Eurovision 2023 has started this Tuesday with a first semifinal of height thanks to the advance of the duel between the two great favorites, who have reaffirmed their chances of victory: the Finnish Käärijä and the Swedish Loreenwho returns through the front door after his 2012 victory.

Together with them, the representatives of Portugal, Norway, Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Israel, Serbia, while Malta, Latvia, Azerbaijan, the Netherlands and Ireland have been left out.

The broadcast, which has counted among its out-of-competition performances with the well-known singer Rita Ora, has started shouting “Eurovision is coming to Liverpool!” in the city that saw the birth of pop music as the cradle of the Beatles and which has opened as the venue for the festival due to the impossibility of holding it in the 2022 winning country, Ukraine, which acts as co-host.

This has been seen in the quartet of presenters, the British Alesha Dixon, Hannah Waddingham and Graham Norton and the Ukrainian Julia Sanina, and also in the postcards prior to the performances, which have combined images from both countries and also from the country of origin. of each representative.

Fifteen have participated in the semifinal this Tuesday, starting with the Norwegian Alessandra and her Viking song ‘Queen of kings’which has been progressively deflating in the bookmakers as the trials progressed these days, but has still managed to pass.

The dynamic staging of the Maltese band The Busker has taken over, raising the funky saxophone touch of their ‘Dance (Own Our Party)’, as has happened to gothic electronica. ‘Samo mi se spava’ by the young Serbian Luke Black and the satire on the corruption of the Croats Let3, a waste of absurd humor that has left them in their underwear on stage.

The call to the world conscience of the Latvian indies’ Sudden Lights with ‘Aijaa’ has not been as epic as it was intended, a force of which there is plenty the Portuguese Mimicat, with an ‘Ai Coraçao’ that combines cabaret with folk elements such as the Portuguese guitar.

Contemporary folklore has had more representatives, see the Moldovan Pasha Parfeni with ‘Soarele çi Luna’ and their electronic arrangements or choral and empowering singing with hints of hip hop from the Czechs Vesna with ‘My sister’s crown’.

The influence of U2 has been perceived in the strings and the message of the Irish Wild Youth in ‘We Are One’, not so much in the easy chorus or in the inexplicable golden Elvis-esque wardrobe, because for diva in this edition it is Israeli Noa Kirel with her ‘Unicorn’ and an intrepid (and somewhat forced) choreographic interlude that seemed to want to match by all means like that of Chanel in 2022.

Towards the end it has been verified that this is not a year of ballads, neither by presence nor by weak punch like that of ‘Watergun’ by the Swiss Remo Forrer, especially in comparison with the exception that confirms the rule: Loree’s cathartic ‘Tattoo’n, an Atlas with the weight of the sentimental tear on her head, also a sorceress with kilometric nails invoking lightning.

After her, the Azerbaijanis TuralTuranX have been completely harmless with their cordial ‘Tell me more’ and the Dutch duo Nicolai & Cooper with ‘Burning Daylight’, even more so before the final bomb, Käärijä and that ‘Cha Cha Cha’ a bit Rammstein, crazy and fun, pregnant with iconic moments in its visual proposal and so catchy that it has ended with half the venue singing the chorus along.

This Thursday another 16 countries will fight for the 10 qualifying places in a second, more decaffeinated semifinal, but in which you can also see a preview of the performance of the Spanish Blanca Paloma with her ‘EaEa’, fifth currently in the betting.