Austria put in a fantastic performance, with Cesár Sampson performing his soulful, sexy song "Nobody But You". The 34-year-old singer, songwriter and model from Linz received high praise from no other than song contest winner Conchita.
Switzerland, on the other hand, failed to qualify. The Swiss duo made of siblings Corinne and Stefan Gfeller from Zurich, didn't quite convince the jury nor the tv audience and will now have to watch the Grand Final from the sidelines.
After Wednesday's first culling, the following ten countries are still in the competition:
- Albania: Eugent Bushpepa "Mall"
- Austria: Cesár Sampson "Nobody But You"
- Bulgaria: EQUINOX "Bones"
- Cyprus: Eleni Foureira "Fuego"
- Czech Republic: Mikolas Josef "Lie To Me"
- Estonia: Elina Nechayeva "La Forza"
- Finland: Saara Aalto "Monsters"
- Ireland: Ryan O'Shaughnessy "Together"
- Israel: Netta "Toy"
- Lithuania: Ieva Zasimauskaitė "When We're Old"
Unfortunately, the following nine entries have been eliminated:
- Armenia: Sevak Khanagyan "Qami"
- Azerbaijan: Aisel "X My Heart"
- Belarus: ALEKSEEV "Forever"
- Belgium: Sennek "A Matter Of Time"
- Croatia: Franka "Crazy"
- F.Y.R. Macedonia: Eye Cue "Lost And Found"
- Greece: Yianna Terzi "Oniro Mou"
- Iceland: Ari Ólafsson "Our Choice"
- Switzerland: ZiBBZ "Stones"
SBS is the exclusive broadcaster of the 63rd Eurovision Song Contest. The world's biggest song competition is broadcast live around Australia from 9 to 13 May.
The first Semi-Final aired at 5am on Wednesday, 9 May and will be repeated the same day at 7.30pm, at SBS and SBS On Demand.
The second Semi-Final, with Australia's Jessica Mauboy (above), takes the stage in front of an estimated 200 million people on Friday, 11 May at 5am, with a repeat at 7.30pm.
The Grand Final, with Germany, Austria and (fingers crossed!) Australia will air live on Sunday, 13 May at 5am, with a repeat at 7.30pm.
All times are AEST.
