Thousands gathered at the M&S Bank Arena to watch the show which was broadcast live on BBC. It was hosted by pop star and TV presenter Alesha Dixon, Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina.
It saw fifteen countries battle it out for a place in Saturday's final including Azerbaijan, Croatia, Czechia, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Sweden and Switzerland. Ahead of the show six countries had already qualified for the grand final including the 'big five' - the group of countries that make the biggest financial contributions to the European Broadcasting Union.
They are France, German, Italy, Spain and the UK who always get a pass into the final. Last year's winners Ukraine also have an automatic pass into the final.A second semi-final will take place on Thursday night where acts from 16 countries will take to the stage - with 10 more qualifying for the final. Those taking part are Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, San Marino and Slovenia.
This year's Eurovision Song Contest festivities kicked off on Sunday when the 37 competing acts took to a turquoise carpet welcome ceremony.The second Eurovision semi-final will be broadcast on BBC One on Thursday, with the grand final taking place on Saturday from 8pm.
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