Tonight should have been the second semi-final of Eurovision 2020. But, rather than gathering together in Rotterdam, Eurovision fans are spreading the love virtually at home following the contest’s cancellation. To replace the semi-final two show, the EBU premiered the second part of Eurovision Song Celebration 2020 on its YouTube channel for fans to watch instead.
As part of this, the music videos of all 18 entries that were set to compete in the second semi-final were shown. But, to add an extra level of excitement, the songs were played in the running order that producers had originally decided upon for the actual contest.
Many fans enjoy scrutinising the running order to predict which entries might have been given the best opportunity to shine, and which entries could have been buried between favourites. And now, we have the opportunity to do just that for semi-final two of Eurovision 2020.
Eurovision 2020 semi-final two running order
- 🇬🇷 Greece: Stefania – “SUPERG!RL”
- 🇪🇪 Estonia: Uku Suviste – “What Love Is”
- 🇦🇹 Austria: Vincent Bueno – “Alive”
- 🇲🇩 Moldova: Natalia Gordienko – “Prison”
- 🇸🇲 San Marino: Senhit – “Freaky!”
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic: Benny Cristo – “Kemama”
- 🇷🇸 Serbia: Hurricane – “Hasta La Vista”
- 🇵🇱 Poland: Alicja – “Empires”
- 🇮🇸 Iceland: Daði og Gagnamagnið – “Think About Things”
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland: Gjon’s Tears – “Répondez-moi”
- 🇩🇰 Denmark: Ben & Tan – “Yes”
- 🇦🇱 Albania: Arilena Ara – “Fall From The Sky”
- 🇫🇮 Finland: Aksel – “Looking Back”
- 🇦🇲 Armenia: Athena Manoukian – “Chains On You”
- 🇵🇹 Portugal: Elisa – “Medo De Sentir”
- 🇬🇪 Georgia: Tornike Kipiani – “Take Me As I Am”
- 🇧🇬 Bulgaria: VICTORIA – “Tears Getting Sober”
- 🇱🇻 Latvia: Samanta Tīna – “Still Breathing”
Eurovision Song Celebration 2020: Part two
In addition to the running order reveal, we also got some other fun surprises as part of the second episode of Eurovision Song Celebration 2020.
The participants were tasked with singing their song in their native language (if they weren’t already). Samanta Tīna gave us a rendition of “Still Breathing” in Latvian, while Alicja sung “Empires” in Polish. Vincent Bueno also performed part of “Alive” in Austrian-German.
Following a recap of some of the Eurovision Home Concerts performances from over the past few weeks, we were then invited back into the homes of this year’s contestants for a virtual home tour. Gjon’s Tears shared his vinyl collection with us, while Stefania showed us inside her wardrobe.
James Newman revealed he likes to cook his eggs ‘low and slow’ and Senhit introduced us to her dog Buddy. Finally, Tom Leeb showed us around all the different places in his house where he likes to write music.
The music videos for France’s, Spain’s and the United Kingdom’s Eurovision 2020 entries were also shown. These countries had been selected as the three automatic qualifiers that would have been able to vote in the second semi-final.
A number of YouTube creators from various countries were also given the opportunity to give their opinions on some of this year’s songs.
Finally, the recap of the semi-final two entries at the end of the show was made up of clips submitted by fans from across Europe and the entire globe. We got to see people performing their own versions of the songs and enjoying the music that the Eurovision 2020 artists have gifted us.
What do you make of the semi-final two running order? Who do you think would have benefited and suffered the most from their placing? Let us know in the comments below!
Greece opening the show is not a suprise: it is an uplifting happy song-even without a revamp-and had probably great staging that required extra time for installation…
After both the semi finals running orders were revealed, I would lime to share my predictions on who would qualify. FIRST SEMI FINAL There are eight countries I can’t see not qualyfing: -Lithuania -Russia -Romania -Israel -Malta -Sweden -Azerbaijan -Ukraine I strongly believe the 9th finalist would have been Norway, mainly thanks to juries The tenth finalist js realky difficult to predict for me but Even before knowing the draw, I believed it wouldn’t have been Australia, now it would be even harder. For me Montaigne woud have been bottom 5 with televoting and 6th-10th with juries, and that would… Read more »
My qualifiers would be (in random order) Greee, San Marino, Serbia, Poland, Iceland, Switzerland, Denmark, Armenia, Bulgaria, Latvia.
