Eurovision 2018 : Another Super Saturday night with 9 national selection shows!
Another super Saturday night with a total of 9 national selection shows taking place in nine countries. Tonight, two grand finals ( Italy, Denmark), six semi final rounds (Sweden, Latvia, Hungary, Ukraine, Estonia, Iceland) and one qualifying round (Lithuania) will take place around Europe. Lets take a look on each country’s national final details.
Italy – Final
This evening the 68th edition of Italy’s Sanremo Festival 2018 is reaching to its end with the grand final taking place at the Teatro Ariston stage.
20 Campioni acts will perform, for the 4th and last time, their entries and through a multi voting mechanism the final winner of this year’s festival will be determined. The final outcome is based on the votes coming from a jury of 300 fans from all over the country, a press jury and a special jury of experts. Details on the voting process can be found in our previous article
The 20 competing acts of tonight’s final are:
- Roby Facchinetti e Riccardo Fogli – Il segreto del tempo
- Nina Zilli – Senza appartenere
- The Kolors – Frida
- Diodato & Roy Paci – Adesso
- Mario Biondi – Rivederti
- Luca Barbarossa – Passame er sale
- Lo Stato Sociale – Una vita in vacanza
- Annalisa – Il mondo prima di te
- Giovanni Caccamo – Eterno
- Enzo Avitabile & Peppe Servillo – Il coraggio di ogni giorno
- Ornella Vanoni with Bungaro & Pacifico – Imparare ad amarsi
- Renzo Rubino – Custodire
- Noemi – Smettere mai di cercarmi
- Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro – Non mi avete fatto niente
- Le Vibrazioni – Così sbagliato
- Ron – Almeno pensami
- Decibel – Lettera dal duca
- Max Gazzé – La leggenda di Cristalda e Pizzomunno
- Red Canzian – Ognuno ha il suo racconto
- Elio & le Storie Tese – Arrivederci
Main host of the tonight’s show is the artistic director of the the Festival Claudio Baglioni alongside with Michelle Hunziker and Pierfrancesco Favino.
The winner of Sanremo 2018 has the option to represent Italy in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest next May, in Lisbon. However , if he denies this role, then the Italian national broadcaster, RAI, can choose the artist that is considered most appropriate for the contest.
You can watch the Saremo 2018 grand final aired live on RAI1 or on the official website of RAI at 20: 40 CET .
Demark – Final
This evening the Danish national final , Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, will take place and will determine the country’s next Eurovision 2018 representative. Hosts of tonight’s show will be Annette Vollmer Heick (journalist- singer) and Johannes Nymark (member of the group Lighthouse X that represented Denmark in Eurovision 2016).
The final will be held at the indoor arena Gigantium in the city Aalborg and 10 acts will battle for the golden ticket to Lisbon. The 10 competing artists are:
- Ditte Marie – Riot
- Anna Ritsmar – Starlight
- Rasmussen – Higher Ground
- Sannie – Boys on Girls
- Sandra – Angels to My Battlefield
- Lasse Meling – Unfound
- CARLSEN – Standing Up for Love
- KARUI – Signals
- Rikke Ganer-Tolsøe – Holder fast i ingenting
- Albin Fredy – Music for the Road
The winner will be determined after two rounds of voting. During the first round jury and public will vote for their favorites entries. The 3 top entries will qualify to a second super-final round, in which the jury and public will pick out the country’s next Eurovision 2018 representative.
Guest star of tonight’s show will be the ESC 2014 winner, Conchita.
The final will start at 20:00 CET and you can watch it HERE
Swenden – 2nd semi final
The Swedish national selection, Melodifestivalen, continues this evening to unfold with the second semi final. This semi final round will take place in Gothenburg, and host of the show, like in the 1st semi final will be David Lindgren ( past participant in Melodifestivalen 2012, 2013 and 2016).
In tonight’s 2nd semi final another set of 7 acts will compete for two spots directly in the Grand final and two more tickets for the second chance semi final.
