's semi-final that proved to be the most difficult of the past years.

With orchestration and performances that almost resembled ordinary songs (with very few exceptions), with the smallest number of kitschy performances compared to past years and the most impressive stage ever built for the music contest in order to mark its 60th anniversary, Εurovision entered a new era yesterday.

Keeping, of course, the characteristics that have made it popular, the already 60-year-old Eurovision has proved that there is still a reason to exist. Simultaneously, the incredible lighting effects, like waves in the impressive Wiener Stadhalle hall, gave viewers a hint of ​​what to expect in the remaining two nights of the contest, namely the second semi-final on Thursday and the final on Saturday.

Conchita

Last year's winner Conchita led off the evening and together with 51 musicians from the Austrian National Radio and Television Orchestra, they set the tone of this year's first semi-final. It took the Finns of PKN just 85 seconds to make history on the Eurovision stage. They became the first band of people with special needs that took part in the prestigious contest, although they failed to qualify.

Many of the songs contained political, social, environmental and anti-war messages, such as Armenia’s “Face the shadow”, the refrain of which mentions the marking of 100 years since the Armenian genocide (Don’t Deny) and which is one of the favourites for the final competition.

The participants from Belgium, the duo of Estonia, the folk ballad of Hungary, the cheerful electronic track of Serbia that raised the audience, the joyful song in the 1960s style performed by the Danes, and the Gothic performance of Georgia that is after the first position in the ranking were some of last night’s memorable performances.