🔵 2018 Eurovision Song Contest from Lisbon/Portugal 2. 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. 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. All the postcards had the same score, composed by Luis Figueredo.

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final took place on 10 May 2018 at 20:00 WEST (21:00 CEST). Eighteen countries participated in this semi-final, with the running order published on 3 April 2018. Norway won the most points, followed by Sweden, Moldova, Australia, Denmark, Ukraine, Netherlands, Slovenia, Serbia, and Hungary. The countries that failed to reach the final were Romania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Russia, Montenegro, San Marino, and Georgia. All the countries competing in this semi-final were eligible to vote, plus France, Germany and Italy. With the approval from the contest's reference group, Italy broadcast and voted in the second semi-final following a request from Italian broadcaster RAI, as the date of the first semi-final coincided with the scheduled final of the fifth season of The Voice of Italy.

The interval acts included a dance medley of "Puppet on a String", "Dschinghis Khan", "Making Your Mind Up", "Euphoria" and Riverdance, performed by the presenters; a pre-recorded segment depicting the recording of the postcards; a short documentary about the Portuguese 1974 entry "E depois do adeus" and its impact on the Carnation Revolution; plus new instalments of "Esclopedia" and "Planet Portugal". The French, German and Italian artists were then interviewed, and clips of their competing songs were played.

R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1 Norway Alexander Rybak "That's How You Write a Song" 266 1
2 Romania The Humans "Goodbye" 107 11
3 Serbia Sanja Ilić and Balkanika "Nova deca" 117 9
4 San Marino Jessika feat. Jenifer Brening "Who We Are" 28 17
5 Denmark Rasmussen "Higher Ground" 204 5
6 Russia Julia Samoylova "I Won't Break" 65 15
7 Moldova DoReDoS "My Lucky Day" 235 3
8 Netherlands Waylon "Outlaw in 'Em" 174 7
9 Australia Jessica Mauboy "We Got Love" 212 4
10 Georgia Ethno-Jazz Band Iriao "For You" 24 18
11 Poland Gromee feat. Lukas Meijer "Light Me Up" 81 14
12 Malta Christabelle "Taboo" 101 13
13 Hungary AWS "Viszlát nyár" 111 10
14 Latvia Laura Rizzotto "Funny Girl" 106 12
15 Sweden Benjamin Ingrosso "Dance You Off" 254 2
16 Montenegro Vanja Radovanović "Inje" 40 16
17 Slovenia Lea Sirk "Hvala, ne!" 132 8
18 Ukraine Mélovin "Under the Ladder" 179 6