Big Four and host Austria complete first rehearsals in Vienna ahead of semi-finals

Eurovision is finally at the point where the automatic finalists stop being abstract favorites and become actual stage acts. On Thursday, May 7, Italy, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and host Austria all took their first rehearsals inside Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle. That matters because these five countries skip the semi-final elimination round, so fans and bettors have been judging them mostly on studio tracks, national-final footage and vibes. Now there’s at least a first real production test in the arena. ### Who rehearsed today? The lineup was Italy’s Sal Da Vinci with “Per sempre si,” Germany’s Sarah Engels with “Fire,” France’s Monroe with “Regarde!,” the UK’s Look Mum No Computer with “Eins, Zwei, Drei,” and Austria’s Cosmó with “Tanzschien.” They were the only first rehearsals on Thursday afternoon, after a morning block of second rehearsals for Belgium, Lithuania, San Marino, Poland and Serbia. ### Why are these five treated differently? Because they are already in the Grand Final. In 2026, the contest has 35 participating countries, and five of them are pre-qualified — the so-called Big Four of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, plus host Austria. Everyone else has to survive one of the two semi-finals on May 12 and May 14 to reach the final on May 16. ### What actually happens in a first rehearsal? It’s basically a controlled first run on the real Eurovision stage. Each delegation gets a 30-minute slot, works through camera angles, visuals, choreography and sound, then heads to a viewing room to watch the recording back and tweak details. That’s different from second rehearsals, which are shorter — 25 minutes — and more about refinement than discovery. ### Why does May 7 matter so much? Because this is the day the full competitive picture starts to come into focus. The semi-finalists began rehearsing on May 2, but the auto-qualified countries only entered the on-stage process on May 7. Until now, nobody outside the delegations really knew how those songs would translate to the Vienna set, lighting and camera language. ### Are fans seeing full performances yet? Not really. The first and second rehearsals are closed to the press, which means the public rollout is controlled and delayed. Eurovoix noted that images from Thursday’s first rehearsals would be released the next day, while short snippets from the day’s second rehearsals were expected later on Thursday. So the information gap is shrinking, but it has not disappeared. ### Why do rehearsal clips move the odds? Because rehearsals turn a song into a TV product. A three-minute Eurovision entry can rise or fall on staging choices that are impossible to judge from an audio release alone — camera cuts, costume contrast, LED use, vocal stability, even whether the artist looks comfortable in a huge arena. That’s why this rehearsal window is widely treated ### What comes next? The next checkpoint is second rehearsals for these same finalists and host on Saturday, May 9. After that, the contest moves into dress rehearsals, the opening ceremony on May 10, and then the live semi-finals on May 12 and May 14 before the Grand Final on May 16. In other words, the private build phase is almost over. takeaway? Thursday did not decide Eurovision 2026. But it did end the guessing game for the five acts that matter most on final night. From here on, Austria and the Big Four are no longer being judged as songs on paper — they’re being judged as performances in Vienna.