The first semi-final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest will see Ireland's entry Bambie Thug battling it out with other acts to qualify for Saturday's showdown in Sweden.
The singer, 31, who lives in London and was born in Cork, is entering with the electro-metal song Doomsday Blue and they have been given good odds by betting firms to get through tonight.
Ireland and Sweden are level for the most wins in the contest's history, at seven each, following Swedish singer Loreen triumphing at Liverpool last year.
But despite this success, Irish 2018 competitor Ryan O’Shaughnessy was the last to reach the final with Together and came in 16th position. Ireland has not won since 1996 with Eimear Quinn’s The Voice.
Bambie, who is performing fourth and uses the pronouns they/them, has previously blamed songs from Ireland not "standing out" in the competition for the failure.
Ukraine duo Alona Alyona and Jerry Heil , who are set to go fifth tonight, are entering with the religious infused Teresa & Maria and have been touted as strong competition.
Ukraine have previously shown they are consistent at Eurovision by winning three times – with Ruslana in 2004, Jamala in 2016 and Kalush Orchestra in 2022.
They also have never missed a grand final, and nine of their 14 entries have finished in the top 10.
The semi-final on Tuesday also sees current favourite Croatia’s Baby Lasagna with the infectious Rim Tim Tagi Dim and the absurd Finish entrant Windows95Man with No Rules! featuring an egg-shaped denim patchwork prop try to earn a place in the top 10.
Sweden’s contestant, the Norwegian-born twin singers Marcus & Martinus, will also perform their love song Unforgettable, but are through to the final as the country won the competition in 2023.
The countries wanting to make it to Saturday also include Cyprus, Serbia, Lithuania, Poland, Iceland, Slovenia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Australia, Portugal and Luxembourg.
Ahead of the event at Malmo Arena, fans have also been warned not to bring Palestinian flags or symbols to the event or bags and have been told that there will be "vigorous security checks".
The terrorist threat level is on four points out of five, but the Swedish Police Authority has said that this is not related to the contest.
There is not expected to be protests until later in the week, when Israel’s Eden Golan performs Hurricane at the second semi-final on Thursday.
Source: Press Association
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