The EBU have stated that 4 people were removed from the arena for disruptive behaviour during tonightâs #Eurovisjon.
â sá´á´á´Ę á´á´ (@superTV247) May 12, 2026
They have now edited out the chants of "stop the genocide" from the official video of Israelâs performance.
Here is what was heard live vs whatâs now on YouTube: pic.twitter.com/IDLlsdBZ0O
Itâs good that this performance was kept under wraps. I feel like Eurovision release too many spoilers now.
You have full clips of songs available months ahead of Eurovision and also clips of the dress rehearsals are posted online. Almost no surprises from the show itself apart from these performances.
Letâs see where that theory stands in the grand final, as the overwhelming favorite Finland has chosen to âput us wherever you wantâ.
Note - Austria is in the 2nd half category, going 25th.
There is actually a lot less released ahead of time now. There was a period in the mid to late 2010âs where the fan media pretty much had open slather access to rehearsals to post what they wanted. The EBU has very much taken back control of what rehearsal footage is released in recent years.
Yeah I remember in some previous years definitely seeing a lot more of the performances pre-show, this year itâs just the 30 second clip and they were only released a few days from the comp.
A big portion of the acts though you can still have a good indication of what their performance will be like from their respective national finals (not all countries have them but a lot do).
In the case with Delta, there is very much a surprise element still to come with her performance which can definitely be used to her advantage. Each country got to choose which 30 seconds of their rehearsal was released, so it was very smart of them to only release a section towards the start of the song. It sounds like there is some sort of peak moment at the end that could be a real wow/surprise factor.
Iâm in Vienna - my second Eurovision after Basel last year - and have tickets to Rehearsal shows for both Semis.
Yesterday afternoon I attended the Semi 1 rehearsal, so I thought some might be interested in my live observations and comparison with Basel.
Firstly, the Arena isnât as big as I was expecting. It is bigger than Basel but not by that much, or so it seems.
Secondly, I have to say the hosts were not as engaging or as funny as the ones in Basel. In Basel the hosts had the crowd in stitches even between the live bits.
To me the production in Vienna seems less slick and feels a bit cheaper. But overall I still loved it and the atmosphere was great of course.
Security was very tight as youâd expect, but still friendly. The only bad part was we were queuing outside to be let in at 1pm for the 3pm start and it was a cold day and unfortunately it rained quite a bit. With no umbrellas allowed it was a bit unpleasant.
Lastly a few points
- Israel didnât get booâd. I didnât hear any booâing at all, although everyone I spoke to there didnât think they should be there. I didnât ask by the way, they just volunteered the information. Even the Finnair flight attendant said to me she didnât think they should be there, after dancing around it a bit. She was also adamant Finland would win
- Finland got the biggest crowd reaction, although I have to say it wasnât anywhere near the roar that favourites Sweden got last year - it lifted the roof in Basel, yet they still didnât win
- All of the acts sounded better to me live
- Everyone seems very happy and welcoming to have Australia in the competition and I spoke to quite a few Europeans.
Iâm very much looking forward to seeing Delta perform on Thursday.
Thank you for this overview and update! I hope you managed to buy a couple of local SIM cards while over there and can throw some votes Deltaâs way! Haha
Some online commenters said thatâs the standard lowering you should have come to expect from ORF.
Danny Estrin is doing well as a commentator for SBS. He seems to know a lot about Eurovision and banters well with Courtney Act.
The half time show in particular felt very cheap and amateurish compared with Basel. Nothing against the Australia - Austria thing but it dragged on way too long, and the quiz segment felt like a filler and nothing more.
This might sound picky too, but even the banners and decorations around the city also look cheap and a bit tatty to be honest. I know Vienna is much bigger than Basel but Basel looked fantastic. In Vienna there are just a few posters and the trams are flying tiny flags saying âVienna 12 pointsâ ⌠
Voting window for the second semi final for the rest of the world (non-participating countries) opens on 8am AEST Thursday and closes before the broadcast begins at 5am AEST Friday.
I guess the difference is that Eurovision might have been the biggest thing Basel has ever hosted, whereas Vienna has probably hosted a lot of big events including Eurovision a couple of times before.
Perhaps. But Iâm now of the opinion the vibe is a lot better in the smaller cities for Eurovision. I was chatting to an English guy who goes every year and he reckons Liverpool was fantastic, much better than if it had been in London or even Birmingham.
A few audience recorded videos are now on Youtube of Deltaâs full performance at todayâs rehersal show, if anyone wants to be spoiled at what happens with her piano towards the end of the performance.. Hopefully it looks better on screen than from the audience.
Glad you enjoyed the rehearsal shows Brian. Be sure to check out the Crossfields pub in Vienna, which is the official Australian fan base this year.
Of course it will look a lot better. Firstly, the camera there is from behind her so there is no seeing what is going on with stage/production behind her. The raise as well Iâm sure will be filmed in away so the platform isnât visible on camera, so it looks like she is levitating.
Greece is another contender in the GF, I think it will score decent.
I just donât understand the hype for that song (and I usually appreciate these more whacky Eurovision type performances). The song just feels disjointed and all over the place. I can only guess that people think it will do well because it has that crazy Eurovision vibe but Iâm just not sure that it will do as well as people think it will.
Finland was the standout from the first Semi-Final. It just had a winner vibe about it.