🔵 2018 Eurovision Song Contest from Lisbon/Portugal 1. Semifinal (German - Peter Urban)

Dates: Semi-final 1: 8 May 2018 - Semi-final 2: 10 May 2018 - Final: 12 May 2018
Host venue: Lisbon Arena, Lisbon, Portugal
Presenters: Sílvia Alberto, Daniela Ruah, Catarina Furtado, Filomena Cautela
Directed by Troels Lund, Paula Macedo, Pedro Miguel
Executive supervisor: Jon Ola Sand - Executive producer: João Nuno Nogueira
Host broadcaster: Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP)

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the 63rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Lisbon, Portugal, following the country's victory at the 2017 contest with the song "Amar pelos dois" by Salvador Sobral. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP), the contest was held at the Lisbon Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May, and a final on 12 May 2018.[2] The three live shows were presented by Portuguese television presenters Filomena Cautela, Sílvia Alberto and Catarina Furtado, and Portuguese-American actress Daniela Ruah, marking the first time that the contest was presented by four hosts.

Forty-three countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the 2008 and 2011 editions. Russia returned after their absence from the previous edition, and for the first time since 2011, no country that participated in the previous edition withdrew.

The winner was Israel with the song "Toy", performed by Netta and written by Doron Medalie and Stav Beger. Cyprus, Austria, Germany and Italy rounded out the top five, with Cyprus achieving their best result to date. Israel won the public vote, and came third in the jury vote behind Austria and Sweden. Further down the table, the Czech Republic also achieved its best result to date, finishing sixth.

The EBU reported that the contest had a worldwide audience of around 186 million viewers, surpassing the 2017 edition by over 4 million.

The postcards, filmed between March and April 2018, involved the act emerging from a door into Portugal to take part in a themed activity, such as mountain biking, making a salad or pastel de nata, or visiting popular attractions. The location where the activity took place was written in Portuguese at the start of the postcard. At the end of the postcard, the act posed for the camera, the slogan's hashtag appeared on the bottom corner of the screen, and song information was printed onto the country's flag.[69] All the postcards had the same score, composed by Luis Figueredo.

Semi-final 1:

The first semi-final took place on 8 May 2018 at 20:00 WEST (21:00 CEST).[78] Nineteen countries participated in this semi-final, with the running order published on 3 April 2018.[79] Israel won the most points, followed by Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Austria, Estonia, Ireland, Bulgaria, Albania, Lithuania and Finland. The countries that failed to reach the final were Azerbaijan, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Armenia, Belarus, Croatia, Macedonia, and Iceland. All the countries competing in this semi-final were eligible to vote, plus Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom.[80]

The interval, which solely consisted of pre-recorded segments, included a performance of "Amar pelos dois" by 2017 entrants Alma, Blanche, Kristian Kostov, Manel Navarro, Martina Bárta, Norma John, and Svala; "Planet Portugal", a video sketch inspired by National Geographic featuring Herman José; and "Esclopedia", a video skit about the contest's history. The Portuguese, Spanish and British artists were then interviewed, and clips of their competing songs were played.

R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1 Azerbaijan Aisel "X My Heart" 94 11
2 Iceland Ari Ólafsson "Our Choice" 15 19
3 Albania Eugent Bushpepa "Mall" 162 8
4 Belgium Sennek "A Matter of Time" 91 12
5 Czech Republic Mikolas Josef "Lie to Me" 232 3
6 Lithuania Ieva Zasimauskaitė "When We're Old" 119 9
7 Israel Netta "Toy" 283 1
8 Belarus Alekseev "Forever" 65 16
9 Estonia Elina Nechayeva "La forza" 201 5
10 Bulgaria Equinox "Bones" 177 7
11 Macedonia Eye Cue "Lost and Found" 24 18
12 Croatia Franka "Crazy" 63 17
13 Austria Cesár Sampson "Nobody but You" 231 4
14 Greece Yianna Terzi "Oniro mou" 81 14
15 Finland Saara Aalto "Monsters" 108 10
16 Armenia Sevak Khanagyan "Qami" 79 15
17 Switzerland Zibbz "Stones" 86 13
18 Ireland Ryan O'Shaughnessy "Together" 179 6
19 Cyprus Eleni Foureira "Fuego" 262 2