LexC

My ranking of all 26 entries based on tonight's show:

For a year that was all set to be disappointing, I think this has been a good entertaining mix of competitive entries this year!

There has been an uncomfortably high level of showbiz padding between songs tonight!

Respect you and your views Pete but I find it very hard to imagine Malta "blending in" to anything!

...and an entire continent is checking their phones for the next three minutes

Not feeling Armenia - this should've been Australia's slot

Feel like Poland hasn't quite managed to translate the power it had in the national final to the stage in the same way for me

ICH FUKKIN KOMME!

Claude peaked at the right time (despite a lyric mess up at the start lol)!

Think Iceland really benefits from coming after Austria as some light relief

Happily never subjecting myself to this moody indie dreck again

Think I've finally learned to stop worrying and love the Espresso Machiatto

Luxembourg has elevated the most from national final to Basel out of all 26 finalists for me

The production this year has been excellent so far, hoping that continues through to the end of the show.

Loreen's powers extend beyond the possibilities of us mere mortals!

Also my traditional "speculating about next year's hosting" post is now here with the top 5 or so of the betting: If Austria win I'd imagine Vienna is the most likely host which in an amusing coincidence means they'll be hosts of both the 60th and 70th anniversary contests. Innsbruck and Graz were also shortlisted in 2015 if they want to stay on trend with the non-capital host cities/there's a desire to go outside of Vienna. Sweden I imagine would end up being a case of who doesn't want it the least rather than who wants it the most as Malmo definitely are not game for hosting after 2024. Realistically Stockholm is the only other realistic hosting option until Gothenburg build their new arena (Taylor Swift stay at home pls) France will probably have a very competitive bidding process that will more or less come down to Paris vs not-Paris. Expect to see bids from Lyon, Strasbourg and Grenoble and probably many more Finland have got Helsinki as always but I could see them seriously considering Tampere or Turku if they want to go outside the box. Albania only realistically have Tirana as an option but their only remotely usable venue is the main football stadium that would need to have a roof built for it

Fairly confident the Buzzvision curse is going to Finland tonight

My usual inaccurate AF afternoon of the show day prediction of the final result from 1st to 26th: 01 Austria 02 Sweden 03 Albania 04 Finland 05 France 06 Netherlands 07 Estonia 08 Israel 09 Greece 10 Ukraine 11 Lithuania 12 Poland 13 Malta 14 Italy 15 Denmark 16 Switzerland 17 Norway 18 Armenia 19 Germany 20 Latvia 21 Luxembourg 22 Iceland 23 Spain 24 Portugal 25 United Kingdom 26 San Marino Ultimately I think Austria will be all set to storm the jury vote and will do better than expected with the public giving them just enough to pip Sweden to the post.

The greatest show on earth is back again tonight, 20:00 BST Vote early, vote often and love love peace peace to all!

Oh sheet guess I better enter this

Predicting the ten going through from broadly most to least likely FINLAND AUSTRIA ISRAEL LITHUANIA MALTA AUSTRALIA ARMENIA GREECE DENMARK SERBIA -- LUXEMBOURG LATVIA CZECHIA IRELAND GEORGIA MONTENEGRO 11th to 13th all the robbed girlies

Sent 2 votes each for Finland, Denmark and Malta

Annual post in the vain hope that Serbia DNQ rather than knock out something more deserving!

Denmark the most elevated I've seen it performed but that's also what I said about Belgium on Tuesday and...errrmm

I think Armenia have done enough to go through there - the straight normies will be going for it.