Again I would probably change my mind about some of the songs after seeing them live, but as it is my qualifiers would be: Switzerland, Czech Republic, Iceland, Finland, Serbia, San Marino, Denmark, Moldova, Greece and Austria – I would probably vote for Switzerland, Iceland and Finland (can’t vote for Czech Republic for the obvious reason) + whoever my mom would like. Hard to say who would impress her – Iceland (she heard part of it and didn’t seem to hate it)? Austria? Georgia maybe?
Hey guys, I do understand why you are surprised by Greece opening, but please i will explain why you should not! The version of Superg!rl that is out in the YT is not the one that Stef would have performed in ESC! You see, on Monday 18/5 Superg!rl’s Eurovision version will come out, that means that the version with which we would see Greece competing is the one that will come out, so do not be shocked cause the EV version is more dance and reminds Summer a lot! Keep in mind that they were planning an outstanding staging! Wait… Read more »
Armenia got outstanding spot
With a bad song
Interesting. Unless they know something about the intended staging that I don’t, I’m very surprised that Austria is not opening this SF. Greece isn’t a bad opener but definitely not an obvious choice. I don’t think running orders matter that much but this doesn’t look like it would’ve been good for Moldova or Poland in terms of their qualification chances.
Moldova and Poland weren’t standout songs to begin with if we’re being honest
I think Switzerland wasn’t given a great slot at all – if the ad break took place after song 9, then Switzerland would have opened the second half of the show. And straight after the ad break isn’t a brilliant slot. Iceland has also got a lot of buzz pre-contest with even non-Eurovision fan friends of mine being aware of it (and sharing the video on social media etc), so I wonder if a lot of people (non-committed viewers) would have tuned out after seeing Iceland (especially if there was an ad break following.) Also, two favourites in a row… Read more »
Oooh you’re right. I didn’t even consider breaks. …It would’ve probably been after Iceland, wouldn’t it have? I can’t see much of a reason for that unless Switzerland had very elaborate staging that needed time setting up.
Or…I wonder if they were trying deliberately to lower Switzerland’s chances at all…helping Iceland and Bulgaria which were the other two favorites who also haven’t won yet…perhaps they really wanted a new country to win this year
Switzerland would’ve qualified regardless of its spot though. Even if it were in 2nd.
Oh definitely, it would have qualified for sure, but I completely agree with your point in your first message as well – it makes me think Switzerland didn’t have huge support to win from the powers that be. Though you’d think after 32 years, they’d have support to win again. It would also be 32 years since a French song last won, crazy when you think how French dominated for so long (until 1988).
Greece opening really surprised me, but they must have had some ambitious staging planned!
Also there was supposed the be a Superg!rl revamp, it was supposed to make the songs more summer-bopish. But thankfully the revamp will be released Monday.
Geeogia got 16 position same like they had in 2010,2016,2015 and they qualified…
Weird running order lol …San Marino, CZ. Serbia one after another is really interesting ….also Albania and Finland..
I thinl there would be a break every 6 songs, so Czechia and Serbia wouldn’t have been one after another and the same for Albania/Finland
Yeah probably, i forgot about breaks haha thanks
Putting two favorites (Iceland and Switzerland) back-to-back makes me wonder whether this would’ve caused some cancelling out that could’ve led to helping the third favorite (Bulgaria). My thoughts at first were that Iceland would win the televote while Switzerland would take the jury win but now I’m not as sure. Bulgaria could’ve taken both with the right staging. Estonia and Portugal seem like the certain bottom two. Finland, Moldova, and Poland probably would’ve also struggled and probably would not have made it. The biggest borderlines I think are Greece, Austria, Georgia, Albania, and Denmark. Greece might’ve had a rough time… Read more »
My prediction after draw
1.Switzerland
2.Bulgaria
3.Iceland
4.Greece
5.Denmark
6.Moldova
7.Georgia
8.Armenia
9.Latvia
10.Serbia
11.Poland
12.Albania
13.Estonia
14.San Marino
15.Finland
16.Czech Republic
17.Austria
18.Portugal
in I (6-8) and II (5-7) semi, 3 uptempo song one after another. Did EBU choose producer draw from 2013 to avoid that.
