It’s cheesy, it’s camp, and it’s back for another year of questionable fashion and wild singing: Eurovision 2023 has been taking place this week, and Australia just zoomed into the Grand Final.
Perth metal outfit Voyager made it to this weekend’s final after impressing in the Semi Final in Liverpool (last year’s winners, Ukraine, were unable to host due to the ongoing Russian conflict).
The Aussies faced stern competition from the likes of Cyprus, Romania, Austria, Denmark, Belgium and, um, San Marino last night, despite being the last act to perform in the second Semi Final.
After lead singer Danny Estrin arrived onstage in style in a car, Voyager gave a powerhouse rendition of their song, “Promise”, and made it through to the next round alongside nine other countries, including Albania, Estonia, Armenia and Slovenia.
The band couldn’t hold back their excitement on social media. “EUROVISION GRAND FINAL HERE WE COME!!!!” they wrote on Instagram. “WE PROMISE YOU IT’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT!!!! Thank you to our incredible team and everyone who voted for us. Holy moly.”
If you want to see how they fare from Australia this weekend, SBS is the channel to watch. The network will be covering the entire Eurovision at both primetime and early morning. The Grand Final will be shown on Sunday, May 14th at 5am AEST and 7:30pm AEST.
It’s a special year for SBS as the network celebrates 40 years of broadcasting Eurovision. All Eurovision content will also be available to watch on a dedicated SBS On Demand page, including last year’s contest.
And if Australians want to vote – NOT FOR AUSTRALIA – they’ll have to tune into the early morning showing of the Grand Final and follow the voting prompts that appear on screen.
The official theme of Eurovision 2023 may be ‘United By Music’, but Australian entry Voyager also believe this year’s contest is a “celebration of heavy music.”
The progressive metal five-piece are the first Aussie band to be sent to Europe to represent Australia. “I’m really, really excited that SBS went out on the limb and shook things up and decided to send Voyager,” the band’s Daniel Estrin recently told Rolling Stone AU/NZ.
“I think this is the year for heavy music and rock music to really shine like it probably hasn’t really ever before at Eurovision. So I’m very, very excited from that perspective,” he added.
