What’s On This Weekend? Your Eurovision Guide! (Part 1)

As we inch closer to the Eurovision song submission deadline, there’s an influx of national finals, and as the dedicated Eurovision fans that we all are, we can’t help but tune into some of the shows to see if our favourites win. This weekend proves to be a big one, so if you’re lucky enough to be in Europe, don’t make plans this weekend, or if you’re Australian like me, make sure you get to bed early enough so waking up at around 4am is less brutal.

I promised a big weekend, and here it is. There’s a total of 6 shows, with Hungary and Lithuania both continuing their national final processes, while Ukraine, Sweden, Switzerland and Latvia join the Eurovision party. This guide will hopefully give you an overview of each show to help you decide what you may want to watch this weekend – a small taster of what to expect.

Let’s start off with the usual culprits, Lithuania and Hungary, and then discuss Sweden and Ukraine. In part two of What’s On This Weekend, we’ll recap Latvia and Switzerland, with the latter choosing their Eurovision entry on Sunday.

Lithuania – 4^th February

We’ve now heard all the entries that were submitted to the Lithuanian broadcaster, minus the couple that decided to pull out last minute. Now that all four heats are complete, the selection is moving on to the next stage, which will feature all the qualified acts. This weekend, we’ll be seeing 12 of the 24 qualified acts.

To refresh your memory, here are the acts performing this week:

• Paula Valentaitė – Never Let You Go

• Milda Martinkėnaitė & Saulenė Chlevickaitė – Paperheart

• Gytis Ivanauskas – Get Frighten

• Benas Malakauskas – Rolling

• Otreya – Last Two Weeks

• Edgaras Lubys – Could It Be

• E.G.O – My Story

• Gabrielius Vagelis – Feel Myself Free

• Ieva Zasimauskaitė – You Saved Me

• Fusedmarc – Rain of Revolution

• Valdas Lacko – It’s so Unfair

• Gražvydas – Paint The Sky Blue

With such a range of choice of national finals this weekend, this could be the one we miss this week. As for the format of the show, we aren’t too sure how this will be different to the heats, so if you’ve already seen or heard the songs, it may not be worth tuning into.

Hungary – 4^th February

Hungary’s national final also continues this week, with the third and final heat. In this heat, there will be 10 acts, and 6 will qualify into the semi-finals. Here are the 10 acts:

• Kyra Fedor – Got to Be a Day

• Enikő Muri – Jericho

• Benjámin Pál – Father’s Eyes

• Joci Pápai – Origo

• Gigi Radics – See It Through

• Orsi Sapszon – Hunyd le Szemed

• Soulwave – Kalandor

• The Couple – Vége van

• TOTOVA – Hosszú idők

• Zävodi + Olivér Berkes – #háttérzaj

These ten acts have not yet taken to the stage, so if you’ve been following the Hungarian national final, it’s worth a watch. So far, 6 acts from heat one and 6 acts from heat two have been chosen, so the final 6 will join the already chosen 12 in the semi-finals which begin on the 11^th of Feb.

Sweden – 4^th February

Sweden’s Melodifestivalen is one of the most anticipated national finals of Eurovision season, even to the point that the national final is often more popular in Sweden than Eurovision is. As such, many will choose to tune in, and this is also due to the fact that Sweden’s broadcaster is so secretive about the entrants. Curiosity will get the better of a lot of people, I’m sure, but at least you know Sweden will be putting on a good show.

Despite the secrecy, we do know who will be participating in this first heat. Here are the acts:

• Boris René – Her Kiss

• Adrijana – Amare

• Dinah Nah – One More Night

• De Vet Du – Road Trip

• Charlotte Perrelli – Mitt liv

• Ace Wilder – Wild Chold

• Nano – Hold On

It will be the choice of many this weekend, and I can see why. It’s a seemingly good line-up (I say seemingly, as we haven’t actually heard the songs yet!), with fan favourite Ace Wilder, former Eurovision winner Charlotte Perrelli and Melfest favourites Dinah Nah and Boris René.

Ukraine – 4^th February

Host nation Ukraine has gone all out this year with their national final, holding three semi-finals and of course the final. On Saturday, the first semi-final is taking place, where 8 acts will be taking to the stage. The songs competing are:

• SKAI – All My Love For You

• Roman Veremeychik & Lumiere – Make It Real

• Monochromea – Blue Bird

• Laliko – Sugar Whisper

• Salto Nazad – O, Mamo!

• MamaRika – We Are One

• Tayanna – I Love You

• Arsen Mirzoyan – Dzheraldina

The expert jury consists of composer and producer Konstantin Meladze, 2016 Eurovision winner and singer-songwriter Jamala and Andriy Danylko, who you may know as Verka Serduchka! The show may be worth watching just for Verka alone, but Melfest proves to be tough TV competition!

Want to know more about Latvia and Switzerland’s weekend shows as well? Find out more in Part Two of What’s On This Weekend!