Neil Smith
Entertainment reporter, Kiev

The most impressive ponytail at Eurovision this year unquestionably belonged to Slavko Kalezic from Montenegro.

An epic, serpentine man-braid, he'd whip that thing around like he was auditioning to play Indiana Jones.

Image source, Getty Images

With Slavko sadly knocked out on Tuesday, though, it's left to Artsvik Harutyunyan from Armenia to provide the ponytail action.

After a slow beginning, Fly With Me builds to quite the dramatic crescendo. It also has a well-drilled pair of female dancers whose arm choreography (armography?) is a sight to behold.

Image source, Getty Images

Armenia also have a good track record; they have been entering  contestants since 2006 and have come in the Top 10 many times (7 times to be exact) which is probably why Artsvik "anticipates your support" tonight:

Neil Smith
Entertainment reporter, Kiev

Image source, Getty Images

Belarus had a boat. Austria has a moon. All we need is an owl and a pussycat and we’ve got ourselves a poem, external.

Austria have a chequered history at Eurovision. Winners in 1966, they struggled to qualify after semi-finals were introduced in 2004.

But then "bearded lady" Conchita Wurst came along to not just claim victory in 2014 but also give the contest one of its great iconic figures.

Image source, Getty Images

Running On Air is no Rise Like a Phoenix, external, but it's a perfectable serviceable pop tune that Nathan Trent sings perfectly serviceably.

Nathan Trent, by the way, isn’t his real name. He’s really Nathanaele Koll, he comes from Innsbruck and he turned 25 last month.

Armenia's contestant Artsvik trained as a music therapist in Moscow so listen carefully for her very meticulously pronunciated lyrics and lovely open vowel sounds. She is flanked by two FIERCE hand models/backing dancers who, if IMRI's track record is anything to go by, will probably be clawing their way to the front of the stage as a solo artists next year.

Nathan Trent's real name is Nathanaele Koll so I can only assume he picked his stage name by sifting through the cast list of Grange Hill and/or Byker Grove. He's assured us that his staging isn't inspired by the logo for DreamWorks but, ahem…

Lovely Nathan was over the Moon (eeey) to get through to the final tonight. Indeed he was so overjoyed that he filmed this somewhat creepy video (apparently inspired by The Blair Witch Project, external) to say thank you to his army of fans. 

Our friend Adam is obviously studying this evening's entries in meticulous detail for when he fills in his BBC Eurovision grand final scorecard!

I mean, how are you meant to remember who to vote for without a comprehensive set of notes? Some committed soul even set up a whiteboard in their living room for the semi final.

It's not too late to download yours here.

Naviband were THRILLED to make it into tonight's final and celebrated by painting on fake moustaches, grabbing some polka dot clothing and doing a cover version of Italy's song Occidentalis Karma:

This is the closest you'll ever get to Eurovision contestants trash talking each other. I'm sure Francesco Gabbani (Italy's entry) is QUIVERING with fear.

Belarusians on a boat! This jolly duo is called Naviband (ahh yes NAVY BAND this is all starting to slooowly make sense) and their real names are Artem Lukyanenka and Ksenia Zhuk. 

They tried (and failed) to qualify as Belarus' contestants last year but they worked through their subsequent anguish by hurling themselves into the studio and writing the official anthem for the Belarusian football team 'Naperad Belakrylyja' which went something like this:

If she gets the trophy tonight it will be the first time Poland has ever won. The closest they've ever got was in 1994 with Edyta Gorniak's 'To nie ja!' which went a little something like this (*white dress klaxon*): 

Like every single female performer here tonight, Kasia likes to dress entirely in white. She also loves jumping in puddles so her dry cleaning bills must be massive. 

Next up is Kasia Mos who is flying the flag for Poland this year. 

For those of you who joined us last time you'll remember that Kasia cares deeply about animal welfare which is a good thing too as she owns five dogs and two cats back home in Poland. 

Kasia HATES people wearing fur and has even dedicated this song to animals that suffer. Indeed, she cares so very deeply about this particular issue that she once appeared with her dog in a feature for Playboy Magazine in Poland. #savetheplayboybunnies

Here is the moment Imri found out he was going through to the final and his entourage (dressed like a chessboard) went absolutely bonkers:

Right, so this evening we are picking up where we left off in Thursday's semi - with sleeveless, gym-pounding mega-hunk IMRI who is determined to "set the stage on fire." Well with all those pyros he's certainly going about it the right way. IMRI has been desperate to get on to Eurovision for quite some time and even clawed his way onto the stage in Stockholm last year as a backing singer for Hovi Star's (ego-driven) song Made of Stars.If you squint really, really hard at the video below you can see IMRI lurking in the shadows.

It's time to get cracking. Here are all the members of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 making their way to the stage.

Earlier today, Radio 2's Ken Bruce gave us a guided tour of his commentary box.

As you can see, the backstage bit isn't quite as glamorous as what's about to happen on the stage in fifteen minutes' time.

Remember, we'll have both Graham Norton's commentary on BBC One and Ken's coverage on Radio 2 right here from 8pm.

Tonight's coverage on BBC One will be hosted by the BBC's resident Eurovision expert, Graham Norton. You can also listen on BBC Radio 2 where Ken Bruce will be in the hot seat.

Why not take a break from braiding your Slavko pony tail and decorating your sitting room every shade of glitter and get in touch on @BBCEurovision to let Graham know who you're looking forward to watching tonight...

Welcome, Wilkommen and Bienvenue (and ласкаво просимо) to the official Live Blog for the Grand Final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest! 

We'll be here from 7.30pm keeping you bang up to date with everything that's popping off in Kyiv. To kick things off, let's join our host Graham Norton to see what we've got to look forward to in tonight's competition.