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On the eve of the only real SUPER SATURDAY this year, it’s your weekly round-up of teeny, tiny news stories. Texture to the bigger picture. Stuff we used to write whole pages about, but which sort of feels better in a weekly catch-up. Everyone’s busy, after all. But first…
Let’s start with news from Vienna. With hopes for a cash-in concert dashed, and reception for a celebration book decidedly lukewarm, the Eurovision bigwigs need a win. They’re hoping third time’s the charm with an exhibition to celebrate 70 years of Eurovision. And nothing says Eurovision quite like Bradford, West Yorkshire, does it? Read all about it here. Elsewhere RTVE Spain continues to enjoy a leading role as thorn in the side of the EBU. RTVE Chair José Pablo López has announced plans to “open a serious debate” regarding a reform of EBU statutes that would bar countries in conflict from Eurovision. And if you are in the market for a ticket to any of the shows this May, a final ‘wave’ goes on sale March 26 at 15:00CET.
As well as all the national final news this weekend, we’ll be hearing from Australia on Sunday night at 19:00 CET (morning in Aus), as their internal selection news breaks. This year’s (and let’s face it pretty much every year’s) main rumour has been that Delta Goodrem has signed up.
Azerbaijan has picked both singer and song – in theory they did it yesterday. We’ll find out more in due course, with a press conference promised sometime next week.
Over in Finland, YLE Entertainment executive producer Juha Lahti has gone on the record (again, technically) to confirm that the UMK 2026 winner is not obliged to compete in Eurovision. You’ll remember Finland was considering boycotting the contest this year (over Israel getting a nod through). They were talked out of it by fellow Nordic broadcasters. Wouldn’t it be fun next year if Finland won in May?
In Italy, we’re over the halfway mark with Sanremo – just tonight and tomorrow’s marathon grand final to get through. Last night Nicolò Filippucci, with the song “Laguna”, took home the silver lion trophy as the winner of the newcomers’ section after scoring just over 60% of the votes. Angelica Bove was the runner up.
It’s the end of the marathon process to sort the wheat from considerable chaff in Lithuania. After weeks of shows where the content might be kindly described as variable, EUROVIZIJA.LT reaches the end of its 2026 road with a grand final this evening. All things considered, the line-up is non-too-shabby. If you’re wondering, NØRA BLU, with the song “Hold My Own” won the wildcard vote. The running order is out.
NRK Norway has revealed the running order for tomorrow evenings’ Melodi Grand Prix 2026.
If you’ve a thing about 80s pop stars long past their sell-by date, San Marino should be of interest. You get a two-fer with Senhit (featuring Boy George) as part of their ‘big name’ lineup. The roster also features Rosa Chemical (Sanremo 2023), Inis Neziri (Festivali i Këngës 2025 runner-up) and Edward Maya, who’s clearly doesn’t have an awful lot of faith in the song he’s performing in ths year’s Romanian national final. SMRTV has also updated the list of semifinalists for Dreaming San Marino. In the first semifinal, Yume with “Paura di amare” has replaced Samuele di Nicolò, while in the second semifinal, Ciro Maddaluno with “DISTRATTO” has replaced PARK. I bet you’re devastated. Read more here.
Serbia picks its song tomorrow evening, with RTS releasing the running order for Pesma za Evroviziju 2026 earlier today. Last night seven more acts made it through to the shortlist: Geminni, Brat Pelin, Zona, Lu-Ka, Lavina, Jack Lupino and Harem Girls & Ivana.
Sweden and it’s that time of the week to watch rehearsal clips for tomorrow evening’s Melodifestivalen. The law of diminishing returns is very much in play this week. Judge for yourself over at SVT Play. In other SVT-related news, this year sees the introduction of early voting for the Melodifestivalen 2026 final. The official Melodifestivalen mobile app opens up voting on 2 March until 09:00 CET on the big day – it re-opens later obvs.
Enjoy the weekend!
