Eurovision 2024 live: Who will be crowned the Eurovision winner? | Eurovision 2024

Tapping into the 90s nostalgia market, time to dig out your Snap!, Haddaway and Dr Alban vinyls, as I believe the young people call phonographs these days. I think it will be popular in the hall and with the audience, but I am not convinced that it will get enough votes of the jury because it is a bit formulaic. My raving days are long gone, alas.

You have to admire France with a guaranteed place in the final every year, looking at all the trends going on in pop music and relentlessly sending up dramatic French ballads regardless. Cheers!

It’s perfectly fine electro-pop, though I’m still confused that it got the nod over Denmark’s Saba and Sand, who seemed in similar territory. Maybe Nutsa wearing half of C3-PO’s costume helped with that.

✨✨✨ An artist has his dog in his postcard! ✨✨✨

It’s totally infectious and you’ll be humming it to yourself for days. You have to admire a song that can both tug at the heartstrings of having to sell your beloved cow and abandon your mother, and also bring up the exciting prospect of moving to the city for the boys who are beautiful. The top three is for sure. I nailed my colors to the rim tim tagi dim, there.

Police were pushing pro-Palestinian demonstrators around the Malmö Arena, where Eurovision final was held, reports AFP:

More than a hundred demonstrators waved flags and chanted “Free Palestine.”

Some wore the keffiyeh, the Arab headdress associated with the Palestinian cause, including some wrapping them around their faces.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg was among them, but stayed out of the clashes between the most aggressive protesters and the large police contingent.

She sat with other activists in a circle but was later escorted away by police.

In the afternoon, around 5,000 people marched peacefully in the city, home to the majority of Sweden’s population of Palestinian origin.

Around the concert hall, police officers pulled demonstrators towards the many police vans parked in the area.

“You get the impression that they’ve been given carte blanche to be a bit more aggressive than usual,” Sarah, a 45-year-old resident of Malmö, told AFP.

She had come to protest “passively,” she said, adding, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Police, who confirmed they used tear gas, were trying to push the demonstrators back to a square where a pro-Palestinian demonstration had been permitted.

“They sprayed tear gas in my face, pushed me, even pulled me,” Sarah Bo, 26, told AFP, showing her red eyes.

The first time I saw this production I thought there might be a twist where they put MORE clothes on, bless them. They must be freezing.

Monika Chvorak is the Guardian’s news and video editor and one of our residents Eurovision super fans. Here’s what she thinks so far:

In the words of Windows95man: NO RULES! This year’s show turned out to be incredibly entertaining and there were very few boring songs. hooray!

So far tonight I have loved Ukraine – such a haunting yet powerful and beautiful ballad – and Armenia. It’s fun, traditional with a modern twist, has a feminist message and a man on the flute – what more could you ask for?

Although with so many strong entries I’m worried they won’t do as well as I’d like and thus become my 2024 “they really deserved more” side.

I really want to talk about Ireland. The song, the staging, the symbolism: it’s such a compelling performance that you can’t look away (even though it’s slightly terrifying). It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but you can’t deny that it’s incredibly creative and different from anything we’ve seen before in this contest, so I applaud it.

But I’m really looking forward to my homeland, Sloveniaand my favorite to win this year, Croatia. The audience loved Baby Lasagna during the first semi-final and there is a part of the song where the entire arena mimics the dance moves. Rim Tim Tagi Dim!