Tonight: Eurovision 2018 Semi-final 2

We already know the first 16 songs qualified for the Grand Final on Saturday. Tonight the second Semi-final will find the last 10 qualifiers.

18 songs will compete but only 10 will qualify for Saturday's Grand Final. The show starts at 21:00 CEST, live from Lisbon's Altice Arena in Portugal. Hosts are Filomena Cautela, Sílvia Alberto, Daniela Ruah and Catarina Furtado. The running order has been decided by the producer (Portuguese broadcaster RTP) based on an allocation draw.

How to watch Eurovision 2018 Semi-final 2:

• TV: All participating countries will broadcast the show
• YouTube

On Saturday the Grand Final kicks off with 26 songs.

Lineup Semi-final 2

After the 18 songs from the second Semi-final, a 1-minute preview of three of the six pre-qualified countries will be shown: France, Germany and Italy. These previews have been recorded yesterday at the jury rehearsals.

Opening

The second semi-final starts exactly like Semi-final 1. We are on the ocean in rough sea becoming calm. All Aboard! Flying over the ocean and the famous bridges leading to Lisbon city. The next minutes we will see every tourist attractions in Lisbon, the old city, castles, trams, tiles on the houses... All the things that make Lisbon so beautiful.

The camera is panning over the arena – All Aboard! – Inside the arena now.
The four hosts of Eurovision 2018 Filomena Cautela, Sílvia Alberto, Daniela Ruah & Catarina Furtado welcome us: Welcome to the second Semi-final of Eurovision Song Contest 2018!

Next the hosts are talking – a lot. You can hear screams from seagulls and a rhythm starts. Like something is about to happen. But nothing is happening. The voting is introduced.
Let the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 begin!

Interval Acts

After the voting has been kicked off, we'll take another trip down memory lane with another chapter of "Escopedia", continuing from Tuesday's Semi-final 1.

In the good old days, Eurovision was a sober contest with sober contestants. Now the hosts dance some of the good old Eurovision songs like Puppet On A String, Dschinghis Khan and Euphoria.

Europe. Stop voting now!

Next is a video showing the creation of the postcards, with funny outtakes starring this year's contestants. Next up: Planet Portugal. A sketch about the typical "Portuguese species". Then and now.

What if a Eurovision song could change history? Video: In 1974 the Portuguese song E Depois Do Adeus was used as a signal for a movement that brought peace back to Portugal. When the song was played on Portuguese radio in the evening of 24 April 1974 at 22:55, it was the signal to the revolution to start, leading to the democratic Portugal we know today.

Back in the Green Room the hosts speak with three of the six pre-qualified countries that will also broadcast and vote in Semi-final 1: France, Germany and Italy. A pre-recorded snippet of the three songs are shown.

Results: The 10 songs qualified for Saturday's Grand Final. Good Night Europe.

Voting

The voting procedure will be the same as previous two years. Each country will have two sets of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10 and 12 points to give. One set for each country's jury, and one set for each country's televoting.

• The 10 songs with most points will qualify to the Grand Final
• Each of the 18 countries participating in Semi-final 2 will vote
• The pre-qualified countries France, Germany and Italy will broadcast and vote in Semi-final 2
• Each country has a national jury who gave one set of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10 and 12 points.
• Each country will have televoting which also results in a set of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10 and 12 points
• The voting will not be revealed before the Grand Final has finished on Saturday
• Only the 10 qualified songs will be revealed in random order
• Televoters and national juries have equal weight in the voting
• The national juries voted yesterday evening (Wednesday, 9 May) based on the second dress-rehearsal