Saturday afternoon rehearsals (Finland - Iceland)

FINLAND
This thing should come with a warning in some countries for overload of pink. This is very, very, pink, and the pinkest kind of pink. Krista's lipstick, her shoes, the band on her knee, the glove, the nail varnish, the dresses on the dancers after they strip off their moustaches and many elements on the stage and background. All nauseously pink. And Krista's really pink lipstick got smeared over the Jane Bogaert-looking backing singer's face after she got kissed, so it's infectious too. Iiiih. At least the flower she plucks during the first ding dong isn't. It's orange.

Other than that, it's very poppish and energetic and comes across more or less as intended. And she does look like she's having fun on stage - quite important for this one (Belarus, take a note!)

And she ran out of petals in the third runthrough, because she only brought one flower. Oops.

MALTA
Gianluca's left earlobe is too big for its headphone, and it seems to pull it down awkwardly. And the background with the yellow on blue still looks like a Blockbuster advert. He looks all smiley and cheerful and the whole thing comes across as quite sweet - not sure about the distracting lyrics in the background, but overall the staging fits the song nicely.

We're munching on Belarussian sweets during the second go, this combination will end up in a severe sugar rush.

BULGARIA
There's so much going on there, that I only noticed that Elitsa is barefoot near the end of the song. Not sure if it's a good or a bad thing. The standout effect here is the yellow glowing drumsticks, but then she just throws them towards Stoyan, but they land somewhere in the middle and this looks awkward. And in the second run she dropped one of hers by mistake. Oh, and there's more pink lipstick (on Elitsa, not on the dead goose).

Third runthrough and no accidental stick dropping this time. Lighting needs some work, as they were in complete darkness when they did the catwalk towards the end. Well, the Atomium drums will surely guarantee some points from Belgium.

ICELAND
So, Eyþór seems to be the bitch who delayed everyone at the security queue this morning, because he's wearing a LOT of metal. About fifteen rings, a big metallic bracelet and a shiny chain on his vest, all sticking out as everything else (except his hair) is very black.

Other than that, it's staged beautifully with the backing singers appearing dramatically from the dark background, and this is the strongest package I've seen today (except maybe Azerbaijan).

Second runthrough and he's now back to the Rui Bandeira white jacket. Decide! Third go and he's wearing black again. I vote for this outfit. I didn't hear it though, because Krista is dingdonging around us.