Eurovision 2022, 10 things we liked about the first semi-final

Eurovision sends everyone to bed at 11pm, minute more, minute less. There first semifinal it lasted just two hours, with a beautiful opening at 21 split. The scenography of the Pala Olimpico in Turin, with The Sound of Beauty, is a tribute to Italy in the name of Pavarotti, e No sleep. With rock hits, plays of light and pharaonic sets. Then here comes the three conductors, the trio of wonders: Laura Pausini, Alessandro Cattelan and Mika. Close-knit and flawless.

At 23.04 was, therefore, the time of the ten competitors who access the final on May 14 (not in order of classification, listed by the conductors with a funny “porca vacca” by Laura Pausini due to a small technical block). It is about Switzerland, Armenia, Iceland, Lithuania, Portugal, Norway, Greece, Ukraine, Moldova, the Netherlands.

But what happened before? The race went fast, with no smudges or twists. After all, Eurovision – with its 30 million audience – is a sliding show in which there is little room to improvise. There is space only for performances, no curtain in between nor fiction to promote.

The only extra-race moments were the (beautiful) performances of Dardust – with Benny Benassi and Sophie and the giants – e Diodatowho brought his own Make noise, finally in front of a full arena. Not like in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, when after winning Sanremo she had participated in the saddest Eurovision ever: a succession of armored exhibitions while the world was in lockdown.

Now the appointment with the next live broadcast is for Thursday, when the other 10 finalists will be chosen, Saturday, the final. In the race there will also be the big five (Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain), ie the founders. And finally it will also be time to Blanco and Mahmood.

Meanwhile, here are the 10 moments of the first semifinal to remember (in our opinion).