For all the 200 mio expected TV spectators it will be the night of the year. The Eurovision Song Contest live from Portugal. How will Portugal will show its indulgence?

For all the 200 mio expected TV spectators it will be the night of the year. The Eurovision Song Contest live from Portugal. How will Portugal will show its indulgence? 

The introduction is the same as in both Semi Finals, so no changes here. Then Ana Moura will open the event, singing a traditional Portuguese song on a bridge. Then the Fado superstar Mariza will take over and carry off the arena and the TV spectators into the world of Fado. A very stylish and elegant performance of the famous “Barco Negro”, originally sung by Amáilia Rodrigues can be expected. Then the flag parade with the welcoming of the artists takes place, musically supported by the Beatbombers, a famous DJ duo

This year there will be four host: Filomena Cautela, Sílvia Alberto, Daniela Ruah and Catarina Furtado. This might be a bit irritating as there have never been four presenters, three was the maximum. The script has obviously been written by a Swede as the jokes don’t really match what people would expect in a 3 hours live show from Portugal. These medium funny games are not really appealing and take the glance from the great opening. That’s a pity.

The 26 competing countries are sorted in the way, how the broadcaster RTP and the EBU reference group would like to see them. The artists draw their starting position either first or second half.

As interval act there will be several singers from Portugal: Branko, Sara Tavares (Portugal’s ESC singer from 1994 “Chamar A Musica”), Dino D’Santiago and Mayra Andrade. The performance can be described as world music, there are African and South American influences, there are dancers and everything ends up in an exciting finish.

As a highlight, last year’s winner Salvador Sobral is going to present his new song and of course will sing some parts of his winning entre “Amar Delos Pois”.

After three recaps and the interval act – the most exciting part of the evening will take place: the voting. The procedure will be the same since 2016. First all the 43 juries will announce their votes in the traditional way, the points from 1-7 will be added to the scoreboard automatically, the 8, 10 and 12 points will be announced by the jury spokesman.

Then the televoting figures will be added in an ascending order. First the countries with the lowest votes from rank 26 – 11. The country with the tenth highest televotes will be announced by the hosts. This is a very exciting part as it can change everything.
Nevertheless, Portugal can now be appreciated as a great host country and Lisbon as a host city. This show tonight will definitely attract a lot of tourists.

Tonight we will know the winner of 2018.

Author: Bernd LemmermannEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Public relations, Editor, Journalist

About me:
As one of the founders of eurovisionlive.com I am responsible for the interviews with the singers and the editorial content. My passion for the Eurovision Song Contest exists since my early childhood. The exotic music, different cultures and languages have given a lot of inspiration to me. Since my very first ESC in Dublin 1994 I particularly appreciate the get together and friendship of all the nationalities and Riverdance was a thrill!