Kate Moore
Reporting from the streets of Basel

Image source, Kate Moore/BBC

The vibes are immaculate on Eurovision Street in Basel city centre.

It’s shoulder-to-shoulder outside the bars and restaurants that line the street – a river of sequins, glitter and flag capes flowing through the city centre.

Usually known as Steinenvorstadt, the street has been transformed into the ultimate party destination for the contest.

Fans have gathered throughout the week to drink and enjoy their favourite acts - and they show no signs of stopping tonight. The weather has been glorious today and many restaurants are seating customers outside to enjoy the evening.

It’s a bit like a street party, a music festival, and accidentally walking into a very niche costume convention. But everyone’s in on the joke – and that’s what makes it work.

It’s messy, it’s magical – and it’s pure Eurovision.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent, reporting from the Eurovision final

Image source, EPA

Lucio Corsi decided to become a rock star after watching The Blues Brothers as a child.

“I saw the musicians as superheroes,” he told the BBC this week. “I wanted to become Elwood Blues.”

The musician, from southern Tuscany, made that dream come true with a string of successful albums, including the concept record Bestiario Musicale and the glam rock tribute La Gente Che Sogna.

He brings a similar energy to Eurovision – with a visual callback to David Bowie’s iconic performance of Starman on Top of the Pops; and eye-catching, Pierrot-style make up.

“The white face is to exorcise my fear,” he explains. “Before you go on stage, there’s a lot of fear inside your body – but on the stage, that fear becomes energy in one second.”

Bonus trivia: Lucio’s harmonica solo will be the first live instrument played by a Eurovision contestant since 1999.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent, reporting from the Eurovision final

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Finnish contestant Erika Vikman can’t say whether Céline Dion has arrived in Basel – because she’s as in the dark as the rest of us.

But she’s prepared to sacrifice everything for a moment in the star’s presence.

“Céline Dion is one of my goddesses,” she told me earlier.

“If there are two options, to meet Céline Dion or win Eurovision, I choose meeting Céline Dion.”

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent, reporting from the Eurovision final

Image source, EPA

Finland’s Erika Vikman is taking us on a sensual odyssey that involves a naked wedding dance, followed by a late-night tryst and repeated screams of ecstasy.

The song, she says, is structured to reflect the act of sex. As you might imagine, the EBU asked her to tone down the performance.

Still, it’s emerged as one of the favourites to win, thanks to a pulse-quickening tempo change and an explosive climax that sees her rising above the audience astride a giant golden microphone.

“Maybe I can just stay up there and watch the voting,” she laughs.

“And when the night ends, I’ll be like, ‘Hey! Is there anybody there who can take me down? Don’t forget about me!’”

Ireland and Sweden tie as the most successful countries at the Eurovision Song Contest with seven wins each.

The United Kingdom, Luxembourg, France and theNetherlands are all tied having each won five times.

But Sweden could well emerge as the most successful Eurovision country tonight as they are currently among the favourites for 2025.

France and the Netherlands are also in good shape to possibly bring their country another trophy tonight with a power ballad and a multi-lingual anthem respectively.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent, reporting from the Eurovision final

Image source, EPA

Dutch-Congolese singer Claude was due to go on a trip to London with his best friends on the day he was selected to sing for the Netherlands at Eurovision.

At the last minute, he had to cancel the trip without being allowed to explain why. His friends treated his cancellation the way good friends do: With merciless mockery.

“Any time they were at a musical, they’d send me photos of an empty chair saying, ‘You could have been here!’” he laughs.

Now that he’s here in Switzerland, they’re fully on his side – as he sings an upbeat tribute to his mother, who helped smuggle him out of the Democratic Republic of Congo as a nine-year-old.

“I have a lot of respect for her,” he says. “She fought through life, and we're still here together with my brothers and sister and everybody.”

Helen Bushby
Culture reporter

Graham Norton points out on BBC One that "if this was the harmony Olympics, Latvia's Tautumeitas would be up against the UK's Remember Monday".

There's some beautiful harmonising from both groups of women... not easy to maintain while moving around the stage with all those dance moves.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent, reporting from the Eurovision final

Image source, Reuters

Based on traditional wedding songs, Latvia’s entry is all about reconnecting with the natural world.

“Others are making a bridgе of steel, I’m helping an oak to grow,” sing six-piece vocal group Tautumetias.

“The bridge of steel turns to rust, my oak grows evergreen.”

A Björk-adjacent blend of tight-knit harmonies and electronic beats, this is one of the most unique songs in this year’s contest.

“We hope to leave the audience feeling empowered and connected to their roots,” the band told Eurovision fan site ESC Bubble.

Quite why this involves them growing tails in the middle of their performance is a question we’ll leave for another time.

Scott Mills
BBC Radio 2 Presenter

Image source, Getty Images

Aww, so proud of Remember Monday. They've done so well.

Come on girls, we're all behind you.

They have dealt with this whole experience with grace, dignity and they've just been amazing.

You can listen to Rylan Clark and Scott Mill's coverage on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent, reporting from the Eurovision final

Image source, Getty Images

There were a few scattered boos for Israel inside the St Jackobshalle arena, but nothing too overwhelming.

Yuval is more likely to have seen the numerous Israeli flags being held aloft by fans, cheering loudly in an attempt to drown out any protest.

Our reporter in the Eurovision village says there were boos there, too, as the performance ended.

Compared to the reception that greeted Eden Golan at last year's song contest, the protest seems to have been fairly muted.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent, reporting from the Eurovision final

Image source, Reuters

Eurovision were being a little devilish with tonight’s running order.

