Eurovision: First jury show hit by technical problems

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief | 1h

Three countries perform for a second time during the first jury show of Eurovision 2021 due to technical problems.

Technical problems forced three countries to perform for a second time during last night's jury show for the first semi-final of Eurovision 2021.

The jury show serves both as a full rehearsal of the semi-final and the performances on which the international juries cast their votes.

The jury scores are then combined with the viewer voting during tonight's live show to determine which 10 acts make it through to Saturday's grand final at the Ahoy in Rotterdam.

The show was running fairly smoothly on Monday night - with a live audience welcomed into the arena for the first time - but problems were evident when it came to the 13th performer out of 16, Romania.

Roxen, representing her country with the song 'Amnesia', was noticeably behind the beat for the entirety of her performance, so organisers took the decision to have her perform again at the end.

Go_A of Ukraine and one-time favourite, Destiny of Malta, also had a second crack at their routines, despite there being little to no visible issues with their first run-throughs on the surface.

In a statement, organisers said: "Due to issues with the in-ear monitoring during the performances of Malta, Romania and Ukraine at the 2nd Dress Rehearsal for Semi Final 1 on Monday 17 May, in accordance with the rules, all artists were given the chance to perform their songs again for the national juries voting on the show.

"The technical issue is being thoroughly investigated ahead of the live broadcast of Semi Final 1 on Tuesday 18 May."

The first semi-final main show takes place tonight at 8pm UK time, with coverage airing live on BBC Four.