Eurovision acts held rehearsals on Friday (May 21) on the eve of the finale of the song contest in Rotterdam.
Most had successfully competed in semi-finals over the course of the week, joining the “big five” – Italy, Spain, Britain, France and Germany – plus hosts the Netherlands in the final on Saturday.
Twenty-six performers in all will compete in the show in front of an audience of 3,500 — 20 percent of the capacity of the Ahoy arena — with everyone obliged to show a negative COVID-19 test.
The bookmakers see Italy’s glam rock number “Zitti e Buoni” by Maneskin and France’s paired-back chanson “Voila” as the front runners in the contest which will be decided by the jury and the public.
Iceland’s Dadi og Gagnamagnid have suffered a COVID-19 outbreak in the band meaning a rehearsal video will be broadcast instead of a live performance.
The Netherlands is hosting the 65th edition of the event, which draws a television audience of about 200 million, after Dutch singer-songwriter Duncan Laurence won the 2019 contest with the song “Arcade”. The event was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.
