Delta Goodrem sings for Australia in the Eurovision grand final with song Eclipse
Updated ,first published
Vienna: Seventy years after the creation of the Eurovision Song Contest and just over fifty years after her mentor Olivia Newton-John took to the same stage, stars gathered for Delta Goodrem to deliver a career-defining performance overnight in Vienna, Austria.
It was a performance for the ages and a testament to Goodrem’s maturation as an artist. Already an accomplished singer-songwriter-instrumentalist, Eclipse It is the pinnacle of stagecraft: explosive, spectacular and, for the arena crowd of 16,000, simply mesmerizing.
Eurovision’s semi-final rounds are watched by approximately 35 to 40 million people. Like other global events like the Oscars, global TV viewership is a somewhat vague calculation based on obscure mathematical origins. Best estimates say there are over 150 million people.
Whatever the final number, it’s certainly the biggest audience of Goodrem’s professional career. What makes this account so extraordinary is that Goodrem not only captures the moment, but exceeds it in every way. A powerful fusion of acoustic and visual art, Goodrem moved as if he were light as air.
Behind the sheer folds of her handmade gold gown, a dazzling collection of 7,000 Swarovski crystals that took more than 500 hours to sew by hand, was an innovative piece of stage technology known as the Versa Ribbon Lift; The same technology was also used by the queen of performing arts, Beyoncé.
The performance itself took Goodrem through layers of moon shadow, to the intersection of moon and sun at the center of the eclipse, and finally, after a piano intermezzo played in fortissimo with a cheeky smile, to an explosion of gold that transformed the Wiener Stadthalle arena into a shimmering ocean of fire.
Designed by Dan Shipton and Ross Nicholson, the effect was spectacular. Goodrem knew this and his confidence was clearly visible. And the audience knew it, too, and were greeted with enthusiastic applause. Even backstage at the media center, a crowd of 1,000 journalists from around the world applauded and cheered. Win or place, whatever happens now, this was a truly winning performance.
The backlash also underlined Goodrem’s months-long Eurovision love campaign, which took her from Australia to the “pre-party” season in Europe in March and April, performing at concerts in Amsterdam and Oslo and hitting the flesh with Eurovision fans.
The reward for these moments was increased tenfold by the audience’s “tele-votes”; This accounts for half of an artist’s final Eurovision score. The other half comes from juries made up of music industry professionals from each competing country. TV viewers and the jury give points to any country other than their own.
Despite its color and camp, Eurovision is a brutal program for the contestants. Following a week of intensive rehearsals, the two semi-finals and the grand final are each performed four times: two dress rehearsals, a jury show and a live show broadcast worldwide.
By the end of the week, a dozen or more delegations are eliminated and sent home in the semi-final rounds, the nations’ flag parade takes place in what has become one of the most powerful and contentious expressions of soft diplomatic power in the world, and one of the winners is left on stage holding the most coveted statue in European music.
For Australia, the Eurovision journey is as colorful as it is existential. Although it seems a natural expression of our European history and the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) clear desire to transform Eurovision into a global brand, our place in a European music competition is always open to debate.
Whatever the outcome, Goodrem’s successful campaign this year will momentarily silence her recently vocal critics; because some Australian contestants’ Eurovision campaigns were cut short in the semi-finals.
In this year’s first semi-final, Greece, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Moldova, Israel, Serbia, Croatia, Lithuania and Portugal participated in the final. The second was sent via Bulgaria, Ukraine, Norway, Romania, Malta, Cyprus, Albania, Denmark, Czech Republic and Australia.
In the grand final, these 20 countries faced four of the so-called “Big Five” – the largest members of the European Broadcasting Union – France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom – as well as host nation Austria, all of which automatically booked their final slots.
Spain, the fifth member of the Big Five, withdrew after the war in Gaza in protest of Israel’s involvement.
Four other countries joined the boycott: Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia, reflecting a deeply felt divide that highlighted a growing problem for the EBU: how the EBU is handling the delicate relationship between soft diplomacy and the perception that Eurovision is being used as a political proxy.
The Eurovision grand final is, at last count, a four-hour marathon of songs, stunts and abacus-style maths.
The competition’s outdated scoring system, which involves moving from the main stage in the host country to each of the participating countries and awarding scores of two to eight, 10 and 12 points to songs, is one of the best-loved aspects of the broadcast.
As an event, Eurovision is a sell-out European Idol, but in reality it has the feel of a Brownlow Medal.
Once professional jury scores are placed on the leaderboard, television viewers are “tele-voted” in a series of blocks; each effectively reordering the points, often resulting in a climactic ending full of shocks and surprises.
Artists and songs from 35 countries performed in 20 languages at the 2026 Eurovision contest.
SBS will replay the Eurovision grand final tonight at 7.30pm (AEST). Both the semi-final and grand final will be available to watch via SBS on Demand.
Find out the next TV series, streaming series and movies to add to your must-watch list. Get the Watch List delivered every Thursday.
Michael Idato is general culture editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect with: X or email.