This evening’s 7 contestants are:
- Samir & Viktor – Shuffla
- Ida Redig – Allting som vi sa
- Jonas Gardell – Det finns en väg
- Margaret – In My Cabana
- Stiko Per Larsson – Titta vi flyger
- Mimi Werner – Songburning
- LIAMOO – Last Breath
Among the contestants we meet familiar to the audience artists from past selections. Samir & Viktor have competed in Meodifestivalen 2015 (8th place) and 2016 (12th place) while Mimi Werner took part in 2016 without achieving to pass in the final (5th place in the first semi final) . Margaret is another familiar to the audience name as she participated in the 2016 Polish national final ending in 2nd place.
The voting includes two rounds in which only the public will vote. The first 5 who receive the most votes qualify to a second round of voting . After the 2nd round the first two acts will qualify directly to the final, while the 3rd and 4th qualify to the second chance semi final.
You can watch the 2nd semi final of Melodifestivalen at 20:00 CET on SVT’s official Melodifestivalen site
Latvia – 2nd Semi final
Latvia’s national selection, Supernova, moves on tonight to the 2nd semi final round. This year’s Supernova consists of 3 semi final rounds and one grand final that will take place on February 24. Hosts of the first semi-final, which will be aired live from Riga, will be the actress and show presenter Dagmara Legante and the country’s ESC 2016 representative Justs Sirmais.
Another set of 7 acts (out of a total of 21 Supernova contestants) will compete tonight:
- Hypnotic – Pray
- MADARA – Esamība
- Markus Riva – This Time
- In My Head – Sunset
- Ritvars – Who’s Counting?
- Monta – 1000 Roses
- Riga Reggae – Stop the War U2
From this group of 7 acts only 2 will qualify to the final. The two spots will be determined through a 50-50% of public and jury voting.
The 2nd Supernova semi final will start at 20:25 CET and can be watched on Supernova’s official site
Hungary – 1st semi-final
Hungary’s Eurovision 2018 national selection, A Dal 2018, continues today with the 1st semi final round taking place. A Dal this year consists of 3 qualifying rounds , 2 semi final and one grand final that will be held on February 24. Hosts of tonight’s show will be, as in the qualifying previous shows, Kriszta Rátonyi and Freddie (Hungary ESC 2016).
In the previous 3 qualifying rounds we saw a total of 30 acts compete for 18 semi final spots. Half of this 18 acts will compete tonight while another set of 9 act will compete in next Saturday’s 2nd semi final. The 9 contestants that will compete tonight are:
- Gergely Dánielfy – Azt mondtad
- Roland Gulyás – H Y P N O T I Z E D
- Ham ko Ham – Bármerre jársz
- Gábor Heincz Biga – Good Vibez
- Gabi Knoll – Nobody to Die For
- Leander Kills – Nem szól harang
- Maszkura és a tücsökraj – Nagybetűs szavak
- SativuS – Lusta lány
- Zsolt Süle – Zöld a május
Out of these 9 acts, only 4 will qualify to the grand final.T he 4 qualifying acts will be decided after two rounds of voting. In the first phase a four member jury, formed by Judit Schell (actor), Misi Mező (head vocalist and guitarist of the Hungarian group Magna Cum Laudethe, Károly Frenreisz (singer and composer) and Miklós Both (composer- performer- guitarist), will rate each song after its performance alongside with the audience, which will vote being the 5th member of the jury. From this phase the best 3 acts will qualify to the final. In the next second phase the audience only, will vote the one act that favors more from the group of 6 acts left behind. The song that wins the public’s votes will follow the first 3 qualifiers to the final.
The 1st A Dal 2018 semi final show will start at 20:30 C.E.T and you can watch it HERE.
Ukraine – 1st semi final
The Ukrainian national selection kicks off today with the first semi final of Vidbir, that will be aired live from Kiev. Vidbir 2018 included two semi final rounds and one final that will take place on February 24 .
A total of 18 acts compete in the entire national selection . Tonight we will watch 9 of those battle for a spot in the final:
- Constantine – Misto
- Serhiy Babkin – Kriz tvoyi ochi
- Laud – Waiting
- Kazka – Dyva
- The VYO – Ng’a-ng’a
- Kozak System – Mamai
- Vilna – Forest song
- Pur:Pur – Fire
- The Erised – Heroes
You can take a look at the recap of all 1st semi final songs below.