After JJ was left clinging to his raft like Rose at the end of Titanic, we get this little ode to rowing boats from Icelandic brothers VAEB.

“We're all fishermen in Iceland,” says Hálfdán Helgi Matthíasson, the older of the two brothers.

“Every other person works in the sea. I'm always rowing. Always rowing!

“And that's why we thought about doing the song, because the water is like a metaphor for life.”

Deepening their connection to the ocean, Hálfdán was the voice of Nemo in the Icelandic version of Finding Nemo.

Just keep swimming.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent, reporting from the Eurovision final

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Their song has been divisive but, no matter what happens in the voting, Remember Monday did the UK proud.

That was the best vocal performance we've entered in years, and their decades-long friendship poured out of the screen.

Good luck to them!

Helen Bushby
Culture reporter

Each year we raise a glass to the late broadcasting legend, Sir Terry Wogan, who of course was the BBC's Eurovision commentator for nearly 40 years.

And why during song nine? When Graham Norton took over the show's commentary in 2009, he said Sir Terry advised him to have a drink early on in the show, so he settled on song nine. So now you know.

Cheers, Sir Terry!

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent, reporting from the Eurovision final

Image source, EPA

This is one of the favourites to win – a tempestuous ballad about unrequited love that draws on singer Johannes Pietsch’s background as a counter-tenor with the Vienna State Opera.

He performs the song on a BIG METAPHORICAL BOAT that’s tossed around an ocean as turbulent and unforgiving as his emotions.

It’s quite an intense one – shot in black and white, and stubbornly internal. It’ll be interesting to see whether it translates to the audience at home.

Fun fact: JJ prepares for each performance by doing 10 push ups and one-minute planks.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent, reporting from the Eurovision final

Ace Bowerman is one of the UK’s most respected creative directors – responsible for Blackpink’s epic Born Pink world tour and Dua Lipa’s lockdown spectacular, Studio 2054.

She joined Eurovision for the first time this year, to help Remember Monday put together their staging in Basel.

“They're very well-seasoned performers, with an insane amount of West End experience, so we wanted to bring that world to Eurovision,” she says.

As you’ll see later, that means a huge amount of crowd work, some peppy choreography and a sweeping dance around a fallen chandelier. But the focus is deliberately simple: Putting the band at the heart of the show.

“We really want to showcase the girls and the vocals, because at the heart of it, it's all about them. They are electric people, they have such a special bond, and as soon as I met them, I was like, ‘Please be my friend!’

“So the one thing I want everybody to take away from the performance is how much fun they are – because the audience will want to be their friends as well.”

Emma Saunders
Culture reporter

The ‘Big Five’ are France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK - the group of countries who via their broadcasters make the biggest financial contribution towards the organisation of the contest.

Which means they automatically qualify for the final. And of course last year’s winner - this year Switzerland - also automatically qualifies and usually hosts, too.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent, reporting from the Eurovision final

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Hold on to your boots: Girl band Remember Monday are about to take the Eurovision stage for the UK.

They will be performing What The Hell Just Happened – a showtune with rock ambitions, stuffed full of references to Queen and the Beatles and a little bit of Billy Joel’s My Life.

The singers are Lauren Byrne, Holly-Anne Hull and Charlotte Steele, who met at school in Farnborough, Hampshire, and appeared on TV talent show The Voice, in 2019.

Lauren and Holly-Anne have also appeared in West End shows like Phantom of the Opera and Six: The Musical – and you’ll see that experience on the stage.

Like the song, their performance tells the story of a messy, post break-up night on the tiles, where dresses get ripped, heels are broken and tattoos mysteriously appear.

The band are hoping to turn around the UK's fortunes, after our last two contestants Olly Alexander and Mae Muller both finished at the bottom end of the table.

"The closer we get to it, the more hungry we are for a good result," Holly-Anne told me earlier this week. "A placement in the single digits would be nice."

The bookmakers’ odds don’t look good, but we can always hope. Good luck, girls!

Rylan Clark
Presenter, BBC Radio 2

Image source, Reuters

Lithuania had lovely grey outfits on.

It's giving The Demon Headmaster.

I use to love that show.

You can listen to Rylan Clark and Scott Mill's coverage on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds.

Andree Massiah
Live reporter

Gaz, Daz, Jack, Stu and Clyde the dog are big fans of Eurovision.

"We have been following Eurovision for years," says Gaz.

"We were looking for different ways to celebrate and this year we decided to take it to the canals and celebrate on a canal boat in Market Harborough."

Image source, Gaz

Image source, Gaz

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent, reporting from the Eurovision final

Image source, AFP via Getty Imagess

Ukraine have been the most consistent performers at Eurovision this decade, never finishing lower than sixth place.

This year’s hopefuls are Ziferblat, whose song Bird Of Pray is a message of hope amid the country’s ongoing war with Russia.

With the country in turmoil, the group have had to fund their own trip to Switzerland, where backing singer Khrystyna Starykova was informed her home in Myrnograd had been destroyed by Russian shelling.

“She’s so strong,” says guitarist Valentyn Leshchynskyi, who formed Ziferblat with his vocalist twin brother Daniil and drummer Fedir Khodakov.

“She is 19 years old only, but the impact of this situation — I think she won’t give up.”

On stage, they dare to dream of a future where the war is over and Ukraine rises like a phoenix from the ashes.

There’s some clever staging where the band members “throw” light to one another, as their message spreads – and it ends with dozens of lighting rigs rippling like the beating wings of a bird.