Today the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest continues with Semi-final 2, broadcast live from Turin, Italy. The second of the three big nights of the 2022 contest week starts at 21:00 CEST from Turin, as this time we are on Italian soil after Måneskin’s triumph last year with the song “Zitti E Buoni”.
A year After Måneskin’s win
A year after Måneskin’s mesmerizing win in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, and after a fabulous Eurovision pre-party season, the day has finally arrived that the European continent, and of course Australia, reunite for the world’s biggest music festival, the Eurovision Song Contest. As of today, three wonderful shows are presented to you on three separate evenings, 2 Semi-finals and the Grand Final. During these nights, on the 10th, 12th, and the 14th of May 2022, representatives of no less than 40 countries are presenting their competing songs with fabulous staging and creative magic as can only be seen during the Eurovision Song Contest.
This year’s venue
This year’s venue is the PalaOlimpico in the beautiful Italian city of Turin. The venue is situated in Santa Rita, one of Turin’s quarters. The PalaOlimpico was build to host the hockey competition of the 2066 Olympic Winter Games, and has a capacity of 14,000 spectators; this venue is even considered to be the best sports venue there is in Italy, so it is most definitely Eurovision Song Contest ready.
The sound of beauty
The slogan of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is “The Sound of Beauty”, and with that slogan in mind you can watch the second Semi-final tonight at 21:00 CEST. Below you can find a list of the 18 countries that will perform tonight during the second Semi-final of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest, held in Turin, Italy. The competing 18 countries will battle it out for 1 of the 10 Grand Final spots, which means that already 8 countries can pack their bags after tonight’s live show.
The competing countries in Semi-final:
| POSITION AND COUNTRY | REPRESENTATIVE | SONG |
|---|---|---|
 01 FINLAND | The Rasmus | “Jezebel” |
 02 ISRAEL | Michael Ben David | “I.M” |
 03 SERBIA | Konstrakta | “In Corpore Sano” |
 04 AZERBAIJAN | Nadir Rustamli | “Fade To Black” |
 05 GEORGIA | Circus Mircus | “Lock Me In” |
 06 MALTA | Emma Muscat | “I Am What I Am” |
 07 SAN MARINO | Achille Lauro | “Stripper” |
 08 AUSTRALIA | Sheldon Riley | “Not The Same” |
 09 CYPRUS | Andromache | “Ela” |
 10 IRELAND | Brooke | “That’s Rich” |
 11 NORTH MADECONIA | Andrea | “Circles” |
 12 ESTONIA | Stefan | “Hope” |
 13 ROMANIA | WRS | “Llámame” |
 14 POLAND | Ochman | “River” |
 15 MONTENEGRO | Vladana | “Breathe” |
 16 BELGIUM | Jérémie Makiese | “Miss You” |
 17 SWEDEN | Cornelia Jakobs | “Hold Me Closer” |
 18 CZECH REPUBLIC | We Are Domi | “Lights Off” |
The voting system
The 18 countries which compete are also able to vote tonight, except not for their own country. Next to the votes of the competing countries, also 3 countries of the Big 5 (France, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Spain), will give their votes; in Semi-final 2 these countries are Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Note: On the nights before the evening of the live show, during the second dress rehearsal of the Semi-finals as well as the Grand Final, the national professional juries of the competing countries give their votes; these votes count for 50% of the grand total. The public votes, which are granted during the live shows make up for the other 50%.
The hosts
The Italian hosts of the Semi-finals, as well as the Grand Final are Mika, Laura Pausini, and Alessandro Cattelan.
Laura Pausini
Laura Pausini is one of Italy’s most-famous singers, and she also has a very international career. Laura Pausini was born in Solarolo in Ravenna, Italy on May 16th 1974. Laura is also referred to as “the queen of Italian pop music”. Laura started singing when she was just 8 years old together with her father Fabrizio, and in 1993 she rose to worldwide fame when she was the winner of the debutants segment of the famous San Remo Festival, the festival on which the Eurovision Song Contest is based. Laura Pausini already has a Golden Globe under her belt in the “Best Original Song” category, and she was also nominated for an Oscar in the same category. This win and nomination were for the song “Io sì” in the Netflix movie, “The Life Ahead”.
