First look at Bambie Thug’s Eurovision performance revealed as rehearsals get underway in Sweden

The Cork-born singer will take to the stage of the song contest in the first semi-final next month, which gets underway in Malmö.

New photos, taken during first rehearsals for the annual competition, offer an initial look at the staging, costumes and choreography planned for Bambie Thug ahead of the big night.

A smoke-filled stage, gothic makeup and a circle of candles all look to be featured in the performance, as Bambie dances alongside a shirtless man in leather trousers and some black body paint.

The song contest shared the photos to Instagram with the caption: “Bambie Thug has cast hues of Doomsday Blue onto the Malmö Arena stage.”

The Irish entry has previously responded to calls to boycott the competition, though pressure appeared to intensify this week when more than 400 Irish artists signed an open letter to Bambie Thug.

They asked them to reconsider their position due to Israel’s participation in the event.

Singer Erica Cody, who competed against Bambie Thug in the Eurosong battle to represent Ireland in January, was among the signatories, joining Derry Girls star Siobhán McSweeney and others.

Before the Eurosong show both Erica-Cody and Bambie Thug said Israel should not be allowed to compete this year because of the country’s actions in Gaza.

Erica-Cody did not rule out boycotting Eurovision if she had been successful in her bid to represent Ireland.

"We are writing to you as Irish artists, writers and poets, many of us queer and trans. Firstly, we congratulate you on being selected to represent Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. This is an honour and recognition of your talent and artistry,” the letter read.

"However, we are asking you to withdraw from Eurovision 2024, to heed the call from Palestinians to boycott the competition due to the participation of Israel. We welcome that you have chosen, along with other participating artists, not to be silent.”

It said: “You have the chance to be on the right side of history and to be remembered as an artist of conscience, who, in a time of genocide, chose to do no harm, to truly stand with the oppressed.”

"History will celebrate you if you withdraw from Eurovision 2024. We urge you to do the right thing.”

An online petition calling for RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst to withdraw Ireland’s participation from this year’s Eurovision “in protest at the EBU’s failure to exclude Israel” has also been established.

Bambie Thug said in a recent post on Instagram that their “heart and solidarity has and always will lie with the oppressed”.

Addressing the calls for a boycott in an appearance on the Late Late Show last week, the singer said they stand with all those participating in the boycott.

"If I wasn’t in the competition, I think I would also be boycotting. There are a lot of moving parts and at the end of the day, without the group of us who are pro-Palestine it is less competition for the other side to win and it is less solidarity there,” they said.

"Obviously it is incredibly heavy and I am extremely behind everybody.”

They said the power was with the European Broadcasting Union, who are “not making the right decision” by allowing Israel to enter the competition.