Israel performs in Eurovision final

Imri Ziv wows Kiev, but will it be enough?

Imri Ziv, Israel’s entrant in this year’s Eurovision, took to the stage in Kiev to sing his heart out at the final of the international singing competition on Saturday night.

Ziv, singing “I Feel Alive” written by Dolev Ram and Ben Hazut, gave the first performance in the final, but results of the competition were not announced until after press time; check JPost.com for the latest updates.

On Thursday, Ziv performed in the semifinal among tough competition. While his vocals weren’t the strongest of the night, they were enough – together with his wicked grin and devilish wink – to send him through to the next round.

Betting odds from Friday showed Italy expected to take the prize, and Israel ranked in the late teens.

“I FEEL THE FINAL – Thank you Europe!” Ziv wrote on Instagram after advancing. “See you on Saturday.”

Thursday was a glittery, glitzy night with all the flamboyant, over-the-top things you expect from the Eurovision Song Contest.

The Belarusian singers performed on a makeshift boat, the Irish performer stood on a hot-air balloon and the Swiss singer wore a floor-length dress in a shade of Big Bird yellow.

The Croatian singer, clad in one silver half-glove (and a black suit) alternated between both Italian and English, and an impressive falsetto of sorts and a deep operatic bass.

The Romanians yodeled, the Hungarians rapped and the Austrian perched on the corner of a giant crescent moon.

But above all, there were sequins as far as the eye could see – on the men, on the women, on the audience, probably all over the floor and stuck in the soles of the shoes of everyone in attendance.

Compared to some of the competitors, Ziv gave a relatively pared-down performance. Clad in all black, but showing off some impressive biceps, Ziv danced around the stage with his back-up dancers moving and shaking, never forgetting to give his 100-watt grin to the camera.

“No words to describe my feelings right now,” Ziv posted online ahead of Thursday’s performance. “Writing these words with tears of joy in my eyes... Thank you guys so much for all this time. I want to ask you one thing: for 3 minutes, forget about your problems, forget about your worries and just Feel Alive with me!”

This wasn’t Ziv’s first Eurovision – he performed as a backup singer last year for Hovi Star and in 2015 for Nadav Guedj. Star came in 14th in the final and Guedj in 9th. This is the third consecutive year Israel has made it to the final round.

Israel competed in the final alongside 25 other countries: Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain Sweden, the UK and Ukraine.

Israel has won the competition three times since it started participating in 1973: 1978, 1979 and 1998.