Out of tonight’s 9 contestants only 3 will qualify to the final. The 3 spots will be decided by a combination of public and jury voting . The jury consists of Jamala (ESC 2016 winner), Andriy Danylko (Ukraine’s ESC 2007 representative ) and Eugene Filatov (singer, producer and the founder of the group Onuka).
Guest star of the night will be this year’s Czech republic’s Eurovision representative Mikolas Josef, where he will perform his Eurovision entry , Lie to me.
The first semi final starts at 18:00 CET and you can watch it HERE
Εstonia – 1st semi final
The Estonian national selection kicks off tonight with the first semi final of Eesti Laul. Host of the show will be Kristel Aaslaid and Martin Veisman. Eesti Laul this year includes two semi final round and the grand final scheduled to be held on March 3 .
A number of 20 acts participate in this year’s national selection, who will compete in two semi final groups. Tonight the first set of competing 10 acts are:
- Vajé – Laura (Walk with me)
- Iiris & Agoh – Drop that boogie
- Etnopatsy – Külm
- Sibyl Vane – Thousand words
- Aden Ray – Everybody’s dressed
- Tiiu x Okym x Semy – Näita oma energiat
- Stig Rästa – Home
- Miljardid – Pseudoprobleem
- Desiree – On my mind
- Elina Netšayeva – La forza
Out of this group of 10 only 5 will make it to the final . The 5 qualifying acts will be decided after two rounds of voting. From the first phase the 4 best acts that receive the most public and jury votes , will qualify to the final. In the next second phase the audience exclusively, will vote the one act that favors more from the group of 6 acts left behind. The song that wins the public’s votes will follow the first 4 qualifiers to March’s final .
The show will start at 2o:35 CET and you can watch it HERE
Iceland – 1st semi final
Premier tonight for the Icelandic Eurovision 2o18 national selection , Söngvakeppnin, with the first semi final to be aired live right from the Háskólabíó conference hall in the capital city of Reykjavík. Söngvakeppnin 2018 consists of 2 semi finals and one final to be held on March 3 .
A total of 12 acts participate in the country’s national selection. Six of them will compete in tonight’s semi final while the rest six will compete in the 2nd semi final. Today’s contestants are:
- Þórunn Antonía – Ég mun skína
- Tómas Helgi Wehmeier & Sólborg Guðbrandsdóttir – Ég og þú
- Ari Ólafsson – Heim
- Heimilistónar – Kúst og fæjó
- Fókus hópurinn – Aldrei gefast upp
- Þórir Geir Guðmundsson & Gyða Margrét Kristjánsdóttir – Brosa
From this 6 contestants only 3 will qualify to the final. The 3 spots will be determined exclusively by a public voting . Let us remind you that the entries have been released in two languages, Icelandic and English. In the semi final round the acts have to perform their songs only in Icelandic, while in the final the language in which they’ll choose to perform on the Eurovision stage, in case of winning the national final.
The 1st Söngvakeppnin semi final starts at 20:45 CET and you can watch it on the national broadcaster’s official site
Lithuania– 5th qualifying round
Tonight will be aired the the 45h show of Eurovizijos, Lithuania’s national selection for Eurovision 2018. Hosts of the show will be Ugnė Skonsmanaitė and Mantas Stonkus.
In the previous 4 shows we watched a total of 50 acts compete . From those 24 made it to the next phase of the national selection. Tonight we will watch half of these 24 acts battle to qualify to the next round of Eurovizijos:
- Twosome – Hello
- Milda Rasilavičiūtė – I think about you
- Silvija Pankūnaitė & GeraiGerai – More than you know
- Lukas Norkūnas – Tegu
- Paula – 1 2 3
- Benas Malakauskas – My memories
- Godo – Fire fountain
- Germantė Kinderytė – Turn it up
- Vidas Bareikis – Pusvalanduko
- Juozas Martin – Don’t give up
- Kotryna Juodzevičiūtė – That girl
- Jurgis Brūzga – 4love
The qualifying acts will be determined by a 50-50% of public and jury voting. The jury has already cast its votes, since the show has been taped and is not live tonight.
The show will start at 20:00 CET and you can watch it HERE
