Romanian metal, Australian star Delta Goodrem qualify for Eurovision grand final
Romanian metal, a Danish club anthem and Australian singer Delta Goodrem advanced to the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 grand final after Thursday’s second semi-final in Vienna. Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Malta, Norway and Ukraine also secured places in Saturday’s final at the Wiener Stadthalle.
Issued on: 15/05/2026 - 02:59
3 min Reading time Share By: FRANCE 24
Romanian metal, a Danish ode to clubbing and Australian star Delta Goodrem will fill the airwaves in the Eurovision grand final after making it though the second semi-final on Thursday.
Contestants from 15 countries sang their hearts out in the Austrian capital to try to secure the last 10 places in Saturday's showpiece extravaganza at the Wiener Stadthalle.
Besides Australia, Denmark and Romania, which bookmakers place among the front-runners, Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Malta, Norway and Ukraine live to fight another day.
But it was Goodnight Vienna for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Luxembourg and Switzerland, who saw their Eurovision dreams crumble.
In line with the final, this year, the semis were decided by public televoting and also by professional juries.
While waiting for the nerve-shredding results reveal, the crowd danced a mass Viennese waltz.
Eurovision is the world's biggest live televised music event, typically reaching more than 150 million viewers, and Vienna 2026 is the 70th edition of the glitzy show where spectacle and drama go hand in hand.
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Going off with a 'Bangaranga'
Thursday's concert saw Switzerland's Veronica Fusaro tangled up in red webbing, Londoner Antigoni singing the sultry "Jalla" for Cyprus and Ukraine's Leleka hitting some ear-shredding high notes.
Bulgarian pop singer Dara got the party started with some highly choreographed dancing on "Bangaranga".
Filmed in close-up, the Czech Republic's Daniel Zizka sang "Crossroads" in a hall of mirrors that began swirling like a zoetrope.
Armenia's Simon worked up a sweat on "Paloma Rumba", a song about a man "stuck on a wage / In a rage", which saw him trapped in a lift, wearing a jacket covered in yellow sticky notes.
Romania swung the show into heavy rock on "Choke Me", which caused a minor furore in the Eurovisionbuild-up over the lyrics.
However, singer Alexandra Capitanescu, a master's student at the Faculty of Physics in Bucharest, defended the song's meaning.
"Unlike the classic heart, which represents romance or cute love, the anatomical heart suggests vulnerability... and emotions that feel intense, physical and almost painful," she insisted.
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Mother love
There were quieter moments too: Latvia's Atvara sang the gentle "Ena" seemingly in a swirl of broken glass.
Meanwhile, Albania's Alis sang his song "Nan", about missing one's mother, in which veteran Albanian actress Rajmonda Bulku, 67, appears as a fleeting maternal figure, touching his face.
"The first idea was to have my mum on stage but I couldn't make it: I would get so emotional," he said.
Australia has appeared at Eurovision by invitation since 2015, and Goodrem's performance went down well with the more than 10,000 fans in the arena.
The 41-year-old had a string of international hits in the early 2000s and sang "Eclipse", evoking a romantic alignment of the planets.
Goodrem stood on top of a glittering piano then soared into the air on a riser as sparks fell from the ceiling.
"It's higher than it looks!" she said afterwards.
"We've got the stage and then the piano and then the lift up. I can see the whole room. I definitely get a great vantage point up there."
Denmark's Soren Torpegaard Lund is gaining traction with "For Vi Gar Hjem" ("Before We Go Home"), plunging the crowd into the world of nightclubs.
"I did a little wave around and just hearing the roar is crazy. I've never played for so many people," said Lund, whose background is in musical theatre.
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Eurovision's LGBTQ history
The show featured a pre-filmed segment in a lecture theatre with presenter Victoria Swarovski rebutting the question: "Why are there only gays at the Eurovision now? Have they taken over?"
She went through the history of Eurovision embracing the LGBTQ community but declared "No takeover detected".
Eurovision director Martin Green told reporters beforehand: "It's timely, and I think it is a message to the world that we, for 70 years, have given a voice to the voiceless and welcomed the disenfranchised."
A total of 25 countries will appear in Saturday's final, with Finland the overall favourites.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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