I predicted that Latvia would close. Some say that it might’ve been a Triana Park situation but I think Triana Park was a bit more polarizing as a package and had bad sound mix together with Agnese’s vocal and backing volcalists. This showcased a bit more range and I think was a bit more accesible. Suprised about Greece opening tho.
I think Greece would have struggled for the final as a opener not gonna lie, I can see it being a shocking non qualifier of this year. Other then that, countries killed by the running order are Estonia and Poland. I don’t see either of them qualifying. Austria, Moldova, Czech Republic and San Marion I can all seeing elevating with the staging so I’m not writing them off completely. Two fan favorites Iceland and Switzerland one after the another is interesting. Latvia closing the semi is also very interesting and it could make them assure their qualification. But let’s not… Read more »
Estonia would’ve been this year’s 41st place
Why would you put the 2 party songs (Kemama, Hasta la Vista) back to back??
Probably cause Serbia would give Hasta la Vista to the final …
Such a bad semi, 9 bad to average songs in a row and then we get Switzerland which is good but still a ballad. I honestly felt NOTHING in all the songs until Denmark’s. Semi-final 1 was LEAGUES ahead of semi 2.
But remember, guys, the running orders are also based on what info the delegations gave regarding stage performance plans. This suggests that Ukraine and Latvia might have had something interesting up their sleeves since they were chosen to close the semis.
Poland in 2015 closed the semi and singer did not have nothing interesting on the stage ….
My thoughts on this running order: 1. Greece – Interesting. Wasn’t my first choice of opener but this might’ve meant that Greece had ambitious plans for staging. 2. Estonia – After whatever Greece is doing, Uku’s candles and love signs won’t be enough. 3. Austria – Imo, this should’ve opened. 3rd isn’t great, he’d still be borderline. Staging could be anything. 4. Moldova – Too close to Estonia. Moldova probably would’ve had great staging. Could’ve come close to qualifying. 5. San Marino – This would’ve definitely stood out, but not in the right way. 6. Czech Republic – Curious, same… Read more »
Kinda surprised they put Iceland and Switzerland back to back. You’d think they’d put a weaker song in between the two as a buffer.
Latvia also closed a semi in 2017. It didn’t do them much good then, they were 41st overall.
Triana Park ended breathing already after Latvian national selection ….
If any song is suited to the dreaded second slot, it’s Estonia.
How mean doing this to Estonia, there should have been something more suitable in this slot, say Denmark
Denmark was in the second half they couldn’t perform 2nd. Estonia was literally destined to perform second so…
Agree, clearly the biggest no-hoper this year, so let it perform in the death slot. It won’t make a difference (harsh but true) and it saves a more deserving song from being doomed…
They really wanted to kill us as much as possible
and rightly so tbh, the fact that u guys chose uku over jaagup and Shira and egert is honestly shocking
San Marino should’ve performed 2nd. I can’t see anybody voting for it, whereas “What Love Is” still has supporters among the older generation and those ex-socialist countries.
Will there maybe be an artical about how some of the performances would look like , that would be awesome
Some artists already mentioned their staging plans in an interview with Nikkie on YouTube
I think this running order would have sunk any chance Estonia, Finland, Czech Republic or Poland had to qualify. Latvia closing would have assured her qualification. Definite qualifiers would have been: Iceland, Bulgaria, Latvia, Armenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia and Denmark. Probably then Georgia and Albania , given the order, but possibly San Marino or Austria with strong presentations.
Bulgaria was the one to watch, obviously. Latvia as the close is good. I think Denmark and Armenia could’ve been interesting choices to end. Greece as the open is a little interesting. Austria probably should’ve opened.