Eurovision 2023: Wild Youth miss out on Saturday's final

Irish entrant Wild Youth have failed to reach the Eurovision final this Saturday after missing out at tonight's first semi-final.

The band performed 'We Are One' in Liverpool, competing against 14 other entrants from around the continent, but unfortunately missed out on the needed points.

Taking to the stage sixth tonight in Liverpool following gruelling rehearsals and preview shows, the Dublin band delivered a vocally powerful performance, but voters ultimately didn't connect with the quartet. The UK were omitted from tonight's semi-final voter-wise, which may have dented the Irish entrant's advantage.

15 acts participated in tonight's show and a further 16 will compete in a second semi-final on Thursday, set to air on RTE Two.

John Lydon may have tried his hand at repping Ireland at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, but the Sex Pistol was pipped to the post by the pop outfit Wild Youth. The four-piece have previously toured with Lewis Capaldi and Westlife, and feature Conor O'Donoghue on lead vocals, plus David Whelan, Ed Porter and Callum McAdam.

The first of two semi-finals aired tonight on RTE One at 8pm, as Norway kicked off proceedings with the single 'Queen of Kings.' Finland closed out tonight's portion of the competition as entry Karrija performs 'Cha Cha Cha', before voting opens.

Julia Sanina, Hannah Waddingham and Alesha Dixon are hosting this year's Eurovision, with Graham Norton set to join them on stage for the Eurovision finale. Marty Whelan will be on hand as RTE commentator for the event, as usual.

All live shows are also available to watch via Eurovision's YouTube channel. Norton previously described Wild Youth as "dark horses" ahead of this year's competition.

The UK is hosting Eurovision 2023 on behalf of Ukraine, who were runaway winners of last year’s contest in Italy with Kalush Orchestra. It marked a politically charged buildup to the event in 2022 which saw Russia barred from competing. Ukraine’s original selection for the contest, Alina Pash, pulling out due to claims she had illegally entered Crimea in the years after Moscow’s 2014 invasion of the territory.

The last of the competing acts were picked months ago, while the running orders for the semi-finals were finalised just after St Patrick’s Day and rehearsals have been under way at the cavernous Liverpool Arena since the end of last month.

As men of fighting age, Kalush Orchestra had to be given special dispensation to leave the country for Eurovision and were long been considered favourites to claim the top prize. Later, the band sold the gong to raise funds for their nation's army.

This year, Sweden’s Loreen is a favourite as she returns with another dance floorfiller, 'Tattoo'. You may remember her from winning the contest in Azerbaijan back in 2012 with the booming (and still epic) anthem 'Euphoria'. Finnish rapper Käärijä is another one to watch.

The UK was named as host nation last July in part because its 2022 act, Sam Ryder, came second in the contest. Liverpool was finally chosen as the host city after beating Glasgow in a runoff in October 2022.

As a well-established live act, four piece Wild Youth are hoping can break a bad streak for Ireland in the contest. Back in the 1990s, we managed to win three years in a row.

This year, the professional juries have been scrapped for the Tuesday and Thursday shows and the decision will be solely down to a public vote. There’ll also be an opportunity for people in non-competing countries to have their say in a ‘rest of world’ vote.

The top ten acts on each semi-final night qualify. The qualifiers are simply told who will be going through to the final rather than a buildup announcement like the grand final/

Six other acts will go straight through to the final. Last year’s winners Ukraine - plus the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy - get a bye into the decider. They pay a greater share towards organising the contest each year, hence the sailing through.

The score for each country in the final comes from a combination of a jury and public vote. The jury vote is announced first, followed by the audience votes.