Alessandro Cattelan
Alessandro Cattelan was born on May 11th 1980 in Tortona, Italy. Alessandro is one of Italy’s most well-known radio and TV presenters; one of his presenter positions was at MTV Italia. Next to this, Alessandro was the presenter of the Italian version of the famous talent show “X-Factor” from 2011 until 2020. In 2021 Alessandro joined the National Italian Broadcaster, RAI. Alessandro was also a candidate to host the San Remo Festival in 2020.
Mika
Mika, real name “Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr.”, was born on August 18th 1983 in Beirut, Lebanon. Mika rose to fame when his first album came out in 2007; the album sold a staggering 5.6 million copies, and he even won a Brit Award for it. World famous songs of Mika are: Grace Kelly, Relax (Take It Easy), and “We Are Golden”. Mika has been a judge on the X-Factor Italia from 2013 until 2015, where he also got to meet his Eurovision host colleague Alessandro Cattelan. Miks returned to the X-Factor Italia in 2020 and 2021. Mika speaks 7 languages fluently, among them English, French, and Italian.
THE SHOW, GUESTS AND INTERVAL ACTS
This year’s Eurovision Song contest is a great show with guests and interval acts. Below you can find everything you can expect in the second Semi-final.
Behind the scenes
The second semi-final of Eurovision 2022 starts with a comedic sketch where Alessandro Cattelan shows what is happening behind-the-scenes to make the Eurovision Song Contest possible and the visual effects to use when the stress is coming. He also has to dance in the opening act but he does not know how to do it. However, it is the magic of making things work without any knowledge. Will Alessandro be able to do a good dance?
“Fragile” by Sting and “People Have the Power” by Patti Smith
The first interval act features our hosts, Laura Pausini and Mika, singing in a duet the songs “Fragile” by Sting and “People Have the Power” by Patti Smith.
Il Volo
Il Volo, Italian representatives at Eurovision 2015 and winners of the Sanremo Festival 2015 will perform an English-Italian version of their 2015 Eurovision song and Sanremo winning entry “Grande Amore”. Ignazio Boschetto and Piero Barone will be present in the arena while the other member of the band, Gianluca Ginoble, will sing from home because he is infected with COVID-19.
Where to watch?
Turin awaits! Do not forget that you can follow the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 live tonight, starting at 21:00 CEST on TV or on the ESCPlus multi-window system, which you can find by clicking here.
In case you cannot watch the contest on TV, make sure to watch it online! Below you can find a list of where you can watch the Eurovision Song Contest, either on TV or online.
| Country | Link | Alternative Link |
|---|---|---|
| Eurovision.tv | See | |
| Italy | See | See |
| Spain | See | |
| Sweden | See | |
| Portugal | See | See |
| Israel | See | See |
| Greece | See | |
| Malta | See | |
| Georgia | See | |
| Lithuania | See | |
| Slovenia | See | |
| Iceland | See | |
| Germany | See | See |
| Estonia | See | See |
| Austria | See | |
| Croatia | See | |
| Cyprus | See | See |
| Czech Republic | See | |
| Norway | See | See |
| Belgium | See | See |
| Romania | See | See |
Satellite
| Country | Channel | Satellite | Frequency | Polarity | SR | FEC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 1.tv Georgia | Azerspace (46.0° E) | 11095.00 | V | 30000 | 5/6 |
| Sweden | SVT1 HD | Thor 5 (0.8°W) | 11216.00 | V | 25000 | 3/4 |
| Portugal | RTPi | Hot Bird (13.0°E) | 11334.00 | H | 27500 | 3/4 |
| Germany | ONE HD | Astra (19.2°E) | 11052.75 | H | 22000 | 2/3 |
And don’t forget, there’s still time to vote in our semi-final poll– help us predict which countries will qualify!
Vote like a professional jury member
Tonight and on upcoming Thursday and Saturday you can vote like a professional jury member during the live shows! Make use of our score card, and feel like the final decision is in your hand. ESCplus makes the Eurovision Song Contest interactive, especially for you!