Vienna got the first Eurovision semi-final on Tuesday, and Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski got a harsh reception for opening the show. The pair, who hosted the event in the Wiener Stadthalle, tried to generate a good mood, but the night was judged to have plenty of room for improvement.
The two were marked down for an interplay described as too bumpy and moderation that felt too wooden. Swarovski explained the ESC grading system in a note-explainer at the university, while Ostrowski was seen as more at home on the theater stage and in film than on a big live television show. Their effort to build atmosphere even carried them into the Green Room, where they appeared in a green janker and later turned up in a joint number with Australia’s previous-year participant Go-Jo, built around the Anglo-Saxon confusion of Austria and Australia.
Blue News gave the first semi-final a score of 4.5 and called the assignment a “mission impossible.” That reaction reflected the scale of the comparison hanging over Vienna. In Basel, Sandra Studer, Hazel Brugger and Michelle Hunziker had set a very high bar before the contest moved on, and the Viennese duo were immediately measured against that standard.
The contest itself provided enough spectacle to keep moving. Legendary singer Vicky Leandros opened the evening with “L’amour est bleu,” while Italy’s Sal Da Vinci performed “Per sempre si” out of competition and Sarah Engels appeared for Germany with “Fire” in the same slot. The Big Five, the contest’s biggest financial backers, are automatically qualified for the final, which is why they are allowed to perform without competing in the semi-finals.
Watson.ch was even blunter, saying Austria had put on a mediocre, old-fashioned show and adding, “That’s not 12 points - more like 4.” There were musical fireworks and occasional off-key notes, but the main story from the first semi-final was not the songs alone. It was the gap between the show Vienna wanted to present and the uneven television it actually delivered.
The second semi-final was scheduled for Thursday, with the Grand Final set for Saturday. After a shaky opening night, Austria still has two more chances to reset the tone before the contest reaches its decisive end.
