Would the Netherlands have advanced to the finals in this field of participants? We’ll never know, but Thursday’s level was certainly much lower than two days earlier. Reilly from Denmark, the only 16-year-old Victor Vernikos from Greece, Blanca from Poland or Monika Linkte from Lithuania, they all raised their voices out of control. In the case of Blanka and Linkytè, he was forgiven in the form of a place in the finals.

In another flawlessly organized show – leave it to the British – the Netherlands were there on several occasions. For example, Slovenian boy band Joker Out qualified Saturday as expected with a solid performance by Carpe Diem. One of the two guitarists is half Dutch, Chris Gustin’s mother is from Assen.

Next to Estonian singer Alika in the green room was producer Wouter Hardy, who signed Alika. Bridges, a ballad performed with great confidence and a flawless voice by the only 20-year-old singer. There was great relief when Alika became the third country to participate in the finals. Hardy and Alika happily embrace each other. There could be a spicy encounter in the finale, as Hardy indicated earlier this week that he didn’t want to talk to Duncan Lawrence again. He’s the singer who co-created Arcade, but let Lawrence be one of the guest artists.

One of the highlights of the evening was the intermission act of drag queens portrayed by three presenters. The spectacular performance, which included Jessie Ware’s Free Yourself and En Vogue’s Free Your Mind, received a lot of support on social media from TV viewers who battled through the musically intense evening.

British commentator and presenter Graham Norton, who will be used as the fourth host in Saturday’s final, appeared briefly in conversation with Ukrainian commentator Timur Miroshnichenko and host Hannah Waddingham tonight. She was also dressed in yellow, while her colleague Julia Sanina was in blue. Standing alongside each other, it led to a subtle reference to Ukraine, the country that won last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, but could not organize the event for known reasons. Again tonight’s show is full of references to Ukraine, which will be honored this week in Liverpool as co-host of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, Belgium, Austria, Lithuania, Poland, Australia, Armenia and Slovenia won the evening. They return on Saturday.

Tvorchi, this year’s entry from Ukraine, will enter Saturday’s final. Then we hear and see the Big Five, Italy, Spain, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. Sweden, Finland, Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Israel, Serbia and Norway advanced from the first semi-final.

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